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Day 17 & 18 Whales, bad weather, and The Arctic Henge - heading into the remote N-E

From the itinerary: Head up to the town of Husavik, arguably one of Iceland ́s prettiest towns. Enjoy a walk down by the harbour front and see the wooden whale watching boats head out for tours. Visit the peculiar church of Husavik before heading further north and into the national park of Jokulsarlgljufur and Asbyrgi canyon. This is a literal playground for hikers and nature enthusiasts and in the visitor centre at Asbyrgi you ́ll find extensive information about interesting trails and hikes in the area. After, continue north towards the town of Kó pasker and onto road #870 which brings you around Melrakkaslé tta, a land lost in time where you ́ll find Siberian driftwood on the shores and deserted farms aplenty. Finally, visit the Arctic Henge before ending in the town of Raufarhö fn for your overnight stay.



I have now driven 3/4 around Iceland.


The day started with a drive to Akureyri for a whale watching excursion in Eyjafjordur fjord. This was a bit underwhelming. We did finally see a few whales, but only saw their dorsal fin as they came to the surface. We did see a dolphin, but, again, they are a dark color and not so pretty to look at. There was an option to throw in a line and fish which wasn't too interesting for me, so I watched. At least there was some coffee and local doughnut to try along the way.


Akureyri is another place I had read about and was interesting to see "live". It was basically a bigger fishing village and I tried to imagine what it must be like during the long dark winters. It is not as isolated as it used to be, but I think winters must be rather hard.



The town of Husavik was charming and the waterfront was very picturesque. I believe this is where parts of the movie Eurovision was filmed. Of course I also had to visit the church.



Along the way I saw some fields where the owners made sculptures of field workers out of rocks.




As I continued to drive the areas got more remote and the weather closed in. By the time I got to the National Park of Jokulsarlgljufur and Asbyrgi Canyon the rain started to come down. I did 2 hikes, both were pretty easy which was good because my ankle still isn't 100%. One was around a pool of water, the other up on a ridge. The cloudy weather meant there were no views.



As I continued through the barren landscape it got colder and the roads were again unpaved and like a washboard, sometimes they were really bad, other times I could still make reasonable time.



When I stopped to see the Arctic Henge it was cold and rainy so I didn't stop long before continuing to the Grasteinn Guesthouse in Raufarhö fn

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