Day 4 around #iceland photo summary: Dalvík, Siglufjörður, Hvítserkur.

Today was the day everything we tried to look at was closed — Akureyri library, culture house, Siglufjörður Herring museum and Folk Music Centre, and the Glaumbær museum.

At Dalvík I came across some rather nice abandoned industrial machinery including these pipes which were playing music in the wind:

followed by some more snow-covered mountains before driving through the ≈20km of tunnels required to get to Siglufjörður

Siglufjörður itself was beautiful, a tiny fishing town only accessible by sea, air or tunnel. Suitably, here it is shown through a smaller tunnel created by some old machinery outside the (closed) Herring Museum:

Moving on across the fjords towards Stykkishólmur, we made a bumpy detour to Hvítserkur, a small but impressive arch just off the coast:

Just opposite it in the cliffs was a small waterfall which had bought some rather nicely coloured stones down to the beach:

Having finished off the north coast (for this trip at least), we headed south along road 1 before cutting up through a mountain pass towards Stykkishólmur. The despite the road showing up as green on road.is, it was some of the scariest driving in the trip so far — lots of snow on thin mountain roads. Thinking that André’s careful driving had got us through the worst, we pressed on, only to run into even worse weather! Eventually made it to Stykkishólmur and a trendy little hostel on the harbour.

Tomorrow: Snæfellsness and back home to Reykjavík!

Best thing about today’s travelling though? The wind. Although it prevented us from going north in the morning, it was some of the most amazing wind I’ve experienced yet. Seeing it via blown snow patterns was particularly satisfying.

Day 3 around #iceland: churches, horses, REINDEER, snow, mountains, caves, more snow, more snow, mountains, Akureyri.

Started out in Egilsstaðir, were going to head straight up north but the roads were closed so took a detour around a river+up a valley. Some more nice waterfalls, nothing so large as the previous days but just as much character:

First interesting animal sighting of the day: Reindeer from afar!

Followed quickly by a closer animal sighting, some beautiful Icelandic horses:

er, halló hrós! Make that much closer:

Then off to Mývatn and the Grjótagjá geothermal caves, with one of the most unstable looking entrances I’ve ever seen at a tourist destination:

The caves are impressive from the inside but can only really be appreciated once viewed from above:

Second day around #iceland not as good weather as the first but excellent nontheless — unlocked various achievements:

• ran around on moss as far as the eye can see
• picked up hitchhiker
• learnt French word for “superstitious”
• touched glacier
• walked on iceberg which then cracked
• saw seals frolicking amongst icebergs
• saw hexagonal basalt columns

The moss plains were unreal, hundreds of square kilometres of landscape straight out of Nausicäa of the Valley Of Wind — compare:

Ice pool:

Mini iceberg:

No glacier-breaking sound recordings unfortunately as I didn’t get a chance to make a hydrophone — next time! Also, many panoramas to follow when I’m back home and in photo-stitching mode.

First day on trip round #iceland resounding success, many amazing things seen, photos taken, gravel walked in. Got back to Vík and all the food places were closed so ate a tortilla with peanut butter and crumbled choc chip cookie. Sufficient, minimum viable nourishment.

Photos: