On the road again today. We leave Hotel Laxa at 8.45 after breakfast and today we head in a northerly direction to Húsavik, around the Tjörnes Peninsula to he Dettifoss Waterfall and Egilsstadir. Distance is around 150km but lots to see. Actually, I think it's the gravel roads and rugged driving that might slow us down.
We arrive at Húsavik and it's raining quite steadily. 3 hour Whale watching tours go from this pretty fishing harbor but given the conditions we give it a miss and go for a walk , find a bakery and have coffee and a Rommsnúdur.
Refueled we continue to the necessary supermarket stop to get lunch provisions and then drive to Ásbyrgi Canyon.
This is a horseshoe shaped canyon that the Vikings believed was made by a hoof print of Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged flying horse but geologists believe it was the result of catastrophic flood from the Jökulsá glacial river. Mmmmm what to believe?..
The cliffs are 100m high and they form a 1km ring around the vegetation and forest. It's raining but there is a walk that must be done.
Next we must retrace our steps a little to get onto the road to Hijódaklrttar basalt rock formations. The bitumen soon turns into gravel which turns into pretty much a single lane track which in our terms might need to be 4WD. Anyway we are following the itinerary. The second destination along this route is Hólmatungur which is an area for hiking along the Jökulsá á Fjöllum and is said to be among the most beautiful in Iceland. We will never be able to substantiate that comment as we did not stop at either of these spots.
The road was so bad and it was still raining that we decided to ditch the itinerary for this bit and continue on this track for an extra 8km to get to Dettifoss Waterfall.
White knuckles and no conversation except for the odd expletive when a vehicle came from the other direction. At least we knew you could get through.
Ahhh bitumen at last, we both take a breath release the strangle hold on the steering wheel and I can let go of the seat.
We were supposed to approach the waterfalls from another direction however there is a huge car park where we are and hardly a free parking spot!
We eat lunch in the car as it is still raining then we dress up the teletubbies again and trundle along the path to see the most powerful Waterfall in Europe.
Today is the coldest day we have had in Iceland and the persistent rain isn't helping. The Dettifoss fall has the greatest volume of ant Waterfall in a Europe. It's 45m high 100m wide and 500 cubic litres of water per second goes over the top.
About 700m up stream is Sellfoss a smaller but still pretty special wAterfall. We are standing on the top of the Falls and as we have found can get as close as you are game to the edge.
This Jöklá river is a glacial river so it travels above the ground with tremendous force. The water appears brown and 'dirty' as it stirs up and picks up sediment and rocks along the way. Very different to the water that comes through the rock.
We have a bit of a drive now to get back on the right track to our hotel tonight. The landscape continually changes so the drive is never boring. Waterfalls all feeding into the enormous fast flowing river.
We finally reach our hotel which is in an idyllic setting on the edge of a lake, we have a lovely room with a view of the lake and it's very quiet. We are some distance (25km) from town so with regard to dinner we are captive. The options, very expensive Indian or even more expensive buffet or a pre made salad from the bar. Salad it is with a glass of wine and a beer enjoying our lake view.
A brisk walk around the area after dinner and we are done for the day.

Hallormsstaour Hotel