Photo Friday: Post #5 Icelandic Campervan Tour

Here are the links to post #1   post #2    post #3  and post #4  of the 2-week trip, for those who want to read it in order.  

We left off early on Day 6, as I headed into the Far North.

Day 6 (Sept. 16): Sea Birds, Sea Stacks, and my Farthest North

When I left Asbyrgi about half past 8, after my 45-minute explore of the canyon, I left the beaten track and headed for as far north as I could get. Most of the point was, in fact, just to drive the far north coast and see what it looked like. I did have a couple of goals in mind, however.

First, I wanted to visit Rauthinupur, not far short of the northernmost point, and with a couple of cool seastacks notorious for the seabirds. I wasn't sure there would be birds, as late in the season as I was, but it seemed worth walking a couple of miles on a scenic coast to find out. 

I came across that spit of land to climb the bluffs towards the lighthouse and the birds.

 

 

Probably at least half of the Icelandic lighthouses I saw were these squat orange things. I guess they don't need a huge tower when there are no trees or anything to compete!

The bird rocks. As sea stacks, they are wholly safe from predators, aside from avian predators, so are good nesting places.

There were birds! I'm pretty sure they were northern gannets.

A little further on I pulled off to have lunch with another lighthouse in sight--I opted not to walk over there, but it is, or is very nearly, the farthest north bit of the main body of Iceland.

One thing I noticed was that the sea off this coast seemed much calmer than around the south and west. It might have been because of breaks in the storms, but since I recall it being plenty windy, I'm going to guess it's because there's a lot less ocean out this side of Iceland, before it runs into the arctic ice. Probably has to do with prevailing winds, too.

My next stop was Raufarhofn, the farthest north village on Iceland. I think that the currents that go around Iceland are kind of warm, so this side of the country isn't as arctic as you might think. Still, there were zero trees, and I'll bet winters are long and cold.  

One reason to stop in Raufarhofn is because it is home to an odd art installation called the Arctic Henge. Designed by Haukur Halldórsson, it was completed in 2004 and is meant to tap into Norse mythology, though without interpretive materials at the site I couldn't say how. But the structures are cool.

 

Onward, then, to the main feature of the day, a not-quite-5-mile hike around the Rauthanes peninsula to admire a lot of sea stacks and arches. The wind, of course, never stopped, but I had only a short shower as I was starting out, and another just before I finished, with spots of sunshine in between, so the weather was actually quite good.

Rounding the end of the peninsula. Note the blue sky and sunshine, at least on the far side of the bay!

 

Spotlight on an abandoned farmhouse. 

By the time I finished this hike it was time to get serious about driving toward camp. I had thought about stopping at Thorshofn, and can't recall now whether I thought it was too soon to stop or if the campground was closed for the season (it was getting to that point in the year when many places off the main tourist circuit were shutting down). I had also been put off driving out the Langanes peninsula, which sounds wild and isolated and thus highly attractive, by reports that the road wasn't good for my 2WD camper. So I went on to camp at Bakkafjorthur.

This camp felt a little eerie--the village seemed pretty shut down--a sign said to go pay at the only restaurant in town, but it was very much closed. I finally found the QR code to pay on line and leveled up my van in one of of the little fenced bays, intended no doubt to shelter campers from the wind. The facilities were kind of primitive, and the cold, rain, and wind convinced me that I didn't need a shower that night.

However, just about bedtime, my handy aurora app tipped me off to a good chance to see the northern lights, and I stepped outside. Watching the aurora through and behind the clouds wasn't what I'd expected when I dreamed of seeing it, but it was seriously cool all the same. 

 

Since this is fairly long, and the next day was very full, instead of adding more, I'll start the next post right away and try to get it up later in the weekend. 

That will be a return to the Ring Road, and visits to a gorge full of basalt columns, Hengifoss, and me finally succumbing to the lure of the hot baths.

 

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025 

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