Well as sad as it is, we knew our Iceland ring road experience would have to come to an end at some point…
From Akureyri, all that separated us from the capital of Reykjavik was 700 km and an overnight stop at at the Snæfellsness peninsula, one of the newest national parks in Europe. Sounds like quite the task, but the kilometers fly by when they are as interesting as they have been in Iceland.
Along the drive we stopped at Hvitserkur, a sea stack in the ocean that was said to be the result of a troll who forgot to hide away from the sunshine. But truly, it was part of a volcanic plug that slowly wore away with the pounding of the ocean leaving only this unique rock formation behind:
Plus there were seals hanging around nearby!
Once we ended up in Grundarfjordur on the peninsula, the rain and fog was significant and although we knew the ocean was beside us, it was only the beach we could see. Just when we were saying we had great weather all trip and had been so lucky, we had a day full of rain!
Stops on the peninsula included Kirkjufell mountain with its accompanying waterfall…
…as well as Raudfeldar canyon, a narrow canyon passage you can crawl into if you’re willing to hop up the rocks in the river. Once inside, the only light comes in from the sky above the canyon opening. True to Icelandic folklore, there is a story of a half man/half troll that watches over the canyon after killing his nephews there (which they obviously deserved because they pushed his daughter onto a glacier and she floated away to Greenland).
Now after a short visit to the peninsula, we are heading to Reykjavik for a few days along with some Saturday night debauchery. We’ll be sure to tell you all about it!
All in all on our road trip we did roughly 2800 km. We managed to avoid any problems with the vehicle despite giving it a good ride. We both agree that this is the best drive we have ever done, and would be quick to recommend it to anyone. I can’t imagine there is any other road trip that packs in more variety, sights, sounds, and experiences that this road is able to. And if the whole road is too much, at least drive from Reykjavik to Höfn along the south/east coast as we both thought this was the best part.
Once we have computer capabilities again (we post everything from our iPad on the go), we’ll share our road trip map.
