Day 29 - Reykanes peninsular

It was a stunning day today, clear blue sky and sunshine, with zero wind.  I decided to spend my last full day on the Reykanes peninsular, there were a few things left on the list that weren't ticked yet. 

I also decided to stay at a campsite out near the airport, so there would, in theory, be less light pollution than last night, as we did get a brief show of aurora.  There is a big swimming pool complex next to the camp and they leave the lights on all night, which is rather annoying.

I also figured I wouldn't have to battle Monday morning traffic to return the camper on time.

So I set off once I had thawed the windscreen, the entire thing was frozen this time, top to bottom. They sure know how to do a good frost here.

Quick sunrise stop


First stop was the Seltun geothermal area, which really stunk of sulphur and was quite small.  

Seltun selfie


Next was the Krisuvikurberg Cliffs, very impressive and I sent the drone out to take photos.and foolishly didn't take any on my phone so I have none to post here.


As I was heading to the next stop I noticed a car park for Volcano viewing, so I went in to be nosey.  They have had 3 eruptions in the location, 2022, 2022 and July 2023.  



You can park and walk to the lava fields. So off I trotted, intending only to do the relatively flat 800m walk, but curiosity got the better of me and I headed up the steep zigzag path to see the crater from the 2021 eruption.  


Worth noting that the current series of earthquakes that indicates another eruption might happen is not in the same location as this. The latest earthquake swarm is very close to the Blue Lagoon/Grindavik, a few kms away.

I was amazed to see the lava flow still emitting steam/gas 😳 


You can just see the top of the crater


I continued on to Brimketill Lava rock pool and again sent the drone for a better look.  Amazing totally black rocks, with the waves crashing in. Quite spectacular.

Brimketill lava rock pool



Next stop was the bridge between two continents.



Last stop of the day was the Stora Sandvik beach, where believe it or not, there were people surfing. Madness. No phone photos of this one either sorry.

I spent another $243 filling the thirsty beast with diesel 😳

I seem to be the only camper here at Gardur. There are "limited facilities", only toilets no showers, plus "somewhere to wash dishes and clean up".  It's actually a tip, people have left food behind, broken cookers, everything is really dirty and looks like it has had no attention for weeks.  The loos are not much better.  And after all that, the cloud has arrived and there is almost zero chance of aurora. Ah well, them's the breaks.  There are a couple of lighthouses to enhance it's appeal.

Blue sky 💙


I'm pretty much parked at the bottom of this one for the night.

Tomorrow I need to pack. I intend to leave my bag at Heathrow, no point hauling it i to London only to haul it out again a few days later. 

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