The eastern part of Iceland is vast and wild. From endless lava plains, to huge glaciers, to a lake filled with icebergs, and numerious fjords, there was plenty to see.

Our time in the east started in a small town called Vík (it's actually one of the southernmost towns in the country but it makes more sense to include it here), a town beside a wild, black sand beach (see the image above). It was a grey and gloomy day with a howling gale as per usual. Again the only word to describe it is bleak.

The landscape beyond Vík was not at all what I had expected from Iceland. We spent most of the day driving through a vast lava plain on dead straight roads. The weather was quite foggy but even so oncoming cars could be seen for minutes before the reached us. The vastness of the landscape reminded me of the US. Dozens of rivers cut through the landscape here, fed by by the huge glaciers at either side end of the plain. Unfortunately the cloud was too thick for us to see them.

At a place called Laufskálavarða travellers would stop here and place a stone atop one of the cairns for good luck

The lava here is quite young and is therefore mostly free from vegetation. There are pockets where the rocks have been completely covered in a thick moss.

Mid way through the plains is an impressive canyon called Fjaðrárgljúfur. The canyon is up to 100 metres deep in parts and the winding river and jagged walls made for some impressive photos. It was at this point that we realised we had started to recognise many of the other tourists who were stopping at each attraction along the road. Most tourists don't travel much further than Vík so things were suddenly much quieter.

A long a windy drive later brought us to something we hadn't seen before. A the foot of the glacier called Skaftafellsjökull is a hillside covered in forest. The leaves were a vibrant autumnal orange colour which was a bit of a shock to see after driving through quite dull surroundings all day.

A forest!

The glacier itself was vast but sadly we couldn't see all that much of it due to misty clouds. Here we took a hiking trail up through the wooded hillside to get a better view over the ice. At the top of the ridge the wind would have to have been the strongest I have ever experienced. We had to take extra care when walking so as not to get blown over. The view over the glacier was well worth the trials of getting there.

The track down from the ridge took a different route which passed by a waterfall called Svartifoss. The water here a eroded a large valley and exposed some interesting basalt formations in the cliffside. When the base of a column erodes far enough, the entire thing collpases down into the river, exposing more columns behind it.

Further down the road is Jökulsárlón, a lagoon filled with icebergs that have broken off from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier. The light was fading but it was still an impressive sight, with playful seals swimming between the icebergs. 

The ring road that we had been driving on had been well developed up until this point but from here onwards it became less so. There were dozens of long, one land bridges, over glacial rivers. Parts of the road were carved along the slopes of huge slopes of lose gravel. There were also some sections that were unsealed, including a stretch that crossed up and over a mountain range. This part was quite scary to drive though in the dense fog with quite a few really tight corners with huge drops on the sides.

The hostels that we stayed at in this part of the country were quite special. All three were so small it was more like staying in a large house. Once you get this far from Reykjavík almost every traveller is doing a full curcuit and it is quite cool to see the same faces at every stop. The towns out here were tiny, and some of the hostels were almost like little farmhouses, out on their own in the middle of nowhere.

Not much to do out here other than fish

The final part of the journey in the east crosses into the Eastfjords which is much more mountainous than the landscape from the previous few days. The ground here seems much older, with less obvious signs of the volcanism that was so evident before. There is a lot more vegetation also with plenty of trees.

The rock in the Eastfjords is noticeably different

We spent a night in Seyðisfjörður, one of the oldest towns in Iceland. It sits at the end of a picturesque fjord and features many old wooden buildings. The whole thing was so pretty that I completely forgot to take any photos...

Next time will be the north of Iceland.