Gushing one way or another

So before I tell you about our journey along the south coast I am going to correct an omission. I have had a complaint – I haven’t posted any pictures of food yet. So the first two photographs are from our meal in the hotel restaurant Saturday night. To be honest they were the best we’d had so far. I had the garlic roasted cod with sweet potato crumble, aubergine, beetroot cracker with lemon coconut sauce and Steven had the fillet of arctic char with potato soufflé, roasted vegetables and mango salsa. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed the meal.

Now that is out of the way we can move onto Hveragerdi, our last proper stop – airport hotels for very early morning flights don’t count as a proper stop! This was going to be an easy 180 mile drive along the flat plains of the south coast. The route took us past a few of the famous coastal rock formations and waterfalls of Iceland. We ditched the rock and picked three waterfalls to visit, two of which were next to each other. Summer is clearly over and the Atlantic Ocean didn’t look very inviting today with its murky waters reflecting the grey skies and intermittent rain from above. Within thirty minutes of leaving Skaftafell the glaciers disappeared, as did the snow on the mountains. Gradually the mountains receded further away so there were flat plains of moss and grass either side of the road. In many places there were lava fields covered with undulating carpets of characteristic light grey moss. I know I’m a bit obsessed with Icelandic moss. They used to make porridge with it in times of famine but nowadays they make soup out of it and apparently it’s got prized medicinal properties. I’d certainly not be trying it if I saw it on a menu. As the mountains came closer again, there were an abundance of thin slivers of multilayered waterfalls coursing down the slopes and the wind, which was coming in strongly from the sea, was causing these fine waterfalls to blow upwards. Yes you’ve read that correctly, the waterfalls were being blown upwards.

After a brief stop for lunch at Vik, we arrived at Skógafoss. You can feel the force as the water falls over a cliff that is 100 ft wide and 200 ft high. Whilst the sky now had patches of blue with the very occasional glimpse of sunshine, the wind was still out and about in force so that we had to hang onto the car doors when opening them so they didn’t blow off. I’m not kidding, they legislate for that in your car rental agreement and it’s not covered! That wind was keen to blow all that water on to us so we were waterproofed from top to toe today. Once you’ve seen Godafoss and Dettifoss, Skógafoss looks tame by comparison. However it is the first powerful waterfall you can walk up to and whilst it is beautiful with its straight, vertical simplicity, I suspect it’s famous because it’s more accessible from Reykjavik than the others. Having said that I managed to get a rainbow in the mist and its reflection in a puddle without getting too wet. Take a look at all those steps up to the viewing platform in the photos. We didn’t climb those.

The other two waterfalls are next to each other and only 20 minutes from Skógafoss. We chose these three waterfalls as they are all very different. Skógafoss was just a smaller, straighter, less powerful version of what we’ve seen before. Seljalandsfoss is allegedly the most photographed waterfall in Iceland because it’s the largest waterfall that you can walk behind. The view from behind the waterfall is supposed to be stunning, particularly in summer. However this summer day was grey and so windy that the waterfall was being blown in every direction, including back behind it! Needless to say there was no stunning view from behind the waterfall and as everyone returning from trying to get “that view” looked as if they’d been dunked in the bath, we gave that bit of the walk a miss.

You can see a video of the wind and Seljalandsfoss waterfall here.

Gljúfrabúi, the least known and the smallest was my favourite. It’s only 130 ft high but as it cascades down the rocks it disappears into a moss clad cave. Because of the wind that was a positive today, no wind in the cave. Of course to see it there is no escaping getting wet – you have to walk along the river, over the rocks and into the cave. Thankfully the water was not so high for us so that we managed to keep our feet dryish and we managed not to bang our heads on the rocks. It was well worth it

There is a video of the entrance of the cave at Gljúfrabúi waterfall here.

Finally we arrived at our hotel late afternoon, managing to check in and get to the lifts before 30 schoolchildren from England! We obviously took a shine to those schoolchildren as walking down the stairs the next morning we saw a sign for breakfast and followed it into a room where we were greeted by them and what could only be described as a measly offering. Thankfully one of the boys turned to us and told us the “better breakfast for everyone else” was down another floor. Satiated with appropriate food and peanut butter we set off for our final waterfalls of the holiday and “the original” geyser.

