{"id":796,"date":"2020-09-27T20:39:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T20:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2023-12-30T23:09:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T23:09:21","slug":"chapter-4-mysterious-eggs-lighthouses-and-more-waterfalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/chapter-4-mysterious-eggs-lighthouses-and-more-waterfalls\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4: Mysterious Eggs, Lighthouses, and more Waterfalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Waking up to the morning light filtering through the window and the sounds of farm life is not so bad. I rested well last night and had no trouble from my ankle. It might have been the delicious dinner washed down with beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started packing up for the day and realized my sweater matched the bathroom shower curtain. I just had to take a picture for posterity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just blending in with the local color<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The day’s plan was pretty loose today. I thought perhaps I would spend the first half of the day in Vestrahorn. I read there were a lot of interesting things to see there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather was not up to being cooperative. Everything was foggy and it was drizzling on and off. However, I was determined to find a few waterfalls on the way to Seydisfjordur. This time, I thought maybe I would throw in a few lighthouses along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whale bones collected from the coast through the years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vestrahorn is the perfect place to see just how raw and beautiful the landscape is in Iceland. The jagged peaks bathed in low clouds and fog are calling to be climbed. However, I am not a climber of mountains. I hurt my ankle climbing a wall not even 10 feet from the ground right before the trip. Those peaks will have to wait for another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Peaks of Vestrahorn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was able to get to a parking area close to the Stokksnes lighthouse. A short walk to the rocky shore rewarded me with an amazing vantage point. I could watch the Atlantic waves crash onto the rocks below. The wind was brisk and cold so after I snapped a few photos of the lighthouse, I did a little bit of exploring among the rocks before I sought shelter in the car. Other tourists were beginning to filter in as I was leaving the parking lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stokksness Lighthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next stop in Vestrahorn was the Viking Village. Most articles I have read of the place say it was a bit “staged” and not worth the trouble. Fortunately, I have a habit of ignoring reviews. I figured if I was to be underwhelmed, I might as well be there for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Viking home with waterfront view<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was not as bad as the online reviews claim. It actually felt like taking a trip back in time. I was expecting to even run into a few gruff, bearded vikings while walking around. As long as you don’t squint too hard and look too closely, you might just find it magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manning the gates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hold the door<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I read about a town that had stone eggs by the seashore. It sounded interesting so I decided to check it out. Along the way, I stopped at the Hvalnes Lighthouse. I suppose if I were a sailor in the daytime, the orange paint would be hard to miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hvalnes Lighthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eggin \u00ed Gle\u00f0iv\u00edk is Icelandic for “eggs in Gle\u00f0iv\u00edk”. There isn’t really much other than a row of concrete eggs lined up along the shore with plaques to read on each pedestal. In better weather, it would look more dramatic with the mountain peaks from the fjord across the water in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stone Eggs. Dragons?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After several waterfall-less stops, it was time to get back to the chase. Sveinsstekksfoss was the next stop. Also, the coffee and constant rain was beginning to get to me. Time to find a pitstop. Thankfully, there is a porta-potty station close to the waterfall viewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lower falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a quick potty break, I went exploring by the falls and snapped a few photos. I had to find a way through the rocks without getting my socks wet in the water. My ankle was finally beginning to feel better so rock-hopping wasn’t as arduous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lunch break with a view<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After spending my lunch break among the rocks, I followed the road up the hill to get to the viewpoint and was rewarded with an amazing view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sveinsstekksfoss from the viewpoint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The highway wound by coastlines and along cliffsides. When I got to the junction for 939 just past Folaldafoss, Highway 1 was closed and there was a sign for a detour through 939. Since I was heading that way anyway, I wasn’t too worried. I figured if I got lost, I could just look for the nearest town and find a place to stay the night. It was only early afternoon but it was getting pretty dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Folaldafoss on the detour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, detours give us the best surprises. The road through 939 was quite rough but the rental was up to the challenge. It made me miss driving my FJ cruiser back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The detour eventually brought me to Egilsstadir. I was running low on car snacks so I decided to make a stop for some supplies. There’s a museum I was hoping to visit in town but it was closed by the time I got there. After a fuel stop, I decided to head for my accommodations for the day in Seydisfjordur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive to the fjord past Egilsstadir winds uphill. I do mean UPHILL. The road switchbacks up the mountain and the peak was pretty foggy in late afternoon. The limited visibility all around made me feel like I could be driving down a road with steep drops on both sides. For a girl who is afraid of heights, it’s not a lot of fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After checking in at the hostel for the day, I took the rental car around the quaint little town and did some sightseeing before dinner. Other than the usual lamb dinner, I also tried the reindeer croquettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reindeer croquettes. Cue the “other reindeer” jokes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After dinner, I figured I would take some pictures of the iconic church and the colorful close by. A little walk along the town center also rewarded me with a memorable “good night” photo before turning in for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good night Seydisfjordur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course the first thing to do was to make a grand survey of the country she was going to travel through. \u2018It\u2019s something very like learning geography,\u2019 thought Alice, as she stood on tiptoe in hopes of being able to see a little further. – Lewis Carroll<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,27,40,41],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abroad","tag-food","tag-iceland","tag-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":816,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions\/816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecheshiretrail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}