Víkurfjara Black Sand Beach
Before leaving Vik, we drove into Vik Village from our stay (The Barn) to do a final visit of the black sand beach. We parked our car near Katla Cave cafe and walk to the beach. The tide was low and the waterline was way out. There was a “rock wave breaker” that extended out to the waterline. We could clearly see Reynisdrangar. At Vikurjara Black Sand beach we could see Reynisdranger at a different angle which was more of a frontal view, this view is opposite that seen at Dyrholaey Peninsula and different from the side view of Reynisdrangar at Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.
It was 11am in the morning and the whole place was deserted, we saw one “soul” surfing in the sky. He of she must be having a fantastic view of the black beach from way up top. Vikurjara Black Sand Beach was probably not a popular destination with other tourists which accounted for us getting the whole place to ourselves!
It was such a relaxing day and we were not in a great hurry to get to our next destination. Before we got into our car and set off to our next destination we had a coffee break at Katla Cave Cafe.
Fjaðrárgljúfur
From Vik to Fjadrargljufr Canyon was a 50 minutes easy drive of about 70km.
There was a huge carpark just before a short walk to the canyon and at 1pm there were already many cars at the car park. Visiting the Canyon was free but parking was not. Parking fee was 1000 Isk using Parkapp.
Hiking at Fjadrargljufur Canyon was easy, the distance of the hike was only 2km one way. We started our hike on the ridges of the Canyon. The Canyon was super beautiful and we were eager to get as near to the edge of the canyon wall so as to peek down into the stunning valley. It was a great that there were a couple of steel steps/observation decks that allowed us to practically “hang” above the canyon.
Fjadrargljufur Canyon was…… was “dramatic”. it had a “Jurassic” look. The valley was formed about 10,000 years ago but the bedrock was much older dating back two million years! The canyon was created by the runoff from a glacial lake which wore away the soft stone and left the more resistant rocks behind.
The canyon was definitely a place to come in summer when “green” were all around. The “green” gave this place a “mossy” look, it gave a “feeling” that nobody had disturbed this place for a long long time.
After our hike on the ridge, we decided to walk into the valley and see the canyon from bottom up. The view of the canyon from its base was as stunning at that above.
Stjórnarfoss
Our stay for the night was at Kirkjubæjarklaustur village which was the nearest village to Fjadrargljufur Canyon just about 10 km away along the ring road. It was too early to check in so we dropped in at the town visitor center. The staff recommended for us to visit Stjornarfoss since we had some times on hands.
From Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Stjornarfoss was 2.5 km. Near the waterfall was a carpark (free) where we parked our car, crossed the road and walked for about 200m to the waterfall.
The valley of Stjornarfoss had some similarity to Fjadrargljufur Canyon. We supposed the geographical formation around this region were the same. We walked till the falls and did not hike further as we did not see any path that went up the falls or going deeper into the canyon . We understood that there was another longer hiking trail that started near our stay (in Kirkjubæjarklaustur village) and lead all the way to the upper part of this falls.
Our stay at Kirkjubæjarklaustur Village
We had booked a double room with private bathroom at Klausturhof Guesthouse. The cost of the room for one night with breakfast for two was SGD$290 (Eur 200). The room on the booking.com website certainly looked so much better/larger than the room we were given.
Our room was one of several rooms in a yellow building. The room was very tight only 14metre square. The price for the room was pretty pricey, but we still booked this place as we thought we would be late getting here and did not want to travel further for a cheaper accommodation.
We were early coming to Klausturhof Guesthouse because we had visited Yoda Cave, a place that we should visit today, one day before.
Outside our double/twin room was a windowless shared area. It was sort of a living room cum dining room for guests. There were some sofa chairs, a dining table a water boiler and a hot flask.
In this shared area there was no decent cooking facilities/utensils. We had to improvise and made do with the hot water flask to get our dinner ready. It was cup noodles, softboiled eggs, with bacons, strawberry and fresh salad.
We had breakfast the next morning in the main building where there was a dining hall. Breakfast was too simple/skimpy… our own breakfast was many times better!
