Iceland - Land of Fire & Ice Part 9 - Our Home Has 6 Wheels

Iceland – Hengifoss to Hofn Day 9

We’re off to the southeast coast today heading for our next stop at Seljavellir Guesthouse in Hofn (pronounced – sort of – Hurpin). The day began mostly overcast and a bit foggy but it looked like we may get some sunny breaks. Unfortunately the damned wind was still blowing hard!

Breakfast at Hengifoss Guest House – My favourite, granola & skyr (Icelandic yogurt)

We were happy for the small kitchenette in our room at Hengifoss Guest House. Having a fridge and freezer allowed us to keep our cheese cold. We also froze 2 bottles of water to put in our cooler. We just had to find some more salami or sausage for today and we could have lunch on the go.

We retraced our drive from the evening before along Lagarfljót Lake and through a foggy Hallormsstaður National Forest back to Egilsstaðir. From there we crossed a high mountain pass down to Reyðarfjörður fjord. Reyðarfjörður is surrounded by dramatic mountainscapes and beautiful coastlines.

Hallormsstaður National Forest & the wind whipping up the waves on Lagarfljót Lake

Mountain pass on Route 1 east of Egilsstaðir

The mountain pass on Route 1 east of Egilsstaðir

And, more waterfalls

Reyðarfjörður

On the north shore of of the fjord is the village of Reyðarfjörður with a population of 1350 people. It was the second-largest Allied military base in Iceland during the Second World War. Fishing and an aluminum smelter are the prime industries today.

A farm at the head of Reyðarfjörður fjord

Reyðarfjörður

Hafnarnes & Hafnarnesviti Lighthouse

From Reyðarfjörður fjord we drove into a tunnel straight through the mountain to Fáskrúðsfjörður fjord. We stopped at the end of the fjord at the site of Hafnarnes, a once thriving fishing village but now abandoned. There are a few buildings in varying states of decay and some older foundations from even earlier times. There is also a functioning lighthouse located on the point called Hafnarnesviti. It is not big, but it is certainly colourful and the surrounding scenery is stunning.

Tunnel through the mountain at Reyðarfjörður fjord

The abandoned fishing village of Hafnarnes & Hafnarnesviti Lighthouse

Hafnarnes

Hafnarnesviti Lighthouse

As we were driving we noticed dozens of high priced cars (Porches, Mazeratis, classic cars) all with big road racing numbers on their sides. Most were driving normally, some were going crazy fast. (Wonder how many speeding tickets they get??) Talking to one of the drivers later, we found out that it was a car rally from Europe doing a tour around the Ring Road. If you’re wondering how they got their cars here, it’s by ferry:

Denmark – the Faroe Islands – Iceland – and back…by ferry

Between June and August, the ferry takes 2 days, leaving Hirtshals in Denmark on Tuesday mornings and arriving in Seyðisfjörður, in eastern Iceland on Thursday mornings. From March to May and mid-August to November, it takes a little longer than 3 days as it stops in the Faroe Islands. The ferry company also offers a cargo service if people just want to ship their car to Iceland and fly there to pick it up. The airport at Egilsstaðir is just over 30 minutes away.

The wind continued unabated, even the birds were having a difficult time flying! It seems even they get on the bad side of the gods. We almost hit a ptarmigan as it was literally blown across the road into our path! Disaster was averted though!

Rugged mountains around Stöðvarfjörður fjord

Breiðdalsvík

This stretch of Iceland is very sparsely populated and not much at all for any kind of amenities. There was one cafe/store (and I say that with tongue in cheek!) in Breiðdalsvík, very old fashioned looking with not much to buy. No snacks, sandwiches or drinks besides the usual cooler style stuff like Coke & Pepsi. No rest stops AT ALL. Lots of scenic pullouts, but nowhere to stop and pee. Even the one ‘gas station’ we found was just a couple of unmanned pumps. Nothing else. Linda (jokingly) suggested maybe getting some ‘lady-pants’ and just peeing in them as we drove might be the answer!

