July 24 Isafjordur to Flateyri

Isafjordur is a reasonable size and quite picturesque and perched on a fairly deep fjord. As a result, it attracts largish cruise ships; we decided to find something a little more off the beaten track!  So we drove north to a little fishing village called Bolungarvik which has been there since the C17th, but was not accessible by road until 1950. Fish abound in most coastal areas, this was no exception. Every so often along the this and other fjords we came across fish farms: mostly Atlantic salmon, Rainbow trout and Arctic Char (a member of the salmon and trout). Iceland is the world´s largest producer of Arctic Char; it tastes delicious similar to salmon. Just as a matter of interest the Arctic Char doesn't die after spawning and can live for up to 25 years and grow up to a whopping 11 Kg.

Fish farming

Bolungarvik

Crossing the mountains to Skalavik

This ram wasn't too happy with us driving on his road!

From there we crossed through mountains wrapped in fog; it was a little eerie but lovely. Sheep strolled out in front of us and one wooly ram even challenged us - it was obviously his road. Finally we came out of the mist and hills at a pretty little bay - Skalavik. It is remote and rather idyllic and when we were there it had just two or three campers. 

Skalavik (in Icelandic 'vik' means bay)

We needed to reach Flateyri on the banks of Dýrafjörður that afternoon so as soon as we could drag ourselves away, we retraced our steps through that same tunnel under its cluster of mountains. This time we took the side branch towards Sudureyri. This wee village, a fishing village, was rather quaint and we happened upon a fishing boat unloading tons of large fish. Riveting! 

This time the on-coming traffic had right of way and we had to pull over to let
them pass. The passing bays were maybe 150 metres apart.

This was a big haul (to us) with many different species of fish; the Black-headed Gulls were impressed!

Both in Iceland and Norway we were enchanted by the colours of the houses 

Then we dived back through the tunnel to find Flateyri where, according to our itinerary, we were to stay that night. We meandered around fjords stopping at the head of one fjord for a picnic lunch. It was so lovely and quiet. We have been rather captivated by the grandeur yet gentleness of this part of Iceland. 

We picnicked at the head of Önundarfjörður 

After our simple picnic we kept meandering beside Önundarfjörður along roads heading into rugged mountain passes, past quaint chapels stopping to wander through knee-deep flowers and lush grasses. We had thought to cross the mountains to drive along Dýrafjörður to reach our hotel but in the end we had to retrace our steps because the road through the mountain pass looked a bit challenging. 

What a perfect location for an artist

One would certainly feel close to heaven in a place like this

Our hotel wasn't in Flateyri! We eventually found a sign for 'Holti' on the other side of the fjord and drove into this quite isolated spot to investigate.  There is was our 'hotel' - a rather dishevelled building! It was a while before we could check in but the guest house was comfortable and our room cozy and importantly we were in a rather stunning rural setting.