Getting to Latrabarg
From Randisandur, where our stay for the night before was located, to Latrabjarg was 49 km and it took about 1 hour 10 minutes of driving. We read that it was about 10+ km from Raudisandur Red Sand beach to Latrabjarg Cliffs along the coast. Not too far for a walk, but considering that there was hardly any information of people hiking along the coast we decided not to be the “first” ones!
At Latrabjarg there was a open space for parking (free parking). There was no other car there but ours, surprising this place was deserted! Latrabjarg cliffs was famous for puffins sighting and yet there was no other visitors here. Puffin season would be over by end August but we were still in early August.
Unlike Viks where we saw thousands of puffin on the cliffs, in the air and on the sea, here at Latrabjarg, at the carpark, the puffins were certain “out of sight”.
We walked up a gentle slope, getting closer to the cliff edge hoping to catch sights of the “orange beak flying creatures”. Yes we found some! There wasn’t alot… they were so cute! It was not easy to get close to the edge of the cliff because of a rope barricade. Since the wind condition was mild, I just had to get down on my front to inch nearer to the edge.
These were adult puffins as the young ones had black beaks and black feet. At Latrabjarg the puffins were spreaded out, a couple here and there, so unlike Viks where we saw hundreds and thousands of them.
We read somewhere that in the evening when the puffins returned to their nests on the cliff we would be able to see more of them. We had originally booked “Hotel Bredavik” to stay for the night. Hotel Bredavik was about 13km (20minutes drive) from Latrabjarg which would make it very convenient for a return trip to Latrabjarg cliff in the evening to see more puffins. It was planned as such because we thought that Latrabjarg was the only place in Iceland where we would sight puffins. So if we could not see any in the day we had to come back in the evening!
Latrabjarg cliffs was considered the westernmost point of Iceland. It was home to a wide variety of birds. The main species were Skuas, Arctic Terns, Guillemots, Eider Ducks, Razorbills and Puffins the stars them all!
Our Accommodation at hagi
Our stay for the night was at Hagi 2 about 70km from Latrabjarg. We had cancelled our booking at Hotel Bredavik and booked this new accommodation two days ago. Hotel Bredavik was about 13 km from Latrabjarg Cliff which made it very suitable for puffin watching in the evening but since we had our “fill” of puffin sighting at Viks, it was no longer “a must” to see puffin at Latrabjarg.This allowed us to seek alternate “stay”. Luckily for us we had booked Hotel Bredavik under free cancellation criteria.
We found a “studio/apartment” at Hagi 2 which had more space, with private kitchen and ensuite toilet and 30% cheaper than Hotel Bredavik. It was also near Brjánslækur ferry jetty where we would board a car ferry to Snæfellsnes peninsula our next destination the next day.
Our “stay” was a lovely individual unit at a farm. In unit was rather spacious with kitchen and ensuite toilet. It had an outdoor sitting area with a bbq grill! The unit looked new. The cost for one night was Eur180.
Unexpectedly our stay had a lovely view and after a short rain we were treated with a lovely rainbow display.
With the kitchen in our unit we were able to “dish” out a lovely dinner and breakfast and enjoyed them leisurely in the comfort of our stay. We could “drag” out our meal time, propped up our legs, enjoy several cups of coffee and tea and relax and surf the web to our hearts’ content.
Our only issue was the flies in the unit, this place was a farm so flies were expected. Unfortunately the cleaner woman had left the door of the unit opened before we checked in and several flies got into the unit. Being city-persons we were easily irritated by buzzing big flies so before we could settle in we had to “smack” down every single flies!