Adventure time!!!

We left Reykjavik relatively early for Viking time… probably a good moment to point out that since I arrived the hours of daylight have risen significantly from my arrival… we are now up to 9 1/2 hours… a hefty rise from the 4  and a 1/2 hours of light I had on arrival, each day adds approximately 7 minutes more light. Sunrise today was about 9am and set about 6.30pm.  To put that in perspective, on Feb 1st sunrise was 10am and sunset 5pm. The temperature has remained similar maximum about 5degrees, but down to -15 in Laugarvatn.. warmer in Reykjavik on the coast. Amazingly you acclimatise to this fairly swiftly, and I don’t find myself getting cold.

The route in the Pink is where we drove on the Saturday and the orange is where we drove on the Sunday.

This 90km long Snæfellsnes peninsula is renown for its bird life, killer whales, spectacular mountains, friendly towns, relics of times past, Saga sites and hiking trails.

After a couple of hours of driving through amazing landscapes, a hike up an incredibly windy crater which overlooked another perfectly formed smaller crater and  a stroll to another beautiful waterfall. We stopped in the picturesque little town of Stykkishólmur for a late lunch of the traditional lobster soup. Stykkishólmur is located by Breiðafjörður Bay on the north of Snæfellsnes peninsula, and is surrounded by wonderful views of the innumerable islands – so named because they can’t be counted. Breiðafjörður  Bay has a spectacular land and seascape consisting of shallow seas, small fjords and bays and an inner part of intertidal areas dotted with about 3,000 islands, islets and skerries. (A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation; it may simply be a rocky reef. The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea.) Tides in the area can be as much as six metres.

The Viking and I spent the night at Hotel Búðir , a beautiful hotel that is located at the edge of the Snaefellsjokull National Park with the glacier at the center of the park.  Snaefellsjokull became world famous when Jules Verne used it as a “gateway to the center of the earth” in his book “Journey to the center of the earth”. Our room was on the ground floor with beautiful views from the windows, late in the evening the northern lights came out and danced gently across the sky above the glacier. The hotel was charming, with a great restaurant serving local dishes. There is lovely little country church just a short walk from Hotel Búðir.

As usual I took hundreds of photos and the following are from the drive up. The landscape is so breathtaking and mind-blowingly beautiful. Every corners reveals something amazing…