Day 6: Hofn - Husavik

Another early start, as we had a huge drive ahead of us; starting the day in the South, ending up in the North. I'd been a bit anxious about this one, and we decided to change our travel plans as we'd originally planned to stay somewhere that now appeared way too ambitious! We left our goal open, but I had it in mind that it'd be great to get all the way to Husavik so we'd be ready for some early whale watching tomorrow.

The weather wasn't on our side, and the cloud and fog hung very low all morning. We made our way up the East Fjords, which were just beautiful. I wish we had more time to explore the East fully; another reason to return! Our first stop of the day was in a drizzzly Djupivogur to see the giant eggs and visit a brilliant artists studio where we chatted to him and his Scottish sheep dog. We then had to make a decision; continue along the safer ring road around the fjords, or take the shorter and more direct mountain pass The Oxi (The Ox). The weather was awful, so the sensible thing to do would have been to stick to the main road, but we were so short on time and had so far still to go, we decided to brave the Oxi. The actual road was much better than many we'd experienced, but absolute thick dense fog made visibility non-existent. We passed a few cars, so we weren't the only ones up there, which was reassuring. It was a very tense half hour as we climbed up the mountain, creeping along with only the yellow markers at the side of the road peeking through the fog to reassure us we were still on the road and avoiding the sheer drop that was in my mind. Eventually, with absolute relief, we made it to the top and the fog started to clear to reveal absolutely stunning views! As we started to descend, the sun came out and it was like a different day. We could have been in Scotland or the Lakes, it was absolutely beautiful.

After a lunch stop in Egilsstadir, we started to head in land through the ever changing landscape. We drove the closest to the volcano as we'd get, and saw the glow of lava reflected in the clouds. As our earlier decision to take the Oxi had given us time, we decided to head North and take the awful road up to Dettiffos; the most powerful waterfall in Europe, strangely located in one of the driest areas of the country. We clattered along the road for about 40 minutes, with the falls hidden in a canyon. When we caught our first glance, it was unbelievable- it was absolutely huge. Incredibly, you could walk over the rocks to be right on the shore next to the drop. The wind was crazy, and we got soaked, it was brilliant! As Dettifoss was halfway along the gravel road, we continued North and decided to keep going to Husavik. It only took another ninety minutes to make it to the little harbour town, and we were lucky to find a guesthouse with availability in a massive apartment. It was so nice to stroll down to the restaurant after such a long day and have a couple of beers. We met a local in one of the bars, and spent ages chatting about local life. He bought us some Icelandic shots to end another amazing day.