Day 25 Djupivogur, Iceland

Djupivogur is pronounced du-pa-vor, and it is a small coastal village on Icelands east coast.  It has a population of around 2000 so no secrets in this little town!  Our tour is to visit the waterfalls of this area and believe me, there are heaps of them. Once again we are boarding a "big foot" four wheel drive however this time we have to share the vehicle and the tour guide.  There are four vehicles in our convoy.  Although we have a tour guide on board it is the guide from one of the other vehicles that gives all the talks at the various stops along the way.

It is a very bleak foggy morning as we set out on our journey but it doesn't take long to see the fog lifting. The way the fog rolls back over the mountains is very dramatic.  

The first stop we make at our first waterfall is a short walk to a lookout point.  We are told that there is only a quarter of the water flowing over these falls at the moment and I'm sure it would be spectacular in full flood.  These falls are called Sveinstekksfoss Falls and I can't tell you how to pronounce that word!

Once everyone is in their respective vehicles we make our way to the next stop that is a farm ruin.  Our journey takes us through the Falkasfgjufur Canyon. It is dotted with sheep however, interestingly,  I don't see many farms. 

When we reach the ruins our guide talks about the owners of the abandoned farm that were his distant relatives. 

You might have noticed in the photo above that the wife lived to 95 years old and according to our guide she gave birth to 17 children.  The house ruins do not look big enough to house so many people but of course those children would have been born over many years.  Our guide tells us that they lived a modest life but not poor.  The nearest farm was around 10kms from them and the nearest village was 40kms away.  There weren't any roads, only paths and everywhere they travelled was by foot.

Our next stop is Falkasfoss Waterfall that is a tiered waterfall and very pretty even without a large water flow.  On our way we pass a camping area that looks very inviting.  This is the Icelandic's summer vacation so there are quite a few campers there.

It is just a short drive to our stop at Falkasgjufor Canyon lookout.  Even though the sun is shining bright it is still chilly.

One of the guides points out the little blueberry like berries that are scattered on the ground.  We are encouraged to taste them and they have a similar taste and texture to a blueberry but a little more tart.  

Mulafoss Waterfall is our last stop.  A lot of us are looking for a comfort stop by this time and there is an audible sigh of relief to see three port-a-loos lined up.  However, you have to be desperate to use them.  Most of us are.  The guides have set up a light snack of cake and coffee or hot chocolate.  It's very well received.  It is hard to get to Mulafoss Waterfall as it takes a bit of rock scrambling but we manage.  

This is our turnaround point and we follow the same road back to Djupivogur.  The views are somewhat different though as our seats face the opposite side of the canyon and the clouds have well and truly departed leaving us with a glorious sunny day.

Our arrival back in Djupivogur is perfect timing as there is a tender waiting for us and we are back on board our ship for a late lunch.  

A visit to the on onboard doctor last night confirmed that my head cold has turned into bronchitis. He issued me with a bag full of medication that will either kill me or cure me 😁.  All medical, including meds, are included on this cruise so that's a relief.