Iceland Day 8 – Hvammstangi

Tuesday September 2, Ísafjörður to Hvammstangi

After two and a half days in the Westfjords, today we left that gorgeous and less-visited part of Iceland behind and made our twisting way to the North Iceland town of Hvammstangi, the longest drive of our trip. A night of miserable sleep did not set me up for the drive, 4-5 hours without stops as we wound in and out of fjord after fjord.

Even with the length of the drive, time was on our side because we could not check in at our destination until late afternoon. So, we decided to spend a leisurely morning over coffee. We tried one coffee shop yesterday, so we visited the other this morning. Called Heimabyggð, homestead in English, this shop with the barely pronounceable name calls one of the older timber-framed buildings in Ísafjörður home. Heimabyggð is pronounced something like HEY-mah-bithk (like bisque with a lisp).

Here, the focus was on coffee and we received cups of the best coffee so far in Iceland. Where yesterday's shop reminded me of a European bakery/coffee shop, Heimabyggð reminded me of a quirky Oregon coffee house. A lovely young couple run it. She's Icelandic; he's from Ontario, London if I recall correctly.

Excellent Coffee at Heimabyggð

Pleasant Carrot Muffins Were Not Overly Sweet

For our winding drive through the fjords, we had two options to arrive in Hvammstangi, one via the northern coast and one via the southern coast. Taking the northern coast will keep our car in the inside lane, a bit more reassuring with some of the steep gut check cliffs we have already driven.

In addition, the northern route would take us through Holmavík where the Saltverk salt production facility is located. Although they do not do tours in the fall after August 15, the chef in me just wanted to stop by and get some salt where it was made. Failing to put a stop in the GPS, we drove right on by it without noticing. Never fear: Saltverk salt is sold and served everywhere in Iceland. The duty free on the way out of the airport is a good place to buy it, though we picked ours up in a Krónan. It is also readily available in the U.S. and I can attest that it is good salt.

Not in a hurry, we stopped as the urge struck us here and there along the fjords. On climbing past the town of Súðavík, we stopped at a high point above the fjord to take in the views. Several sheep helped with the photography. Similarly, we stopped at a random waterfall in Gervidalsárfoss, because we saw it from across the fjord. Without stopping and walking up the hill, we would have missed it cascading serenely into a gorgeous pool at the bottom.

We stopped to watch a Merlin (a kestrel-like falcon), Greylag Geese, Whooper Swans, a random little waterfall on the Laxá because the sun poked through the clouds for a minute to spotlight it, and a bunch of seals chilling. Without any agenda at all, we were awestruck by the spectacular drive on Route 61 (Djúpvegur) in and out of fjord after fjord through several different zones today: mountains, highland tundra dotted with tarns and kettle lakes, sculpted glacial valleys, Eastern Oregon-like dry flatlands, and green agricultural lands with untold thousands of sheep. In short, this was the Iceland that we hoped to find, far off the beaten tourist track.

In a rural country that has more sheep than people, free-range sheep are impossible to miss, especially when they wander into the road. They are everywhere all at once, in some locations probable and some highly improbable. But they are not the only grazers in the fields. We even devised our own lingo for the grazers:

tall-sheep (horses)

mini-tall-sheep (foals)

moo-sheep (cattle)

Santa sheep (reindeer)

sheep-sheep or fuzzy-sheep (sheep)

flappy-sheep (swans and geese)

white-flappy-sheep (Whooper Swans)

gray-flappy-sheep (Greylag and Pink-footed Geese)

Swans and geese are big grazers. We saw many times more swans than geese and at times in certain fields, thousands of sheep and swans trimmed the grass side by side. From a distance, we could always pick out the swans because they are much brighter white than the sheep. The baby swans, the cygnets, are darker, a dirty white, although in September nearly as big as their parents. Most swans and sheep co-existed well, however, on one occasion, we witnessed a huge swan (likely a male), neck extended and wings flapping violently, chasing a group of sheep that strayed too close.

Sheep are reluctant runners and this group was galloping, probably with good cause. I grew up in the country in an era when people kept geese in the yard as watch animals. Only fools trifle with geese because they are ever vigilant for predators, noisy at sounding the alarm, aggressive attackers that do not back down, and inflict vicious bites twisting flesh between their ridged bills. I cannot imagine wanting to take on a swan that is larger than any goose and I am certain these sheep wanted no part of that pissed off swan.

Súðavík From High Above

Mountain Towering Above Súðavík

Looking at Glaciers Across the Ísafjarðardjúp Fjord

Charming Gervidalsárfoss

Bog Bilberry, Bláberjalyng, Vaccinium uliginosum
The Common Blueberry of Iceland and Central Oregon, Too

Merlin, a Small Falcon, Perched on a Boulder
We Saw Only Two Raptors in Three Weeks, Both Merlins

Alaska's Nootka Lupine, Lupinus nootkatensis
Beautiful, Invasive, and Unwanted in Iceland

Beautiful Scene Along Route 59 Unnamed Waterfall on the Laxá River, Laxárdalur Valley

Ultimately, we cut cross-country on Route 59 to the Hrútafjörður. Skirting around the southern end of this fjord, we picked up the ring road for just a few kilometers before leaving it to head north to the small village of Hvammstangi. Icelanders pronounce HV like KV, so KVAHM-stong-ee. I chose Hvammstangi as a starting point for exploring the untouristed Vatnsnes peninsula tomorrow on our way to the Tröllaskagi, a mountainous, remote peninsula known for its dramatic landscapes and charming fishing villages like Siglufjörður, our next stop.

Though we found Hvammstangi a bit disappointing, they are really trying to make the town friendly for visitors. Our host, a school teacher, was great about answering our questions even though we never met him in person. He had his father greet us and show us the apartment, one of the few places with any interaction with the host. Most apartments have a lockbox from which you retrieve a key and let yourself in. Dad seemed to be a typical Icelander: all business, helpful when asked a question, and neither friendly nor unfriendly. We did encounter garrulous and outgoing Icelanders, but they were the exception and not the rule.

During the drive, the weather changed (nothing unusual about this in Iceland) all day. It was sunny at first, then cloudy with drizzle in the highlands, cloudy and cold coming down to the sea, and blustery and gray in Hvammstangi, with the wind increasing in strength all day. Once installed in our apartment, it proved too windy to want to explore or walk to the restaurant in town. Fortunately, the local grocery store, Kaupfelag, one of very few coop grocery stores left in Iceland, was situated across the street from us. This store had slim pickings for dinner. We Americans are spoiled for grocery stores.

Hvammstangi in the Screaming Wind

One of the Few Attractive Buildings in Town

Our Apartment

Me in Our Headroom-Challenged Apartment
"Iceland is a Short Country"

At the store, we were challenged to find ingredients for a pasta but ultimately found smoked salmon and a lemon. While all the grocery stores we went into in the country have pretty much the same selection of cheeses, all mild and Havarti adjacent, we saw one in this store that we had not seen before, Stori Dímon. I know Stori Dímon as the name of a mountain in the south near Eyjafjallajökull that we would climb toward the end of our trip but not as the name of a cheese. From a large Icelandic dairy cooperative, it seems a direct copy of German Cambazola.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Butter

Antifreeze Against Battering Wind

After doing the dinner dishes, I carefully squeezed myself into the too small bed and caught up on some notes and planning for the morning. The wind howled outside as I tried to go to sleep.