Mmm... Rugbraud, the tasty Icelandic bread we like, available in the stores (though not as good as fresh/hand made). Eggs for breakfast...
10:25pm, Breidavik hotel, Listening to sheep "bah" out the window…
We head out ~11:10am, and drive to Bonus on the edge of town, but the store doesn't open til noon. Also, the gas station at Bonus doesn't take our credit card, so we drive back into town to Samkaup (smaller grocery store) for supplies. Wendy shops while I fill up gas at the N1 station (only getting ~30mpg in this big Ford Tauras). I buy three additional 3000isk gift cards for future purchase (credit cards don't work on the gas pumps). At the store, we buy skyr, marinated whale steaks (for dinner), lamb nuggets, chicken wings, apples, veggies, skyr-cheesecake, and eggs. We still have so much dehydrated stuff and snacks that we brought too (will be bringing back lots), but it's fun to try the local food. Finally we head out at noon, passing the now-open and crowded Bonus, and immediately enter a 6km tunnel. Half way through the tunnel, we follow a fork to the left. All the while, we're snacking on the skyr-cheesecake, which was super good.
Wendy loves the mini shopping carts, which we also saw in Norway. The blueberry skyr cheesecake was a tasy treat in the car. We planned to buy more...
The roads stayed paved for the first 90 minutes, as we climbed passes, and rounded fjords, until we reached an unworldly waterfall, Dynjandi.
A pick from the side of the road in teh westfjords...
Some bales of hay lay on scarce flat farmland in the westfjords. Several fjords are carved in the coastline across the water...
From a distance, we could see a wide waterfall...
Certainly looked like a worthy spot to investigate...
The waterfall looks too unreal for even LOTR. Maybe I could picture it in a King Kong movie… Though we saw little traffic on the roads since Isafjordur, the parking lot is full of cars. The fully equipped WC here is a welcome rest stop. We spend an hour here hiking to inspect the falls, and taking pics of the horses nearby.
These falls are in the middle of nowhere, but there were plenty of people in the area...
We followed a trail up along the cascading falls...
I hiked all the way up the base of the falls...
...then returned back to Wendy and spent a few more minutes admiring these amazing falls...
A look back towards the road we drove in on...
After a few last pics, we made our way back...
Beautiful Icelandic horses grazed in the nearby field...
Wendy takes some photos of the horses...
It's already 3:15pm by the time we leave the falls, and the road to Latrabjarg is long, curvy, and unpaved. We don't arrive to the bird cliffs, at the eastern most point in Iceland (and all of Europe) until 5:15pm, as fog is starting to shroud the ridge top.
We drove up and above the waterfall we had just visited, as we continued across the westfjords...
A small town appears along a bay. Some fog appears on the distant mountain arms...
We passed some beaches on our way to the western-most tip of Iceland...
This small farm-village of Breidavik, off the beach, would be our place to stay tonight...
Latrabjarg was covered in fog ahead. Wendy reads the sign at the trailhead...
We realize that the nearby hostel in Breidavik would make a good place to stay tonight, and decide to drive back first to request a room. Unfortunately, we mis-read the map, and realize the hostel is further away, so we return to the bird cliffs, which are even more fogged over, and begin a hike at 6pm. The puffin cliffs are encountered immediately, and in no time we are bombarded with chirps, squaks, and chortles (some birds sounded like they were laughing). MANY pics are taken of the cute puffins with orange beaks. They look a bit like penguins.
A few other people were out along the misty puffin cliffs today. This is the best puffin viewing area in all of Iceland, and also the most western point in Iceland (and Europe)
My telephoto lens got a lot of use today...
Wendy takes a turn with the DSLR...
The cliffs were sheer drop-offs to the ocean below. I had grand plans to hike along the scenic ridge, and hoped the fog would thin the higher we hiked. Unfortunately, the fog held tough, and dampened all views, despite my effort to climb to the top while Wendy stayed back to take pics.
Saw another type of bird on the cliffs. These white ones made a "chortle" sound...
A few sheep roamed the grassy slopes...
I hustled back, realizing it was already 7:30pm, and it would be good to reach a hostel/lodge before the attendents turned in for the night. I tried jogging back, but the dirt/grassy trail was too lumpy. Eventually I caught up to Wendy, who was still taking pics of puffins, patiently waiting for a good pose.
I took a pic of Wendy, who was taking this pic of the puffin...
We reached the car at 8pm, and drove to Breidavik, ~15 minutes from the cliff, and home to a gigantic beach (one of the best in Iceland). The thick fog rested ~50' above the gound, offering views of the beach, and the base of the surrounding mountains. This hostel was part of a working farm, and had a 2 bed sleeping bag accomodation for 6000isk (~$48), which was cheaper than we were expecting. We gladly signed up, checked out our small simple room, and soon began prepping for dinner. Other parties were using the small kitchen as well, but Wendy managed to grab one of the burners to cook up our whale, onions, and mushrooms. I microwaved some dehydrated eggplant, and we finished off the last half of the skyr-cheesecake. I tried the other beer I bought in Reykjavik, but it was aweful. It was like a malt syrup with a hint of beer to it. I had to dump it out. A group of 12 was taking over the dining area as we left and did dishes.
Our lodging tonight: Breidavik Hotel...
Our small room for the night. The whale meat looked/tasted like steak. The Maltextrakt drink was aweful tasting...
After dinner, I sat by the window, writing my journal...
I sit here writing this entry next to the window in our tiny room, with a view of the grey sky, faded blue ocean, and biege sandy beach. The occasional "baaahhhh" from a sheep outside breaks my concentration on today's past, and reminds me to appreciate the moment of this special land/time. I hear muffled sounds of mellow folk singing (in some other language) and guitar from the dining hall downstairs, putting me in trance, as the skies grow dim at 11:20pm.