From north to west Iceland

It was like sleeping in the Tropics last night. I have no idea where the heat was coming from but the wall beside me was really hot, the floor too, so even with no covers and the window open, the outside temperature being 5 degrees max, I was soooo hot! Otherwise, our guest house Hvithusid was perfect!

And believe it or not, as we left, who should we see, but the Albatross, the ship I was on 18 months ago. It seems decades ago.

Back on the road again and this time much more pleasant weather conditions than yesterday in that it hardly rained. But, it was amazingly cold, with a biting wind from the north. Thank goodness for merino clothing!

As on previous days, the scenery was fascinating with plenty of dramatic changes. We were back to the empty roads once again, although later in the day this changed somewhat - never really busy though!

The first hour out of Akureyri was gorgeous and we could certainly see the fresh snow on the mountain tops!

What a stunning valley and gorge this was. It looks idyllic but boy oh boy was it chilly!

We opted to leave our ring road and headed towards the first real blue skies and sun of the trip. It was heartening to see shadows, but it certainly was not sunbathing weather. 

We came to the very pretty Glaumbaer turf farmhouses dating back to between mid 1700s and later 1800s. I was pleased that I decided to go in even tough it was quite pricey. It was unexpectedly spacious inside and very interesting.

The photo above shows the back of the living areas. The front housed the farmhouse sheds, stables, etc. 

The rooms ran off a long narrow hallway, of course lined with turf. It was cosy and warm in there, compared to the icy chill outside.

I loved this little guest room - certainly for little guests! The bed was so tiny. 

I had read about a puffin show at the little harbour town of Saudarkrokur and so that was our destination. I don't know what I expected and we were nearly put off by the price, but we were happy we went in. Two young girls showed us around, showing us some fascinating videos about the area and telling us about these beautiful birds which can live 30 - 40 years! The most remarkable thing I learnt was that the phenomenal colouring around the puffins'  beak apparently falls off at the end of summer and they look far less exotic as they leave their cosy little two- room burrows and return to the sea. What a pity we couldn't visit Drangey island where so many tens of thousands of puffins live. I think it would have been a horrendously rough crossing today!

We took a short cut across Skagi mountains. It was a great road despite what some people told us. The only downside was that it actually started snowing at the top. This was the only precipitation we had today - unbelievable , in the form of snow! Welcome to Iceland! No worries, five minutes later the skies cleared and the snow stopped.

Now we are at Hvammstangi. I thought it was a 'h' sound at the start, but it is pronounced Qwamstangi. In fact, most of the times locals cannot understand when we ask them about somewhere in Iceland, because our pronounciation is so incorrect. 

We came here to see seals, but sadly I do not think we will see any. We were told they do not like cold, windy weather much. Strange. Our seals in NZ seem to thrive on the windy weather on the West Coast.

Hvammstangi is a tiny fishing village. This dried fish looked really macabre blowing in the wind! It certainly did not whet my appetite.

The village setting is lovely, with the  snow clad mountains on the one side

And Midfjordur on the other.

Our guesthouse Hanna Sigg is fantastic and I have just enjoyed a long soak in the hot tub in the garden. I really feel at home - and what's more, it is wonderfully cool in the house.