Höfn -> Breiðdalsvík -> Reyðarfjörður ->Neskaupstadur
I woke up to the best weather on my trip so far. The girls (from Quebec City!) in the tent next to mine were planning their trip to Bakkafjörður in search of puffins. I had seen puffins at Vik a day earlier, I didn’t find them particularly interesting.
I hung out at the campsite all day and spoke to the campsite owner. She said she was stressed about the increasing number of tourists coming to Iceland. She was unable to handle the crowds. I thought she’d be excited about more business but she wasn’t.
I planned to drive along the Eastern Fjords today, all the way to Neskaupstadur depending on the time.
Driving in the fjords takes longer than I expected because of the treacherous winding roads. The scenery is incredible and very distracting when you are taking hairpin bends.
I could have used another driver to switch with, but instead wound up taking a lot of breaks and stops. About 5 cars passed me the whole day.
The mountains are massive. I took a picture of a freight-carrying ship sailing into one of the Fjords for scale.
There are 2 roads from Fáskrúðsfjörður to Reyðarfjörður – Rte 96 (which goes inland and skips the coastline) and Rte 955, which goes along the coastline of the fjord. I decided to take Rte 955.
About halfway in, the road turns into a crummy gravel road. The little Spark had a tough time taking uphill climbs on gravel, I stalled a few times, and heard a few huge rocks hit the undercarriage. Not a good time. I was gripping the wheel pretty hard.
I was mentally exhausted by the time I hit the town of Reyðarfjörður. Searching for the campsite, I saw that it was closed. Infact, the whole town looked closed. Where is everyone?
I guess most tourists do not leave the main ring road – Rte 1. It is very rare that someone ventures off (probably for good reason too) and so most businesses, campsites etc off the ring road close at like 4pm. The whole town had 4 houses and the lights were off.
At this point, It was ~11pm. I decided to just go to Neskaupstadur. According to my Lonely Planet guide, it was one of the bigger towns in the Eastern Fjords.
Driving to the town was a surreal experience. First, the road winds up a mountain until you get really damn high up there.
As you keep climbing, you get to the snow covered peaks of the Fjords. The road ended in this narrow single-car tunnel that goes right through a mountain.
I sat there for nearly 5 minutes, seriously considering if I want to enter or not. Well, I came this far, no point turning back now.
The tunnel is about 650m, although it felt much longer. I had an insane adrenaline rush as I zipped through as quickly as I could.
Coming out the other side was like entering into a new world. The rays of the rising sun over the Atlantic lined the mountains, there was no wind, the snow was white and beautiful and I felt pretty lucky to be here, at this time, in the present.
I descended into Neskaupstadur, what feels like a drive down from the heavens. They were playing Atom Heart Mother on the radio, which added to whole effect. Dreamy.
The campsite was empty, there was still snow on the ground, the temperature (according to the thermometer as you enter town) was -1C. I really had nothing to complain about though. Today was a good day.
My stuff 