Day 8: South Shore Glacial Adventure

Today we were booked in for a south shore and glacial super jeep adventure. We were picked up from the hotel by a giant of a man, he was nearly as tall as the superjeep! There were two others on the tour with us as we headed off for the south coast. The order of the day had to be altered slightly due to the weather as yet again it was wet and windy. We made a brief stop at a place who?s name I forget to experience an earthquake simulator before heading to another town for coffee and to pick up lunch. I may have slept through the place names being announced.

Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss, a beautiful waterfall with a drop of 60m. In better weather you can walk behind the waterfall but in the wind and rain we were advised against it. From here we drove on past the area effected by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökul. We learnt about the problems it caused for locals and the ongoing effect it is having now. Every month the river has to be dredged as so much extra water and ash is still being washed down from the mountain.

Our next stop was Reynisfjara a beautiful black sands beach with columnar basalt stacks and caves. Usually they drive along the beach and you can have a pleasant stroll however we were warned to stay well back from the water front today as the ocean was extremely violent. From Reynisfjara we began the drive back towards Reykjavik, going off road to drive up to Sólheimajökull, which is an outlet glacier from Mýrdalsjökull ice cap. We weren?t able to go up on to the glacier but we could go up to it and under it!

The weather had begun to improve and by the time we reached Skógafoss (pictured above) the sun was beginning to make an appearance and we were lucky enough to see not only an intense rainbow across the waterfall but also a fainter second rainbow above. There was a long staircase up to the top of the waterfall but I chose to give the long climb a miss. The Boy made it to the top however.

Our final stop was a smaller but far wider waterfall called Urriðafoss. It was
stunning but unfortunately there are plans to build a hydropower plant nearby. If they are successful and it goes ahead, this gorgeous fall will all but dry up.