It was a super warm day and it continued into the evening, even in the 50s when we work up. Had to open up the screen door on the camper to cool it down a bit, which was a first of real summer weather. There was some heavy haze on the lake in the morning, but that soon burned off to a beautiful clear blue day. They are saying it will be in the high 70s here today. But, alas today is a long travel day as we head south, getting closer to the end of our trip and to Reykjavik.Â
We are sticking to the Ring Road today and following it along the Eastfjords coast line. Our target destination for tonight is Skaftafell. We have a reservation at the park there, so if we are late into the night we we don’t have to worry about getting a place.
We drove through some beautiful mountains with RV up front leading the way and Bob following. Most of the mountains were still capped with snow melting into numerous waterfalls. All cascading into crystal clear rivers that rushed off to the sea. At every turn, there was another beautiful landscape to be captured. Which makes is super hard to get to our next location. There were few clouds and the sun was full on with with temps in the 80s, most of the way.
There are not so many pull overs in the first part of the ride, so I resorted to my Out the Passanger Window photography theme.Which amounts to me hanging the camera out the window and shooting at various scenic targets. Shooting forward, sometimes backwards at what has passed and other times just straight out at the passing scene. Never knowing what if I actually captured something of if Ive captured some colorful abstract blurs until we get to the campground and download the day’s photos.
The misty day stayed with us all the way to Skaftafell. The haze clinging to the distant mountains obscuring them from view. Their snowy peaks occasionally managing to collect enough sunlight to add some contrast, creating some definition to the hulking shapes ahead. It was not until we were right under the mountains that would could make out their particular personalities. In some ways, the mist added another kind of beauty to their appearance. It was almost as if the mountains were floating in the landscape sometimes above water, other times above the veiled earth.
There is much more green farm land in the Eastfjords. Many of the mountains stretch out to the sea a bit more in places or have deeper, wider valleys and beaches. Giving some room for the grasses to grow, farmers to plant and sheep and horses to graze. Villages and towns tucked into the flat lands or perched along the rocky coastline.
One thing in common with the Westfjords, and in fact for the whole country, is their care in keeping areas for their bird populations safe.
Clearly marked signage for bird known bird hangouts. Nesting sites on farm land marked and protected from the plow. Iceland doesnt have the same sort of wildlife we are used to seeing. The occasional Reindeer sign appears, but in general they have Arctic Fox as their main predator of prey. No bears, raccoons, possums. It’s birds you see and their songs are intermingled with the wind everywhere, no matter where you are in the country. And, of course, the ever present sheep bleat add to the chorus.
After many stops along the way we finally were getting closer to our destination so we stopped into Hofn for dinner. After scouting out a few places we settled on a pizza place. Which offered up a yummy lobster pizza at Kaffi. Which was actually langoustine, a smaller cousin of our lobster. The waters are too cold to grow the big ones here.
As we lingered over our pizzas and realized that Bob had to be to his hotel by 10:00 check in time. Bob headed out ahead of us and we found him further on down the road at his place for the night, gathering stuff out of his car, key in hand, all checked in. We gave him a 1/2 bottle of wine for his bedtime snack, although he was thinking of taking a hike around the beautiful Rocky Mountain that backed up to his place.
We passed the famous Iceberg lagoon as the sun was sinking below the glacier that feeds it. The usual flotilla of icebergs have floated near the bridge that crosses the river that leads to the Diamond Beach and then to the ocean. They had created a sizable dam with water rushing over and around them. Bird diving into the rushing waters gathering what they could as it passed by under them.
We made it to the campground at about 11:00 pm and looked for our section in which we made a reservation. Of course, as with all campgrounds we have stayed in, the camping sites are not really marked off. People park their RV every which way in groups wagon train style, sideways, with their cars parked in every possible angle. They bring electric cables in large reels so they can run them across wide expanses of campground to a single post, which only has 3-6 outlets. As we arrived late, we could barely find a spot to park and there was no access to the electric we ordered and paid in advance for. Basically, a you-snooze, you-loose policy. Luckily, we have an inverter so we could use the camper battery to charge up a few things over night.
Super tired off to bed for me it’s nearly 1:00 am people are still milling about in the evening sun, but I will have no problem sleeping.
