Iceland Day 4
Woke up to -4 Celsius (24 Fahrenheit). It was a chilly morning! It was a lazy morning for the kids. They slept in until 9:00am. A well deserved rest. I tried to fill our water bottles, but the hoses were frozen. I was able to trace the hoses to the building and disconnect the hose and get water straight from the faucet. However, this cold morning reminded us not to put off filling the spare propane tank any longer. Found a hardware store that filled tanks in town and took care of that detail! (Editor’s note: we also fixed those shelves that broke the first night)
Wendell found a natural hot spring called Fosslaug near us and we tried to get to it. One route was an “F” road and we were not allowed to take the RV on “F” roads. The road was paved, but google maps showed an old wooden bridge that we would have to cross and I was not comfortable driving Irving over it. However, there was an alternate route using approved roads. As we approached the hot spring, a “no Cars” sign was posted. We drove past it and ran into a cable across the road. I appears someone purchased the land and privatized access to the spring. Per social media posts, the rancher was charging people to access the spring from his land and would only take cash. We did not get any cash so we could not even consider this option. We refocused and found another hot spring to go to as we headed east.
Outside the city of Akureyri, Wendell found a spring called Forest Lagoon. We now have a destination. The city of Akureyri is a port city with cruise ships docked (from Norway!). The city was very modern and had shops like H&M and such. We drove straight through.
The Forest Lagoon was a fancy geothermal spa with a walk up bar, hot infinity pools overlooking the fjord, sauna and a cold plunge pool. Wendell and I enjoyed a nice long soak. Wendell chatted up a few people there and found the majority were couples from the cruise liners we saw earlier.
Geothermal pool at Forest Lagoon
Next on our list was the GodaFoss WaterFall. This is one of Iceland's most spectacular waterfalls. The water of the river Skjalfandafljot falls 12 meters across 30 meters of land. The name comes from when Christianity was forced onto the inhabitants, they threw all their old Norse god idols over the falls. So the waterfall has been called GodaFoss ever since (God fall). We walked around it to enjoy the beautiful view but were blinded by the sunlight reflecting from the water, not the best timing of the day, but pretty nonetheless. We then checked out the souvenir store, the first one we have seen thus far. Over $100 for just a scarf… we settled for some magnets and new stuffed puffin to travel on our dashboard (Editor’s note: name to come). The shop also sold hotdogs which Pearl and Wendell enjoyed (Editors note: Costco hotdog #1, GodaFoss hotdog #2, rank updates to come).
Tonight we found a nice centrally located campground that we plan to stay at for the next few nights. (Editor’s note: this was the only campsite open in the area, this is relevant because it is moderately stressful finding a campsite every day that is open in the winter, just another part of life on the road. Usually it is the job of the co-pilot to find this site, read: me). We have been lucky the last few days to get to the campsite rather early which means we get first dibs on electricity. This campsite was no exception, as we secured one of four outlets while the campsite filled with around 40 different people. (Editor’s Note: Team Irving W).
