The first thing we did is find a store that sold boots. I picked up some cheap-ish water-proof shoes so I could at least keep my feet dry. We set off and within an hour it had cleared up nicely.
We decided to branch off the beaten path towards Keldur. It was along an old gravel road, so we stopped to give my new boots a test.
When we got within view of Keldur, it seemed like it was just a farm with a small church. It also looked like private property. In Iceland, it's hard to tell where you're supposed to be. There might be an amazing waterfall right in someone's back yard. But a road leads to it. So it's often just up to your judgment to see if you felt like you were trespassing.
There was a massive amount of cows heading to pasture and getting any closer seemed to be meddlesome, so we admired the cows and headed out. We didn't really know what we were looking for, anyway, so cows were good enough.
In hindsight, with a bit of research, I realize Keldur is an ancient group of earth-covered farmhouses, and we totally missed it. But we saw the exact same thing later in the trip anyway, so no harm done.
We were off to try to reach Eyjafjallajökull, a nearby glacier (you can't quite see it yet, but it's at the end of this huuuuuuge stretch of highway).
Before long we saw a cool waterfall and slammed on the breaks. We explored around a bit and found a way to get close, so we we went to explore Porsteinslundur (which is a name we wrote down from somewhere, although I can find no mention of it on Google, which is weird. So maybe we made that up...)
Amazingly, there was a gate and a well groomed orchard to get to the falls. It was eerie, since it seemed so well taken care of, but also totally abandoned. The closer we got to the waterfall, the bigger it seemed, and what looked like a tiny trickle from far away was actually pretty massive up close (that happens a lot in Iceland. I think it's because there's nothing around for a point of reference.)
One we had our fill of waterfall, we ran off to see what else the rocky cliff had to offer, since we had came this far already. And we found caves. It was a tiny climb to get into them, but once inside they were roomy and had bits of matted hair I can only assume were from sheep hiding from the rain.
Some caves were connected, but there were smaller once everywhere, so we peeked in a few more before leaving.
We got back on the road heading to Eyjafjallajökull, as planned. You can see it creeping through the mountains at the end of this road (on the left hand side of photo). It's still far, far, far away, though.
It's not easy to get to Eyjafjallajökull. We knew that the roads would be unpaved and rocky. We knew it was twisty and there was a quicksand field to stay away from. We even knew there was a river crossing, but we were hoping the river would be low and dry. By law you have to have a 4X4 jeep or truck, which we did. But we a compact, not a full size.
When we finally reached the (first?) river crossing, we got out to assess the situation. We knew you were supposed to wade out into the river to check the depth before attempting to cross. Lindsay got about 5 feet in on either side with her tiny boots (there was a rickety footbridge laid across the river).
We had no idea if it stayed shallow all the way across, so we came up with a scheme. We found some rope and a rock and made a tool to gauge the depth. It failed miserably.
Although we really wanted to get across, we decided trying to cross this river wasn't worth the $12,000 (US) we were on the hook for if we wrecked the car. We admitted defeat and left.
But within 5 minutes some clouds and fog rolled in and it started to rain. Being a glacier in the rain is a bad idea, and so is re-crossing a river that could be deeper on our way back. So we felt our cowardice was justified.
We went to see the massive (and kind or dingy, compare to most of the crystal clear waterfalls of Iceland) Skógafoss. The water fell directly onto a flat surface, so the mist it kicked into the air meant that getting close meant getting wet. But that's why we had new raincoats and boots.
We stopped at a near by restaurant for some fish and chips and cordon bleu.
We were still determined to taste a glacier, so we took off for Solheimajokull. It was a crazy road to get there, but much, much more manageable.
There were cars parked nearby, but no people. I think there was a tour up walking on the glacier. We walked around a bit right on the edge, but thanks to the advice of Man VS Wild's Bear Grylls, we decided against exploring any further.
Glaciers are dirty. And cold. The temperature that day was probably 65 degrees or higher, but the closer to the glacier we got, the colder the temperature dropped. It must have been close to 30 by the time we were standing on the glacier, but some of that chill might have been due to the wind whipping off of it.
After all that ice, we were ready for the beach so we drove to Kirkjufjara. Which was beautiful and I don't really have anything else to say about it.
We drove across a long, strange isthmus on the way to our next destination, the (relatively) nearby Reynisfjara beach. This a picture from the isthmus (not of the beach, just of a bad ass hill).
Reynisfjara is a black pebble beach with bizarre basalt columns from the Reynisfjall mountain. It's also supposed to be home to millions and billions of Puffins. But not this time of year, I guess, because there were none.
In addition to the oddly geometric cliffs, there was also delicately segmented rocks, and you can also see the fairly large, black pebbles that formed the "sand". Each pebble was roughly 1" wide, so they were surprisingly non-granular.
We left Reynisfjara as it was getting late and made out way to Vik which sits along the coast. As you come out of the mountains and the tiny town comes into view, it was one for the coolest things I've seen. And I didn't take a picture because were in a hurry, and we were on a narrow, steep mountain highway. But I still regret it.
To make up for it, here's a picture of a hill that was a few kilometers away (actually right next to Reynisfjara, so I guess it doesn't count).
We thought about staying in Vik, but we had some light left in the day and decided to cover more ground. We headed to a farm guesthouse, I think it was called Hörgslande.
The scenery was bizarre as we left Vik, with sharp, mossy rock that suddenly became a landscape of soft, bumpy, mossy boulders (usually about the size of a basketball). I got out to walk around on the strange landscape and found that all the boulders were loose, so it was like walking on a fun ball pit covered in a wrestling mat.
Eventually the massive glacier Vatnajökull came into view far, far in the distance. Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland, and covers 8% of the country. It would be a constant, looming sight for the next day or two. If you look closely, you can see it in the distance below.
We finally reached Hörgslande, but it was in the middle of nowhere and it was too late to get food anywhere. And that's the problem with Iceland. Sometimes you've just got no options. Not even a store or gas station.
We assessed our situation and found some water, a couple oranges and some weird, greasy bread and overly flavorful spread that Lindsay picked up in Reykjavik for some reason. I ate the orange and but even though I was starving, I thought the bread and spread were just a bit too unpleasant to eat. Lindsay liked it ok, though.
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