The effects of the first nights beers were in full effect when we tried to haul ourselves out of bed to get breakfast before meeting the car people in the reception. Normally we'd lie in and grab some food later when we were out but with things being so expensive, this wasn't an option and any free meal couldn't be missed. Needless to say we ate very well and missed our car man, but luckily they were due back an hour later and collected us. After the short journey in the bus from the airport, we realised the kind of terrain we might encounter and just how our budget car might not be the best idea we ever had. Thankfully though, the kind lady at national car rental gave us an upgrade to our hyundai getz (id never heard of one before either) and we set off on our merry way.
I negotiated the upgrade from a 1.0L 3 door to a 1.4L 5 door. Woohoo! -L:
However we had a few essential items to buy first in Reykjavik and being a Sunday we had to wait until the local mall opened at 1pm. We had an hour to kill driving round Reykjavik and found the Sun-Craft sculpture on the harbour which was pretty amazing.
We went for a little drive round the town and found our first Bonus store (cheap supermarket) and stocked up on Rookes pot noodles, pasta, sauces, bread and biscuits (Leigh thought he found a bargain but they actually cost us over £3.50 for a pack!!). After seeing the prices in town for a meal we were determined to cook ourselves (or re-heat) as much as possible. This depended on finding a gas canister for our stove we'd taken which we hoped to find along with hiking boots at the mall. We found an outdoor shop with gas cannisters that didnt fit our stove, but found the small attachment to fit at the pricely sum of £55! So we gave it a miss and went looking for the boots. Now I know I should have bought these in the UK, but the thought of buying really big brown clumpy boots for lots of money didnt appeal, but when I arrived here and faced with the wetter terrain, I knew I'd have to sort get something. After a long while we found a pair and could get started on our journey. We would try and find the gas cannister later. We set out on road number 1 on what should be a 193km journey to Laugerbakki.
The drive started well, but with huge amounts of traffic coming in our direction with lights blaring. We began to panic they were all fleeing something!! Was that volcano i was so keen to see actually going off? Probably not, more like traffic heading back to the capital after a weekend in the country. After a little while we were faced with the choice of taking a road under an estuary for the sum of £8.50 or taking the scenic journey round it. It didn’t look too long on the map so we thought we'd give it a go. It probably added about 50Km to the journey but it was our first day and we were keen to explore. Half way round we came across a layby with a beautiful little waterfall spilling into the pool. We were hungry so cooked up our Rookes noodles, ate then headed out to explore.
We followed the waterfall up to several other falls which were beautiful and very peaceful. All you could hear was water. And to my surprise there were lupin's growing by the river. (We found out later these are not native to Iceland, but were introduced to help stop erosion but have taken hold and wiped out some native species of plants - A)
View from the top of the waterfall trail -L :
We headed back to the car and carried on our journey. Now up to this point Leigh was driving, but he suddenly informed me, he had nearly dropped off a few times so we decided I would take the wheel so he could have a little nap.
Now this probably is quite a scary thought to most people, Anna driving a backward car for the first time and doing directions herself. Leigh tried to sleep but kept waking with a jolt every time the car went over a bump (I was feeling delicate! -L). The road was pretty good except the odd bit that rose into the hills with no markings or crash barriers (quite common) and after a few hours we made it to our hotel in Laugerbakki. The hotel is actually a school they convert to a hotel in the summer months so was very basic but clean. The rooms only had a basin, and toilets/showers were shared facilites which was a worry, but were absolutely fine. After the long and hungover day, we both crashed out very early for a much needed sleep.
Ariel shot of the first Edda hotel -L:
Weather: Wet & Rainy.
Distance Travelled: 249KM
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