[Road trip in Iceland] Days 6 & 7: The Eastern Fjords

Since I’m the one who plans the whole trip, I have fun making surprises from time to time at JB.

Part 1: Travel Diaries: Days 6 & 7 Part
2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Diary

Day 6

Itinerary of the day 6

Access my personalized Google Maps map here

Stop 1: Surprise

The day before, JB was instructed to get up relatively early (7:30 am). At 8:00 am, we take the car leaving all our stuff at the cottage and JB is instructed to take his bathing suit & a towel. As for me, I already wear a bathing suit under my clothes. We follow the GPS and when we get there, nothing happens. I’m starting to stress also because I’ve never been there, this address was recommended to me by Martha, a German-Icelandic woman from a guesthouse.

After a quick check on maps.me I find the right path, we walk 1 minute and what is behind a huge rock: a thermal water pool with an incredible view on the snowy mountains!

There are even hooks for clothes. But no locker room (that’s why I changed before!)

However, we recommend that you come with flip-flops (+ your normal shoes of course) so as not to get your feet dirty. The water is between 39°C – 40°C, what happiness! The pool is super clean (the cleanest since the beginning)! What I like is that it belongs to the city. I don’t like to swim in someone’s private property (in Iceland, all the land belongs to someone), without paying, without asking permission. I don’t like people walking in my garden, I don’t want to do the same to others. So Martha gave me that addresses are either paying or allowed.

It is now that JB understands why I chose the accommodation where we are: Bragdavellir Cottages(Booking link). It’s only 10 minutes away from here! That way, right after this exceptional bath in the middle of nature, we can come back to the cottage, take a shower and change our clothes. Practical isn’t it?

OK, I’ll give you the address but I promise, no wild camping (the “camping forbidden” signs are planted everywhere), and no garbage please

Google maps coordinates
Map from maps.me

Stop 2: Djúpivogur

We enter the tiny town of Djúpivogur. Not far from the port, we can see huge eggs, representing every species of Icelandic birds.

On the way out, we stop at the Stones & Bones boutique , where a nature lover collects the skeletons of sea creatures stranded on the beach. To keep the white bones like this without chemicals takes a lot of work. He also has a store of stones & necklaces…

Stop 3: Nykurhylsfoss

It’s a minor stop sign but I saw the tourist cars (12 seats) stopping there. The waterfall isn’t exceptional but the surroundings are very nice. At 1.5km from there, there is a campsite – with a view.

The Eastern Fjords

That’s it, here we are! It is the 1st time that we visit the fjords by car. The first time, it was on a cruise in Norway. The 2nd time, it was by boat in New Zealand

There are so many fjords that I don’t even remember where each picture was taken 🙂 plus with all this snow, the fjords look a lot alike. Too bad the weather isn’t better because we don’t see the blue water here 🙁 nor the mountains reflecting on the water.

Usually JB drives, but there are so few people on the road that I wanted to drive too. It’s been years since I’ve been behind the wheel of a manual speed car. I’m obviously a bit stressed out, with all those turns, it wasn’t a good decision. At one point, I missed my hill start, I slipped backwards and three very angry cars from nowhere let me know that I was driving badly 🙁 This picture almost cost me an accident, please appreciate it for what it’s worth

So, we drove along route 1 to Reyðarfjörður where we took the 92 to Eskifjörður. The 92 allows us to be, at one time, at the water level, contrary to the other roads which are a little bit higher.

Practical info: we had a hard time finding an open gas station café (you can help yourself to gas but not eat a hot dog – because they are closed in winter). We were able to have lunch at Olís in Reyðafjörður where they sell affordable sandwiches/burgers (15€). -10% on the bill if you ask (for free) for their fidelity card

We then took a 6km tunnel (it smells like humidity in there, very unpleasant), before driving between two snowy mountains…

to the intersection with road 953 which was supposed to take me to Klifbrekku Falls and Mjóifjörður, the most beautiful fjord in the East. But this road is indicated as closed on vedur.is 🙁 snif

On site, there are no signs but the flagship site made it clear that we couldn’t go there to find out why the road is closed etc.

