Monday 9 January

Yesterday was a day of rain and waterfalls. But really, all around the south east portion of Iceland, there are waterfalls everywhere. Of course the tourist buses point out the famous ones, but all you have to do is look and there are waterfalls everywhere – each with their own beauty even if not comparable in size to the famous ones. We passed so many yesterday that we gave up stopping to take yet another photo.

Today was different. For one thing, although it blew a gale overnight and we wondered how our little bungalow did not at least shudder with the up to 70km wind gusts, by morning the wind had dropped, a few stars were shining and although there was 2-3cm of snow over everything, it promised to be a lovely day – little did we realise how changeable Iceland can be…remember the saying…if you don’t like the weather wait five minutes…. Oh we found that out today!

The night before we did not realise through rain and the darkness what a picturesque place was where we stayed – it literally was a small plot of land between towering snow covered cliffs on one side and the sea on the other. We wanted to go back to Jokulsarlon to watch the sun rise and its effects on the ice bergs so we did not linger to admire our setting and headed back in the early dawn light back to the lagoon.

Imagine our surprise when,  three wild reindeer decide to cross the road in front of us in the half-dark creating pleasant surprise one-
I said to Marc that we had to tell our grandchildren we found Santas reindeers!

We also learned that the brakes on our hire car are not that effective and tend to pull the car to the right under heavy breaking, surprise number two but not as pleasant. Still, we did stop in time. The reindeer were safe and so were we. So flustered by this unexpected event,  that by the time we thought to get a photo, the opportunity was lost in the poor light.

The parking area at the lagoon was already busy when we arrived in the semi-dark at 9:20but this time, not with tourist buses, but with people waiting to go on glacier cave tours. We had thought about doing one but we have been on glaciers in NZ and there they supplied all the gear designed to keep you dry and warm .These companies didn’t so starting the day cold and wet did not appeal that much to us, particularly as I am sure I was a cat in a former life. Keeping warm and dry is very important to me  . The tours took 2 ½ hours and we had a 4 hour drive after the lagoon to complete – as it turned out, it was good we used those 2 1/2hours for driving early in the day … more on that later.

And do you know….the day turned sunny – yes, real sun in a mostly blue sky causing tints of red to appear in the snow capped mountains –we actually had sun….you know that yellow orange thing in the sky… hard to describe and totally confusing to the camera software.

Our drive followed the coast with soaring sharp edged mountains towering above us each clad in snow above before dropping to ubiquitous skirts of black gravel devoid of any form of life until finally, nearing the plain, some hardy greenery unconvincingly trying to soften the starkness of the black. Then, below the scree slopes, the flat plains of black basalt gravel barely supporting some grasses finally terminating in black gravel beaches bordering seaside lagoons creating by earlier glacial terminal moraines.

(An aside here, further south these flat plains of basalt gravel were covered in deep folds of thick green moss that looked invitingly soft and pillow like but up here, slightly further north, grasses were able to just survive except in a few areas where some hardy farmers had dug drainage ditches and improved the ability of these otherwise inhospitable plains to grow some fodder for their animals.)

Now, gone were the moonscapes of day 1 and now were vistas that would rival the French Alps with their striking mountains. We wondered whether it would have looked so impressive in summer? Now, with the thick white snow above, the dusting of snow like icing sugar on the lower slopes and the low slant of the sun accentuating the contours of the land, it was impressive. Would it have just looked drab in blacks, browns and green without the contrasting white and accentuating shadows in the summer?

Then Iceland does what they say it does, the sun starts to disappear as the clouds become confluent, the wind picks up … what do I mean … it takes to blow and with it, the snow sets in.

Marc is now driving along that part of the highway carved out like the old south coast road near Coalcliff, following cliff faces into and out of fjords holding onto what ever bit of land that will support a road. And, although we are in an all-wheel drive car with studded car tyres, keeping a straight line on the road is no longer a given. These roads are also pretty isolated with only around 3% of the Icelandic population living on this side of the island. This means, driving down the middle of the road is a feasible option to increase the chances of staying on the road but if something was to happen, you may not be found for awhile.

Not a good thought!!!!!

I really was a tad nervous , in fact at times I have  to admit I was quite scared as the wind picked up the car and buffeted it as we were driving long stretches of slushy snow and then ice- not a good condition to drive in with the mountains on one side and the water on the other and you were not sure which way the wind was going to tip you too. I hung on many times.

Marcs  tongue was firmly planted in his  tooth his  way of concentrating) for the last 1 ½ hours of driving . Not much conversation believe me!’

We arrived in Faskruofjordur in the middle of their first real snow storm for the year. Marc  asked a nice man directions to our B an B accommodation and he actually drove ahead and showed us the way through the snow and the slush almost to the door – and it was not on his way. Very thoughtful and kind.

The accommodation is warm, secure – just what we both needed after the drive. I have to admit I have had   had enough of fjords and is happy to go inland tomorrow – that is if the roads are open since parts ahead were not today – well, that is an adventure for another day …

Points of interests:

1. The gravestones all have coloured crosses on theme- the graveyard of churches are all lit up quite spectacularly with these colour lights decorations.
2. The houses and shops still have Christmas trees ablaze and decorations around their houses. I can only assume as it is so dark early, this is a way of keeping the cheeriness going.