Borgarnes to Akureyri, Iceland

Borgarnes is on the west coast of Iceland, a shortish distance from Reykjavik, and within striking distance of Stikkish, a ferry departure point for Flatey Island, home to puffins and other bird life. It takes about an hour and a half to drive there from Borgarnes, and I’ve just missed the 11am ferry. The next one isn’t until 5pm, with a 8 pm return. I’m due in Akureyri this evening, which is about 425km away, so that isn’t going to work.

The speed limit on sealed roads in Iceland is 90km, and 80km on unpaved roads. I have two options to get from Borgarnes to Akureyri – drive all the way back to Borgarnes on paved roads and then drive 350+km to Akureyri on national highway 1, or take the unpaved ‘shortcut’ from Stikkish to Akureryi, which is still about 400km of driving.

I decide to take the unpaved road, given I’m in a 4WD. Traffic continues to be very light – in the 6 hours to Akureyri, I pass or am passed by no more than 10 vehicles heading in the same direction. And three suicidal sheep. I spot these three from a distance grazing on the side of the unpaved roads. They look like three bolters, and I’ve slowed right down by the time the lead sheep decides yes, it’s a good time to bolt across the road, otherwise I would have skittled all three of them.

I would change this section of the itinerary if I was to do it again – by the time I reach Akureyri, I’ve been driving for 8 hours, with one stop opf 15 mins and one of 30 mins. It’s too long a drive with no time for stops along the way. I would spent one night in Borgarnes, then another night in the Western Fjords – in Stikkish or somewhere, then another night between Stikkish and Akureyri. That way you can take the ferry to Flatey on one day, then stop at the seal centre between Stikkish and Akureyri on the next.

The drive is all through farmland, and it is interesting to note how far progressed the farmers are through their hay harvest. Some are still cutting, others have baled and packaged ready for stacking, and others have neat stacks of (hundreds in some cases) of bales next to their barns.  This is the view from a re-fuelling stop along the way. Did I mention that the the price of a litre of unleaded is $2.32?

Icelandic farms look prosperous, which may be misleading as they have a lot of large building to accommodate their stock during the long winter (all of the animals are brought indoors for the winter), as well as farm equipment and food storage. Some of the multi-generational farms have their own small chapels and graveyards. My favourite are the white-walled buildings with azure blue roofing – I think in winter all you would see are the blue roofs.

224km from Akureyri, I need a break and pull over at a sign for a museum and café. I’ve discovered yet another small museum that has two visitors or less per day. This is the settlement museum at Byggdasfn, which has a couple of reconstructed historic houses, and a collection of long boats used for fishing in the 19^th century. It is also home to a colony of nesting Arctic Terns, who take exception to anyone parking near the entry of the museum, which is 50 metres from their nests. I try to take some photos but the aerial onslaught from 10 angry terns is too much, and I give up. This guy wasn’t going to leave the area until I was in my car and on my way.

I arrive in Akureyri about 6pm, and quickly discover two more reasons to add to my ‘why you shouldn’t book travel packages list’. Despite having a booking reference on the itinerary from Iceland Travel, when I arrive at the Hotel Nordlandur, it is immediately apparent that there is a problem. They had a booking, then received a cancellation notice. And the hotel is full. And it’s a four day festival in Akureyri. Two more things to add to the list:

Reason #5: You can turn up at a hotel with a ‘confirmed’ reservation to find that you really don’t have a reservation.

Reason #6: When you turn up with a reservation that you don’t really have, you’re reliant on the kindness of strangers (or in this case the professionalism of the Kea Hotel group, so I was lucky)

I have to say that the receptionist at this hotel handled it brilliantly. Rather than tell me ‘sorry, you don’t have a booking’, she rang the 4* sister hotel and got me probably the last room there. And then tells me, don’t worry, it’s a nicer room in that hotel! When I arrive at the Hotel Kea (100 metres away), there is no problem, and the hardest thing is finding the room. It’s a nicely decorated room, and I think I’ve come out of it better than I would have in the 3* sister hotel (which was packed out with a tour group – refer to Reason #4). They also have free wi-fi, which allows me to complain to Iceland Travel about the Grand Hotel and the car rental, and also to complain directly to the Grand Hotel. If this keeps going, I may end up looking like these two…

It’s the Akureyri Town Festival this weekend, and it starts tonight with a concert on a temporary sound stage. At 10.30pm, I’m pretty sure everyone under 70 is out listening to the free Icelandic/English rock concert. It goes well with the spectacular sunset.

Akureyri is a great little town, with bars and cafes that are the equal or better of anywhere in Europe. I’d like to stay longer!