Iceland

Museum Jonsson, route 619

Monday July 12 I visited the west coast of the Þingeyri peninsula. The dirt road crosses grandiose landscapes along a cliff from which cascading torrents flow, cutting the track with easily crossable fords. A cross road took me back to Þingeyri to publish the pages of my website, no connection at the ends of the peninsula in Svalvogar. I continued on the road 60 stopping to admire Dynjandi, Fjallfoss. Finally I headed towards the Jonsson Museum after Bildudalur on the 619. Alas, I burst the left rear tire. It took me about 2h30 to change the wheel! The Jonsson Museum presents the naive works of this island sculptor. I bivouacked there.

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Dynjandi, Fjallfoss

Þingeyri peninsula, Svalvogar route 622

Talknafjördur, Pollurinn

Tuesday July 13 was a day like yesterday, rain and fog, my vehicle bears the scars! I would go to Talknafjördur to check that Pollurinn is indeed a hot spring and then I would go to Patreksfjördur to a tire repairer. Finally I returned to Pollurinn to take a hot bath at + 35°C in the rain at 8°C, Icelanders love it. I bivouacked by the water.

Latrabjarg Peninsula, Breidavik

Mercredi 14 juillet, Fête Nationale de France, fut ici en Islande encore un jour de froid et de pluie pour visiter le Latrabjarg Bird Cliffs où des milliers d’oiseaux sont venus nidifier de juin à mi-août. Le parcourt le long de la falaise est escapé, gras, glissant et, dangereux pour les chasseurs de photos inédites s’approchant de son bord friable, ce ne fut pas mon cas. Le site de toilette à Brunnar annoncé comme campsite gratuit par le Lonely Planet est prohibé. Je m’arrêtais à Breidavik Hotel pour planter mon tipi.

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Latrabjarg Peninsula, Melanes road

Thursday July 15 was a two hour drive in the cold, 7°C, and the fog almost flush with the hood, without interest. The landscape of the coast of Raudasandur is announced as remarkable by the color of the pink and red sand barely visible in the second photo below. The recently ripolined Saurbaerkircha Church is of course closed. The Evangelical Lutheran religion is elitist, dedicated to people of strict observance! In France, Catholic churches are open from morning until evening for shoppers of any religion or not. I put my trailer on a dump near a dumpster, as there is often in Iceland, ecology obliges. Two countries of the European Union are known for the ecological behavior of their populations, in decreasing order, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.

SaurbaerKircha

Road 60

Friday July 16 I'm still sailing in the clouds and in the rain. In desperation I took pictures of the hydrographic system along Route 60 as an example of the extent of runoff and erosion that has been wrought over millions of years in Iceland. The last photo is the text of the statue in Icelandic which I do not understand!

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Reykholar

Saturday July 17, finally the sun came bringing a little warmth and comfort, both moral and physical. The landscapes are always grandiose, but unfortunately the photos do not reflect their splendor. This region is very sparsely populated, relative to Iceland. One photo shows a house in the middle of nowhere. The hamlet of Reykholar on the southern edge of the Reykjanes Peninsula is a nesting place for eagles in the many small islands.

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Reykholar

Budardalur

Sunday July 18th it was a dark day, but the weather is very changeable in Iceland. I decided to travel the peninsula that I called Saurbaer having not found its name. Route 590 follows the bank between the fjord and the mountains. According to an interpretive panel it is part of Icelandic history. It is very sparsely populated depending on the width of the land used for grazing sheep and the cultivation of fodder plants. Arriving in Budardalur the weather cleared up and the temperature climbed to 14°C. I bivouacked in the port.

click on the pic for opening the gallery