Iceland - Blog 3 Driving the Fjords on the East Coast to Reynahlid at Lake Myvatn

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Today we left the Glacier Hotel at Hoffell and set out on a huge driving day. It was grey and showering and quite cool. Every time we got out of the car we needed puffer jackets and our little beanies! Continued up the coast driving along many fjords. The road was really something. Up and down, blind corners, direct drops from high on the mountain sides look straight over the side into the ocean. All made for a spectacular coastal drive.

First stop was at the Eggs of Merry Bay at a town called Djupivogur. The town was a tiny fishing village and an artist had sculptured large granite eggs in colors representing local bird species. There were 34 eggs making quite an artistic sight along the harbor front.

Driving on we saw amazing scenery including a huge waterfall pouring off the cliff top directly into the ocean. Can’t ever recall seeing such a sight anywhere like that.

Arriving in Egilsstadir we took a hard left and started inland towards Lake Myvatn. My how the scenery changed. All of a sudden, we were in volcano territory and the landscape was a dessert of charred black ash and sand and lava and not a tree to be seen for at least 80 kms.

The first volcano sighted was the Hereoubreio – considered the queen of Icelandic mountains. It stood out with its flat-topped shape rising from the lava fields all around us.

Driving across the lava fields caused by the Hverfjall volcanic explosion about 2,500 years ago was like driving on the moon. This was a massive crater – biggest in Europe. All we can say is it made a big mess and nothing grows there!

As we got closer to Lake Myvatn we saw Krafla Volacano in the distance. Stopped to climb the Krafla caldera. This was a massive volcano and it erupted 9 times between 1974 and 1984. In all 29 eruptions recorded – a very active volcano. Managed to climb to the top of the caldera and get back to the car before a serious storm hit. Good timing!

Driving on a short distance we arrived at the bubbling hot springs of the beautiful geothermal area on the western side of Krafla volcano. It was really striking to see such a beautiful red colourful peak called Leirhnjukur. 525 metres of red, cream, white mountain, totally bare of vegetation falling away to the hissing and bubbling springs and steam pools. Of course, the air had a good smell of rotten egg gas to go with it!!

Pulled into the Hotel Reynihlio on the shores of Lake Myvatn in heavy rain. It was a relief to have seen so much without getting soaking wet. We were in need of a nice dinner and a good nights sleep after a long day on the road.

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