From Siglufjordur to Lake Myvatn via Akureyi
Day 5, 6th August 2023
We left Siglufjordur on a beautiful sunny morning and welcomed the chance to stop just outside of the town to enjoy the wonderful scenery. Travelling around these coastal areas must have been limited to boats before tunnel technology existed. Many road tunnels are only single lane, with a strict protocol over who has to give way and use the passing places. It all seemed to work anyway, and we never had to reverse in the tunnels.
We drove south along the coastline to the fifth largest town in Iceland, called Akureyi. It is renowned for having heart-shaped red traffic lights, amongst other things. This seemed a very livable place but we did have to wait until noon on this Sunday to buy an ice cream! It was a beautiful morning as we walked passed the church (closed on Sundays!) and headed to an ice cream parlour on the edge of town. While eating our treats, a local man came to chat with us. His name was Johann and he found it very difficult to catch and say the name 'Lawrence'. We found it very difficult to say any Icelandic place names! Anyway, although we had a very stilted conversation, he seemed happy as he walked back to his house across the street.
Akureyi was the location of the first long distance television transmission from the UK, and a plaque describes this event near the current botanical gardens. The houses around this area were charming to look at, but must be quite trying to get to given the steep hills here.
Our first scenic stop today on the way to Lake Myvatn in the east was Godafoss, or the Waterfall of the Gods. This was a stunning sight and I decided to try my hand at some long-exposure photography.
After this we headed to the Pseudo caters at Skutustadir, south of Lake Myvatn. It was cold and wet when we approached Lake Myvatn, and the midges were out to annoy us!
There is plenty to do and see around Lake Myvatn, but we cut down our options due to the weather and things we had seen already. But the Hverir thermal park had to be visited despite the weather and it really was an exotic, colourful, and smelly place.
Despite the obvious heat exuding from the many vents on this site, we still saw people touching these rocky vents to test the temperature. They very rapidly realised just how hot the steam is here!
We arrived at the Fosshotel Myvatn exhausted so decided to try the sauna as none of the hot tubs we had come across so far had been inviting. Perhaps we have been spoiled by the onsens in Japan. The sauna was much hotter than either of us expected and we didn't stay there for long! After dinner we watched the golden hour light colours in the view from the dining room, so I popped out onto the balcony to take a photo.
