ICELAND RING ROAD, part 6 (July 14-25, 2018)



Walked out onto our balcony to find clouds and sprinkles, it's all good, Iceland is known for this! We commented on how lucky we had been so far weather wise. Our AirBnB apartment was very nice, I chose to let the ladies sleep in the bedroom and I took the pull out couch. I snuck out to the empty streets of Neskaupstadur early to stretch the kinks out! Once everyone was awake we found a nice coffee shop next door then provisioned a little at the well stocked grocery store on the opposite corner. I had my first "pylsur" commonly known as a hotdog for breakfast...yep breakfast...just wanted one that's why! Hotdogs are quite popular in Iceland, nice blend of beef, pork and lamb, tasty. The store had a bakery so we grabbed some fresh bread and croissants stuffed with ham, good road trip snacks! We had read about a short hike just outside of town...off we went in search of the "Easter Cave" and perhaps some mischievous elves!














We didn't have a super long driving day ahead, around 70km to our next lodging in Egilsstadir. We traded messages with the owner of our "Icelandic horse farm stay" and planned to check in at 3pm, that allowed us time for a nice dirt road detour to Mjoifjorur. The gravel/dirt road is only open during the summer months and for good reason! As we reached the top of the mountain looking down to the fjord our stomachs did a little flip flop. The road on that side had an intimidating 18 percent grade with no guardrails...geeeeze how, and better yet who drove that bulldozer??! We paid strict attention looking way down in the distance along the switchbacks to insure we weren't going to greet another vehicle. Luckily it was dry. Fyi, there are no photos of the road...apparently we were preoccupied or unwilling to hang the camera out of the window!! The reason we ventured down this road was to see the magnificent Klifbrekkufossar falls...wonder if that means cliffbreakyourassir!! Glad we did it!


















As I mentioned earlier our choices for last minute lodgings were limited, we wanted to spend 2 nights in the East fjords, so to do that we had to move. The magical East fjords draw way less tourist crowds, I suspect primarily because the beautiful south and west are more convenient for those with limited time. When we pulled into the horse farm we knew we had made a great choice. The owner and her sheep dog showed us to our little guest house and really made us feel at home. She's from the Netherlands and her father started the farm many moons ago, great old black and white photos of the early days adorn the cottage. She told us we were welcome to walk anywhere on the few hundred acre horse farm if we'd like. 3 bedrooms, small but perfect kitchen and living room, and art work everywhere! She doesn't have guests sign a guest book, instead she has you paint your experience to hang on the walls, cool!








It was early so we headed over the mountain to visit the small artsy town of Seydisfjordur, which sits on the fjord with the same name. What a panoramic view of Egilsstadir and the Lagarfljot river, which looked more like a large lake. The road over was similar to many of the gravel roads we wandered down previously, but with a much more reasonable grade! The village was again quaint, but with the artsy influence we noticed a few more cafes with plenty of fellow wanderers enjoying themselves.












Back down on the farm we took a walk in the fields and enjoyed a nice "sunset" with the horses and a few cows. The weather actually turned out fine! The ladies began painting their thank you on canvas as I prepared a late spaghetti dinner. At midnight it was interesting to see the horses moving about outside of our window, the farmer's daughter single handedly moved dozens of horses from a big open field to a corral, running back and forth swinging a whip overhead, cool. Off to bed.














To be continued....