The South Coast revisited in winter

A study in blue; Glacier Lagoon in winter

Having had some memorable trips around the South coast of Iceland during the summer, I was very keen to revisit in winter. I particularly wanted to revisit Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach and when Matthew booked a trip to Vatnajökull to see the ice caves and hike on the glacier (see next blog post) I knew this was the chance. We decided to make a long weekend of the trip so that we could take our time and have a more relaxed journey with stops. The last thing we wanted was to arrive for a day on the glacier exhausted after a long journey. So Thursday morning saw us setting off on our latest South Coast Adventure. We only travelled from Reykjavík to our first stopping point near Kirkjubæjarklaustur a little way beyond Vík. This gave us the opportunity to stop for coffee on the way, and to take a couple of diversions to see some of the waterfalls we hadn’t yet visited.

Our first stop (other than coffee) was to see Urriðafoss. Urriðafoss is a waterfall in the Þjórsá River, which is a very popular river for salmon fishing in the summer. Þjórsá is Iceland’s longest river at 230 km, and Urriðafoss is the most voluminous waterfall in the country. Though not particularly tall, it is impressively wide, being near the mouth of this long river, and immensely powerful with a water flow of 360 m³ per second. This is more than half the flow of Dettifoss in North Iceland, which is the most powerful waterfall in Europe. However, due to the ice and snow we couldn’t get very close to it as part of the route was closed, so we didn’t get the chance to take any decent pictures. This is one waterfall that we do want to come back to in the summer though and revisit.

Urriðafoss seen from the side - the restricted access didn’t allow for a view across the drop

From here we travelled on a little further, intending to visit the Ægissíðufoss waterfall near Hella, but got sidetracked by the signpost for Árbæjarfoss. It took us a little time to find it, as it is tucked away down a tiny gravel road near a pretty little church. In fact, the waterfall is named after a nearby farm (Árbær) and the church, Árbærkirkja.

We stopped and had a look around the churchyard first, which was beautifully kept with the graves marked with crosses and lights. I don’t know if this is just done in the winter or all year round, but it looked beautiful. We could hear the waterfall but couldn’t work out how to find it. Eventually we located a small dirt track but had to leave the car part-way down as it was too pitted and icy to risk driving down, so we made the last part of the journey on foot.

Árbæjarfoss

The setting of Árbæjarfoss, a double waterfall with a steep and a shallow drop, is very pretty, although we didn’t go too far as there was fencing and a little gate that indicated it may perhaps be private land and we didn’t want to trespass. Although not on our original list of waterfalls to visit, it was well worth the diversion and the time it took to find.
We then continued to Ægissíðufoss, which was just a few km further on the other side of the main route 1 road.

Ægissíðufoss

The stunning grey-blue waters and the majestic and uninterrupted flow of Ægissíðufoss waterfall make it a very impressive sight. This is another one we would like to go back to in the summer and again we had to be very careful as the area around the car park and the top of the waterfall was a sheet of ice which meant we had to be very careful indeed. The cascading waters from the Ægissíðufoss waterfall stream into the tranquil Ytri-Rangá river. It was such a peaceful spot, helped by the fact that (due to the icy weather no doubt) we were the only people there. To the left of the waterfall is a salmon ladder - a series of small steps designed to enable the salmon to bypass the obstruction caused by the waterfall and to get upstream.

After our various detours and stops to see new and different waterfalls we were rapidly running out of daylight so decided to continue on to our AirBnB for that day.

Our little cottage in the woods

Set a way back from the main ring road, deep in the countryside, it took us a little while to find it but it was well worth it when we did. The place we were staying in was part of a forest plantation and so we discovered we were in a little cottage in the woods. Surrounded as it was by deep snow, it was a picture perfect little hideaway for the evening. Tiny but with everything we needed, it felt a bit like stepping into a fairy tale. We had taken supplies with us as the nearest grocery shop / fuel station / restaurant was in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, some 30 km away, or Vik (50 km). The instructions informed us that we were welcome to walk anywhere on the property and suggested a few hikes.

As we were limited with daylight and the deep snow we only stayed in the area around the cottage but had a lovely walk around there the next morning, watching the pink dawn of the sunrise across the snowy slopes. What a glorious way to start a new day!

