Iceland bears its name for a reason. This became pretty obvious when I landed in Kevlavik Airport in early July. Having left sunny and hot London bright and early with the 7 am flight from Luton, the weather gradually took a turn for the worse while I was waiting for my two friends and road trip buddies Mona and Carolin from Germany. By the time we had picked up our car and were on the road, strong winds, heavy rain and next to no visibility greeted us on the ring road in Iceland in a less-than-ideal start of a road trip.
Our original plan was to camp for most of the trip but we were totally not inclined to do so in this weather. Thanks to the early flight I had to get up at 3 am as well and I really don’t cope all too well with exhaustion and tiredness. Thankfully, our first stop Hellisholar Camping about 1.5 hours from Reykjavik not only features hot tubs for complimentary use but also rents out wooden cottages and we were lucky to snatch up the last remaining cottage for the night when we got there at about 8:30 pm (17400 ISK / 125 GBP / 140 EUR per cottage and per night). I was incredibly thankful to be able to snuggle up in a warm bed in the cosy little cottage after a nice burger at their restaurant.
I’d like to mention here that in summer, it doesn’t really get dark in Iceland at all. The sun is supposed to set by around midnight and rise again by 3 am but whenever I woke up at “night”, it was still light. The benefit of that is that we weren’t overly stressed about getting somewhere early evening to pitch a tent or find accommodation, however it’s a weird sensation not to have a night as such, and fortunately I brought a blindfold which I used a lot.
The next morning, after a great night’s sleep, all was forgotten. It was still cold but the storm had calmed down and it wasn’t raining. So the spirits were a lot higher when we embarked on our first full day on the ring road. In spite of the forecast, the sun was actually out by the time we reached our first stop, Gluggafoss not too far from Hellisholar Camping. It’s a beautiful scenery and in contrast to many other places along the ring road, it wasn’t very busy at all. This was very much in contrast to Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, both very pretty and popular stops for tours around the ring road.
Before getting to Skogafoss, we diverted slightly off the ring road and into the oldest swimming pool in Iceland, Seljavallalaug. This pool, created in 1923, is one of the oldest in Iceland and it’s located in midst of beautifully green rolling hills that feature little streams descending into the valley. A short walk crossing a stream coming from the hills is required to get to this mystical place. Mona, Caro and I had packed our bikinis for the first dip of the trip so to say and whilst the water was wonderfully warm, it was also very green with natural ingredients and dirty, so not exactly for the picky folks that want to bathe in crystal-clear water.
The next stop not too much further ahead was the Sólheimajökull Glacier, one of the glacial tongues of the vast Mýrdalsjökull (note that “jökull” in Icelandic is a glacier, whereas “foss” means “waterfall”). We witnessed a photo shooting with an Icelandic horse and some kayakers in the glacier lagoon while enjoying the peaceful scenery. I just couldn’t believe how much we had already seen on the first full day of our trip but my personal highlight for the day was yet to come.
Before arriving at our hostel in Vik, we stopped at Dyrholaey, from where a look out provided not only a fantastic view of the beautiful black beaches but we could also see little puffins flying off the cliffs and diving into the sea to catch some dinner. This really was my highlight for the day, although everything was just breath-taking. Reynisfjara is another black beach that was listed in 1991 as one of the top ten most beautiful, non-tropical beaches. The famous and surreal-looking Reynisdrangar Basalt Columns are naturally occurring structures which were part of, and connected to, the Reynisfjall mountain range during the last ice age, but after lengthy periods of harsh weathering, they have become eroded to the point where they are no longer connected and look as though they sprouted up out of the ocean on their own. It was a truly amazing sight, but also, sadly, the busiest of all the stops.
Total driving distance and time approximately 200 km / 2 h 45
