In the second half of our trip to Iceland in 2020 we went to the majestic Vestfirðir, the Westfjords, where we enjoyed an exceptionally stable fair weather. The weather forecast was unbelievable, and what was even more astonishing, it proved to be true. No rain, almost no wind, sun, sun, sun. Is it Iceland? My best raincoat, as packed before the trip, remained unpacked as we arrived back home.
We drove from Snæfellsnes and Klofningsnes peninsulas over Þröskuldalur to Strandir area first, a trip from Hólmavík to a wild camp on the drift wood covered shore by Kaldrananes farm. Then via Djúpavík postindustrial landscape of an abandoned herring factory to the end of the easily driveable gravel road by Norðurfjörður (with a bath in Krossneslaug!) and back along the same route and over the emptiness of Steingrímsfjarðarheiði to reach the top of Ísafjardardjúp fjord and turn north to Snæfjallaströnd and sleep on the overgrown front morraine of Dragnajökull side glacier in Kaldalón.
Then a long and winding road on the southern vestfirdir-august-2020shore of Ísafjardardjúp via Litli Bær café and seal colonies to Ísafjörður town and Bolafjall radar station finishing by the Skálavík beach just to celebrate an atmospheric weekend sunset. The further route was also a touristic standard, but in what an untypical weather: Flateyri with a famous bookshop, Núpur church and garden, Þingeyri, Hrafnseyri museum and church, the Dynjandi waterfall, somehow disappointing Reykjarfjarðarlaug pool, Bildudalur town and all the way to Selárdalur with an excentric museum there.
From this strange place we reached Tálknafjörður with the Pollurin hot source, Patrekfjörður town, and the stranded Garðar shipwreck, a perfect place for a skyr picnic. Then a side trip to Kollsvík beach and the famous Látrabjarg bird cliffs (puffins already gone in mid-August), only to reach the campsite of the farm Melanes by Rauðasandur lagoon just by low tide (another sunset!). After a short walk to ruins of another farm there, we drove along the southern Vestfirðir coast and over Þröskuldalur just to close our loop by Hólmavík, but turning this time south to Borðeyri. [Next day — the final day — we drove via Borgarnes and Reykjavík to Keflavík and the airport.]
The Gallery (243 images) of pictures from this part of the trip is a bit longer, actually, as expected… ,^)
