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Published: November 5th 2022
Dear All
Oh my goodness! I can honestly say now, with days of evidence in hand, that Iceland is just amazing!! During the first couple of days of my Iceland Ring Road road trip, I had the most amazing time exploring some seriously wondrous locations in the north of this magnificent country. It was just amazing, with each day bringing on something completely different and equally stunning! It was just amazing!
Upon leaving East Iceland, I actually felt a little sad to say goodbye to the host of the farmstead where I was staying. He was such a nice, wise and well-travelled guy. He enjoys his solitude on the farm, but also enjoys meeting his visitors when they come during the summer. I felt a connection with him. Still, it was good to move on and explore somewhere new. I had recently found out that my rental car could play songs from my MP3 Player, so I turned on my "American Anthems" album up high, with perfect music for a road trip, and began my Ring Road journey.
The day started with an amazing two-hour drive through some seriously other-worldly scenery, beginning rather lunar-like, perhaps Mars-like, and then
moving on to black volcanic Mordor-like from the Lord of the Rings. The landscape was utterly amazing, and as with the rest of my 12-day road trip, I parked up the car on a gravelly layby many times just to drink in the amazing Icelandic scenery and take some epic photos of it. After a couple of hours, the smell of sulphur started to fill the air, like rotten eggs, and I realised I was approaching my main destination for the day - the stunning volcanic region of Mývatn - it was just wonderful!
There were a number of little spots I planned to visit in this part of Iceland, and having my own wheels rather than relying on a bus schedule made it much easier. First off was amazing Hverir - an area of bubbling mud pools, steaming vents, wildly coloured rocks (I'm colour blind, so wasn't quite sure what the colours were - lots of unexpected reds, yellows and browns I'd say), and the constant whiff of sulphur in the air. It was an incredible lively landscape to wander around, and I took some great photos there.
After Hverir, I headed to the Mývatn Nature Baths.
Hverir
Mývatn RegionThese are North Iceland's answer to the south-west's Blue Lagoon, which was to come later in my journey. Both places involve a series of very relaxing turquoise-coloured hot pools, surrounded by a barren lunar landscape, making for a seriously atmospheric soak. They both also created a seriously volcanic dent in my wallet, but they were very much worth it I thought. I spent an amazing two hours of chill time, relaxing in the milky blue waters and contemplating the wonders of this amazing part of the world. The heavens opened twice whilst I was there, but this was actually really quite pleasant, having my head cooled with the refreshing rain water while the rest of my body was submerged in the lovely warm bath. I got speaking with a few members of an English tour group who were cruising around the waters of Iceland - they were the first English accents I'd heard in a long time. There seemed to be thus far mostly Spanish, Italian, German and French tourists, which is surprising considering how close the UK is to this remarkable country. I also got talking with a fellow teacher from Germany, and a cool American guy from Washington
Me, Hverfjall
Mývatn Region state, USA. There was still plenty of chilled alone-time in the waters. It was a wonderful experience, although I did feel like I smelt of sulphur for the rest of the day!
After my geothermal soak, I drove to nearby Grjótagjá (I have no idea how that is pronounced!!), which is an underground hot spring in a cave, spectacularly accessed by clambering along rocks through a small crack in the earth's surface. People used to bathe there until the 1960s, when nearby volcanic activity heated the water up too hot for humans, although I have read that some locals do still bathe in it. Touching the water, it did feel a tad too hot to my mind, and I was happy to just contemplate the beauty of the pool in this unique cave location.
After this, I climbed up the volcanic slopes of nearby Hverfjall. This mountain is your classic volcano, with steep sides of loose black rock up to a crater rim, which then descends into the crater below. It is huge, and once up there, you can actually walk the two miles around the crater rim itself, which some people were doing. If there hadn't been
other places I wanted to see in this area, I would very much have enjoyed doing this too, but I satisfied myself simply with the amazing climb up there, and the amazing view of this perfect volcano from the top. There were also awesome views of the whole of the Mývatn region up there, which is made up of a large lake, surrounded by volcanic peaks, and lots of steam coming from various places all around. I know I have used, and will continue to use, the adjective "other-worldly" many times in this blog so far, but it just has to be said of this region again, and for much of Iceland for that matter, that it really is other-worldly.
