Iceland - Land of Fire & Ice Part 7 - Our Home Has 6 Wheels

Iceland – Myvatn to Egilsstaðir & Hengifoss Day 7

We were up fairly early for breakfast at Hotel Laxa, well, at least I had breakfast. Linda opted out due to the aforementioned intestinal difficulties that started the night before most likely from the overly oily risotto. However, her cold wasn’t helping much either.

Still, there is no stopping the ‘train’! We got on the road again heading east towards Egilsstaðir. The landscape is barren with lots of volcanic rock, gravel, sand, dust and not much else. The wind had not let up one bit and at times we felt like we were on Mars! So much dust!!

Wind blowm dust on Route 1 to Eglisstadir

Barren land and dudt enroute to Eglisstadir

One distinguishing feature rising from the landscape along the way was a single lane suspension bridge crossing the Jokulsa a Fjollum, the river that flows north to Selfoss & Dettifoss waterfalls that we had visited the day before. Most of the highway bridges, particularly in the north and east of Iceland are just single lane requiring a cautious approach.

Single lane suspension bridge over Jokulsa a Fjollum River on Route 1

Möðrudalur Farm & Fjallakaf

Linda had read about a little cafe on Möðrudalur farm not far off the highway. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere about 80 km from Myvatn and 95 km from Egilsstaðir. It is the highest inhabited farm in Iceland, 469 meters (1,539 ft) above sea level. However, it was like entering an oasis after driving through barren wastelands of Iceland all morning!

Möðrudalur farm

Gas pumps & church at Möðrudalur farm

Möðrudalur farm

Apparently, there has been a farm at Möðrudalur since the settlement of Iceland. They have a gas pump, a church and a guesthouse, but what we were really interested in was the Fjallakaffi, a cafe offering ‘Love Balls! A ball of fried bread dough with raisins in it! Heavenly! That with a rich strong, cup of coffee was just what the doctor ordered!

Fjallakaffi at Möðrudalur farm

Enjoying a great cup of coffee & a love balls at Fjallakaffi

Stuðagil Canyon

Our next stop was at Stuðagil Canyon located in the Jökuldalur Valley (Glacier Valley). Stuðlagil Canyon is a stunning gorge lined with basalt columns with the vibrant turquoise waters of the Jökla River flowing through it. Studlagil actually translates to “Basalt Column Gorge.”

Unfortunately, Linda had to opt out of checking this stunning place out as she was feeling too miserable. In fairness to her, access to the canyon is not easy. You either have a 250 meter super steep stairway down to a viewing platform or, if you drive to the other side of the canyon, a 4 kilometre hike will get you right down into the canyon. Keep in mind that the wind was still howling so neither was a good option for her.

Stairway to the viewing platform at Studagil Canyon

I chose to tackle the stairway as the hike on the other side of the canyon was going to take too long. I didn’t want to leave Linda sitting in the car for that length of time. The problem with the stairway besides the obvious, is the viewing platform at the bottom doesn’t really access very good views of the best part of the canyon.

View of Studagil Canyon from the viewing platform

Fortunately, I had a solution. Although the winds were blowing like crazy at the top of the canyon they appeared to be reasonably calm down in the canyon. That and since there weren’t many people around at the time, I decided to risk bringing out the drone. I was able to fly it down into the canyon and around the bend where you could get some great views up the canyon. I even had some help from a woman who seemed to know where the best place for the shots were and was keenly watching my view screen telling me where I should maneuver the drone.

Studagil Canyon

On to Egilsstaðir

The landscape along the way was still quite barren with lots of volcanic rock and not much else. There was the occasional sheep or horse pasture and lots of dust!!! We stopped quickly at another waterfall, Rjukandafoss, right on the highway not long after we got back onto the Ring Road (Route 1) from Stuðlagil. The impressive height of Rjukandafoss makes it hard to miss. That and the fact it can be seen directly off the road. The falls contains multiple drops, and collectively reaches a height of 305 ft (93 m).

Rjukandafoss

We carried on into Egilsstaðir which is the largest town in eastern Iceland with a population of around 2,500 inhabitants. We were staying at Hengifoss Guesthouse about 42 km south of town, but we wanted to pick up some food for dinner as we really didn’t want to have to drive back into town later that evening since Linda was not feeling great. I’m also was beginning to notice the first indications of an impending cold. Not unexpected considering our close quarters.

We found the local grocery store and picked up some cold cuts, cheese crackers and some fruit. Stuff we could eat in our room for dinner, then we headed down to the guest house.

The drive to Hengifoss Guest house is quite beautiful. We drove down the western shore a very long, narrow lake, called Lagarfljót which is about 25 km long but only 2 km wide. . You could easily mistake it for a river. The name, Lagarfljót, actually translates to ‘River Lake’. We also passed by Hengifoss waterfall, which we would come back to the next day.

Lagarfljót Lake

Hengifoss Guest House

Hengifoss Guest House is nestled at the base of a huge stepped mountain overlooking the Fljótsdalur valley and surrounding farmlands. Quite beautiful. There are also a lot more trees around here all in fresh green growth. We checked into very comfortable room which had a kitchenette with a small fridge…perfect since we had brought dinner. We were able to buy a couple of drinks, a beer and a glass of wine, from the inn to help assuage the rigours of the day.

Hengifoss Guest House

Views across the Fljótsdalur valley from Hengifoss Guest House

A quiet night was in order, time for writing, editing and doing some posting. One thing great about Iceland is there is WIFI everywhere. In fact, you are given a small wireless device which is included with your car rental. It gives you access to the internet pretty much anywhere in Iceland. It plugs into the car to keep it charged, but you can unplug it and take it with you into your hotel room, restaurants or on hikes…no need for satellite messengers on this trip!