NOTE: Take a moment to click on the photos and then zoom in on the details. This place is huge and our camera is small. ALSO, it would be great to see your comments. At bottom of the post is a link to make a comment. Take a few minutes to share your thoughts.
The weather forecast showed pretty much the rest of our Iceland adventure in rain, except for the next tow days, so we decided to head to the far northwest and all of those fjords. Looking at the map it we quickly realized that a trip to the West Fjords would be a twelve hour round trip drive with no stops, so we booked an Airbnb for one night in a small coastal town halfway through the plan and got an early start. We headed north for our third trip through that amazing underwater tunnel and then past the peninsula and into the highlands and tundra. The views opened up as we traveled past farms dotted with marshmallow hay bales and up and onto the cliffs.
Every few miles there would be a local church and rectory, often with a cemetery. This Lutheran design is common. Add the architecture to the landscape and you have coffee table photos ready to be taken.
The paved road soon disappeared as we headed high up into the fjords. You aren't able to safely drive more than 30 or 40 mph on gravel and we took our time. Halfway up the first peninsula we stopped at a turnout, found a driftwood table, and enjoyed a great picnic lunch.
From there it was a winding drive in and out of the finger canyons, first around the shore line and then up and over the ridgeline to the next. All along the way there were countless waterfalls....far too many to count or even photograph. Since most of the snowpack is gone, we deduced that all this water had to be rain accumulation. Amazing that there is so much coming down the mountains this late into summer!
The shorelines are lush with green grass. The tops of the ridges are covered in moss-crusted lava. Every now and then we'd happen upon an old "viking" stone hut. This one was remarkably in great shape and obviously well-maintained. Sitting high up n the ridgeline, all by itself with no other visible structure on the horizon, we would only imagine how life must have been back there...especially knowing the winter takes up quite a bit of the year.
We hiked up to many of the falls. This one was very close to the road and cascaded down many levels. Up the hill the wild flowers were still vibrant and we found this amazing red clover.
We saw this guy way off in the distance and decided it may have a surprise, so we parked and started our trek across the moss and grass. It did not disappoint. The falls, are at least 800 feet tall and the amount of water gushing over was impressive.
We began to notice swams ont he coastline and that prompted a discusson on swans in saltwater. Research later that evening showed that swams will, when no other choice is available, land in saltwater lagoons. Instead of algae from the bottom of a pond, they eat the grass on the shoreline. AND,there were hundreds of them. Wow, what a long migration flight they must have heading to Greenland and Canada from wherever they started in Europe. Bet seeing Iceland from above is a relief!
One vista after another, and the Nordic weather gods were good to us. Amazing expanses of blue and green as far at the eye can see.
We reach the halfway point of our journey at the little town of Isafjordur, a sleepy fishing village of 2,500 people , tenth largest city in Iceland. We visited the local grocery for a few supplies before climping the last mountain pass and own to our B&B. Halfway up the mountain we came to a tunnel and the road sign was a bit bewildering....could that possibly be a "Y" in the tunnel? Yep, indeed and from that point on it was a one lane road for another five miles to the end. No room for oncoming traffic to pass, we simply followed the car in front of us, dodging cars using short turnouts every 500 feet or so. This was a first for us...and as we later learned, one of the few one-lane, two way tunnels in the world.
We reached our B&B in a nearby village of 200 people. A pleasant, almost suburban looking house run by a French couple. They were tourists three years ago, fell in love with the area, and decided it would be a great place to start a family. An boom, bought this house and had a baby.
We settled in for a quiet night, fixed a sea bass dinner and watched a bit of TV.
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