After leaving Dettifoss, we pressed on to a town named Egilsstadir, in the Eastern Region of Iceland. After a short break there, we forged ahead to Hofn near Vatnajokull, mostly in the dark of the night.
Road Map - From Dettifoss to Egilsstadir
Road Map - Egilsstadir to Hofn
On the Way to Egilsstadir – Interesting countryside
On the Way to Egilsstadir – Interesting countryside
From Dettifoss to Egilsstadir, it took about 2.5 hours to cover a distance of 160km. Along the way on Route 1, we saw nice but different landscape again. Strange enough, in some area we didn’t see farms for miles. Many valleys with rivers. Many smooth rolling hills.
Approaching Egilsstadir – Crossing the bridge
Approaching Egilsstadir – After crossing the bridge
As we crossed over the bridge, we saw the town was in yellow and golden, because it was fall season here. It continued to rain lightly at the time we pulled into the parking lot near Salt Cafe and Bistro.
The Cafe was kind of quiet at this hour between lunch and dinner. We ordered a 16" pizza, which we could finished only half of it. We packed the rest and took it with us. Next, we drove across the street to N1 gas station and refueled the car.
We refueled at the Salt Café & Bistro – a nice clean place with free wifi
We refueled at the Salt Café & Bistro – a nice clean place with free wifi
It was getting dark by now and the light rain continued. Conditions were not great for driving at night. The car engine was started at 18:00 and we were traveling on Route 95, aiming to do a short cut (instead of traversing many fjords if we were to take Route 1). At the Y intersection, we turned right at Oxi Road. The road became Route 939. Not until later did we discover that it was a bad dirt road in serious need of repair (perhaps it was under construction). Driving in Sport Mode and slowly, negotiating up & down many mountains and valleys. In dim light, we saw many smaller waterfalls, but didn’t have time to really check them out. By now rain turned into snow flurry at higher elevation. It was getting very dark. This seemed like a dangerous road to drive on at night! (hind sight is always 20/20) Thankfully a huge truck was behind us. We found a shoulder wide enough to pull to the right and let it pass. We then just followed this truck. Felt much better now!
From Egilsstadir to Vatnajokull - One of many roadside waterfalls.
From Egilsstadir to Vatnajokull - It hailed with wet snow in higher elevations
From Egilsstadir to Vatnajokull - Climbing the mountain pass
From Egilsstadir to Vatnajokull - Sigh of relief at the sight of the Berufjordurfjord
From Egilsstadir to Vatnajokull -. Total darkness engulfed us. Fortunately we were at the fjord level now and soon would join Route 1.
The rest of the journey was in total darkness. Heavy clouds began to give way to clear skies as we pushed ahead further on Route 1.
Tonight, Aurora Borealis forecast had a KP index of 2 or lower. So far we did not see any. We still had a long drive ahead to our next home, Fosshotel Vatnajokull near Hofn. Along the way, we kept on looking up from time to time for aurora in vain. We finally arrive at the hotel by 21:45. We booked a deluxe room for 3 nights, breakfast included. After settled down and finished the left over pizza, we went outside the hotel to look for Aurora Borealis, just in case. It was very faint and seemed very far away to the north beyond the mountains, so we decided not to chase it. This gave me a couple of hours to catch up on things. The Fosshotel Vatnajokull is located north of the small fishing town of Hofn. It is a somewhat new and modern hotel. So far everything about the hotel seemed quite acceptable. Around here, like most parts of Iceland, hotel options are quite limited.
Up next, Part 14 – Eastern Region of Iceland, Eystrahorn & Jokulsarlon