Knowing we only had a few hours of daylight, we headed off on the route to Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach. The few hours we had were glorious with deep blue skies and sunshine and the views we had as we were driving were wonderful; watching the sun rise as we drove back to the main Route 1 ring road, and enjoying the beauty of a very brief but fabulously sunny Icelandic winter’s day.

We got our timing just right and were lucky enough to explore Diamond Beach as the sun was setting (at around 3pm!!). What a difference to see this place in the winter! I had thought it beautiful in May, but this time the beach was absolutely covered in ‘diamonds’ of ice - in some places you couldn’t even find a pathway between them. And seeing them in the golden light of the setting winter sun was something very special indeed. We took dozens and dozens of photographs, just mesmerised by the beauty that surrounded us. It was amazing how some of the ice was clear, some white and some even a deep green, verging on black.

Diamond Beach packed with ‘diamonds’

We took photos of the beach covered in ice, of individual chunks of ice (many looking like Henry Moore sculptures or pieces of art), of ice reflected in the pools of water on the beach, of ice in the sea…. we took videos of the chunks of ice swiftly moving in the flowing water from Glacier Lagoon out to sea, to be brought back in again on the tide, creating a new landscape for tomorrow’s visitors to see. Eventually, we had to tear ourselves away somewhat reluctantly as we still very much wanted to see Glacier Lagoon. Here are just a few of the many pictures we took.

Matthew took the car over and I walked under the bridge and the route 1 from Diamond Beach to the lagoon itself. Again, what a difference from when we were there in the spring. Then the lagoon was very much a lake, with chunks of ice towering out of the water in places. Now it was a seascape of ice with hardly any water visible at all. We had wondered why the boat trips on the lagoon didn’t run in the winter. Now, looking at the vast expanse of Jökulsárlón, packed with ice, it was blindingly obvious why a boat couldn’t possibly take people out onto the lagoon. Looking out across the ice some of it almost looked solid enough to walk on (although for obvious reasons there are warnings not to stand on the ice (apparently plenty of people do try); you wouldn’t last long if you ended up slipping into that glacier water).

Looking to the east and the lagoon packed with ice

What an incredible sight it was - blue and white and grey, but mainly blue, and so so full of ice. The trip was made even better by a stop at the Heimahumar ‘Local Langoustine’ truck for lobster rolls and lobster soup. We had read about this ‘fast food’ truck on Tripadvisor and resolved to try it out and boy, it didn’t disappoint. The rolls were incredibly generous, packed with loads of lobster/langoustine and the soup was very tasty - and also full of chunks of lobster in the bottom - apparently it is slow cooked for about 12 hours! All I know is that on a cold day, you don’t get much better food than this - and we’ve eaten in some amazing places since we’ve been out here! We had read a review of the place saying that the writer would happily drive all the way from Reykjavík just to try the lobster rolls again and I can see why. What a find! Apparently the fish and chip van at Jökulsárlón is equally good - we will just have to go back!!!

Some of the icebergs looked almost like mountains, reflecting the real ones behind them

And a view across the other side of the lagoon towards the west, looking calm and almost ethereal

After eating our fill, we wandered along the edge of the lagoon, to see it from the other side, and then back over to Diamond Beach again, until the sun had set and our mania for taking photographs of chunks of ice had calmed down a little, at which point we headed off to find our next AirBnB. This was a room in a large building with a wide balcony overlooking the coast on one side and the mountains (complete with waterfall) on the other and I think we may well have been the only guests there. After unloading our things we headed out to eat (well, it was ages since the lobster rolls by that time!).

The place we had planned to go to turned out to be closed and we ended up heading to a little restaurant that belonged to the nearby Guesthouse Gerði where we were warmly welcomed and treated to simple, home cooked food that was delicious, with attentive and friendly service. All the food was locally sourced and fresh and I discovered arctic char for the first time, now a firm favourite! As was the Rhubarb crumble with whipped cream and raspberry sauce topping - apparently still made to a recipe from the lady who had lived there, back at the end of the 19th century, whose photograph was on the wall of the restaurant! We had such a good time that we arranged to go back the following evening and eat there again, and headed off back to our AirBnB to play a few highly competitive games of yahtzee and prepare for our trip the following day to the glacier; the real reason for this weekend on the south coast. But that’s another story for the next blog post…..