We were collected from hotel by the same tour guide as yesterday. It was the same minibus too as it had the scuff I made on the back seat with my hiking boots - sorry! After a short drive we arrived at the Selfoss waterfall situated at the head of the Jökulsá Canyon National Park. The canyon was formed by a glacial flood after a volcano erupted under a glacier melting it. This rush of water carved a deep canyon through an area of softer rock.
From Selfoss we walked on to Dettifoss which is claimed to be the most powerful in Europe. It's not the highest with a drop of 45 meters but on average 500 tons of water pass over it every second with more in spring as the snow melts.
This is from a ledge above, we then walked down to the head of the fall
She was braver than I was
The drifting spray formed a lovely rainbow
We then drive the short distance to Hafragilsfoss, another waterfall some was downstream from the first two. From the carpark we walked the short distance to look down on the waterfall from above. It was very hard to see much of the falls from where we stood but it sounded impressive.
From Hafragilsfoss we drove to Hólmatungur where we had lunch by a gently babbling brook. After lunch we began a hike through the canyons in the area.
This huge rock guards the entrance to the canyon
It's composed of these hexagonal basalt chunks formed when lava erupts underneath ice
Further down the canyon is this cave formed by a fold in the basalt
There then followed a lengthy hike up several hills in what was probably the hottest weather of the entire holiday. Not being the energetic sort I was happy enough to eventually see the minibus in the distance and stagger back to it and the fresh water tap it was parked next to!
We then had a short drive to Ásbyrgi, the location of a huge horseshoe shaped gorge. Legend has it that the unusual shape of the gorge is because it was formed by a hoof of Sleipnir, the god Odin's eight legged horse, touching earth.
The gorge shelters a dense wood, rare for Iceland
At the head of the valley is this shady pool, fed by a small waterfall
Teal live in the pool and fulmars in the cliffs above
We departed the gorge for the town of Húsavík. On route we stopped for a drink and bite to eat at a small service station and again at some cliffs to look at some puffins. We arrived in Húsavík, a town of some 2,500 inhabitants, in the early evening.
A view of a large fishing boat in the port then across the fjord
Smaller boats in the harbour
The town church which seats 450. It was built in 1907 when the town's population was only 500
After about an hour wandering around Húsavík we set off back to the hotel in Mývatn. Dinner tonight was asparagus soup followed by mountain lamb with fresh vegetables. Scrambling around on those rocks seems to make those lambs tough!