The North of the North

Saturday, 08/14/2021

In the morning, we drive to the Arctic Henge in the same town. These are symmetric, artificially constructed arches made of huge stone blocks. Nice for taking photos, but the weather and visibility are poor. Then we continue south and stop at several waterfalls. First at Hafragilsfoss, then at Dettifoss. The weather is foggy, with drizzle and very cold wind - simply dreadful. The damp cold penetrates to the bones. The next stretch is a terrible gravel road with washboard surface, which makes us curse and shakes all our belongings. Then another waterfall, the Goðafoss. We cook dinner by the river with lots of tiny flies, it is super annoying. A little further along the road, there is another waterfall, the Aldeyjarfoss. Finally, the sun comes out a bit and gives us a very beautiful sunset. That immediately lifts the mood. While looking for a place to sleep, we come across the fifth waterfall today, the Hrafnabjargafoss. I can hardly tell them apart anymore, they are all magnificent and impressive, with huge amounts of water. We drive off the road onto a small path and sleep all alone right by a lakeshore.

Sunday, 08/15/2021

We are awakened by bright sunshine, it is getting too warm in our sleeping bags. Outside, we are still fighting against the tiny flies that would love to fly into our nose, mouth, and eyes, but the weather is kind to us. We drive leisurely up to the north coast and spontaneously stop at a car museum with over 100 vintage cars along the way. Two halls are filled with beautifully restored cars. The oldest vehicles here are from 1914, with wooden bodies. Outside on a large meadow are the remaining vintage cars that have not yet made it to the workshop, waiting in the tall grass for their appearance.

At noon, we arrive in Húsavík and cook a rice dish at a rest area with a good view behind a windscreen. The sun shines strongly and warms us wonderfully. That remains the same for the rest of the day, so we have glowing faces in the evening. We stroll through the town and let the sun shine on us. It is still "only" 16 degrees with long underwear and a wool sweater, but the tension of freezing finally disappears.

For the night, we drive along the coast towards the southwest, along a long, lonely gravel road, until we can no longer go further on the beach and almost get stuck in the sand. Here we park, look out at the sea for a while, and enjoy the relaxing day. So far, the weather has been 50% beautiful, 50% disgusting. While having a glass of wine in the bus, a black Arctic fox runs around our car and chases along the beach for a while.

Monday, 08/16/2021

Working in the bus is going well today, we are completely alone at our beach all day. The network coverage here is really amazing, even in the most remote areas. Actually, we had hoped for WiFi at the campsites, but most of them don't even have any. The weather remains stable with a slight sun, and it only gets cold when the shadow of the steep coast falls on us, so we continue driving.

The road leads us to Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland. The landscape around us is amazing, especially the wide, flat riverbeds fascinate us. The water naturally flows in several braided arms along there, wherever it feels good. In Germany, this would be called inefficient and wasteful of space, but it is so beautiful. Wherever we are, a river, a waterfall, or the sea are never far away, often all at once. Because the sun is still shining strongly in the late afternoon, we spontaneously take a detour off the road, stop at a small river, and briefly splash around in the refreshingly cold water.

In Akureyri, we stroll through the small center and treat ourselves to a delicious veggie burger and fresh salmon for Ben in a hostel with a restaurant for the end of the day. For the night, we drive a good distance further away from the city, hoping to find a quiet spot at the end of a road. Since there is now a campsite there, we sleep there, but skip the paid hot pools because we are already freshly washed.

Tuesday, 08/17/2021

Today it is cooler again with light rain, but we have to work anyway. We sit in the bus with our laptops until lunchtime, then we want to make some progress to reach the Westfjords. Ben drives the car all afternoon while I continue working in the passenger seat. The weather improves again and beautiful, quite isolated landscapes pass by our windows. The surroundings are rugged and rocky, with little or low vegetation. There is still some snow on the hills and water is everywhere in some form. We make a stop at Hvitserkur, where you can look at a high, flat rock formation in the sea from the black sandy beach. From the observation platform, we are sure to have spotted a whale further back. A few seals or something similar are playing near the beach and jumping through the water.

