Part Four - Iceland Adventure

Journey during the final stage of our Iceland Adventure

Firstly, thanks to everyone who contacted us after reading the last blog to check that we - and Rocky were OK.

To re-cap… Rocky is undriveable with a broken wheel and sheered drive shaft. We're marooned way up in the mountains, 70 km away from any civilisation - and it's getting cold. Parts of the area have been closed due to heavy snowfall.

Brian the Ranger to the rescue!

Luckily he happens to pass us on a nearby track. We flag him down and he sees our plight. He contacts Guffi, the proprietor of the campground who quickly arrives with his beefed-up SUV to tow us into a safer position. Guffi has a busy day but takes the time to come to our aid. So kind.

Brian also helps us contact UniCars - the only garage for miles around and we establish that they can recover Rocky even from this difficult terrain.

While we wait for Rocky to be recovered, Brian looks after us and goes above and beyond to make sure we are safe, even offering us beds for the night if we need them - what a star.

We had the foresight to make sure we have breakdown cover and thankfully it kicks in and we aren't faced with the not insubstantial bill for the recovery.

Birgir - or Biggi - the recovery driver from UniCars does us proud and we're very relieved to be on our way. Rocky is once again dwarfed by the massive Ford RAM that Biggi brings to rescue us.

It's a big job which involves a 140 km round trip for the recovery vehicle and driver - taking about 3 hours, mainly on F- Roads and Biggi has a wedding to go to that evening!

As it's a Saturday we have to wait until Monday for Rocky to be looked at and so we need to book into a hotel. Biggi tells us that there is a hotel in the village and he drives us there. When we thank him for his kindness he shrugs it off saying he can imagine how difficult it must be to have broken down and be without accommodation in a foreign country and he is happy to help.

The next day, Sunday, we take the opportunity to give Rocky a good re-vamp taking everything out, cleaning out all the dust and re-loading.

On Monday morning Uni - the owner of UniCars and Biggi are on the case. The VW main dealer doesn’t have the drive shaft we need! However Uni manages to track one down elsewhere. It’s ordered and should arrive the next day - which is amazing in itself, considering the distances involved; if it does arrive and if that fixes Rocky we'll be on our way in time to catch the ferry back to Denmark on Thursday.

If not, the situation will become much more difficult to resolve as we may be looking at returning home without Rocky; if we miss the ferry there isn't another one for a week; Nick may need to return alone to collect Rocky when he’s repaired and it's not clear what costs will be covered by the insurers (opaque small print as always!).

Before we leave UniCars, Uni says that if we can't find anywhere to stay tonight we can stay in the staff area they have above the garage, how kind and how trusting.

Hotel Klaustur where we've been staying only has a suite available for tonight at a cost of 1,000 Euros per night... a little out of our budget!

Waldemar on reception kindly phones a guest house in the village but it's also fully booked, we are stuck.

In Iceland however, nothing seems to be too much trouble and Waldemar says he has an idea but he needs to go away and speak to someone.

He returns to say he has identified another hotel which, whilst it is too far away for us to walk to, Klaustur’s chef Einar will give us a lift.

It transpires that Einar lives only a very short distance from Hotel Klaustur and so taking us to the alternative hotel is completely out of his way, again he shrugs off our thanks saying it's no trouble.

The kindness of the people of Iceland (and Poland, Waldemar is Polish and not forgetting that Brian is Scottish!) knows no end, Waldemar says he will collect us tomorrow morning and bring us back to the village so we can get to the garage.

Biggi does a sterling job on fixing Rocky; meantime Hildur, Uni’s wife, suggests that Janette takes the opportunity to do her laundry using the garage’s washer and dryer - this is an especially thoughtful offer given that we have only very limited access to laundry facilities while travelling.

We are truly humbled by the kindness everyone has shown to us. In a situation when we've really needed help it's been forthcoming without fuss or any expectation of anything in return, just simple, straightforward kindness.

So, thanks to the wonderful people at Unicars, Rocky is on the road again, we have time to reach the ferry in two days time with some sightseeing on the way.

First stop, Svartifoss, an impressive if touristy waterfall, it’s particularly famous for its dramatic backdrop of dark hexagonal-shaped basalt columns that inspired its name, which translates to "Black Falls’’.

As a result of the delay with Rocky, we don’t have as much time for this part of the journey as we’d hoped; there’s certainly no time to meander off on the less travelled roads but nevertheless we still see some amazing sights.

Diamond Beach is one such spectacle. Here the beach is dotted with fragments of the icebergs (diamonds) that have broken off from the glacier and are floating out to sea.

A short distance away you can view the icebergs, once part of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and now floating in the Jökulsárlón Lagoon.

The colours of the ice are amazing, white streaked with black lava dust and an amazing vibrant blue.

Our destination this evening is the small port town of Höfn.

Höfn is located on the edge of one of the few natural harbours on Iceland’s south coast.

It’s small with a population of only around 2,000 people but it’s really quite lively.

We’ve been told that the lobster pizza in Höfn is not to be missed and that a restaurant called Ishusid is the place to go.

We aren’t disappointed though our wallets take another beating!

The next day, we set off for the ferry port town of Seyðisfjörður where our journey began.

This part of the trip takes us around the east coast on the main (and only) road through the Eastfjords.

Janette is happy to be back on the coast and it really is lovely with high cliffs, a rocky shoreline and of course the beautiful fjords.

It’s a sparsely populated and very beautiful part of the country and other than some small-scale fish farming there’s nothing to disturb the peace except surprisingly, the amount of traffic on the road which is heavier than we’ve experienced outside of Reykjavik.

There is a gravel road you can take at the end of this fjord which takes you away from the coast road, but shortens the journey by about 70 kms.

We decide to take it and almost immediately regret it even though we are treated to a beautiful waterfall.

The problem with this road is that it is pretty smooth, easily manageable for two-wheel-drive cars and therefore busy. We realise, it is used as a cut through and wish we’d taken the longer and, we imagine prettier coast road.

The campsite at Seyðisfjörður is very busy with people catching the ferry tomorrow. We get a spot, thank goodness because the only alternative would mean retracing our steps by 29 kms meaning a 30 minute drive to the ferry which we have to reach by 8.30 tomorrow morning.

It’s a nice evening so we go for a walk around the town. It looks really pretty in the twilight.

We bid farewell to Iceland which feels sad as it’s been an amazing trip - but we’re glad to have made it to the ferry - which after our accident seemed unlikely.

As we travel back home we’ll reflect on our adventure in Iceland and produce a final blog… the good, the bad and the lessons learned.

Stay tuned!