If you go there in summer, please send me your pictures!

From that moment on, the trees seem to live again because the snow no longer dominates the landscape, we see lots of trees !

Hengifoss Guesthouse

We decide to spend the night near Lake Lagarfljót, where a giant monster (bouuuhhh) lived, to facilitate our visit of the Hengifoss waterfall the next day. We have a room with private bathroom with a breathtaking view, for 87€ per night. They also have a campground. In summer, breakfast (buffet) can be served for an extra charge. Link Booking

Note: in Iceland, even for a double bed, they put two individual blankets, because like in Norway, they are very keen that each person should be warm at night (without the other person stealing the blanket).

Day 7

Ouch, the time passes quickly, we are already on the 7th day of our journey. We moved not badly, walked not badly and we decided to rest a little today. In the program: very light and a little driving for me. I miss practice and I need an empty country like Iceland to train 🙂

Itinerary of Day 7

My personalized Google Maps map is always available here

Stop 1: Litlanesfoss and Hengifoss

Today, you have to walk in the morning. I’m a bit afraid of this little “easy” walk for some but difficult for others (read the comments on Tripadvisor in March & April) but decide to go anyway. To see. Out of curiosity.

Today, the good weather has returned, so I’m full of hope for my little non-sporty legs.

One guesses by far the location of Hengifoss. Indeed, it seems that there is a huge ditch that divided the mountain in two, and in the middle flow a dozen of waterfalls of various sizes.

After 20 minutes of ascent, two small waterfalls on the road, with the wind whipping (slightly but it contributes to the cold anyway – 2°C this morning), we arrive at the 1st Litlanesfoss waterfall.

It is one of my favorites in Iceland because it is surrounded by basalt columns, like Svartifoss

I have zoomed in fully so that you can see the details. Actually, we’re a little further than that. This waterfall is beautiful. If you don’t like walking, at least come and see it!

Hengifoss

Not even tired, we see Hengifoss from afar, the waterfall does not look frozen, so we decide to continue. 25 minutes later, we arrive at the first view point.

I don’t know if you see it but it’s the “thing” in the middle of the red lines

This is the 2nd highest waterfall in Iceland, but half of the waterfall is frozen so… the effect is a little less cool. I let you google all its beauty on Google. This schematic explains very well why we have red stripes (the earth formed from lava) in the middle of the black basalt layers.

I stop the two hikers coming from the other direction to ask them if it’s worth getting closer. They tell me “no”. My unsportsmanlike legs jump for joy and capitulate straight away. Okay, we stop there. Yes, because the difficulty is increasing too, now we’ll have to walk on slush AND mud. Ewwww…

Illustration: level of difficulty from the beginning to the first view point (from left to right)

Dear hikers, if you want to have the right plans for successful treks, you should read other blogs. Here, I avoid walking to the maximum. EDITOR’S NOTE. (cf. my article on around the world when you aren’t sporty)

Lake Lagarfljót

This lake is so huge that it looks like a fjord. With its 25km of length, its maximum depth reaches 112m!! There is talk about a monster living in the waters of the lake, there is even a video on YouTube showing a shape resembling a snake. But today, the lake looks super calm, reflecting wisely the snowy peaks.

It is along this lake that I decided to get back to driving, alternating between tarmac road and track. I let go after 30km because the road between Egilsstadir and Seydisfjordur is rather hard (a lot of uphill and a strong fog this morning).

Stop 2: Seydisfjordur

2nd stop of this short day: Seydisfjordur. With Norwegian architecture (because the city was populated by Norwegians coming here to fish herring). The houses are in jail, but it still reminds me of Oslo. First stop on the way: Gufufoss, only a few meters from the road. It’s funny to see a half frozen waterfall like that.

