Day 3: Soaking wet

Soaking wet

After a well night rest we wake up again rather early. Together with a few other people we're the first to enter the breakfast buffet at the hotel. It's a grey and rainy morning but that doesn't affect our anxiety to go out and explore more amazing things. 

Having filled up our tummies we check-out and head once more for the black sanded beaches. Not far from where we finished yesterday, near Dyrhólaey, there is a basalt formation on the beach. Not far of the shoreline three sharp rocks clearly stick out of the water. According to legend three trolls came out to sea to pull ashore a ship. They were surprised by dawn and were frozen into stone and they have remained immortalized since, as a warning to their kin. If you're a fan of these kind of tales, Iceland has plenty of stories about elfs and trolls. 

When entering the path to the beach we are warned several times by signs about sneaker waves. This beach is notorious for very unpredictable high waves and people are advised to stay at least 30 meters away from the water's edge. The Atlantic Ocean is unpredictable and gives waves a lot of time to build up in strength and size. People who were surprised by these waves have died here.

We take pictures of the wild waves crashing ashore not far from the basalt columns that are rising up at the bottom of a mountain. Being warned about the danger of this beach we have one eye looking through the camera's viewfinder, and the other on the shoreline. And not in vain, because every now and then we have to run further inland to prevent our feet getting wet. 

We continue the ring road further to the east and make a quick stop at Hjörleifshöfði. I honestly have no clue how to pronounce this too. It's a lonely mountain on a little peninsula with a lot of beautiful flowers around it in spring or summer time. On our rainy day in September, however, none of these flowers still remain. Nevertheless, we decide to have a quick look at the trail that leads up to a viewpoint and explore a nearby cave. As we leave the ring road, we trade asphalt for black sand. It drives softly and following the tracks of previous cars it gives a taste of the off-road adventure. 

From the parking area we have to look for the start of the trail, but with the use of our smartphone we quickly get on the right track. From the viewpoint we get an incredible sight over nothing else than a black desert with at the horizon the ocean, which is often hard to see due to the clouds. Judging by our map we must be standing right above the cave. The steep cliffs in front of us give you a sense of how tiny and insignificant we are in this world. 

We walk back down and drive with the car a bit further around the mountain to see the cave. You can literally park the car in front or wherever you like. No roads in this area. 

The cave has a little arch through the front dividing it into two big holes. From the inside it provides a great opportunity to take silhouette photos.

This was a calm and not touristic stop, which will probably soon chance when we visit Fjaðrárgljúfur. For us, better known as "the Bieber gorge" simply because we can't manage to pronounce this one either and we've read that Justin Bieber's videoclip of "I'll show you" was recorded here. Since then, many tourists have visited the gorge and sometimes it's even closed off. 

When we arrive at the parking lot there are a lot of cars but compared to July or August I guess this is still okay. The path is clearly marked and set out by ropes so people don't go too close to the edge. Probably a rather recent chance as you can still clearly see the marks and destruction of people who went to spots that stick out a bit further into the gorge. It is a shame that everything is so restricted now, but at the same time we're happy to see that Iceland is taking measures to protects it's beautiful nature. Things don't grow here as quickly as down south, especially mosses.

At the end of the gorge, there is a waterfall and a viewing platform. It's weird to see how the earth just pulled apart these giant pieces of land and left this crevice in between.

Many pictures later, we drive to Skaftafell national park. This is the biggest national park in Europe and offers many multi-day hiking trails but also one very famous shorter hike to Svartifoss. A waterfall surrounded by black basalt columns. Just before arriving to the park, we catch our first glimp of the immense glacier that lies in the park. Because of the low clouds and rain today, we couldn't really see into the far distance. We pay for parking and take our lunch at a picknick table that is covered from the rain. The whole day it has been drizzling and there isn't enough time in between stops for the clothes to dry again. Luckily our rain jacket and trousers don't let any water through, it's just all damp. After lunch we start a hike of about 3h to see both Svartifoss and Sjónarnýpa, a viewpoint overlooking the glacier.

The trail starts with a graduate climb and very quickly gets us out off the beaten track. We enjoy the tranquillity and views we get along the way. Little berries, waterfalls, every now and then a view in the distance. 

After a good while we arrive at Sjónarnýpa, the view is so rewarding. Everywhere in front and below us there's ice. White ice, blue ice and ice with black sand or dirt on it. Once again we're blown away by the magnitude... you can see people down below who are merely black dots. I'm sure that some movies were filmed here! Later that day we googled it: turns out many of Iceland's glaciers were used in various movies. 

We need to go back a bit on the trail to find our way to Svartifoss. When we arrive, there are many tourists, but by the time we've taken our pictures most of them had already left again. So... we could take more pictures. We continue our downhill walk and pass two houses with grass roofs. After a long and rewarding walk we finally get back to the parking lot. We take of our drenched clothes and drive to our next hotel. In the evening we had an amazing meal in the hotel's restaurant. Really nicely decorated dishes and mix of flavours. In Belgium this would surely be a dedicated restaurant and never to be found in a hotel. Thinking about all the amazing things we've seen in only three days time, we go to bed.