Iceland - Day 8

I slept really badly last night, I woke up at 2.30am and never really fell asleep again. So when I got up this morning I felt so tired and I got a fright when I saw my face in the mirror, yikes it was not a good sight!

We had an early breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We photographed the little church again but this time from the beach looking up at it while it was still lit up. Then we went to the ‘dangerous’ beach Reynisfjara to photograph the sea stacks at sunrise. There were a few photographers already there but everyone managed to get a spot without blocking the other’s view. The waves are enormous and so rough, they sneak up on you so you have to keep one eye on them all the time. People have died on this beach when they were caught unaware. I decided to blip the sunrise for a change.

As the best of the sunrise faded we went to the top of the headland to see the view from there in the morning light. Each time we stop and get in and out the car we have to be so careful as they do not seem to lay grit here and car parks and places like entrances to the hotels are very icy.

We then set off for the long drive from Vik to the Snaefellsnes peninsular, making some stops along the way. Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss waterfall. This waterfall is very popular as it is so beautiful, and is about 60m tall so is very impressive (see first extra). It has a rope barrier around it preventing people from walking right up to it, so even though there were quite a few other people there you can get a photograph of the waterfall clear of people - except there were one or two inconsiderate people who jumped over the barrier and were standing right in front of the waterfall taking selfies. One guy was taking ages doing this so I told him off. He wasn’t happy with me but everyone else was really pleased I said something to him, and he cleared off. 

We made a few toilet stops and a stop to get lunch. The others found a bakery that made delicious rolls (which I could not eat) but I found a supermarket and got some protein bars and a tub of Skyr yoghurt (which is essentially lactose free). My friend bought a cake as it was the birthday today of someone in our group, which was presented to him tonight at supper.

We had beautiful sunshine and blue skies all day while poor SE England was getting battered by Storm Eunice. Gavin could not walk Xena in the woods as branches were coming down and it was too dangerous, but he walked her in an open football field. 

We finally arrived on the peninsula around 4pm and instead of going to our hotel in Budir we went straight to the famous witches hat mountain, Kirkjufell to photograph the sunset. This is considered the most photographed mountain in Iceland. The favoured shot is looking up at the mountain past the waterfalls, but they were all so frozen and there was just too much snow, so it did not look good. We decided to weather photograph the mountain reflected in the lake (see last extra) 

We eventually got to our hotel at about 6.45pm. The hotel, Hotel Budir, is well placed near the famous black church and it is very nice. It was a mad rush to check in, unpack and get ready for supper by 7.30pm. We had another delicious supper, most of us had the cod which was perfectly cooked. 


Now it is off to bed as I am so tired, and its another early start tomorrow morning. Thank you for continuing to look at my journal and for all the hearts when I am being absent from blip.