Today is the 6th and next to last day on our tour. We are driving through the highlands through the heart of western Iceland. There will be little to stop and see on the way, mostly rocks and mountains. We left our guesthouse just before 9:00 AM under a promising sky, maybe no rain today.
At first we pass through lush landscape but when we turn onto 35, (Kjolur highland road), the road turns to gravel and the landscape becomes rugged. Driving anything less than a 4 wheel drive would have been difficult!
Cold winds blow into the back of our car so we constantly pass through the dust we just kicked up. As the morning progresses, the sun warms the car, the temperature reaches 20 C and we are sweating. Was it just yesterday we wished for warmer weather? The car has no air conditioning and with the wind and dust, we can’t roll down the windows. Road conditions keep our speed below 50 km.
A car kicking up dust in front of us
Steep snow and glacier covered mountains rise to the east and west, breaking up the starkness of the land. We pass a runner with a small backpack (no support vehicle in sight) and a bicyclist pulling a gear trailer. We cringe as we pass, knowing each is forced to eat our dust.
The road is not wide enough for two cars much less the tourist buses that blow by us at top speed so John pulls the car to the side of the road more frequently than we would have expected in the backcountry. We are neither in a hurry or feeling particularly aggressive so we don’t mind. One stop required the opening and closing of a gate. Property boundaries we think.
Will closing the gate
Our car showing the effects of hours driving through the dust
173 km after turning onto Highway 35, we finally hit pavement again. We have been traveling on gravel for 5 1/2 hours. Just down the paved road, we turn into the parking lot for Gullfoss (Golden Falls), one of the most beautiful and best known waterfalls in Iceland. Two cascades (32 meters) make up Gullfoss followed by a long , steep walled canyon. Gullfoss makes up one point of the Golden Triangle (Gullfoss, Geysir geyser and Thingvellir national park), the most visited tourist sites outside of Reykjavik.
After the falls, we move on to an equally impressive site, Geysir . One of the most famous spouting hot water springs, Geysir is the source of the English work “geyser”. Geysir is believed to have first spouted in the 13th century but stopped at the beginning of the 20th century when it was found to be mostly blocked. It is believed that tourists trying to activate the geyser, threw rocks and turf in the spring. Geysir was reawakened in 1935 but spouts only infrequently (sometimes to 60 m high).
Several hot water springs are close to Geysir, including Stokkur which spouts with great frequency (every 5-10 minutes)…
Our last stop before wrapping up the day is Skalholt, a farm, a church and the seat of bishops between 1056-1796. Skalhot is the site of the beheading of the last Catholic bishop, Jon Arason, along with 2 of his sons (1550). The area southwest of the church is in the process of an archaeology dig to uncover the old structures and to discover a bit about the culture.
The current cathedral is relatively new and is decorated with important works by Icelandic artists including incredible stained glass windows.
We located our guest house for the night after some effort. Hestakrain (farm # 684) is located in southwest Iceland with a Selfoss address. We are a little confused over the address and we expect the guest house to be in Selfoss but it turns out that the name Selfoss covers a region and our lodging is 18 km outside of town. We should have known this, with the exception of the hotel at Lake Myvatn, all of our lodging has been located in the countryside.
Hestakrain is a stable converted to a guest house. Our rooms are about average for the trip although this farm is listed as a Category IV (highest on the list) by Icelandic Farm Holidays.
John and I decide to stay at the guest house for another delicious dinner of Arctic Char, while Will and Kim choose to drive 1.5 hours (for lobster). After dinner, we are not sleepy so we walk for several miles, talking about the many places we have visited on this trip and enjoying the sunset. All in all, it was a very pleasant last night on the road.
