Iceland 2.2: A glimpse of the sun, views along the road, birding in Iceland

    We woke up to the sound of schoolchildren, having been bussed over by the school to the locked pool complex attached to the campgrounds.  It was sunny outside.  Here is a picture out the door of the camper, where Stephanie is being stuck by a beam of sunlight.

    With sun in the sky, we went back on the bird trails and saw some beautiful birds flying around.

    

    We came back to the camper and headed out, as we had a drive up ahead of us.  The drive started easily enough but soon turned into a gravel road, where we had to slow down to about 35-40 km/h.  It brought us on what to me was an incredibly steep path up a mountain.  What is strange about Icelandic mountains that we have encountered so far on this trip is that many of them are rather flat on top.  We continued on at this incredible slow speed for quite a while.  Another unusual thing about Iceland is that they don't seem to be huge fans of viewing stops on the side of the road.  Icelandic roads are built without a shoulder, so if you fall off the side of the road, it is mostly down a ditch.  We passed many, many incredible views.  When I commented on the lack of places to stop for pictures, Stephanie commented that she views many of the views and sightings as a gift, even if she can't take a picture.  I reminded her that I dislike gifts.  Luckily, I got a few.

    I had marked a few hot springs on our travel map, and so we decided to stop at one.  It was warm enough so we donned bathing suits and shoes and walked a few feet down from a small parking lot.  We shared this hot spring with an elderly couple that spoke mostly french.  It began to rain a bit but we stayed a bit longer.  The pool had what I assume was a bit of algae.  

    A few minutes later and we entered "town," which consisted of a single building which was a combination of restaurant, hotel, and one gas pump.  We filled up and tried to enter for dinner but there was a sign saying it was closed.

    After that first hour or so, the road turned back to paved.  As we turned left toward the final southwestern peninsula in the Westfjords, we encountered a beached ship named Gardar BA 64.  It was rusted and had grass growing in its bottom.  I leaned in at one point, in order to see inside.  When I met Stephanie back in the car, she informed me that we were not supposed to lean in, according to the sign.

Shortly afterward, the road turned gravel again and never turned back.  It was slow going until we reached the campground outpost of Breidavik.  There was a hotel/restaurant with campgrounds.  We paid the attendant in the hotel, and per her advice, drove twenty more minutes down to Latrabjarg, to catch the puffins returning for the night.  After a brief hailstorm, we took a chance and drove over.  We were fortunate in that all precipitation stopped.  We spent an hour birdwatching before turning in for the night.

This was our campsite-