Plan B

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Today we have mizzle but it’s not cold. This has been the first night that I have not needed a double thermal top layer and ny Nepalese knitted slippers on in bed! In fact, last night we both felt really warm!

We return the way we came as there’s no other way to go. Back towards Isafjordur where we top up the diesel and make use of the free car cleaning station. Our van, which was once white, is decidedly brown from mud splats. As we are the only ones there we park in the middle of two washing stations and take one side each. Job done in half the time! It’s only a quick once over but at least we can open the doors now without getting filthy.

From here we head south, to another long tunnel. This one is a first for us in that it is a three way tunnel so we have to branch off left around the middle. At this point also, the dual carriage way becomes single track with passing places. We’re old hands at this now except for the fact that we have a coach behind us and it doesn’t want to take things as cautiously as us so it insists on using the same passing bay rather than the one behind…there is only just enough space for both of us and on one occasion the oncoming vehicle has to stop so that we can all ease around each other - all breathe in! It also doesn’t help that we (and perhaps the coach also ) thought the oncoming vehicie was a motorbike when, in fact, it is a van with only one working headlight!

There are a lot of coaches on the road today…that’s because a cruise ship has just docked. We are on our way to Dynjandi Waterfall - and given that there is nothing else other than beautiful scenery to see, we guess they ar3 heading there too.

We cross a bridge to reach the next peninsula. Originally we were due to turn right for Pingeyri but I have now read up on the road around that peninsula - the most dangerous in Iceland…and probably anywhere else come to that. Admittedly it’s the bit beyond Pingeyri that they are talking about but I’m not sure now why I ever thought we needed to go there! The infamous circuit is single track and very narrow. The Icelandic authorities said it couldn’t be done when the guy who decided to do it cut the road along the sheer rock face…but he did it anyway. As a tourist route, it is not recommended, though thrill seekers could book a white knuckle tour with an experienced driver if they were had enough.

So we take the new road, which is fully sealed and taxed us through another tunnel to save the mountain trek.

We have arrived at the place that Google says is Dynjandi. There us a very tall waterfall and they were not joking when they said you need hiking boots. Seriously it is sheer. I’ll take a look but I doubt I can climb that! We’re the only ones here - can this really be the place? Another look at the map and we find there us another place with the same name - it’s 7km on from here, that looks more like it! As we leave another tourist pulls in…I think they’ve made the same mistake as us!

We round a corner and the Dynjandi falls are revealed in all their glory. We can see the car park and all the tour buses. We’re still reasonably early so it’s not too crowded despite all the buses.

The walk up Dynjandi is relatively easy. Sure there are a few steep and rugged bits but with seven lots of cascades before you reach the main event, it’s easy to take it in stages.

With the waterfall walk done we set off through the mountains whilst the coaches are heading back to Isafjordur.

It isn’t long before we lose our sealed road and revert to gravel track again. As we gain height we are also into the cloud. The scenery is stunning but the steep drops are also quite scary. We take it slow and the traffic is very light. Finally we reach the highest point and we start our descent.

To our right we have great views over the bay at Arnafjirdur. This place has a reputation similar to Loch Ness in that there have been many reports of sea monster sightings here over the years. We had planned to take the road to Bildudalur to see the sea monster museum but there are road works in progress and Ian misses the turning. Should he turn back? One look at the road puts us both off…the gravel road we are on is bad enough! We decide against the detour and stick with the current road. This turns out to be a wise choice as it suddenly turns to tarmac. This bit of the roadworks us complete.

We have arrived in Flokaludur. We were not supposed to be here until tomorrow night. We decide travel the loop the other way round but nit as far as Bildudalur as we’ve had enough of mountain passes.

We take a very civilised drive along the side of the bay. There’s a golden sandy beach so we pull up beside it for lunch. We reach a bay and do have to climb and descend one pass to reach a red sand beach and a marooned ship which is labelled as Iceland’s oldest steel ship.

We return the way we came, heading for a Hellulaug, a natural hot pool right by our campsite. At first it’s just me and a German couple enjoying the hot water. The tide is in so it’s easy to jump out, get a quick cool down in the sea, and jump back into the hot spring. It’s a lovely relaxing end to the day.

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