Enchantment: Iceland From the North West to the East

 

Every part of Iceland is enchanting. But, first a confession, I put my  yesterday’s post out of chronological order. I hope no one notices.

After the Krafla area, we continued our journey around Iceland from the north west to the east. We noticed many sheep farms. Iceland has a lot of sheep farms, horse farms and a few dairy farms. Of course sheep have also had an important environmental influence on Ireland. They “helped’ in the process of desertification.  Our motor coach was involved in accident today. The road of Iceland are extremely narrow. Today we paid a price. Our bus collided with a large RV that its mirrors outstretched. Its mirrors and ours met head on and both suffered. We were just very happy it was only the mirrors. It could have been much worse. According to AO the other driver should have pulled in his mirrors after he finished backing up so it was his fault.

We stopped for lunch in Mödrudgurwith its fine little church built by a farmer to honor his wife.

 

Driving from the north west of Iceland to the east was one of the most exciting rides of my life. I know I have said that before. I love waterfalls and the region was alive with waterfalls. I am convinced there are more waterfalls in Iceland than anywhere else in the world. The only problem was that we could not stop at everyone and I wanted to stop at everyone!

We had only one stop and that was for a sensational waterfall Rjükandafossa lovely winding waterfall. This waterfall, unlike most, had a convenient place to stop and park a large bus. I was very grateful for that. Life was good again. The farther east we drove the more waterfalls we saw. It seemed impossible, but it was true.

In parts of Iceland the plains were set against magnificent mountain snow capped ranges.

 

We enjoyed the drive through the Dyrfjöll mountain range one of Iceland’s most dramatic. That is saying a lot. My guidebook had a fine description of this valley: “The start of the coast road runs through a steep river valley lined by pencil thin waterfalls at regular intervals—each would be a marvel in other countries, but in Iceland they are just part of the landscape.”

 

The fact that we could not stop often and the countryside was so beautiful made me break one of my cardinal rules—I photographed from a moving coach. And I even liked some of the results! I really wished we could have stopped at many more waterfalls, but then our trip would have taken 12 months instead of 12 days. What a pity!

Many of the mountainsides, as much of Iceland for that matter is filled with lupines. These are beautiful wild flowers, but to many in Iceland they are considered a nuisance. Since the 1950s the flower has used extensively to cover vast barren areas in order to hold down the soil so it does not wash or blow away. In the meantime in many places the flowers have escaped and invaded the rest of the island to such an extent that the plantings have been considered by many to be too successful. Now many want to eradicate it. Playing god is never an easy job.

 

 

OA had asked us what was our favorite of Iceland. That was a very difficult question to answer, but the first place I thought of was this part of Iceland. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful. It started off stark and treeless. That had its own peculiar beauty. Our final destination for the day was Reyδdarfjörδur a wonderful little fishing village at the base of the steepest fjord in the east of Iceland. The town was the site of a huge environmental scuffle when a huge aluminum smelter was built in the area in 2004. 15,000 people showed up to protest it in front of Parliament to no avail. That is a lot of people for such a small country.

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