Day 5
Day 5 Route with photo locations marked
Day 5 started with a 2.5 hour car ferry ride (Stop A) that had a short stop at Flatey Island. The ride was pretty smooth, but more comfortable outside in the fresh cool air. Along the way many rotund little gulls used the draft from the ferry for a little extra lift, as can be seen in the photo at site B, where we could see the Westfjords approaching. The tops of these fjords are flat and mesa-like. We made a stop at C to take a dip in a undeveloped hot pot at the side of the bay before proceeding on toward Isafjordur. The road over the highest range was gravel and offered some spectacular views into the fjords at Stop D. The road eventually dropped down to sea level at the end, Arnarfjordur, where a series of beautiful falls are found at Dynjandi (Stop E). The largest fall is hard to grasp the scale of but can be seen by the size of the people in the lower right of the first photo. Other locations in the lower falls were very like a Lord of the Rings setting.
The weather deteriorated as we headed north from there and the mountains became larger (Stop F). The final range was crossed through a 5-mile long tunnel that had an fork in the middle. The part of the tunnel before the fork was one way, and the oncoming traffic had to yield to us by pulling into wide spots that were excavated every so often. That took some getting used to. It was a good day that ended with showers in Isafjordur that would continue through the following morning.
Car ferry that could hold surprisingly many cars.
Chubby gull like bird seen from the ferry. I still need to look this one up.
First good views of Westfjords. The fjords were cut by glaciers but I am not sure why the mountain tops are so flat. Were they underlying an ice cap at one time, or were they flat lava flows that were not cut by glaciers?
Phone shot of Debbie enjoying a hot pot at Stop B.
View down to Arnarfjordur
This is a really big cataract-like falls at Dynjandi. See the people standing in the lower right.
Looking down one of the middle falls at Dynjandi.
Middle Earth at Dynjandi
The end of a fjord at Stop F.