On to Egilsstadir

Yesterday we had an easy day after our big hike the previous day. We drove from Borgarfjörður Eystri to Egilsstadir, the largest town in Eastern Iceland. We remembered being here back in 2018, and specifically that we arrived so late that only one restaurant was open, a diner that was so terrible it has become a bit of a joke. The sandwiches had so much mayonnaise we call it the mayonnaise sandwich place.

It is nice to have more time here. We did some grocery shopping and found a spot along the lake to have lunch. The lake is fabled to be the home of the wyrm, a cousin of the Loch Ness monster. After lunch we all napped, unconcerned about the wyrm. Then once we woke up we went to Vök Baths, a hot spring on the bank and floating in a lake nearby. They also have a tea bar using water from their hot springs. The tea and the hot springs were nice. Steve even hopped into the (12° C) lake from the floating hot springs. BRR…. Sage and I just watched.

From there we went back into town for pizza. On the way, we stumbled upon the famous diner.

The campsite here in Egilsstaðir claims to be one of the nicest in Iceland. It is really nice, with lots of indoor facilities, but also lots of people.

Today we woke up and worked out while Sage played on the playground.

Then we drove to Stuðlagil, a basalt canyon about an hour away, with a quick stop to look at a waterfall along the way.

One side of Studlagil has a short walk to an overlook and the other side has a longer walk that puts you closer down in the canyon.

We went to the overlook side first and had lunch. Then we went to the overlook, which was down a bunch of stairs to a balcony over the canyon.

When we left Steve decided to run up the stairs with Sage on his back. Oof… He’s a beast. Sage loves it when dad runs.

Then we drove to the other side and walked along the canyon. Sage had fallen asleep in the car and stayed asleep as we transferred her to the backpack, waking up just as we got to the canyon. We explored around a bit and walked back to the car.

Then we headed back to the campsite for dinner and laundry. Beans, blueberries and tomatoes for Sage and delicious salmon and couscous for us.

Tomorrow we will visit a few more waterfalls near the big lake here before moving on.