Iceland is a country that has been on my bucketlist for a while and this year my boyfriend and I decided to finally go. On the 8th of july we left for a two week roadtrip through the immense beauty of the country of ice and fire. This is Part II.
(You can read about Pt. I here)
KAYAKAVONTUUR & JÖKULSARLON Day 6
HEINABERG LAGOON
The day starts of really well (and early, because we get up at 6 o'clock) because I like my old self again! Luckily, because day 6 is a day I really looked forward to because we planned an adventurous kayaktrip at the Heinaberg Glacier Lagoon! We chose to rise at an unpleasant early hour because we hoped the group would be smaller in the morning. And we were oh so lucky because when we arrived, it turned out that we were the only ones! So a private tour for us!
We received a drysuit in our size, together with boots and gloves. We were dressed warmly already - as adviced - and had our sunglasses with us, even though it was grey and rainy. e drive to the lake with a truck and are lucky for the third time: the sun comes out! We each take a kayak and what follows next are three hours of pure bliss.
The beauty of the ice rocks in the water is simply breathtaking. We float through the most tiny openings and after a while of paddling, we drag our kayaks onto a big ice rock and we start discovering it by foot. Once again: pure beauty. Honestly, this were some of the happiest hours of my life. I enjoyed every bit of it and I couldn't stop smiling. I was overwhelmed with it all. Nature is so wonderful.
Sidenote: the pictures of our small adventure aren't the highest quality because I don't have a waterproof camera case - so I took my smartphone (and no, it's not a very expensive one). But it mostly is about the experience and this is truly something I'll never forget.
Jökulsarlon
After this perfect sunny morning, we drive to Jökulsarlon, where we lunch and make use of the sun to dry our tent. It was soaked because of the continuous rain the previous day and night. It was a funny view!
We were so happy with the sun - not only because it made for the perfect kayak adventure, but also because we really needed our tent to dry! We wouldn't have lived through another night of rain otherwise. The tent was soaked and once it rains, it's impossible to get everything dry! We were a bit worried, but this made everything all right! It was a funny view! On the left: I ate my lunch, cornflakes with the most wonderful view. People looked weird at us, but I couldn't be bothered at all!
Jökulsarlon is really wonderful but a bit less overwhelming because our adventure on the glacier lagoon. It is a must-see though, however it is a pitty that there are so many tourists. The view on the lake is stunning and you can follow a path to the see. You follow the stream of the river and see it merge with the seawater and the steady flow takes the ice rocks with it. On the beach, there is this surreal view of rocks of ice lying on the beach. Quite magical.
And of course we had to dip our feet in the see! It was icecold, as expected, but a great thing to do. And the sun was shining, so afterwards we just sat down and waited until the sun dried our feet.
On the road
Day 6 was amazing, but also very long. After Jökulsarlon we planned on driving for a while so we could spend the night in the east of Iceland. We drove around four hours and were exhausted because we were up since six in the morning. We spent the night at a small camping in Reydafjördur, where we only started our dinner at eleven o'clock in the evening.
DETTIFOSS & ASBYRGI Day 7
Dettifoss
The most powerful waterfall in Iceland, even in Europe. We were very curious. This time we woke at our normal hour (at nine), but it was difficult to get up. We still had a three hour drive ahead of us to Dettifoss. We decided to take the shortest route, a gravel road that takes you to the least touristy side of the waterfall (because buses don't take the gravel roads).
We were a bit worried because we didn't drive a 4x4, but our car was allowed on the road - so a bit slower than allowed, we drove Dettifoss. The waterfall was beautiful - all of them are really - and indeed very powerful because of the huge amounts of water that crash into the ravine. We had planned to hike for a bit, but we were too tired and drove further to Asbyrgi canyon.
Asbyrgi Canyon
Very short: Asbyrgi disappointed. To be honest though, be couldn't do a good long hike because it was quite late when we finally arrived, but the paths we walked where really unimpressive. We didn't know what was special. On our way to the next camping, we drive through Husavik where we stop at the port to look at the view.
Luxury camping & food poisoning
A bit disappointed by Asbyrgi we drove to our next camping: Heidarbaer. We were happy to arrive at a decent hour for once (the previous days, it always got pretty late) and we could eat at a normal hour: 18h30. This camping was the best and most luxurous one until now - there even was a swimming pool! So after dinner, we immediately took a plonge.
