Detour to the Northeast

After the wonderful weeks in Bragðavellir, we drove for 4 days to Lagarfljót near Egilsstadir, where we reserved a room with a shared bathroom.

The drive took us over Öxi, with a detour to Seydisfjördur to pick up my hoodie that I had forgotten there, and then continued via Egilsstadir and the right bank of Lagarfljót.

We stopped for a little coffee break in a parking lot, the end of which was adorned with a wooden gate featuring a dragon-like creature as the upper beam; this gate framed part of the lake, and the legend says that the Lagarfljótsormurinn, akin to 'Loch Ness', lives here. The surroundings and the lake itself left plenty of room for imagination :-) The lake appeared peaceful today, and the yellowish murky water reflected the sky and the shores.

Our journey took us to the end of road 933 or the access road to the Fljótsdalur Hydropower Station; from here, we continued on a gravel road deeper into the valley, past small waterfalls until the guesthouse appeared on the right.

Gulmur arrived to hand us the keys and show us the room. We were lucky, as the second room had not yet been rented out, which meant that after Gulmur and his son left, we had the whole house to ourselves.

A wonderful old house with charm, a large kitchen, and a laundry room with a washer and dryer. On the upper floor, there was a very spacious living room with armchairs, a rocking chair, a wood stove, and more...

Our room was also cozy and had a view of the opposite mountain; the bathroom was modern with a spacious shower—things couldn't have been better, could they? :-)

We settled in, tidied up a bit, and prepared our dinner, the highlight of which was the fresh, delicious smoked salmon fillet that Ingi's brother gave us as a farewell gift—so tasty! :-)

After that, we set out for a little hike towards the end of the valley, passing pastures with Icelandic horses, various gates, and sheep that were already leading their lambs across the meadows.

At an old abandoned farm, we found a sort of cable car over the river, consisting of two steel cables on which a wooden basket ran on four steel rollers; it was operated by hand, either by pulling directly from the basket or using a crank from the shore—perfect evening workout and lots of fun! :-)

The next day we took the F910 (Asturleid) first to Laugarfell; unfortunately, the season had not yet started, and the hot tubs were still drained. We continued towards Snæfell along the shore of Ufsarlón, then to the Kárahnjúkar dam of Hálslón, where our journey ended due to weather conditions preventing us from going further. After a little photo session and a walk over the dam, we headed back—no, the day was not over yet, as they seem endless, so:

we followed Gulmur's recommendation and visited Strutsfoss instead of Hengifoss in the adjacent valley. After driving with our Sputnik to a farm, we continued on foot. After about 90 minutes of hiking with partially steep ascents through a romantic landscape, we reached the end of the path but could only catch a glimpse of the waterfall due to low-hanging clouds and creeping fog.

Time for the drone to give us a better view, and what a view it was! Even during the capture, we were enchanted by the trolls in the rock faces and the almost mystical, elfin setting. The veil of the fall and the coloring of the slopes was:

RÚSÍNAN Í PYLSUENDANUM (Raisin at the end of the Hot Dog)

YouTube Links:

Strutsfoss

https://youtu.be/a0YYvtiht10

Part route F910

https://youtu.be/uL4FsYgBqEM