Iceland East coast June 28, 2024

Waterfall along the road

We spent a quiet comfortable night at this guesthouse, and had breakfast in the dining room. Breakfast was cereal, skyr (like Greek yogurt), good bread, hard boiled eggs, pastries (Ray's got to have his sweets), and more. 

The operative word today was WIND. We heard it howling overnight, and when we woke, it was still whipping. It was 47 degrees and the wind was at 30 mph, gusting to over 50. We knew it was going to be an interesting drive today, as we were following along the fjords of the east coast, and the winds were expected to be strong the whole way. And they were.

Our first stop was in the nearest town, Hofn (pronounced Hurpn- go figure)  to pick up a few snacks and some eyedrops which I stupidly left home. After hitting the local drug store and returning to the car, I realized I had no idea how to open the container. So I got out of the car ( with difficulty, because the gusts must have been at 50+ mph) and started back from the parking lot. I got a few steps from the car, when a gust stopped me in my tracks. I turned to blunt the wind, and my glasses were ripped off my face and went flying back into the parking lot. They're wire rims and light, and sailed like a piece of paper right under a parked car. I tapped on the car window to ask the occupants not to move the car while I bent down to retrieve my glasses from under the car's wheel. Whew! I got them. I put them in my pocket to go in the store and get instructions.  

We then pulled into a small parking area nearby that touted "Boulder Park". I thought, I'll get out and take a picture. I couldn't easily get the door open, so I rolled the window down for 3 seconds and snapped the picture. It was going to be one of those days.

From Hofn, we headed north along Route 1 towards our destination,  Egilsstadir. Holy cow, the wind rocked that car! Water sprays blew off the ocean and looked like smoke. We passed a flock of maybe 40 to 50 swans, probably in that cove for a bit of shelter. All the while, I took photos from the car's open window. In one area, AccuWeather reported that the wind was gusting to 74 mph. 

The wind let up a bit as we turned inland. We went through a 6 km (3.75 mile) tunnel.

All in all, the mountains , ocean, and fjords made for a fantastic drive.

Pictures here.