We started day six with a lot of excitement because we were venturing to the Westfjords. This was not on our scheduled program, but we had heard it was an amazing drive and we were really excited to have the time to go. Our main question was whether we would drive clockwise or counter-clockwise. Keep reading to find out!
If you haven’t already, be sure to read about Golden Circle (day 1), the South Coast (Day 2&3), the East Coast (Day4) and the North Coast (Day 5) by clicking on the words to follow the link.
Day 6
If you remember from Day 5, I left off saying that the campground had a little special surprise. There was a trampoline installed in the ground that would blow up during the day, then deflate at night. I had wanted to go jump on this thing, seeing how I have never seen anything like it before, but didn’t want to disturb the kids enjoying it that night. On this lovely morning of Day 6, the trampoline was inflating as we were packing up and heading out for the day so I insisted that we stay and wait until it was fully inflated and ready for our jumping pleasure. We waited for about 20 minutes until it was ready to go. It was still wet from the rain we had received overnight, but we didn’t care! We laughed and giggled just like the kids as we jumped around that morning, despite the dirty looks from some of the crusty old campers washing their morning dishes.
These next two days would also be long driving days for us, so when we stopped along the road mid morning, we fueled up with some local treats. Icelanders boast about their hot dogs, so Dan had to try one. But what is even better than a regular hotdog? A hotdog wrapped in bacon of course! I decided to try their chocolate croissants and it was delicious too!
With some snacks and sugar in our bellies we began our long drive on the Wesfjords. Like a lot of things on this trip, our choice of direction was bit of a coin flip, but we decided to drive clockwise hitting the southern part first.
So, our journey continued along the south side of the Westfjords, winding in and out of the fjords along the way. These fjords are not as deep as the ones on the north side, which we would hit the next day, but were still quite impressive. We didn’t stop as much as in the previous days (partly because of time, but also because there were not a lot of places to pull over) but we really enjoyed the views as they went by.
As you have probably noticed I have posted several pictures of random sheep as they are everywhere! The numerous sheep gave Dan the idea for another game we could play while driving to pass some time on those longer stretches of highway. He had called it “Rock or Sheep”, since some of the sheep are colored just like the rocks on the side of the road making it hard to distinguish between the two. As you may have read, these sheep like to cross the road at any given time, so knowing whether it was a “Rock or Sheep” was a key factor in whether or not we were “Driving or Crashing”. So, at random, one of us would call out “Rock or Sheep?” and hope we guessed correctly. It was usually sheep so we rarely called “Rock!”, LOL.
We had heard about this beach on the Westfjords that was amazing to see, so we decided that would be a definite stop. The only catch with it was that it involved driving up and over an incredibly steep ridge on a gravel road with sharp switchbacks, and steep cliffs (and no guardrails!). It was a little bit nerve racking!!! One moment I would be looking at the cliffs on the passenger side with a sense of comfort, and the next I would be looking down a sheer drop off out my window. I’m pretty sure there were moments the van tires came really close to the soft shoulders on this road as we had to make room for oncoming vehicles on the narrow road.
We finally made it down to the town where the beach was located, parked the van and headed out on the flats. The tide was out when we got there and we were able to walk quite a distance out onto the tidal flats. Here we met some sheep (again everywhere), and headed out as far as we would to try to see the oceans edge. Unfortunately we got to a section where the water was crossing the sand and there was no way we would be able to walk through it to the ocean without getting super wet. The tide was also starting to rise and we didn’t want to be stranded out there, so we walked back to our van and took in the views of the cliffs that were now in front of us.
It was getting later in the evening and we knew we didn’t want to be out driving much more, so we headed back up the crazy road and stopped in Patreksfjörður where we not only had a nice little campground, but showers that were FREE!!! I had to take advantage of the free showers, especially since it ended up being our only free shower location on the entire trip. Actually we both took advantage of a nice hot shower, then walked up and down the main streets of Patreksfjörður before supper.
For supper we had burgers again, but I had found an instant pack of couscous at a grocery store, which added a nice alternative side dish. We ate supper with the views of Patreksfjörður and watched the sun set behind the cliffs. Good night to day 6.
Day 7
We headed north from Patreksfjörður and on to Dynjandi falls. We heard the road we would travel was gravel and long. Great. The road we took up to Dettifoss was bad, so we were worried about this one. But to keep us in good spirits we were greeted by beautiful fjords and surprise waterfalls.
We stopped at the top of this huge fjord which was were the falls were located on the map. Strange, there were no falls anywhere, but we could hear them! Where were these elusive falls???
Down into the fjord we drove to finally see a sign directing us to the Dynjandi falls! YEAH! We were greeted by not only the Dynjandi falls, but a total of 5 other falls on the path. I had headed up the path while Dan stayed behind to take pictures with his non-phone camera.
These falls were just amazing! Their height is over 100m tall and the water flowing down them was crystal clear.
After who knows how long, we continued along the road north to Ísafjörður where the clouds high in the fjords broke away to sun splitting the rocks. We also got the chance to be the lead vehicle through a tunnel with a one way road. Still quite scary as you just are not 100% sure if the other vehicle will pull out of the way in time and depth perception in the long tunnels can play tricks on you when all you see are headlights in the distance.
This area was also known to be frequented by seals and wouldn’t you know it, we actually found them. We had been looking for reindeer on the North coast, but came up short and I had wondered if we would find the seals. Yeah! It was funny to watch and listen to them barking to each other.
Just around the corner we happened to pass a quaint little house that served coffee and waffles. It was getting close to snack time so we stopped to check it out and absolutely had to have some waffles! We ordered only one tea and waffle to share (I drank the tea, we shared the waffle) as the price was just a bit much to get two! Things are expensive in Iceland and we were trying to minimize our costs as much as possible.
Well, when the waffle was served it not only had whip cream, but home made blueberry and rhubarb jam! This was food porn for me! I even took my chances and ate a bunch of cream as well. (I’m lactose intolerant, but didn’t care)
While enjoying the last bits of my tea, Dan was getting creative and taking pictures of the little house and myself sitting and enjoying the afternoon. When I was done, I went inside and asked for the cook if I could get a picture. This lady just smiled and in broken English agreed. There were actually three women working this cafe, a small child, her mother, and the grandmother who the cook. This made me smile as it reminded me of cooking with my mother and grandmother.
For the remainder of our journey we would drive in and out of long fjords taking anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to complete. It was amazing to see the road on the opposite side knowing that it would take that long to get there. I found that many of my pictures of these fjords just don’t show the sheer magnitude of them. So I spent most of the time just enjoying the views and taking it all in.
This day was very long and it was close to 7 pm before we stopped for the evening. We found a lovely campground in Varmaland, cooked some burgers (again!) and beans, and tucked ourselves in for the night. It was calling for rain and cooler temperatures for our next adventure on the Westlands. Never fear though as we have our rain gear ready to roll.
