[This post is part of a series documenting my last trip to Iceland in October 2017. The previous post is here and the next post is here.]

I landed at KEF at about 6:30am on October 14th, grabbed my bags and headed over to pick up my rental 4×4 at Blue. A rental car shuttle bus is now in operation, new since my last trip. This was the first of several (mostly) good changes I noticed throughout the trip.

I was pretty sleepy, not having gotten much rest of the flight, which made me a bit nervous because I had aggressively planned my first night’s stay in the Westfjords so I had a significant amount of driving to do. Miles to go before I sleep…

First stop — Reykjavik. And first impression: Construction cranes all over the place and workers on the job early on a Saturday morning. It seems a construction boom is underway.

I parked on Hverfisgata, near Kaffi Vinyl (all vegan) and then walked up to Laugavegur to Sandholt Bakery where I can’t eat, but I do stop for bread on every trip. The bakery has been renovated since my last trip and it is even more inviting now.  I haven’t figured out how their bread stays usably fresh for several days (wax-paper bag?), but it does and it works nicely with the spreads I bring with me. After dozing in the car for a bit while waiting for Kaffi Vinyl to open, I had a pleasant light breakfast there and then hit the road.

On my way to Hraunfossar the car’s check engine light came on. Once I got to the falls and parked (no illegal parking fee collector accosted me), I called the rental agency to ask about the warning light. Try as I might I simply could not pronounce “Hraunfossar” well enough for the rental person to understand where I was — a very humbling experience. I tried “lava falls” as well, but that didn’t help. When I told him I was on my way to the Westfjords, he suggested I simply keep driving because the Dacia Duster apparently commonly has this warning light issue. As it turned out, the light stayed on for the entire trip, but I had no problems.

Hraunfossar was stunning. That, combined with the brisk temperature woke me up enough to spend some time there taking photos. This was my first exposure to Iceland’s beautiful autumn colors.

Before leaving Hraunfossar I had another new Iceland experience — pay toilets. I certainly don’t have any objections to collecting fees to help with up-keep, and luckily I had some coins with me.

Here are a few shots I took between Hraufossar and my first night’s hotel. The first shows more of the colors of autumn and the second is of the volcanic mountain Baula, visible after the turnoff onto Rt 60.

I arrived at Hotel Ljósaland and was surprised that it seemed deserted. No cars in the parking lot, no lights, no activity at all. I was wondering if the hotel was out of business, as were other guests who had started to arrive. Eventually, the owner or innkeeper drove up and all was well. The workers were, in fact, at the hotel, but they were in the back room and apparently hadn’t noticed that anyone had arrived.

The hotel had a restaurant, but no vegan options. However, the owner/innkeeper/cook made me a very nice salad with nuts that I later complemented with some of the food I had brought with me from home. The hotel was clean and basic — configured as pairs of private bedrooms with baths sharing common living room areas.

I took the photo below a few miles from the hotel at a farm location recommended by the owner/innkeeper. It was a very, very long day, but it was good to be back in Iceland!

Proceed to Day Two.