Icelandic Road Trip: the Westfjords & Hvammstangi

I had been fantasizing about driving Iceland's Ring Road for years before we found ourselves actually doing it in September 2018. Since we were travelling in a shoulder season, we decided to drive Route 1 clockwise. We figured it would give us the best weather and the most daylight. After spending two days on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we picked up our motor home from Keflavik airport. We hunkered down in Grindavik the first night due to a wind and rain storm. The next day, we made the 2.5 hour drive to Búðardalur. Our drive to the entrance of the Westfjords was stunningly beautiful. 

As most of Iceland is uninhabitable, we drove through remote plateaus, bays, and fjords.One thing we noticed right away is that Iceland lacks trees and forests, which we were not expecting coming from the Pacific Northwest. We discovered that almost half of the island used to be covered in forests, but over millenniums and centuries, those trees have all but disappeared due to deforestation. Although sad, it did mean that nearly all of our views were unobstructed by forests. We stopped to have lunch along a beach after visiting Iceland's iconic grocery store Bonus, and I still had to pinch myself that our little family of three was really going to drive around the entire island of Iceland. 

As we drove towards the Westfjords, we knew we would only be seeing the very entrance of the region. Originally, we had planned to take a ferry from the Snæfellsnes Peninsula to the midpoint in the Westfjords and then drive through the entire region. However, after doing plenty of research, we thought it was a better idea to give the region a wide berth as travel in a motorhome seemed dangerous and difficult-- especially with a baby in the vehicle. As we drove through the mountains at the entrance of the Westfjords, we knew we made the right choice; the paved roads were narrow, winding, and a roller coaster. We couldn't imagine navigating the gravel roads further inland in our bulky motorhome.

We ended up camping at a local school in  Búðardalur; the American in me thought it was weird that the campground was in the parking lot of the school, but Iceland and America have very little in common concerning violence among many other things. Ruby loved playing at the school's playground--especially in its large, black rope swing--, and we loved the family walks we took along the coastal bluffs from our campsite. The cliffs had beautiful views of the mountains lining the coast of the south Westfjords as well as the rocky beaches below.

We also spent a good deal of time in  Búðardalur trying to figure out how to organize our motorhome. When travelling with a baby, there are a lot of things to consider in regards to storage and safety. Each night, my husband had to remove the table because that is where we put our daughter's travel crib. We also didn't want to walk outside to the storage whenever we needed a change of clothes or food. In the end, we set up our motorhome so that we had 2-3 days worth of supplies inside the cabin and the rest in the storage compartment. While I am not going to say it was super easy to take a long road trip in a motorhome with a baby, it also wasn't terribly difficult.

 

After one night in  Búðardalur, we drove further north. We stopped in the northern coastal town of Hvammstangi to get coffee and lunch, but the cafe's barista told us about great hiking trails in town. We ended up spending the entire day in Hvammstangi hiking in its hillsides. The best part? The trail was stroller friendly, the warm sunshine meant we didn't have to wear winter clothing, and the path took us right beside a pasture full of friendly Icelandic ponies. This was absolutely one of my favorite experiences in Iceland, and I think Hvammstangi is well worth a detour off of the Ring Road.

While Icelandic ponies are all over the island, we noticed it was easier to interact with them in the southern and western parts of the country. Sadly, we could not find a single farm in Iceland that would let Ruby interact with their Icelandic ponies because she was so young. In the end, we had a few opportunities to walk up to a fence and say hi to them anyway, especially in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula and southern coast. It seemed to me that Icelandic ponies are either the friendliest horses on the planet or they are very used to tourists popping over to say hi to them. I know it may seem silly, but for both Ruby and me, hanging out with Icelandic ponies was the highlight of our time in Iceland. From Hvammstangi, we drove to the northern mountainous town of Varmahild. Stay tuned for our experience in northern Iceland!