Day 10 – 5Dec19
Seyðisfjörður
Happy birthday Vanessa! We watch the ferry cruise off down the fjord at 6am only 10 hrs later than the expected departure.
The weather was changed. The sky was filled with low level cloud, the wind strength increased and it started to snow. We watched snow being blown down the road in front of the hostel. The snow became heavier and the flakes became larger. A nice indoor day for sensible people. So we put on our cold weather gear and headed outside for a walk around town.
Shelly, the lost soul, left the hostel this morning in her car, filled with her life, with a roof that leaked like a sieve any time that it rained, heading to new accommodation as she liked to be anonymous; to be invisible; gone without a trace. Even her oversized polar bear socks were abandoned.
The snow continued all day. We went for a drive later in the afternoon to visit the waterfall again to contrast the previous day. There was no bike rider today. The light was fading as it was 330pm so we took some images then headed back town to get some supplies. We purchased another 700g of salmon, a birthday cake for David to consume, some honey and a bottle of pepsi max.
There were no other guests arriving so we have the hostel to ourselves. Birthday dinner. We used the same technique as last hostel. 700g fresh salmon in baking tray, skin up, cover with salt. Pre heat oven to 220 deg C and bake for 15 min. 4 min frozen vegetables in microwave. Simple and tasty.
Day 11 – 6 Dec 19
Seyðisfjörður to Lake Mývatn
The daily routine is to load the car and start it running to warm the motor. The windows are usually icy and it is necessary also to lift the windscreen wipers as they are often stuck to the windows. The handheld ice scraper has a plastic edge for the initial scraping and a rubber edge for finishing off the scraping. The windscreen is the most difficult so it is best to leave it last as the inside of the car warms. The car, the Icelandic duster, has a blue temperature indicator that need to switch off before placing the motor under load. There are no fast getaways in the cold.
It was still snowing when we left. The wind had picked up and visibility was becoming less as less as we rose up the road to the top of the fjord. The snow was drifting and building up across the road and by the time we reached the pass it was near blizzard conditions. We were cutting through deep snow in places. The road was slippery and we were glad to reach Egilsstadir. This was the end of the eastern fjords which were beautiful.
We continued along with Vanessa feeding me biscuits and chocolate to keep me alert. The country became more barren and we found a nice waterfall with frozen features along the way. The path was quite slippery so I returned to grab the spikes for my boots. Another vehicle turned up and I warned them of the ice as it was difficult to see under the snow. They thanked me and proceeded to ignore me. Minutes later one of them fell heavily after slipping on ice. That was not enough to put them off. They were fine and continued to the waterfall. I finished off fitting my boot spikes and caught up with them slipping around on the ice. I crunched my way past them as I comfortably dug my spikes into the ice. They got far enough to view the waterfall and got back to their car.
There seems to be 3 FM radio stations available as we have been driving. Two are Iceland talkback and one is the Christmas channel. Yes think of a family friendly Christmas song as we have heard it: multiple times. The other stations sometime play songs but we seem to also hear them over and over again.
The terrain changed and we were seeing a lot of cracked ground. We had entered into a volcanic region and visited the Leirhnjúkur Lava Field. It was easy to find as there was steam rising from the hills in -10degC. We were impressed by one of the formations that was emitting steam sounding like a pressure cooker. The smell was also impressive. There also was bubbling mud and the path was slippery from the mud not ice!
I was keen to see Dettifoss as it was the largest waterfall by flow volume in Europe. Unfortunately we reached a gate half across the road that basically said that we could pass but void our insurance and if we got stuck then it would be a very expensive vehicle retrieval. It was disappointing and we expected there would be a good reason for the sign so decided to ask at the information centre. Another car with Chinese travellers pulled up next to us and we said that you could go along the road but it was not a good idea. They took it as permission for them to go and sped off down the road past the gate and disappeared into the distance.
We arrived at Myvatn about dusk and started looking for our hotel. The GPS guided us to a paddock. The Myvatn area is snow covered at this time of year so side roads can be impossible. We tried a couple of time and deduced incorrectly that the hotel was on the next hill so we drove up and found that it was incorrect. I ran up onto something hidden when turning and backed up. I took over navigation and guided up back the paddock. The GPS mark was incorrect and I was me who created it. We headed towards a cluster of lights about 1km away on a hunch and found our hotel. Phew. I was irritated but glad to have arrived. The mark should have been Hotel Sel not Hotel Myvatn.
The hotel staff were warm and even asked us whether we would like to be called in the event of an aurora. Yes! Just what we needed after the GPS mishap. The room was spacious and the hot water was sulphur smelling. Myvatn is known for thermal pools. I was still sick and coughing a lot so Vanessa suggested a warm sulphur bath for relief. The next option was an onion in my sock but without the key ingredient the first option was taken.
We could hear the excited footsteps of children in the rooms above us.
Day 12 – 7 Dec 19
Lake Myvatn
The hotel manager told us it was a special weekend. There were 170 people coming to dinner as the 13 days of Chistmas were being celebrated starting a little early. Each day leading up to Christmas the children put a shoe on their windowsill and receive a gift or a rotten potato depending on their behaviour. We were invited to join and the manager gave us an explanation of the events. There was the meeting of the 13 yule brothers at Dimmuborgir then moving to the Myvatn thermal baths for their once a year wash. It was a family event but we went along to have a look.
There were plenty of freezer suits. It is normal for the kids in the cooler climates. Lots of colour. Some of the kids hit the deck as soon as they could reach the soft snow making snow angels others were jumping off platforms into the snow. The Yule brothers were amusing but the experience was enough for some of the kids to reach back for their parent’s hands.
We loved the village feel of the event. At one point they formed concentric circles, hand in hand, sang Christmas songs while moving together, with each circle moving the opposite direction to the next. 80% of Icelanders are Lutheran yet this event is more about folklore.
Later in the afternoon I went for a look at the pseudo craters near the hotel and we went for a drive around the lake dropping off at the information centre. The reason for the closed road to the waterfall was that the road had been damaged with deep wheel ruts filled with ice. The information person also was going to be working at the hotel later.
The dinner was a buffet and semi -formal. The kids were in new outfits so they were safe from the Christmas cat this year. We got help from the hotel manager and the staff all evening. They treated us as if we were family member. The food quite varied with a lot of meats and fish with my favourite being the locally smoked trout. We certainly got value for money and were ready to explode after dessert.
We have found that people around Iceland have really made an effort creating the Christmas spirit. Most of the houses in the country have elaborate light setups. We especially like the edge highlighting effect.
The snow started to fall during the evening and it was quite large and fluffy. We watched it dance, illuminated by external light, through the room window.
The excited little feet kept on running around on the floor above our room but it didn’t bother us.
It is the people who make the hotel stays special. The hotel manager was the matriarch of everyone. We were her family.