However... we we got into our sleeping bags, I didn't feel well. At first I thought it would be my food intolerances (I'm intolerant to dair and wheat) and that I ate something wrong. That's no fun, but it would pass. However after one hour of trying to sleep I had to run out of the tent because my dinner came out. Yes, food poisoning. That sucked, especially because I had been sick already! But I felt better and hoped that I night of sleep would be enough to get me through.
GODAFOSS & MYVATN Day 8
Not so good morning. I'm still ill and because I don't have enough medicine with me, we decide to drive to the pharmacy before we start our day. It's Iceland though, so this means a detour of one hour. My boyfriend is fine, luckily. Today we had planned a hike at Myvant park, but we decided to postpone that and we went to Godafoss and Hevrir.
Godafoss
When we arrive at the waterfall of the Gods, it starts pouring. Rain in iceland is terrible because it gets so cold. And it's impossible to stay warm because you can't stay dry. We wait in the car for a while but realize after a while that it won't pass. So we put on our raincoat (and pants) and walk to the waterfal. Godafoss is really beautiful, but we didn't stay long with the weather. But definitely worth a stop!
Hevrir
Hevrir is a geothermical reagion in Myvatn park and a really fun visit. Expect lots of simmering mud and lots of smoke. There's also a fun hike on the hill closeby! It's quite steep but very short. In half an hour, maximum one hour, you can do the tour. I only got halfway - my energy was depleted - but my boyfriend made it to the top and brought a report. Even on top of that hill you could find puddles of boiling water, combined with a beautiful view over the park.
Myvatn Day 9
We moved our dayhike in Myvatn to today because I wasn't very well yesterday. However, I still felt really pour today and decided to stay at the camping and sleep the whole day. I sent my boyfriend - who wanted to stay with me to take care of me - away so he could do the hike anyway. I would sleep so he couldn't do much at the camping. As sweet as he is, he came back in the late afternoon with thousands of pictures for me, so I could see the whole hike.
So it was a really simple day and we decide to stay another night at the same camping because I can really use some rest. We enjoy the luxury (we can read indoors in a sofa) and get to bed early.
TIP: Always make sure to have some extra time in your planning when you go on a roadtrip. Something can go 'wrong' very easily but it's also nice to have the option to stay longer at a place you really like or to choose a day of rest. Worst-case, you have to use it because you get sick, but lets hope not. I promise you that you won't regret that extra time - and filling it up is never difficult.
Myvatn Nature Baths Day 10
Today I finally feel better again. My energy level is still no 100% but it's going well. Today's planning is relaxed: the Myvatn Nature Baths. Normally we would visit these after the dayhike (the one my boyfriend ended up doing alone on day 9) but because I also wanted to go, we pushed it a day further on the schedule. We slept in and before the baths my boyfriend took me to Grotagja, a place he visited on his hike.
Grotagja
Grotagja is a stop on the dayhike I had really wanted to see and my boyfriend didn't mind taking me there even after he saw it. It's a cave filled with clear, hot water, the size of a swimming pool. It's a very popular stop in Myvatn Park because the cave was used as a background drop for Game of Thrones. Remember the cave Ingritte and John Snow had sex? Well... However in the series the place is really touched up and a waterfall magically appears. But it is still a wonderful view, the bright blue water in a cave. A shame you aren't allowed to swim!
What a travel guide won't mention is that if you climb to the top of the cave (you see the ropes on the outside of the rock, don't make up your own route), you can see the fault line between the Eurasian and American continent. Quite impressive!
Myvatn Nature Baths
Can you still see I was ill?
The Myvatn Nature Baths are the small version of the Blue Lagoon. If you think the popular Blue Lagoon is too expensive than I can really recommend these baths in Myvatn. For students it's 'only' 27 euros, which is a huge difference in price with the minimum of 80 euros you pay for the bigger version near Reykjavik. However, if you want to go to the Blue Lagoon, you can easily skip these Myvatn Nature Baths because it's the same experience, but smaller.
We drive through the Myvatn park on our way to the next stop and see some beautiful landscapes.
And with the end of day ten, we are at one third of our roadtrip through this beautiful country. Part II of our journey was a bit calmer because of the food poisoning, but also contained one of the highlights of this trip. And for the last five days we planned a lot of beautiful, cold and exciting things - but you can read about that in Pt. III -
Love, Elise
