The Dyrhólaey Lighthouse
Today we had planned to visit all the highlights around Vík (including the Solheimasandur Plane Wreck) and we were lucky since the day started beautifully. First stop on our list was the Dyrhólaey lighthouse. We decided that we would go for the hike up the hill. We were the first ones to arrive in the car park and to start our walk towards the top. The views along the way were truly magnificent. We could see the black sand beach that we visited the previous day in the distance.
We crossed our fingers that there would still be some puffins on the cliffs, but we knew that the chance would not be very high. When we approached the top of the hill we saw the stunning white lighthouse. The architecture seemed inspired by a castle, which was a bit unusual for such a building.
At the top of the cliff, we looked down at the sea and saw many puffins on the water. This meant they were still around but too far away for taking pictures. Suddenly Koen pointed out that a puffin had just flown by and a few minutes later another one passed… Again, patience turned out to be a virtue since after a while we had one that landed on the grass below and after half an hour more birds showed up. My 200 mm lens was certainly not the right one to capture the little birds from so far, but at least I managed to have them on camera and more importantly… I saw them. The first part of the day turned out to be a success, so we hoped that the tone was set for the rest of it.
The Solheimajokull glacier
Second visit on our list today was the walk to the solheimasandur plane wreck. We knew the walk would be a bit long and boring, but we were excited to see this picturesque location. After walking for 15 minutes, we had to return to the car because of the rain. It was just too much so we would try again later in the day or the next morning in the worst case scenario. We drove back to our accommodation for a rest and prepared some lunch. It did not seem like the weather would improve in the near future.
After a while the rain subsided and we decided to drive to the Solheimajokull glacier. Luckily we did not make reservations for a glacier hike since in this weather it would not be fun at all. Instead, we opted for a walk to the platform from where we could take pictures of this natural wonder. We had just put on our rain pants when suddenly it started to rain very hard. We stayed in the car for almost half an hour praying for a dry interlude.
We saw a group of tourists preparing for the hike on the glacier and they left just when the showers stopped. We, as well as some other visitors, seized the opportunity and rushed to the platform. After a few minutes it started to rain again and we had to return. All in all we were happy to have seen the glacier.
There was not much we could do outside so we decided to drive to Vík to have some coffee and cake. This turned out to be a great idea… and we were not the only ones who thought so…
The rest of the day we spent at our apartment and hoped that the next day would be dryer…
The Black Sand Black, Reynisfjara
Day 7 looked more promising if we were to believe the weather reports. So we got up at 6am to be among the first ones to visit the Black Sand Beach (Reynisfjara). We would love to photograph the basalt columns without tourists and this had not been possible the previous days due to a wrong timing. Just as we were about to leave it started again to rain! However, the weather app said that the sun would come out around 7am and indeed, the sky cleared up and we hopped into the car… It was only a short drive and yihaaa, there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot. 2 Persons were walking on the beach and a photographer was photographing the sunrise with the basalt columns. The guy was really nice and helped us take some pictures. Mission accomplished… !
The Solheimasandur Plane Wreck
Then we drove to the car park where the walk to the plane wreck began. Now we were lucky since the rain was definitely gone (at least for the morning). There were only a few cars and no people in sight, so we thought that they would be gone at the time we would reach the plane.…and indeed, we saw crossed them on their way back to the car park. After 45 minutes we arrived at the wreck and had the place to ourselves. We took a few pictures and then 2 Germans came on their bikes. This was actually fantastic so we organised a photo shoot for each other!
The way back to the car was uneventful because there was not too much to see. But we had already been so lucky this morning, that there was nothing that could spoil our good mood !
We returned to our apartment, packed our luggage, prepared our breakfast and lunch before setting course to our next destination Skaftafell.
