Day 16 - Driving & reindeer stops

Today was a day of driving and not so much sight-seeing.

We got up at 6.30am for sunrise at Vestrahorn. The ticket we used last night to get through the barrier arm did not work this morning.  Apparently it only works once, so the guy opening up the cafe went to get us another ticket to use. Would be helpful to tell us this stuff in advance. 

It was very grey and cloudy and the sunrise didn't eventuate, it just gradually got lighter. We had to settle for moody black and white shots instead.  After about an hour or so we'd pretty much tried all compositions and were cold, it had started to snow and the mountain was disappearing in cloud.



We headed back to a waterfall we missed yesterday to find a gate shut across the roadway on what looked very much like private property, so we gave it a miss and turned around.

We continued on the ring road towards our next camp and stopped at Hvalnes lighthouse. It's supposed to be a great drone shot but it was snowing/raining so that was a bust.  

We carried on to Fauskasandur, which was quite a neat spot but it was absolutely freezing. There was a couple posing for photos on the rock and we amused ourselves watching them for a while, uncharitably hoping they would slip on the ice. Sadly Iceland is very much an instagram destination. So many people, posing in front of "the sites" to get "the shot" to post on instagram. Fluffing their hair, pouting their lips, tilting their head to perfectly catch the light.

Instagram couple #4563


Wet and with very numb fingers, we piled back in the van and headed to Langabud information centre. Along the way we came across a camper van, stopped on the road. There is never any shoulder to pull off to, so if you want to stop, forget it, unless you are an arse who likes to live dangerously. The reason for stopping was a reindeer on the land between the road and the sea, happily grazing and minding his own business. Just a little past the reindeer on the other side of the road was a small turn out, so I stopped there and we walked back. Traffic is generally very light, so it's not a problem to cross roads etc.  As we were snapping pix of the reindeer, a large truck came around the bend to find the camper still parked on the road. He hit the brakes and the horn. The camper slowly pulled away, the truck hot up his exhaust pipe. The truck driver did the universal "what the hell were you thinking" gesture to the van driver as he went past us.

When we eventually got to the information centre it was closed today. Clearly information is not required on a Sunday. However it was a little town with a good supermarket so we bought chicken schnitzel, which we cooked in the carpark, and had a scoop of coleslaw to complement it. Scrummo, and a change from pasta.

Called Dreamies here


Onwards toward another waterfall, this time the road was officially closed, with a barrier across it and warnings of fines for driving on it.

Here's some pix from the drive today.






Last stop of the day is Camp Egilsstadir, a pretty good campground compared with the others. It even has a lounge with real chairs to sit in and a kitchen to cook in.  It's nice to have some space rather than the dance around too much junk and not enough bench space. The hardship!

We met a couple of women who are travelling the reverse direction around the ring road, and they had said we will find lots more snow as we head fuether north. It is unseasonably cold with much more snow than normal for this time of year. Excellent. 


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