Day 9 (Ring Road - North)

Our day full of adventure began visiting Grjótagjá, a lava cave, featuring a geothermal hot spring in its depths. It was also a film location for Game of Thrones. We then climbed the 90m high Hverfjall crater over a gruelling 600m steep hike. Views from the top of the internal crater structure and the surrounding 'out of this world' scenery were worth every step. It was cold and windy at the top. The weather was coming in again and we needed to get as far west as possible to avoid the strong winds. It started to snow, a whole new experience for us. On the way we stopped at Goðafoss, a massive waterfall. It snowed the whole time we were there. We passed through a 6km tunnel through the mountain, with a $27 toll, and through Akureyri, the beautiful picturesque city of the north. Sadly we had to push on, although we would have liked to explore more here.

It continued to snow, the wind strengthened, then the snow fell heavier and the wind got even stronger. It was quite a hairy ride in the campervan. We finally made it safely to Blönduós where we could ride out the storm. Without a doubt, the best part of the day was travelling through the Vatnsskarð mountain pass where the snow was heavy on the ground. we set foot in snow for the first time.