Half-Term Holiday: Iceland Day 4

14^th February 2018

This morning I slept past my alarm, but it didn’t matter – there was a snowstorm brewing outside! Turns out it was raging, and the roads were closed for 150km in both directions!! So we had a lazy morning, a late breakfast ending at 10 (the end of breakfast), and went back to the hotel for a rest! The storm was supposed to be hone by 12… But it hadn’t. So we checked out then anyway, and walked across the road to the shops for a browse. That was awful! It was blowing probably 50km/h and raining sideways. In about 100m we both got totally soaked, plus it was blinded by the sideways rain and I fell into a snow bank.

We ended up waiting at the shop for an our and a half, just waiting. I even had a nap, but I did buy some Icelandic souvenir yarn! It was very cheap.

The weather cleared around 1.30pm, but the roads were still closed, so instead we wandered around Vik. We visited the church on the hill, which was lovely, and a local museum where we learned about the closest volcano, Katla. Basically, we were killing time. We could see cars leaving Vik, but the website still said the roads were closed.

Around 3pm we said ‘oh well’, and headed to the road closure. Turns out, they’d just opened it! The emergency services guy even gave us a thumbs up as we passed through!

We headed first to Reynisfjara Beach, a black sand beach with many ‘sneaker’ waves. An accurate term! We took some photos and some rocks, and headed on down the ring road.

Our next stop was a waterfall we saw from the road the other day, Skogafoss. It’s a beautiful waterfall, which you can see easily with a tiny walk from the car. Or… You can walk 370 steps up to the top for some spectacular views. Only problem was, the staircase was mostly buried in the snow! Some was totally passable, other bits you needed to haul yourself up by the railing, and for a small section, we just left the path entirely. It was slow going with many stupid tourists being wimpy, but it was worth it for the views at the top! Totally gorgeous. And the way down was super fun – the packed ice was like a slide, with the railing to hold on to as you slip all the way down! Whee!!!

Back on the highway, it was already 5pm… But a half hour down the road was the Lava Center in the town of Hvolsvollur. It wasn’t huge but very very informative and highly interactive. It had super lasers for learning about volcanoes. We were even the only visitors at the time!

Then it was time to find our hotel in Selfoss (helpfully named Hotel Selfoss). We had an excellent dinner, and cheap too! There is a shopping centre attached to this hotel, and next to a highly rated hot dog stand with drive thru! So we had hot dogs and fries, plus Subway cookies. So romantic for Valentine’s Day. Hopefully we might see auroras tonight – we’ve signed up for the wake up service just in case! Best chance is 5-6am, so bed now and hopefully lights later!