Monday was biting cold at 5ºC, lower with a wind chill factor so we dressed for the arctic. It was bizarre to see people in jeans, shirts and flimsy coats. These were the individuals that literally stayed for as long as it took them to say “it’s ****** freezing” and press their iPhone button. They missed a treat. Gullfoss is unique with three levels of water divided by separate cascades that fall at 90º to each other. It is truly spectacular and each of Iceland’s powerhouse falls, Goðafoss, Dettifoss, Skógafoss and Gullfoss are very different and very special. However we may never have got to see Gullfoss it if it was up to the British. At the end of the 19th century they wanted to use it for hydro-electric power and tried to buy it from the farmer that owned the land. He refused to sell, as did his daughter after him who fought and won all the legal battles and became a national heroine. There is a monument to the daughter at the falls. Her step brother then bought it off her and he eventually gifted it to the state.

Literally 15 minutes away is Geysir. Geysir is its name and it comes from “gjósa” Icelandic for gush ie its “a gusher“ of boiling water and steam. Technically my photos are of Strukkor, which means “churn” as Geyser is now dormant. Strukkor is an exhibitionist and plays to the hoards of people and long lenses encircling it. It erupts to a height of 20m every 7-10 minutes from a deep turquoise pool. These geysers are within a 100m of each other in a geothermal field full of fumaroles and steam and burbling pools and streams. Whilst watching Strukkor erupt was impressive, I wasn’t as moved by the rest of the place. Having been to Hverir in the Mývatn area this was a bit of a disappointment. It was much smaller, and whilst it had grass and some flowers, the sheer scale, bleakness and the vivid colours of the landscape of Hverir made that a far more compelling experience. Still if you are just on a swift Golden circle tour and don’t know about Mývatn this is all you will get and it is still something that you can astound the folks back home with.

Our journey took us through much the same scenery as the day we arrived, including most bizarrely, a golf course. Half of it was in the lava field, half in fields looking more like a traditional golf course. It was surreal but it took us to our final waterfall of the holiday, Brúarárfoss. It is the very opposite of Gullfoss’s seething mass and force of foaming water. It’s a collection of very small waterfalls and is very dainty and the water is bright blue, more prominent in the sunshine. Whilst the sun disappeared once I got my camera out, it was, really pretty and was the perfect finale completing our waterfall collection. It isn’t very well known and is hard to get to as most of the original roads to it are closed to anyone other than residents. It was the first time that Agnes had let us down! There are signs highlighting how people have lost their lives here. Despite this parents and their children were climbing down to the river, standing and posing on the very narrow concrete stanchion that supports the bridge over the river. Total madness. You will be pleased to hear that we were model citizens.

Tuesday, our final day dawned and originally when we booked the holiday in January, our plan was to go to the volcanic region around Grindavik with a geologist and go to the volcano that last erupted in December and then to the Blue Lagoon for 18:00. It erupted again in Mid March but that didn’t change our plan as our visit was the beginning of June. However May 29th changed all of that. Both were off – the Blue Lagoon was closed and no-one was allowed to drive anywhere near the volcano because of the gases and smoke. Plan B was developed whilst we were here as we could be flexible – we decided to visit the Silfra fissure in Pingvellir National Park. The geology of this place is unique. It’s a divergent rift valley within the Mid Atlantic ridge (massive underwater mountain range) where two tectonic plates, American and Eurasian, are pulling apart in opposite directions, approx 15-20mm per year. It’s one of only two places in the world where “sea spreading” can be seen on land and the only place where you can snorkel between the two plates. Whilst we wouldn’t have snorkelled, Steven had a great gadget for his GoPro so he could have put it into the water to get a shot and on a nice day it is a lovely place to walk around. Note the use of the phrase “on a nice day”. By the time we arrived early afternoon it was 1ºC and rain and snow was being driven by a strong wind all around us. We both refused to get out of the car.

We drove and walked a bit around the outskirts of Reykjavik to kill time and then drove to our airport hotel. As we drove on the main ring road past Grindavik, albeit from a distance of 11 miles away, we could clearly see the rim of the volcano spewing out smoke. All the turn offs to Grindavik had a line drawn through the town’s name. It was sad to see, it was like it was the end of the town. Apparently the Blue Lagoon re-opened today but it was too late for us now. Our holiday is done.