Day 83 & 84 Iceland - back to where we started 14 days ago and onto the ferry to the Faroe Islands

Day 83 A difficult drive with a hangover

Sunrise at 3 am

3 hours later at 7am

a long shadow

We all sit out until 2 a.m. feeding the fire with driftwood. Susan and Katie go to bed and Jack and I stay out determined to see the sun rise. I awake by chance an hour later, drag Jack in his sleeping bag on his 2 chairs away from the still burning fire, and then watch the sun come up before falling back to sleep again outside.

Sunrise on the glacier

We continue our journey eastwards along the south coast but we are all pretty knackered from the late night before. The sun is up and the views from the van are fantastic but the drive is a real battle. The wind is ferocious and particularly vicious when it is coming from the side. 

The van is difficult enough to drive in a straight line even with a minor cross wind as there is so much play in the steering.  On these roads the problem comes when another large vehicle comes from the other direction  - the van veers suddenly towards the centre of the road and then the wind picks it up and throws it back over, all accompanied by manic steering wheel movement from myself.

I was wrong about the Island ring road all being surfaced; on the eastern side there are some sections still without tarmac, although it is pretty good for a dirt road, pot hole free and good for 40 mph  We eventually leave the coast road and opt for the gravel mountain pass road shortcut over and down to Egilsstadhir. The track is pot holed in sections and requires the van to crawl up some 1 in 5 hill sections in 1^st gear but it cuts off 65 Km of coastal drive on the main ring road.

Back in Seydisfjordur - awaiting tomorrow's ferry

We find ourselves back where we were 13 days ago and 25 Km later we are back in Seydisfjordur ( the ferry port) camping up a dirt road on the far side of town.

Our 2 weeks in Iceland is over and it has been the very very best of times. It has far outweighed my expectations which were already pretty high and I leave knowing that I will be back again sometime with still vast areas of the country not visited and enjoyed, or even just driven through.

Day 84 Ferry to Faroes, an early start and very late to bed

Unloading and loading the ‘Norrona’ takes 3 hours. The turn round time is so long partly because it only loads from the rear and so lots of vehicles have to badly execute their 3 point turns on the car deck plus they do really cram the vehicles in. Passengers have to board separately and getting out once parked is non too easy. Check-in was at 9:30 am but it was 3 hours later when I got into the cabin and everyone was already back in bed.

The sun was out and Susan and I sat on deck having some beers in the sunshine before going to the 'gorge as much as you can humanely eat' buffet tea. Bed early at 9 pm I don’t think any of us really slept, other than Charlie, as we were turfed out of our cabin at 1 a.m. ready to get off in the Faroes at 03:00 a.m.

It was darker than I expected when we rolled off the ferry in Torshavn. I had looked on the map before for a likely area to park up off the main road and 12 Km later we were there and it was spot on. We are now well practised and 10 minutes after parking up, the tent was up and loaded with all our stuff, the van empty of all our gear and all 5 of us were in bed in the van.

4:30 am and time for bed as it is getting light

Katie’s blog entry:

Sat on the ferry we all now look at the advertisements on the walls in a different light – we’ve done or seen most of what is on show, and can name most of what we see. It’s fair to say that it has been amazing – the once in a lifetime trip it was always meant to be and more, with memories that will never be forgotten. Of all the things we did I can still say that the second to last night was top on my list. We had the vast expanse of a south coast beach on one side, with the glacier tumbling down to meet barren land on the other. Watching the sunset was sensational, as was washing up the next morning in a stagnant pool of water that contained hundreds of tiny stickleback fish which could be caught with bare hands, a spoon or a mug. It was a night I will never forget.

Day 83 Jokulsarlon (I) to Seydisfjordur(I)                339 Km    Total 12124 Km  

Day 84 Seydisfjordur (I) to Kladbakstobotnur ( Fo) 10 Km     Total 12134 Km