For dinner, we take a short break in Reykjanes, where geothermal springs flow into the sea with steam. The small pool is so hot that you almost burn your fingers. We cook and eat with a magical sunset and find a place to sleep on a gravel plain nearby.

Wednesday, 08/18/2021

For the first time on this vacation, I can sleep in completely relaxed. The sun is shining, the work for the week is mostly done, and the 16 degrees feel really warm today. I don't even have to wear a jacket over my sweater. Since we have already made good progress, we also have little pressure today to see or move on to anything. At noon, we go to a free hot spring, which is dammed up in a small concrete basin between the road and the sea. There are some algae in the water, but at least it is wonderfully warm again. In between, we splash around briefly in the cool fjord.

On the further journey, a sign with seals tempts us to a parking lot. A few meters further on foot, we see them. Two seals play in the water, the rest lie lazily on some stones in the sun and nap. A little further on, we stop at an old house, built in 1864, inhabited until 1969, which has now been transformed into a mini museum with a café. There is coffee, fresh waffles with homemade jam, and a cheese sandwich. We have often seen blueberry and rhubarb jam for sale, it seems to grow well here. I think most other food has a hard time under these tough conditions. Of course, we see countless sheep and horses every day, but they seem so normal in the landscape here that we haven't taken a photo of them yet and I haven't mentioned them either.

Shortly before sunset, we arrive at Dynjandi, a wide, flat waterfall that winds its way along a rocky slope for a long way. On the footpath there, there are 3-4 more small waterfalls from the same river. The search for a sleeping place is a bit more difficult, but after a while, we find a secluded spot for the night.

Thursday, 08/19/2021

It is drizzling slightly, but not very cold. Early in the morning, we continue to the next public, free hot pool and go for another swim, although we don't really need it. The north of Iceland and the Westfjords have been pleasantly quiet so far in terms of other tourists. That could change a bit from Reykjavik in the south.

In the next small fishing village, Bíldudalur, there is supposedly the best fish & chips in all of Iceland in a small shop/café/restaurant, so we stroll around until the kitchen opens for lunch and of course, we try it out. I have a vegan burger with a homemade quinoa patty. The (unfortunately extremely expensive) food actually tastes very good, but our bodies are not used to all the frying fat from the breaded fish and fries. When we want to continue driving, we fall into a deep food coma and have to sleep for two hours in the next parking bay.

The next part of the journey takes us to the Látrabjarg cliffs, the westernmost point of Iceland. We walk along the upper edge of the coast for a while, which becomes up to 450 meters high at the highest point, and let ourselves be screamed at by an incredible number of cawing seagulls. Unfortunately, it is rather foggy, but still impressive.

As we leave the peninsula and head east again, we find an isolated sleeping place in a dead-end street. Since it is not yet very late, we watch a film in bed and enjoy some wine, cheese, and olives.

Friday, 08/20/2021

After a leisurely sleep, we stop at another (this time paid) warm swimming pool. This one is really big and concrete with changing rooms, showers, and toilets. We bathe for a while and I practice my jump into the water (every child can do it, right?). In the next picnic bay, we cook rice with vegetables, then continue towards the south. At a gas station, we again see a film set, this time with people in 70s bell-bottoms and old rusty cars.

In the evening, we take photos of a pointy hill in front of Grundarfjörður with a waterfall in front of it. It is less spectacular for me, but apparently, it is a very popular photo motif. At dusk, we visit the probably only laundromat in the northern half of Iceland in the town, a garden shed with a washing machine and a dryer inside. We get coins for the machines next door in the general store, which sells everything from tools to furniture to socks and has more industrial washing machines running in the back room - at 10 p.m. After two weeks on the road, underwear and heavily worn clothes are now washed and dried while we cook and stroll through the small town. Shortly before midnight, we drive along a disused road along the fjord (many fjords have a long bridge road from one headland to the next instead), and find a lonely and deserted sleeping spot.