Finally, I headed for a mesmerising walk around the lava formations of the nearby Dimmuborgir lava field, formed by an underground lava lake once ten metres deep, created from an eruption of nearby volcanoes around 2300 years ago, and the subsequent collapse of this massive lava tunnel. What is left behind are countless lava pillars still standing after the collapse of the roof, some very thin, some up to several metres wide, all jagged and creating several unusual and
notable shapes. In Icelandic folklore, the area is said to connect earth with the infernal regions, while Nordic Christian lore sees it as the place where Satan fell to earth when he was cast out of heaven - the Norwegians called it "Helvetes katakomber", or "The Catacombs of Hell", when they arrived. It was certainly, to coin a phrase, "other-worldly"! I enjoyed an amazing two-mile walk around this hellish location, finding it in actual fact to be quite divine. There were numerous formations to be seen, including most notably one called "The Church", which was pretty much in the exact shape of a church, complete with a volcanic altar inside - amazing!
There were still a couple of noteworthy places nearby that I wanted to visit, including the Skútustaðagígar "pseudo-craters", or mini volcanic craters you can walk around, and a bird-watching place called Sigurgeir's Bird Museum on Lake Mývatn itself, but I accepted that I'd prefer quality of visits rather than quantity, and was very satisfied already with what I had in fact seen in this remarkable area. I was at least able to drive by the pseudo-craters and see them from the car, and I'd had plenty of
Hverir
Mývatn Region other opportunities for birdwatching throughout this trip, so I was ok with moving on. I drove on up north through beautiful rolling green volcanic hills, and onto the coastal town of Húsavík which was to be my base for the next two nights. I checked into a lovely eco-hostel accommodation, single room with again a shared bathroom, which was a cosy place to down my bags. Húsavík was recently made famous by the 2020 US film "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga", which I later watched on Netflix in my accommodation in Reykjavik, and which gives an excellent insight into Icelandic culture as well as the Eurovision Song Contest. More importantly to my mind, it is famous for being one of the whale-watching capitals of the world, having one of the highest chances of seeing the greatest number of whale species anywhere in the world - thus, I had a plan there!
The next day just had to be one of the most amazing in my travel career so far! I awoke excited, as I was heading for my first ever whale watching trip, and I had also never seen a whale before. I'm not quite sure
Hverir
Mývatn Region how to build this one up, as it is seriously worth building up, but I guess I'll just go ahead and say it - I saw a Blue Whale!!!!! This is apparently incredibly rare, and for my first experience of whale watching, I was truly truly blessed! I will regale the tale more slowly now.
The sea was, again (!), very rough that day. Arriving at the whale-watching check-in desk, I was advised that my tour on a RIB boat may be cancelled, as they had already cancelled a couple of slow-boat trips that day. If the trip did go ahead, I was advised that it would be very cold, wet and rough out there, and was asked whether I still wanted to do it - heck yeah! I've conquered the Faroese waves, I can handle anything, I thought! The clothing and safety standards there were incredible, and they wrapped me up in everything imaginable - waterproof overalls, coat, gloves, on top of what I already had on which was thermal underwear, both top and bottom, jumper, hat and scarf. I felt, and looked, like a Teletubby, as all ten of us did in our boat, and it was
Hverir
Mývatn Region really quite funny seeing us all waddle off and get into the RIB. Our guide was a nice Spanish guy called Alberto, who had been there all season taking tourists out twice a day.
