Kirkjubæjarklaustur: Lessons, Memories, just another day in Iceland
The not so fun part of camping – sharing! But we got through it without a hitch
. Leaving the camp, we realized that Geysir was right the next turn. Excited and rejuvenated by the nap on cold, wet ground, we rushed from geyser to geyser, waiting for it to blow, squealing like little girls when it did. We did of course laugh at the few hundred people who had to touch the water to see if it really was 80-100º.
The glorious vistas from the viewpoint and the amazing morning air soon got us over our camping memories and we were rushing to make some new ones.
After the trial and error of the previous day, we decided to stick to the guide that we initially intended following. On the way, Hella called for a short break and a tank refill. We even crossed some hard core tourists on our route, ones who tour on cycle. Found probably the “only” Ethiopian restaurant in Iceland. Met up with several horses and cows. And ran into our first Foss.
Foss, now that’s the Icelandic term for waterfall (that’s the conclusion I came to), so anything ending with foss is most likely pointing to a waterfall
. Not that there is a dearth of them, but there are a few which are so exceptionally beautiful, that even the Icelanders recommend them.
The first we visited was Seljalandsfoss, one of the best known waterfalls in Iceland. “Seljalandsfoss is located in the South Region in Iceland right by Route 1 (Iceland) and the road that leads to Þórsmörk Road 249. The waterfall is one of the most popular waterfalls and natural wonders in Iceland. The waterfall drops 60 meters and is part of the river Seljalands-river that has its origin in the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. One of the interesting things about this waterfall is the fact that visitors can walk behind it into a small cave.”
“The Skógafoss is one of the biggest waterfalls in the country with a width of 25 metres (82 feet) and a drop of 60 m (200 ft). Due to the amount of spray the waterfall consistently produces, a single or double rainbow is normally visible on sunny days (pity we landed there on a cloudy day)
. According to legend, the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. The legend continues that locals found the chest years later, but were only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again. The ring was allegedly given to the local church. The old church door ring is now in a museum, though whether it gives any credence to the folklore is debatable.”
We set off from the waterfalls in search of the wrecked plane, but the GPS indicated something, however the sights did not coincide. Giving up on it we drove on through some gorgeous scenery. Breathtaking routes – no one can prepare you for them, because no one ever talks about it in any of their guides, even the main highway, is a weak attempt of humans trying to stamp their presence on untamable lands.
From there to the peak of Dyrhólaey Natural Reserve, to take in the birds, the lighthouse, the landscape and just scrape our jaws off the ground
. “To the north is to be seen the big glacier Mýrdalsjökull. To the east, the black lava columns of the Reynisdrangar come out of the sea, and to the west the whole coastline in the direction of Selfoss is visible – depending on weather conditions. In front of the peninsula, there is a gigantic black arch of lava standing in the sea, which gave the peninsula its name (meaning: the hill-island with the door-hole).”
We took in the black sand beaches and the rocks of Reynisfjara and Reynisdrangar from the peak as there were just too many people stomping around. Then to the car and the rally race roads downhill until the ring road.
We found what was once a cloister, and then a little farm – Laufskálavarđa that was destroyed in volcano, a friend of the family erected a cairn there to help his old companion in his journey forward. Now all visitors are encouraged to add stones to the piles of rock. Stones were brought in especially to help people with it
.
Passing through Vík we drove on until we reached the unpronounceable, but easily navigable Kirkjubæjarklaustur and called it a day.
Camp time again. This one was beside a gorgeous cliff face, bathed in sun, the meadow beckoned to be camped in. We obliged. Each camp has it’s little thing, some are horrible stopovers that are conveniently situated and know they will get traffic. This one, although conveniently situated, was not one of them. We found us a space in the kitchen and were soon making plans for the rest of the trip when we were joined by an Englishman. An English cyclotourist to be specific. He was in Iceland for a month and blatantly overhearing our conversation started asking us about places we are visiting. He suggested Laki. Would we listen? Would we not? Late night is not the time to decide, so off we went to our cold sleeping bags.
Moral:
There are guides aplenty on the internet, but just remember you aren’t a billionaire, yet. In retrospect, anyone who suggests hotels and a helicopter trip as a regular visit has either a) unlimited resources or b) been saving for this trip for forever. We aren’t them. Good thing we had Plan B.