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Showing posts from July, 2022

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 29 - Borgarfjörður eystri

Day 29 was a great day even though we didn't do that much. We got up in the morning and drove to Borgarfjörður eystri to see the puffins! I had read some old accounts of driving here that said the last bit was gravel and sketchy, but the road has since been paved so we were good to go. There was one 15km section of gravel that they were working on while we drive through. About half of it was super slow going, the other half was fine, so it wasn't too bad overall. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 28 - Ásbyrgi, Hljóðaklettar, Dettifoss

Day 28 was yet again a gorgeous day! So sunny and warm with no wind! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 27 - Húsavík, Whale Watching Tour, Ásbyrgi

Day 27 was another gorgeous day! Got up and headed towards Húsavík stopping at the Lake Mývatn viewpoint. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 26 - Goðafoss, Aldeyjarfoss, Hrafnabjargafoss

Day 26 was a gorgeous day! I was so glad we saved Aldeyjarfoss for today as the walk was beautiful! First up though we stopped at Goðafoss again to see if the water was nicer today in the sun. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 25 - Stóra-Viti, Leirhnjúkur, Skútustaðir, Vindbelgjarfjall

Day 25 we woke up to VERY foggy conditions. So many low clouds you couldn't see anything so we had a relaxing morning getting ready trying to see if the clouds would clear up some. We didn't leave camp until 9, which for us was really late. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 24 - Hverir, Hverfjall, Dimmuborgir, Höfði

Day 24 was another overcast day, but luckily it didn't rain on us too much. We started off the day by going to spy in Hverir geothermal area. We had driven by here the day before and I wanted to stop because it looks so fun! But there were a ton of people all over and Raymond was like we should just wait till tomorrow. We were there early which was nice as there were not many other people there yet so Raymond was right! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 23 - Goðafoss, Grjótagjá, Dettifoss

Day 23 was a very overcast day. Our plan had been to hike to Aldeyjarfoss from the end of the gravel road (where it turns into an F road), but with it being overcast and low clouds I wasn't sure I wanted to. We decided to drive over and see what the weather was like once we got there. After the super long day hiking to Haifoss I didn't want to have another long, cold, not so nice day here.

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 22 - Áshildarholtsvatn, Tröllaskagi

Day 22 started off with a little bit of rain and low clouds. We headed out and stopped at Áshildarholtsvatn for some bird watching. We had found a birding in NW Iceland map and it said this was one of the best places for it. It said there was a small lake with an info board on the west side and a bird blind on the east side so we drove around and couldn't find it! There was a small dirt road so we turned down there and then I spotted the sign behind a horse trailer! It was hidden! The sign said to just walk along the road to not disturb the birds so that is what we did. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 21 - Hvammstangi , Kolugljúfur Canyon, Vatnsdalshólar, Hrútey, Reykjafoss

Man day 21 started off a bit stressful. We started driving towards our first stop, Kolugljúfur Canyon, when going over a pass the AdBlue light came on in the car. I remember last time I rented a camper the lady there was like if this light comes on you need to immediately get more AdBlue!! If you turn off the car you won't be able to turn it on again!! So we were in the middle of nowhere not close to any towns so Raymond was trying to figure out where we could get this and how far away it was. The only time I remembered seeing an AdBlue pump was in Reykyavik, which was kind of far away. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 20 - Bunárfoss, Naustahvilft, Súðavík, Valagil Waterfall, Drangsnes, Hólmavík

Day 20 was another gorgeous day! We got so lucky with the weather! So much sun!

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 19 - Sandafell, Flateyri, Suðureyri, Bolungarvík, Ísafjörður

Okay, I know in yesterday's post I said the Westfjords were not my favorite part of Iceland, and that is true, but they were incredibly beautiful. I mean look at these photos! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 18 - Drive to Þingeyri, Westfjords

Day 18 was a long day of driving. We knew it would be and the night prior I was looking for things to do along the way from Reykhólar to Þingeyri along the north side of the Westfjords, but I didn't find much. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 17 - Kirkjufell, Grundarfoss, Stykkishólmur, Selvallafoss, Reykhólar

Day 17 we woke up to some light rain, but by the time we got going it was just low clouds

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 16 - Snæfellsnes - Arnarstapi-Hellnar, Lóndrangar, Djúpalónssandur, Saxhóll Crater, Skarðsvík Beach, Svörtuloft Lighthouse, Svöðufoss

Day 16 we woke up to another beautiful day to explore Snæfellsnes! We got up and headed back to the south side of the peninsula, through a mountain pass that was just gorgeous, and parking in Arnarstapi to walk from there to Hellnar

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 15 - Snæfellsnes - Gerðuberg Cliffs, Ytri Tunga, Bjarnarfoss, Búðakirkja, Rauðfeldsgjá

Day 15 was another gorgeous day! We got up and headed out to start exploring Snæfellsnes Peninsula. We had planned two days for this so we were going to see what we got to and do the rest the following day. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 14 - Barnafossar, Glanni Waterfall, Grábrók, & Elborg Crater

Day 14 we woke up to a beautiful day! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 13 - Þingvellir National Park, Þórufoss, and Akranes

Day 13 we woke up to very grey skies, but got up and ready to explore Þingvellir National Park. There are multiple parking lots and we parked at P3 since it was the closest to camp and at the far end of the park (and then walked to the other end and back). By the time we got to the parking lot it was misty so we put on all our rain gear and headed out

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 12m - Fagradalsfjall & Reykjavik

Day 12 was yet again another gorgeous day! We started the day by going to Fagradalsfjall volcano to see the new lava flows! Yes, it is not erupting anymore, but we still really enjoyed our time there

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 11 - Kerid Crater & Reykjanes Peninsula

Day 11 our first stop was Kerid Crater. This was nice, but nothing special. You have to pay to get in, you can walk around the top and then down to the water, but if you are going to be seeing other craters then this is an easy one to skip. Nice, but nothing special. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 10 - The Golden Circle

Day 10 we woke up to a magical winter wonderland! A few inches at least and I was so excited!! I love snow and it was magical!