We first headed off to nearby Lundey Island, to see puffins - we saw lots, flying and swimming, but none were close enough to take a good picture of. After my previous visit to Mykines back in the Faroe Islands, I was fine with just observing them from a distance. We then sped across Skjálfandi Bay to a spot where two other RIBs, and two large sailing boats, were waiting. There was clearly something there, and after observing for a while, there came a single very high blow. Alberto, our amazing guide, clearly knew the species of whale from its blow, and offered us some good news and bad news, he said. The bad news was that this whale was a notoriously difficult one for the boat to follow, the good news was that it was a Blue Whale! Its blow is the highest of all whales, usually reaching up to 10 metres high, but sometimes up to 30 metres! It is the largest creature
Hverir
Mývatn Region on the planet, up to 30 metres long and weighing up to 200 tonnes - and that is, the largest creature not just today, but that has ever lived on this planet - even larger than the dinosaurs!! It is also an endangered species, with between 10,000 and 25,000 left in the world, 10% of what they once were. Finally, they are notoriously difficult to spot, and also, as I found, difficult to take a photo of! All these facts put together by Alberto made me realise how incredibly lucky I was there and then, to be in the presence of such an amazing animal. We tracked the animal for the following hour or so, gazing out over the waters for a blow, and once spotted, speeding over the rough waves to get to its location, along with the two other RIBs and two sailing boats. I managed to take two photos of its body, including one of its fin, and a photo of its blow, which I was incredibly happy with. I actually hadn't realised I'd captured them until checking my photos later that evening, as I just took pictures in the general direction of where I thought it
Hverir
Mývatn Region was. It surfaced so irregularly, and so quickly when it did, you would miss it in a blink of an eye. We even got to see its tail as it dived, though I didn't manage to take a photo of this.
Alberto told us that the Blue Whale is usually spotted in this bay in June, and even though he goes out twice a day, he had only seen it three times before during this season. Not only is it rare to see, but apparently tail glimpses whilst diving also occur during only 10% of sightings, and only one in five of these whales actually even show it when they dive. I mean, just how fortunate were we! The guide said countless times that day how lucky we were to have seen all of this in August, and advised us all to buy a lottery ticket too that day! It was a really special time, beautiful, and I actually had a little cry. I told this to Alberto, who said he had also cried when he first saw one - we shared an amazing moment and a warm hug! This was a once in a lifetime experience for me,
Hverir
Mývatn Region and it was so very special. It didn't matter one bit that I was completely wrapped up to the gills, that my fingers were frozen, and that my feet and shoes were completely soaked. None of this mattered at the time. The RIB captain also hit some serious waves as he was racing to keep up with the whale, with no attention seemingly paid to the wakes left by the other RIBs which were equally sizeable. I did feel at times that although special, it may not actually be worth capsizing the boat for, but in the end we remained upright, despite one serious splash down which covered the whole boat in a massive wave - I was glad I was holding on, and again felt sorry for my poor, ailing camera. Seriously though, it was an amazing experience, well worth it, and I thanked my little camera for taking the photos it did despite it being really quite poorly by now.
Back in town, I headed to my hostel to do some serious drying off, putting my shoes and socks on the radiator, and taking a moment to lie down and contemplate what had just happened - this
Me, Hverir
Mývatn Region was something that needed a moment to be still and take in.
And testament to the epicness of this amazing country, that actually wasn't it for the day. By early afternoon I had rested up and dried off, and headed out on a mini road trip around the local area to the east of Húsavík, called the "Diamond Circle". This is an upcoming area of tourism, designed to rival the south-west's own "Golden Circle", with its own airport of nearby Akureyri being promoted as the international gateway to the region, with international flights from Denmark, Germany and Spain recently added to its existing domestic flight schedule. I was happy to be exploring this area before the anticipated tourism boom there really kicks off. There were further amazing sights here to absorb, in a region referred to also as Jökulsárgljúfur, or "Glacier River Canyon".
