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

Today was all about the water and birds! So much of the day was spent wandering along the cliffs, watching the waves crash on the rocks, and spying on all the birds

We were going to park at the harbor here, but there are not very many spots so we parked farther back on the road and walked here first

So many birds everywhere along the trial in Arnarstapi

The stone bridge

Seriously such a beautiful day!

So much fun sitting and watching the waves crash on the rocks!

After walking along the cliffs you go through some lava flow to get to Hellnar beach. If you are limited on time we thought the trail up until the lava was spectacular, and after that it was nice but not as nice as it had been. Part of that is we had walked through a lot of lava fields already so if not it might have been more exciting

Taking a break at the beach in Hellnar

On the way to our next stop we saw this point of interest sign so went to check it out

And learned about the most famous woman in Iceland who gave birth to the first white man in North America and was really well traveled.

Next stop was Lóndrangar viewpoint which was another gorgeous rocky shoreline!

We ate lunch here watching the birds fly around and the waves crash on the rocks!

Once we had our fill of those rocks we headed on to Djúpalónssandur beach which was a lot of fun

You can walk down to the beach through these rocks

You could see if you could be a fisherman

You can see the remains of a shipwreck

And then you get to the water

Which the waves would come in so far! There is a hump there at the top, but the water sometimes would come in far enough to run over it!

The rocks were so cool here!

The beach from up above

Just a tad windy!

Next up was Saxhóll Crater which was surrounded by lava 

After that it was off to Skarðsvík Beach which was tiny, but really nice. 

With lots of fun rocks/algea/moss

Raymond found this tiny hand in the rocks

Next we continued down the gravel road to Svörtuloft Lighthouse. This road was not the best and really made us reconsider our Westfjord plans as there is a gravel section we would have to go down that people said was sketchy in a 2wd and after this we decided to nix that. Because this gravel road was no fun and super stressful to drive down even though it wasn't on the side of a cliff or anything. 

This area was nice, but for us not worth the stressful drive. In a better car it would have been fine. 

Last stop was Svöðufoss which was a washboard gravel road to a nice parking lot and a short walk to a viewpoint not at all close to the waterfall. Definitely not worth the drive/stop, but it was on the way. After that back to Campsite Ólafsvík for another night since we enjoyed it so much the night before. 

Not as much walking today, only 13.5km walked. Spent a lot of time just watching the waves!