Hofn, Iceland 2

Today was another amazing day !

We needed an early start today as we had a tour booked quite away along the road at 3.30pm. And there was so much to see before that !

First stop was Skogafoss – another spectacular waterfall considered to be one of the best in Iceland – no argument from me ! We were treated to a fantastic sunny day to see it as well ! We had so much planned for the day, we kept to the lower level however there is a stairway (500 steps) which takes you to the top overlooking the falls.

Then, you just drive down the road a way and next to you there is a glacier across the field !

The next stop was Dyrholaey Promontory – we took the “high road” first as this overlooks one of the black sand beaches which run for miles and miles. A bit of an adventure on the bumpy dirt road but at least we had an all wheel drive vehicle – those taking some of the smaller cars (despite the warnings) may have been doing their excess in !

And then there were the puffins putting on a show. We hadn’t expected to see any as the season had really finished – but hey, we haven’t expected a lot of the things we have been able to see so far so we’ll just go with the flow ! A late puffin is a good puffin as far as we were concerned !

After a quick pit stop at the “loo with a view ” –

…. it was down to the lower level to take in the black beach on the other side before actually driving further along and into the beach area itself – Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

The beach is striking – there are massive cliff columns – with thousands of birds nesting above – as well as the rock formations in the sea just off the shoreline. As you can see it is a popular place !

And as you can see, no shortage of puffins amongst the other birds here too !

It’s black !

We then had quite a drive to our planned tour at Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon. We stopped briefly to grab lunch in Vik to eat on the go as we were running a bit short on time. We had planned to visit Fjadrargljufur Canyon but the bumpy road in and the resulting crawling pace of the small cars which weren’t supposed to be using the “4wd only” road slowed us down a bit. But along the way there was no shortage of scenery elsewhere- that glacier is mighty big and seems to follow you !

No shortage of traffic around the Ring Road

Then it was time for our iceberg lake tour – a huge lake of floating icebergs which have come from the glacier’s edge – and eventually float out of the lake into the sea ! Just an incredible experience !

We thought this was big, but just down the road is a bigger lake – Jokulsarlon Lagoon where there are thousands more icebergs heading down the river and out to sea. Amongst these icebergs were numerous seals swimming around them and many birds perched on them – until they crashed into others stuck in the lakes entrance.

Across the river and out to the sea shore, many of the icebergs break up and float back to the shore. This is called Diamond Beach as the small chunks of iceberg glitter in the sunshine – and being late afternoon we had quite a good show, though there were not a lot of icebergs on the beach today.

We had such a feast for our senses today and we were all glad to reach our bed for the night at Fosshotel Vatnajokull. It’s out in the middle of nowhere but you can’t complain about the location – We had a nice meal in the restaurant overlooking 3 enormous tongues of the glacier and surrounded by gigantic mountains- a real “pinch me, I’m dreaming” experience.

A lot of these places are where the main tourist spots are so most chances for a scenic flight were thwarted today 😜 –

We’ll see what we can do tomorrow !

Just an amazing day !

Today’s Tour Trivia – Don’t come to Iceland and expect to use public transport – it doesn’t have a public railway system. Not surprising when they have lots of “rickety” one lane road bridges because they are easier to replace when they get washed away !