We each treat ourselves to a pizza at Skaftfell Bistro. The pizzas, delicious but not unforgettable either, cost between 12€ and 25€.

This is where cruises to the Faroe Islands and Denmark depart from. By the way, if you prefer to come by boat & drive your own car, this is where you will set foot first in Iceland. We are lucky today: a few rays of sunshine appear, allowing us to show you these pictures :

The blue church is a must-see in the city. Follow the rainbow colored tiles to discover the very unstagrammable street of the city.

Stop 3 : Borgarfjörður Eystri

I hesitated a lot to come all the way here and stay overnight – in winter – for a lot of reasons, but my instinct calculated the route better than me and we left for Borgarfjörður Eystri. Before going there, we fill up the tank because there won’t be many gas stations on the way. I could drive 30km, before letting JB take over as soon as it gets too high.

Moreover, at one point, we had to switch to 4-wheel mode because even our (yet robust) car is struggling (too steep slope, on a gravel road). But the view is breathtaking (thanks to the sun for being there today).

One goes up, to go down again… with this view ! Look at that !! That blue, those winding roads ! <3 <3

You still have to go around the mountains to get to the city. The roads are under construction at the moment but all the cars pass without any problem.

Highlights of this city: the beautiful, small church too choupinette

And this tiny house (30m²) right next to the church <3 <3 with its (supposed to be) grass roof. It even has a name : Lindarbakki. It’s a summer residence, its owner goes there every year, and the inhabitants help him to maintain the house by mowing the lawn. This house, with the puffin colony next door, attracts many tourists. There are a lot of treks to do in the area too, ask around! There is a story of elves too, I didn’t understand very well…

Blabjorg Guesthouse

Tonight we will spend the night at Blabjorg Guesthouse(link Booking). This is one of the reasons why we are here. Usually hotels or guesthouses with hot tub/jacuzzi outside are very expensive. But as this city isn’t much frequented by tourists and is booked last-minute, a room with shared bathroom costs only 76€/night. access to hot tub/sauna/jacuzzi & breakfast included

So we came very early to enjoy the hot baths and jacuzzi, open between 5 and 10 pm. It feels really good to take a hot bath with a view on the nature, the birds… The guesthouse also has a sauna and a hot bath inside, with a view – for those who are cold.

Puffin colony

So, I told you that I hesitated to come here – just for the hot bath and the beautiful house. Because tourists visit this city especially for its puffin colony (super beautiful birds). But they are only here from June. So to extend the trip just for that, it was not reasonable.

But I’m not always a reasonable person 😀 My instinct told me to come anyway, to spend the night. And guess what! The puffins came back – after their long winter absence – YESTERDAY !!!

When the receptionist told me the news, I was so happy. This is the easiest place in Iceland – to see them (they love the cliffs). And the best time to see them is in the evening, or early in the morning.

At 9pm, we take the car to go to the end of the town (6 minutes by car, the town is small), at the level of the port, to access via the stairs to a wooden hut – intended to observe them discreetly. And there they were! About thirty of them! Too cute, making funny noises. Their nests look like igloos, it’s too cute and when they fly, it looks like they have to make more effort than the others, it’s not graceful at all ahahaha Well, I couldn’t take nice pictures, I let you look on Google what they look like.

That’s all for today, the continuation of our adventure, it’s over here

Part 2: Practical Tips

Budget

Exchange rate in April 2019: 100kr = 0,75€

• Day 6 :
  • Gasoline: 6259kr
  • Accommodation : Hengifoss Guesthouse(link Booking) : 87€
  • Races: 4114kr
  • Fast-food at noon: 2294kr
• Day 7 :
  • Gasoline: 4800kr
  • Pizzas at noon : 3900kr
  • Accommodation : Blabjorg Guesthouse(link Booking) 76€/room with shared bathroom. Breakfast, spa included. Come early as the hot baths are taken in the evening