A Snaefellsnes Soaker

A different day brought drastically different weather! A steady rain when we woke up led us to change our plans for breakfast downtown in favor of the buffet at the hotel instead. There was a lovely spread and only one other couple in the breakfast room. Then we donned our rain gear and headed for the car.

The Snaefellsnes Peninsula is about two hours north of Reykjavik. It has a number of scenic sites, including waterfalls (of course), a crater, Kirkjufell Mountain, and picturesque small towns. Our original plan was to drive a loop around it, but given the weather we ended up calling it a day about halfway once we had seen the top places on our list.

Our first stop was the Gerduberg cliffs, tall stone cylinders marching along the side of the roadway. Walking out was fairly pleasant, with a light rain and the wind at our backs. Then we learned the peril of having the wind at your back. On our return trip the wind buffeted us straight on, pelting rain at our faces and forcing us to cling to our hoods to keep them up.

We could see the bottom of Bjarnarfoss well before we reached it, water rushing down the cliff face in snaking rapids. Then as we pulled into the parking lot we could finally make it out in full, rising twice as high up the cliffs as we had originally supposed. A short walk took us up to the base of it. Some adventurous people were scrambling up a sort of trail that overlooked the base of the main waterfall. Mervin went up to take a look and quickly decided it was too sketchy to risk with lots of wet rocks and mud. Back to the car we went for round two of attempting to dry off.

Our next stop was Budakirkja, a church famous for how its black exterior starkly contrasts with the surroundings. On a sunny day it stands amidst stunning backgrounds of the water or the mountains. Today it was a stood out beautifully as a crisp black building amidst the foggy gray surroundings.

We stopped for lunch in Arnastapi, a small seaside town with cabins, a couple restaurants, and a marina. Hot soup was welcome after our wet treks! Perhaps it made us too courageous though, as we decided to attempt the walking loop to see the sea arch and cliffs. Once again the journey started out easy, with the rain not feeling too heavy and the wind at our backs. The farther we got from the car, however, the stronger the wind started to feel. When we finally reached the point where we had to turn into it to walk to the car, it was howling into our faces, flinging cold rain drops so hard they felt like ice pellets (or it’s possible they actually were ice pellets). It made its way into our hoods and sleeves, through zippers, and basically any gap it could find. By the time we reached the car we were completely soaked.

Looking at the time and the state of our clothes, we decided it was in our best interest to start the drive back toward the hotel instead of continuing around the peninsula. We had a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant seated right next to the warm radiator, a satisfying way to end the day. Keeping our fingers crossed that our gear will be dry by morning!