Iceland – Day 5

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Ísafjörður to Drangsnes – 146 miles

Ísafjörður has been very nice. Lots of good restaurants and the town is just beautiful. Now were off to Drangsnes.

This drive looks short, but took us through some very interesting landscapes. We were up and down mountain passes and driving along fjords for miles and miles. There’s not a particular iconic site on this leg of the journey. This part is all about driving through majestic scenery and just soaking it all in.

One of the first things you notice about driving in Iceland is the lack of guardrails. You will find them now and again, but not very often and certainly not where you would expect them. We’ve been on some roads that were high up in the mountains with drop-offs that go for hundreds of feet straight down.

Add to that many blind hills and corners the fact that in this part of Iceland many of the roads are gravel and you get some tense driving conditions.

Another thing that is worth noting is that many of the petrol stations in the more remote areas of Iceland are completely unmanned. That means you have to decypher the instructions and use a chip and pin credit card to be able to get gas. Fortunately my credit card company (USAA) offers a chip and pin card and it has been working perfectly.

Another thing that is worth noting is that there is not an abundance of places to pull over to take photos. You have to make due with what’s available or simply make a judgment call as to whether or not it is safe to stop in the street and take a picture. Fortunately there is not a lot of traffic in this part of Iceland so it’s not unreasonable to do this as long as you’re careful.

As we get braver we find ourselves doing it more and more because the scenery is just spectacular.

As you drive along there are dozens and dozens of waterfalls pouring down the sides of the mountains.

Cynthia commented that the tap water was very clean tasting and wondered what it would be like to drink from a waterfall.

As it turns out, it’s freezing cold and delicious.

We have been quite emboldened with our successes so far

But we are also aware of the signs sent by the universe telling us not to get too cocky.

We arrived in Drangsnes without incident and settled in. After a nice dinner I had planned to update this blog, but the Internet connection at the guesthouse was not working and I had a very weak data signal on the phone. So it was a good night’s sleep for me with a long drive to Sauðárkrókur in the morning.