Who needs a jeep when you got a Toyota Yaris

Sunday, Day 10

Lunch at Borgarnes

Because of the noisy campers neither one of us slept so well last night, but we still managed to get up around 8 am. There was a line to the women's bathrooms and the one shower but luckily I didn't have to wait for that long. Did I mention I discovered the best recipe for a camping oatmeal in the morning? We bought some Quaker's instant porridge bags which are ready in just 2 min and then I add some banana and kiwi slices and a little bit of maple syrup which we got on the first day. I've never been a friend of porridge but this I could eat in the future too! Maybe add some chia seeds in it too. With the porridge we've also always made coffee (instant coffee) with creamer powder for me, and sometimes boiled some eggs or had some Skyrs, which is a quark-yoghurt like mix from Iceland. They are very good and rich with protein, not vegan friendly though.

That F road - what could happen?

The day before we had talked about driving a different route across the Snaefellnes peninsula, and see what it was like. We were quite sure it was more like a gravel road and also slower because of that, but maybe we could see some glimpses of the Snaefellsjökull glacier. So we figured, why the hell not.

The F-road

As we got on the road we tried to see if there were any signs that said you should only get on that road with a 4 by 4, but we didn't see any so we kept on driving. Pretty soon after this my boyfriend said "this was not a good idea." We didn't see a single car on the road that was very bumpy and gravely with lots of uphills and steep turns. I was holding on to the wheel a lot stronger for some reason and going extra slowly.. After a while there was a car driving towards us, and of course it was a big ass jeep. He did give us a funny look, but I had faith in our feisty Toyota. It had survived with great dignity til now and it wasn't about to give up yet.

Then the roads started to get a little muddier and wet.. We were basically driving uphill towards the glacier mountain, so this wasn't exactly a steady dirt road. While my boyfriend kept telling me how bad of an idea this was, I just started to laugh, because there was no way we could turn back now. I figured I'd just hope for the best, and it's not like you get to see glacier mountains everyday either. So if we get stranded, at least it would be a good story. We were getting closer to the mountain and started to see some other cars parked near to it. Even another Toyota! I was so happy I wanted to hug those people but they were not in the car. Were they still alive? Hopefully.

Gatklettur Arch

The views were really cool even though it was very cloudy and there were even some storm clouds in the distance. We continued with the drive as slowly as possible and soon started to reach the end. The drive was about an hour all together and I would definitely not recommend anyone to drive it with a toyota in bad weather conditions. But otherwise, go for it! Just be sure to drive slow and have the right emergency numbers with you just in case. You can even take a walk to the glaciers if you can handle the cold!

Cove climbing

After our F road adventure, we visited the info centre of the Snaefellsjökull National Park and stayed for a while since they had a lot of interesting things on display and lots of good information about the history, animals and the environment of the area. After this we went to Arnastapi where you can find the Barter saga snaefellsass statue and also the Gatklettur Arch. Neither one of these was really a must see but just something that was listed in the sites of this area. Next up was a

Raudfeldsgja Gorge cove

random stop at Raudfeldsgja Gorge, a cove we saw on the way while we were driving. There were some people stopped by it so we figured we'd take a look. Turned out you could go inside the cove, at least if you had good shoes because there was a creek running through it so you had to jump from rock to rock. This was more our kind of a site, so we went in as deep into the cove as possible. There were some not so safe spots where you could have fallen from the rocks pretty bad and I actually did hit both of my knees pretty bad on some sharp rocks. But we still kept going of course. The hardest parts were actually when we started to walk back, because you almost had to climb on the cave walls which were slippery and freezing. And if you had fallen from those spots you would have landed on your back on some pretty sharp rocks. Clearly this day was starting out to be more extreme for some reason. Luckily we made it back in one piece again. I wondered what would be next on our list today..

Seals and churches

Budakirkja

Our next stops were slightly calmer. First we stopped at a small village that only has a hotel and a church. The small wooden churches in the Snaefellness peninsula area look just as strange and mystical as the rest of the environment so even though neither one of us are religious people, they were interesting sites.
After this we went to see Ytri Tunga beach where you can spot seals. It was a rocky walk but we did see many seals in this area. Not quite as exciting as whales but it is fun to watch how these creatures just love to enjoy the day and take naps on the beach. A few times they lifted their heads and took a look at all the people watching, moved a little as if as they were trying to find a more comfortable position, and then went back to sleep. Apparently these animals reminded my boyfriend of me. I'm not sure what to think about this.

Real food & bread to die for

The best bread ever

That afternoon we decided to do something we didn't usually do. Go to a restaurant to eat. We arrived to Borgarnes which is a slightly bigger town after the peninsula area, and found a recommended place there. The place was called The Settlement Center and it had tons of great reviews and the price range was also quite normal for our standards. My boyfriend ordered a pasta with some smoked cod and I had a soup of the day and the best bread I've ever eaten. The soup already was amazing, with three different kinds of fish, and a tomato base with onions, paprika, carrots, and parsley and chili I think. But the bread.. I could buy a ticket back to Iceland just to get that bread again.. If you ever end up in this town, this restaurant is definitely something to try! For the food, AND for the bread!!
There is also a gift shop at this place and they also offered some audio tours.

One more waterfall

Paradisarlaut

Our day was coming to an end but we decided to go see one more smaller waterfall called Glanni before heading out to our campsite. It started to rain on the way, for the first time during our trip! So when we got to the place we decided to wait it out in the car. I don't know if we got inspired by the seal life or if we were just simply exhausted but we fell asleep in the car while waiting and then woke up to a clear blue sky. For a minute we wondered if we should just skip the waterfall and go to our campsite but then we gathered some energy and went to see it. It was a lot smaller but still nice and there was no one else because of the rain apparently. We walked around the area and it was so quiet and peaceful, with absolutely no sounds of other people, traffic or anything. We also went to see a pond called Paradisarlaut nearby because it was said to have stunningly clear and turquoise water. And it really did. Once again I had one of those moments when I just wanted to jump into the water but of course it was freezing. I really hope Icelandic nature stays this pure in the future too. They have done a good job keeping it safe so far, but with the growing amount of tourists every year, you can never know.

Last campsite

Noodles in the rain

We were planning on staying at Akranes campsite because of its many facilities, including hot showers, but it was also supposed to be very crowded and after the experience we had last night we wanted something different. So we decided to stay at a smaller campsite in Varmaland. This one didn't have showers or wifi, just toilets and sinks for washing dishes. On the way we stopped by at a gas station to buy something for the evening and ended up paying 16€ (about 18 $) for one beer can, a small Fanta and a pastry thing. You can see that the prices are a little bit different in Iceland.
Once we got to the campsite we didn't have that much to eat because we were trying to eat all the leftovers we had and not buy anything new since we were leaving in 2 days. We were left with some noodles, a can of beans, some pasta, a tomato, a cucumber and some feta cheese. When we started to eat our sad noodle/pasta/bean dish it started to rain again and I believe we were the saddest sight on that campground, eating our cold food from our plastic plates while freezing in the rain. I couldn't stop laughing especially when there were fancy camper vans next to us cooking their real food under a rain cover while we were there eating what we could find like wet stray dogs. Ohh well. At some point the rain got too hard that we had to go finish our meal inside the car.