Leaving camp on our second morning we again were treated to views of the glaciers behind us.
After leaving the glacial area you pass thru the volcanic region with huge lava fields. In fact the road did not exist here until the 70’s.
Driving on the 1 got a bit boring so when we saw a path going out into the moss covered lava we took another loop detour!
Going further east you arrive at the village of Vik. From the hill above the town there is a nice view of the houses and the sea stacks behind them.
We took another small side trip to the bird wall at Dyrholaey, where we saw our first puffin!
The weather was turning a bit rainy and fairly windy on the exposed coast road. There is plenty to see with the lava fields and hundreds of waterfalls.
The two main attractions on the coast here are the waterfalls of Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss. The first is one of the biggest in the country and drops 60 meters. Legend says there is a Viking treasure buried behind the falls. We hiked up to the top, but the best view if from the halfway mark. We also met this crazy Canadian there with the same shirt on as me!
Next we moved onto Seljalandsfoss, where you can walk behind the also 60 meter falls. Leaving here there was some very gusting heavy winds. This is the same location where near the end of our trip the highway was closed due to high winds that had blow several cars and a camper off the road.
We arrived in Grindavik in the south west of the Island with the intention of camping, but the winds were howling and it was 4 degrees and raining. It is shocking how expensive a room in a guesthouse (shared bath) is on Iceland. Almost as much as Scotland Gino. We did not have much choice and hunkered down for the night. We woke up to a drear day, but it was barely raining now and not really very windy. From Grindavik we rode up to the airport to meet our friends Gord and Adrianna from Vancouver.
We did some touring of the Reykjanes Peninsula including a visit to the Viking Museum and the Bridge between the continents. This is a bridge that allows you to cross the continental divide from the Eurasian continental plate to the American plate.
We had tickets to the Blue lagoon today, but instead of taking the paved road there we rode cross-country on a dirt track that was on the GPS, but not on the map. This was thru a lava fields. Along the way there were several steam vents visible and finally the pipes for “harvesting” the steam.
The Blue lagoon itself is very expensive for a soak in the wastewater from the nearby geothermal plant, but was a relaxing way to spend a rainy afternoon.
