After spending five lovely days with Thorhallur in Thingeyri in the Westfjords, Steve and I decided to move on to the Snæfellsnes peninsula in West Iceland for my last two days in Iceland.
We were ready to drive at 2.00 PM, but started the day of by being stuck in Thorhallurs driveway. There had been a snowstorm the day before, so the ground underneath the car was very slippery and only after a huge effort with newspapers, spades and the help of Thorhallur, we were finally able to go.
On our way to Snæfellsnes, we went on a mission to find one of the many hot springs in the Westfjords and have a little swim. We ended up finding a restaurant in Heydalur and were given directions to a hot spring nearby, but when we went to drive again, we realized that we were stuck once again. Thankfully, there was a spade nearby, so Steve managed to get us out – and the restaurant owners dog helped eat the snow.. And put us in a great mood by being so cute and funny!
In our search for the hot spring, we – stupidly – got stuck again. This time it was kinda our own fault, as we could’ve just avoided the snow by driving on the other side of the road. But we both thought it was fine to go through, and were so very wrong. We tried to get the car free from the snow, but failed and had to call the police for help. Two nice guys came to our rescue and once again, we were free and ready to go. By now, it was almost 8.00 PM, so it was getting dark and we decided to miss out on the hot spring and just carry on to Snæfellsnes.
But that wasn’t how it was supposed to go.. Driving on the most difficult place on the main road in the Westfjords, the
mountain road between Reykjanes and Holmavik, we got stuck once again. This time it was hopeless to do anything ourselves, so we waited for a car to come by on this very quiet road. First, a post van came by, but despite us trying to get his attention, he just kept on driving. I didn’t expect to see anymore cars that day, as it was already 10.00 PM , but thankfully, there was one couple that came by and stopped to help us. They managed to pull us free from the thick snow – but only to get stuck again 10 minutes later.
This time, no cars came by, and I was starting to feel scared that potential cars wouldn’t see us with the lights of and crash into us, so I decided to call the police again. I had never needed rescuing before and this was the second time that day. Oh well, eventually we managed to get free once again by two nice men pulling us for what I think was 5 km. By then, it was midnight and we were really tired, so we decided to just drive to the nearby town of Holmavik and sleep in a parking lot.
It had been a crazy day and we were just so glad to get some sleep and forget about the nightmare of being stuck in the snow all the time.
The next day, the crazy weather seemed to be over and we finally got to Snæfellsnes.
Snæfellsnes is often described as a “mini-Iceland”, as it has at least one of everything that Iceland’s nature has to offer. With its tall mountains, lava fields, mineral springs, glacier, caves and cozy villages, there is enough to see and do on Snæfellsnes. Unfortunately, because of getting stuck so many times the day before, we only had one day to explore the area and decided to drive all the way around the peninsula and stop at the four places that we really wanted to see: the village of Stykkisholmur, Kirkjufell Mountain, Vatnshellir Cave, Snæfellsjökull Glacier and the natural mineral spring Ölkelda.
The first stop was Stykkisholmur – a nice village which has a great view of the hundreds of nearby islands and a cozy harbour, which really reminded me of Tórshavn and made me like the village even more. We spent some time driving around the village, before heading to our next stop: Kirkjufell, which is the most photographed mountain on Iceland according to the guide books. So of course we had to see it and take some pictures like everyone else, but that was pretty much all this sight had to offer.
The next sight was much more exciting in my opinion – the Vatnshellir Cave. It is a 200 m. long cave with 8000-year-old lava and it goes 35 meters below the surface. Unfortunately, the cave was closed and really expensive to get in to! I never understood how they could take money for seeing something that nature has created, but I probably would’ve paid the price if it was open. Instead, we walked about on top of the cave and found loads of mini caves, which was a good experience in itself.
Our next mission was to find the glacier! If we had had enough time, we would’ve liked to go on a hike on the glacier, but instead we settled with just trying to see it. But that was easier said than done. It was quite foggy and I’m not sure if we actually saw the glacier, as all the mountains just looked like regular mountains to me. That was a bit disappointing, but we still enjoyed the hunt for the glacier, which took us to multiple beautiful places on the peninsula.
Before heading to Reykjavik, we made one last stop in Ölkelda and had a sip of the carbonated water in the natural mineral spring. We didn’t like the taste of the water, but it is said to be very healthy because of the high amount of minerals such as calcium, iron and potassium.
Even though our trip to Snæfellsnes didn’t go as planned, I really enjoyed seeing the area and would like to come back and explore more of it someday. Steve and I spent the last night in the car at the city pond in Reykjavik (first class view!) and the next day, it was time to say goodbye, as I headed to Norway and Steve stayed in Iceland.
I’ve had a really fun time travelling with him since the Faroe Islands and it’s strange to now be on my own for the first time since my journey began, but we are going to try to meet up again in England or Denmark later this year, which will be good!
At the moment, I’m sitting in my bedroom in Longyearbyen on Svalbard, a little bit jetlagged after spending the night at the airport in Oslo – but more about that in my next post!
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