Iceland November 2017 - Day 3 - 1st November

Day 3

After a fairly early start to the day, I took a stroll around outside taking a few photographs before the morning light came.

The hot tub on the lower deck

Looking up to the lodge from the hot tub

Side decking

Our main outdoor deck

Looking out to the bay

After a good cooked breakfast from Kevin we showered and got ready for a day out. We would be travelling some way along the Golden Circle. But before then we had a terrific trip around Whale Bay, which is the stretch of water immediately in front of our lodge.

Looking from our Lodge out on to Whale Bay

The beautiful Whale Bay branches into the mountainous landscapes between the points Akranes and Kjalarnes.  It is about 20 miles long, 2 to 3 miles wide, and quite deep (250 feet).  The innermost part is framed with steep mountains, dropping almost straight into the sea, but further west are extended lowland areas.

The allies (England and The United States) built bases on the headland at Hvitanes, Litliandur and Midsandur.  Some of the barracks are still standing at Midsandur.  The bay was an important station for the convoys from England and the States on their way to Murmansk during the Second World War.  The Americans built a pier on the northern side of the bay, which was later used by the whaling vessels of the Hvalur ltd after the whaling station had been built. Remainders of another pier at Hvitanes are still standing as reminders of the Second World War.

Hvitanes Pier

The Pier on the northern side

Surprisingly, Abi offered to drive so we let her take over and she drove around 60 miles until we reached a favorite stop along the Golden Circle.

Below are some images of the journey: -

Suddenly the road changed to a gravel track for about 6 miles

We eventually stopped at the highly active Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers and the lively Strokkur which spouts water 100 feet into the air every ten minutes or so. The newly opened Geysir Centre offers exhibits and informative presentations the whole year round. This hot Spring area is one of the most popular tourist stops in Iceland.

Some smaller geyser eruptions

Then right on time Strokkur burst into life

heading way into the sky

From here we moved on to Gullfoss Waterfall.  On the way we could see the Langjökull, high in the distance.  This is Iceland's second largest Glacier.

The Langjökull Glacier

The iconic Gullfoss, or Golden, Waterfall offers a spectacular example of the forces and beauty of untouched nature. Gullfoss is part of the Golden Circle tour, located on the Hvítá (White) river which is fed by  the Langjökull. The water plummets down over 100 feet in two stages into a rugged canyon the walls of which reach up to 250 feet in height. Today we were lucky and saw a shimmering rainbow above the falls. 

This was just stunning.  Apart from Niagara, these were the most spectacular falls I had ever seen.  So glad we came here.

From here it was time to head back to the lodge, which would take about two hours to reach.  Along the route we passed so much more stunning scenery.

We finally arrived back here, our home for this week, Brekka Lodge in Mosfellsbaer.

Brekka Lodge

We had our dinner, after which, despite the temperature being minus 5 outside and it being completely dark, we decided to jump in the hot tub.  A real good idea to round of what had been a great day.

Abi looking very relaxed

The only disappointment to date is that we have not yet seen the Northern lights.  We will keep hoping of course, we have a few days left yet to catch them.