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 9 - Haifoss & Gjáin

Day 9 was a LONG day. If we would have had nicer weather it probably would have been okay, but we didn't. It was cloudy and windy and freezing cold all day with a bit of snow in the morning. This was a day that I hadn't originally planned on doing, but just before the trip someone asked in the Iceland travel group about this road and if you could walk to Haifoss and everyone said yes, but it is a 7km walk, but the waterfall is one of the best in Iceland! So since we had time and that is not that far to walk we decided to check it out. We arrived and there was a sign on the road stating 4x4 only - I had read that it was a gravel road to the waterfall, but not an F road so anyone could technically do it so we were going to spy, but we are rule followers and we didn't have a 4x4 so we parked off the side of the road and started walking. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 8 - Westman Island, Seljandsfoss

Day 8 we woke up to a sunny beautiful day! Now we had come over to Westman Island the night prior and camped at the campsite and everything I read said if you want to see puffins you have to go early (before 8am) or late (like 10pm) as they go out to sea during the day. So the plan was to get up and get going and see if we could see any. We were waking up around 6 so we shouldn't have been too late, but of course this is the first day I slept in! Till 7! So we rushed around trying to get ready and didn't make it to the puffin viewing point until much later than we wanted...and didn't see any puffins. Though we did see some Fulmar nesting, lots of fancy ducks, and a couple of razorbills which reminded me of penguins! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 7 - Reynisfjara Beach, Dyrhólaey Lighthouse, Loftsalahellir Cave, Seljavallalaug, Westman Ferry

Day 7 we woke up to a sunny absolutely beautiful day! We had originally planned to come here the day prior, but the wind was too strong to drive here, but this day there was barely any wind at all! It was perfect!

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 6 - Sólheimajökull, Solheimasandur, Skógafoss trail

Day 6 we woke up to lots of clouds. We stayed at the Skógafoss campsite the night before and would stay again this night as we had 2 days worth of things to do in the area. I had planned to go visit the black sand beach and things there, but when we checked the wind it was purple in that area so we saved that for the next day (and hoped the wind would be better). 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 5 - Skaftafellsjökull, Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, Gígjagjá, Skógafoss

Day 5 started off a bit cloudy, but perfect weather for a walk. Not too cold or windy so we headed out to check out Skaftafellsjökull - the glacier an easy walk from the campsite. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 4 - Svartifoss, Fjallsárlón, Múlagljúfur Canyon Jökulsárlón

Day 4 started off so sunny and beautiful! We had looked at vedur.is to check the weather the night before and we thought it showed we would be in purple wind (very strong wind!) overnight and this morning, but woke up to no wind at all. Prior to the trip everyone suggested using Vedur to check the wind, but we found it wasn't very good or easy to figure out exactly where we were and if the wind would be too strong for us to drive (we often couldn't tell if we would be in the windy area or just outside of it). We started checking  https://vegasja.vegagerdin.is/ every time before we drove as that was much easier to use, much easier to find exactly where we were and more accurate for us. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 3 - Stokksnes, Diamond Beach & Jökulsárlón

We woke up on day three to lots of clouds. This was from the water at Höfn where we spied to see what we could see

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Day 2 - Hengifoss & drive to Höfn

On our second day we woke up to some fresh snow on the ground! 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Our first day! Seyðisfjörður, Waterfalls, & Stuðlagil Canyon

Our first views of Iceland were very foggy, but after 2.5 days on the boat we were here! The boat docks in Seyðisfjörður so when we woke up we were sailing through the fjord on our way to the town. I loved the spooky fog and all the snow!!  

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: Quick stop in the Faroe Islands

On the ferry to Iceland after a full day at sea we woke up arriving in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands! We had a few hours to wander around and see what we could see and it was really nice to get off the boat and stretch our legs a little. We could see the stairs to get off the boat from our room and when we arrived there were a ton of people waiting to go down so we decided to wait until it calmed down a bit before exiting. 

Campervan Adventures in Iceland: On our way!

Hello again! Time for another update - this time from Iceland! Iceland is somewhere I have always wanted to go, but never got around to. Why? Well, I figured one of these times flying back to the states I would find one of those magical tickets that lets you have a layover there and doesn't cost a fortune, but up until now that never happened. So why did we go now? I'm glad you asked. Early this year I was planning vacation time out and Raymond still had a lot to use up before June so I was looking for somewhere fun to go in May. Somewhere not too far, somewhere we didn't have to fly to. Somewhere we could rent a campervan here in Berlin again and drive to. I really loved our last adventures in one and was excited to try out a different model. I also wanted hiking adventures, but in most of the big mountainous places May is too early as they are still covered in snow.