The weather on the morning of day five was much better than the previous day. The skies were clear and the weather was crisp, but not cold most of the time.
We headed east to the Landbrotsholar hills, but we got lost at first because many roads share nearly the same name.
When we finally did find the hills we found the famous basalt columns were blocked off and the hexagonal ground stones were completely covered in snow.
We searched for restaurants but were turned away because either the places weren’t open in the winter or they weren’t opening for another hour. We headed east again munching on the snacks we’d bought in Selfoss.
On our way to Svartifoss we stopped several times to take photos of close up mountains or far off glaciers.
At Svartifoss the weather was nice, i.e. the sun was out and the wind was absent. We went on a 2km hike to the lower waterfall first.
Then Svartifoss, the “black waterfall.”
Svartifoss is an impressive foss not for the width or height of the water, but for the crown of hexagonal black basalt columns that run all around it.
After Svartifoss we stopped at the next apple command we saw (it was commanding us to stop!). It wasn’t on our list and so we weren’t sure what it would be. It turned out to be Svinafellsjokull, the lip of another glacier gliding out into a lake.
Very few people were there, and eventually we hiked out to an area where we were alone on the side of a mountain facing the glacier. It was the most serene and beautiful place we’d seen (so far). Both of us had the same thought as we stood there with our cameras. Cameras are useless in this place. There is no way a recording (video or static) can convey what it’s like to stand there on a volcanic mountain cliff over a blue glacier lake, and know you’re alone for miles in every direction.
Our next stop at sunset was the famous jokalsarlon glacier lagoon and the black sand beach with the glaciers that have gone our to sea. The lagoon itself wasn’t as impressive as we’d been lead to believe.
However, the nearby “Diamond” beach, with massive angry waves crashing into school-bus sized bright blue glacial fragments was worth the stop.
A moment later the glacier would touch her back. A wave came up and surrounded her feet. Turns out Ford Escapes have great foot-heater vents.
Our next stop was hotel Skalafell, where we had a very good dinner of soup (again, soup, yes), steamed fish and beef with gravy.
A few hours later we went down the road to try and see the northern lights in the first clear sky of our trip. However, we were disappointed as the only bright spot in the sky was the moon.