Firstly, I stopped off at amazing Ásbyrgi, which is a canyon in the shape of a horseshoe - you walk through a lush green forest in the middle of it, to the bottom of the horseshoe-shaped canyon running almost all around you with cliffs rising up to 90 metres. At the base of this incredible
Common Sign in Icelandic Baths, Mývatn Nature Baths
You need to wash thoroughly and completely naked before entering geological formation is a very pretty lake, beautifully reflecting the vivid greens of the trees and browns of the cliffs all around. It was really quite a unique place to be in. Local legend has it that the canyon was created by Thor's horse Sleipnir when it landed on earth, and thus it is nicknamed "Sleipnir's Footprint", while geologists believe it to have been formed by catastrophic glacial flooding caused by the eruption of a volcano further south. I prefer the local Thor story!
After this, I headed to nearby Hljóðaklettar, meaning "Echo Rocks", although again, I've no idea how to pronounce this! This was a place with some truly bizarre and mind-blowing rock formations, including swirls, spirals, rosettes, honeycombs and basalt columns, produced by some very bizarre volcanic activity long ago. It was seriously impressive, and again, "other-worldly", though I'd even go so far as to say it was rather alien-like, akin to something from the film "Prometheus".
Finally, I drove to nearby Dettifoss, a seriously mighty waterfall and one of Iceland's most famous, along with its mini neighbour called Selfoss. I visited the latter first, so that I could save the best until last, and boy
Me
Mývatn Nature Baths was it worth it. I was mesmerised by Dettifoss's might, its thunderous sound, and its beautifully coloured grey glacial meltwater, just as the sun came out and created a perfect rainbow hovering above it. It is Iceland's most powerful waterfall, and the second-most powerful in Europe after the Rhine Falls in Switzerland, at 100 metres wide, 44 metres high, and having an average flow of nearly 200 cubic metres per second. I think Dettifoss was my favourite of the many waterfalls I saw in this amazing country, simply due to its power, beautiful colour, and thunderous roar. It was also featured at the beginning of the afore-mentioned film "Prometheus", so maybe having it brought earlier to mind was no coincidence, and perhaps in fact echoed the earlier thoughts of the film's producers who must have scouted the area for filming locations.
Although the road in the Jökulsárgljúfur region had been recently tarmacced, which I was very pleased with, there were still some parts with some serious gravel on it. Coming across these parts I drove purposefully slowly, but at one point was overtaken by an idiot going really fast who sprayed some of the gravel up onto my car.
It created several tiny holes on my windscreen, and quite a noticeable gash on the side. This unfortunately pressed a bit on my mind for the rest of my road trip, wondering what would happen when I turned the car in. Fortunately I had rental car insurance which would have covered it, but it was still on my mind. I didn't like this experience, but it did make me even more cautious about driving on gravel roads, which may actually have been a blessing in disguise to perhaps avoid any further, even worse, damage.
I arrived back that evening in my hostel quite late, but it was seriously worth it. This was such an incredible day for me, definitely one of the best days ever in my travel career, and I went to sleep that night contemplating so many wonderful moments from that day. Indeed, I slept very well!
The next day I was heading to nearby Akureyri and around, but more on that in my next blog entry.
Thanks for reading, and all the best.
Alex
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Other worldly!…. And a waterfall around every corner
Now you know why we have been to Iceland twice. We rarely repeat a country. I loved the part of your blog when you returned from whale watching and needed to sit quietly for a moment and take in all that had happened that day. That is what we are doing right now. I’m laying in a hammock in the coffee region of Columbia absorbing the beautiful hills, the amazing birds and the serenity that surrounds us. Your blog was perfect reading. I can picture you all dressed up to stay warm on the boat. I do think the boat captain needed to tone it down a bit but you survived. How is the camera? I lost one in New Zealand as it took on too much water at a waterfall. Iceland has a stark beauty and does make you feel as if you are on another planet. Thermal waters are the most healing. Thanks for taking us along on this adventure. MJ