The tiny town of Breiðdalsvík

The General Store, Breiðdalsvík

We drove around Breiðdalsvík, a tiny fishing town with a population of 139 inhabitants, to take in the sights. Besides the aforementioned General Store, which was quite funky, there is also a hotel & restaurant, a brewery, a car museum and a tour operator, as Breiðdalsvík is a good base of operation for exploring eastern Iceland.

Breiðdalsvík

The coastline of southeast Iceland is incredibly rugged. The road closely follows the coast and winds in and out around the fjords. There are steep snow capped mountains dropping into waters witch change from dull grey to gorgeous turquoise as the light changes!

Berufjörður Fjord

Old bridge, probably from the original ring road just east of Streitishvarf Lighthouse

Streitishvarf Lighthouse & Lækjavik Beach

There are some interesting lighthouses along the way as well, including Streitishvarf and Hvalnes. We stopped at any pullouts we could find to take in the scenery and grab some photos. It is just so spectacular along this coast! This is also why it takes us so long to drive anywhere!

Streitishvarf LIghthouse

As a point of interest, it is illegal to stop or pullover on the side of the road in Iceland. The roads are very narrow, the shoulders are practically nonexistent and the drop off the roadbed is usually steep. Because of this and the amount of traffic, it is dangerous to stop on the roads unless it’s an emergency. Sadly, many times, you just have to watch that great photo op go by, although Linda got pretty good at shooting from the moving vehicle!

Mountainous terrain on the narrow roads along the coast

We did find a few great places to stop for photos, including the black sand beach, Lækjavik.

Lækjavik Beach

Hvalnes Nature Reserve

We made a quick stop at Hvalnes Nature Reserve. Hvalnes is immense black pebble beach on a peninsula stretching for a few kilometers. Sitting on the tip of a promontory at the east end of the beach is a picturesque orange lighthouse. We didn’t stay long as we were getting tired and ready for a break. This wasn’t far from where we were going to be staying down the road in Hofn so we figured we could come back the next day and spend a little more time. We were also thinking that maybe the wind would die down a bit….do I hear the gods laughing again?

Hvalnes Nature Reserve Beach – a very gnarly day!

Hofn

We got back on the road and headed into Hofn, or more accurately passed Hofn to the Seljavellir Guesthouse, a few kilometers past the turnoff to town. We got checked into our room and took some time to relax before thinking about dinner. The Seljavellir Guesthouse is quite a new structure, very modern and with a clean, minimalistic, European look. It was a bit of a strange design though. The building is on a huge property, yet they chose to face the building and all the rooms with huge windows facing the highway. There are no views in that direction, it’s noisy and the sidewalk to the office runs right past all the rooms. To me, with my extensive knowledge of design (not!) I’d have thought that having the windows facing the opposite direction to face the farmlands and hills behind us or better yet turn the building 90° and look at the glacier capped mountains to the west would be preferable. The other weird thing was no electrical outlets by the heads of the beds! That was damned inconvenient, not that I’m complaining mind you. It was otherwise a very nice place.

Seljavellir Guesthouse

We drove back into Hofn for dinner. Höfn is a fishing town of just over two thousand people and is the largest town on Route 1 between Egilsstaðir and the village of Kirkjubæjarklausturh about 200 kms to the west. Höfn is located in one of the few natural harbours on the south coast of Iceland and the name Hofn actually means ‘harbour’.

The harbour at Hofn

From Hofn, there are clear views of Vatnajökull (Vatna Glacier), which is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland and actually the largest glacier in Eruope. It sits in a National Park of the same name. We have great views of the glacier from our inn if we stand outside.

View of Vatnajökull glacier from the Seljavellir Guesthouse

We chose Otto Matur & Drykkur Restaurant for dinner as Trip Advisor gave them 5 stars and all the reviews sounded pretty awesome. We weren’t disappointed, the food was amazing. I had the smoked cod dish, which was outstanding and Linda had the Arctic Char which was very, very good. They preceded the dinner with a basket of delicious bread! The restaurant is located in a old wooden house dating back to 1897, which was built by a merchant named Otto Tulinius, thus giving the restaurant its name. The atmosphere was warm and inviting. Highly recommended!