Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Day 2
Updated: Aug 20, 2023
I'll start with a rock picture because it was from yesterday's really cool black rock beach.
It pretty much rained all day again today. Welcome to Iceland.
The day didn't go quite as I had planned, but that's okay, since campervan travel allows for sponteneity. I backtracked this morning to see a few places that I'd skipped yesterday so that I could get to my campground before dark. Suddenly, there was this super loud noise—I was so stunned by it that it took me a sec to realize that my windshield wiper blade was gone! Did I mention that it was raining? I turned around and drove back a bit and actually found the wiper blade beside the road. It looked fine to me, so I tried to put it back on but it wouldn't hook on. I have no skill with wiper blades (that's what Jake and Advance Auto are for), and I couldn't get it on. It was sort of stuck in place—I had to really tug to get it back off—so I carefully headed back to Hellissadur, turning the wipers on for a few seconds at a time and hoping the blade would stay in place.
The lady at the service station said that the shop in the next town (3 km down the road) might be able to help. It was a small marine hardware store. And, gloriously, the man that worked there was happy to help me. To make the story shorter, the wiper did not actually fit on the campervan. Someone had just jammed it on, but it was not actually connected as it didn't have the correct piece to attach to the arm. Luckily, the marine store had wiper blades. I had to get one slightly shorter than the original, but it works and it's actually attached to the car. I'm going to try to get my money back from the rental agency, even knowing that it will never happen. (Note: they did reimburse me for the wiper blade!)
I was now behind my schedule, which had been to backtrack this morning, then head east to catch the 3 PM ferry to Westfjords. But I really wanted to see the orange lighthouses and schedules are just suggestions. I'm really glad I went back. The road to the lighthouses was worth the trip! It went through an old lava field with crevasses and mossy lava rocks. It was a rough road, probably about 10 km worth, but strangely beautiful. And I saw some new birds, rock ptarmigans!
The Öndverðarnesviti Lighthouse was the smaller of the two, located out on a point. There were a lot of birds and one grey seal in the water below the cliffs.
The Svörtuloft lighthouse was on cliffs that reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, though these are not that tall. And there's just something very nice about orange lighthouses.
I headed back toward Hellissandur and stopped to see murals that have been painted on a number of buildings. I liked the bird building especially.
By now it was lunchtime, so I stopped in a small town restaurant and had wild mushroom soup. Yum! I also realized that the ferry idea wasn't going to work. I decided to keep moving along the north coast of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, aiming to go to the northern part of Iceland next (skipping the Westfjords). Maps kept trying to route me inland, and I ignored the app. Then discovered that Maps was trying to keep me on paved roads. Oh well. My campervan is now pretty dirty, unless the rain tonight has washed it off. I saw some nice waterfalls and more swans. Whooper swans are everywhere here. They are the Canada goose of Iceland.
The abandoned buildings here are very picturesque. I'm clearly not the only one who thinks so, as they frequently have pull offs so you can get off the road to photograph them.
I'm sure this waterfall has a name (something-foss), but I haven't looked it up yet. The power of the water was impressive!
I'm camping at Hvammstangi tonight. It's raining and windy. I parked the camper facing into the wind and it's still getting rocked with the gusts. If the weather is still nasty tomorrow, I may head back to Akureyri. It's a nice town and I can drink coffee and browse the shops. Or I might head back to Myvatn. I'll decide tomorrow.
Interesting art work !