The long and winding road…………

Day 3 of our wild Icelandic adventure. Today we’re off to Akureyi (pronounced “Ah-cure-ee), the second largest city in Iceland. Located on the northern coast of Iceland, Akureyi was founded around the 9^th century by the Norse Viking Helgi magri (the slim) Eyvindarson and was later the home of Allied troops in WW2. Our drive is 6 hours today so up early, make sandwiches and fire up the Aygo-slow. Always nice to let the twin turbos warm up before kicking in the horses!

We’re still cruising along the southeastern part of the island on Hwy 1, so the landscape is pretty much the same, lots of dramatic mountains rising next to the road and mostly covered in finely ground black lava. It looks as though you could take a cardboard box and slide right down the sides, but I’m sure that wouldn’t work for long. It may appear smooth, but the rock is really coarse and would grind down that box pretty fast. These mountains are different from those of our wonderful Colorado. The highest peak is a mere 6,900ft, nothing in comparison to the 14,000ft peaks back home. But these are really dramatic mountains. They almost appear to go straight from the sea to their peak, and very sharp and craggy. Maybe it has something to do with the 30+ volcanoes on this island, of which 13 have erupted since settlement around 870AD. Most recently, in 2014 the volcano Bardarbunga began to erupt and continued into 2015. But by far the most notorious eruption occurred in 2010 when Eyjafjalljokull (pronounced just as its spelled) sent ash into the air for six days that resulted in the cancellation of airline flights for more than 10 million people!

OK, back to the drive. Beach to our right, mountains to the left for pretty much the first hour or so then we turn north and come face-to-face with Iceland’s Department of Transportation – road work. Nothing too major just complete removal of the asphalt down to the dirt, excuse me, mud, and more of the ground up lava rock. Damn glad I bought the SAAP insurance cause this road is blasting little Aygo. Amazing how fast 10 miles of mud and rock go by when you’re having fun. Oh, and to add to this unadvertised feature of Icelandic roads, there’s 3-17% grades going up; 2 going down. No, not an exaggeration, 17% so first gear for quite a way. Poor little Aygo was covered in mud, whining all the way up the hill but kept on ticking!

No, that’s not asphalt – it’s mud!

Once we got to the other side of the mountain we hooked back up with Hwy 1 and “Thank ya Jesus” asphalt. No way can I return this car without a quick wash.

The new two-tone Aygo. Available in Northern Iceland!

Continuing north, the landscape transforms. What was once dramatic mountains, jagged and sharp, are now more rounded, smoother mountains, not as high as those before and covered in moss or shrubs. Reminds us of Nevada or Utah before you hit the desert. Another difference is trees. The southern part of the island was barren and almost devoid of any trees. The north side of the island actually has a few trees, not many, but there are a few.

Icelandic moss

Here the road levels out as we’re on the top of the mountain range. Flat, barren, and covered in black lava rock with an occasional boulder, the area looks like a scene from the movie, “The Martian”. Absolutely not a single weed or blade of grass growing anywhere. Pretty cool in its own right but definitely not a place for Aygo. Most of the side roads, “F” roads, are posted with signs that remind you your luxury rental car, or in our case, high performance rental car, is forbidden on these roads. Too bad, Collette was ready for some off-roading.

Cruising right along, we make the turn east on Hyw 1 and head for Lake Myavtn. This is a rather large lake that was formed by volcanic action (not kidding) some 2300 years ago. Surrounded by wetlands, the lake is known for thousands of “midges” that hatch and bother people during the summer. The name, “My” actually means “midge” and vatn is “lake”. Other than the lake, this area is just a nice drive with the occasional farmhouse and lots of hay fields. Beginning to think Iceland is the worlds largest hay producer. Everybody grows hay.

Closing in on our destination, the 6hrs seem to have zipped by. Our hotel in Akureyi is the Iceland Air hotel located in the heart of the city. More modern and larger than the other hotels we have stayed in, but the price was right. Check-in, unpack a bit and explore the town, maybe find a nice restaurant for dinner.

Well, that took all of 30 minutes, including the walk down the hill which was really steep. I think there are 8-10 restaurants in the city center, including Subway, Quiznos and the Hostel, so dining choices were limited. We decided to try “Strik id”. The menu looked pretty good, prices not too expensive and nice ambiance. We opened with a bottle of wine and kraklingur, wonderful! Next the main courses, I had nautalund and Collette went with humar-maki, both prepared perfectly. All told, we got out of there for a mere 15,670 krona, a real bargain. Now to hike back up the hill to the hotel and burn off a few of these calories.

Strik id

Kraklingur

Humar-maki

Nautalund

End of the day. Tomorrow we have a little under 5 hrs to drive to reach Reykjavik so not up as early as today. Back to the big city, but first, we need to find a car wash!