This day was more a transit day filled with driving, and not many stops, but a very welcomed extra activity.
Eggin I geledivik, as I have a love for birds, I couldn’t skip looking at giant granite eggs from birds found in Iceland.
Collection nature art craft, this was something I saw on the way to Eggin I geledivik. For me who likes nature, skeletons and everything else, I was curious and took a look. It was incredible to see the collection. From a kid I have collected many things from nature, hoping one day to display it and help educate other people, seeing this place was a great inspiration, as he had done exactly that, maybe a little less artsy but that’s what made it so fascinating, looking at carved items, and nature inspired gifts.
Next stop was Tehusid hostel, after 300km and an exciting last few days, it was taking its toll and I was starting to feel quite tired. Looking forward to a relaxing day to recover, at first I was disappointed to hear the hostel didn’t allow check in until 4pm. This gave me 3 hours to waste. Looking on google maps I couldn’t find anything that inspired me in town, I looked further afield coming across a place called Borgarfjardarhofn, apparently a great place for puffins.I hadn’t seen any yet or even heard of people seeing them, so there I was, off for another adventure.
At first the drive was easy; with a few new birds I was excited to see. The red-throated loon, similar to an article I found when I was early teens, I never thought I would see one, though the one I knew of was a common loon, this looked similar enough for me.
The driving took a toll for the worst, changing from tarmac to gravel, later car warns of Icy roads, then a heavy mist came over as the road, the road then went very high between the mountain ranges and every now and again a car seemed to jump in front of me due to the mist being so thick and snow appearing on the side of the road. I desperately wanted to abort mission, but I could not do a U-turn as the road was so obscured, so I had to slowly keep going, after an hour I finally arrived at my destination talking to myself and cursing these puffins!
It looked dismal at first with no life anywhere and only one other car, but I am pleased to say there were hundreds of puffins, that are easily seen from a path and a hide you can donate some money to enjoy, away from the elements watching them come and go. It was not the best weather by far, but well worth coming to Iceland in the first place. I recommend this place to anyone, you get up close and personal with them, without disturbing them and no payment is required. After travelling Iceland further this is the best spot without having the restraints of a boat tour times, and due to the bird being surprisingly small it’s hard to photograph from a boat.
The drive back was not as bad as I had a better idea of what I was in for, sleeping well at another top-notch hostel after 460km of driving done for the day.
