Iceland Day 5 Part 2
Starting our way southeast we had to head over a pass. On the roadside in Iceland every once in a while there are blue, electronic signs with letters and numbers on them. The first two were letters like NE, SW, E etc. which I figured are cardinal directions.
And then followed numbers. To this day I have no clue what they mean. We assumed either wind speed or visibility. This was the first day the number was two characters and RED. Yeah, you guessed right, we ended up in some weather - and it should be the worst snowstorm throughout our whole trip. The sight was less than 25 meters. We creeped on with maybe 20km/h always worried that when we passed oncoming traffic we would crash into that car, yet at the same time fall of a incredible high cliff on the other side of the road. You know, your imagination really goes ways when you have no clue what's waiting for you at the next reflector post.
It probably took us 20 or 30 minutes to get through the storm. I'm a confident driver, but that was something new for me so I was quite relieved. about another 5 minutes later we had beautiful sunshine. The weather in Iceland is just amazing!
We went on past snow-covered peaks, through beautiful fjords and the ever changing conditions.
Almost in our next stop Höfn we passed a black sand beach - right at sunset. When I saw it was accesible by car I had to go. Marco is not in any way at fault for what is following next haha. I drove on the beach which was perfectly fine at the beginning. The car was on 4x4 mode and went well through everything we came across. Of course I wanted to go closer to the water. And it happened - we got stuck. Not just a little bit. When I oppened the door to see how bad it was, smoke coming from the tires and it smelled like burnt rubber. Oh Shit!
Yes, I know it was not Marcos fault that we got stuck, yet he had to push. Sorry Marco. It took us like 10 minutes to get out. Maybe the longest 10 minutes of my life. I mean there was nothing close by to get help and calling the rental company would have cost a good chunk. But then I remember something I learned in driving school. They taught it to me for snowy conditions but I figured since snow and sand are both soft conditions it might work. First I turned of the traction control, because I didn't want the power to stop if I needed it. Then I put it in manual and shifted into second gear. Less rotation would not make the wheels go through so soon.
Holy shit was I yelling and honking when I was speeding of on the beach with Marco in the rear view mirror. Maybe though it was not what I did but just Marcos' unrestrained power that pushed me out of my misery. I don't know. We went on to take some sunset pictures at the beach and play some football. at about -3°C. We did had some fun, which was probably multiplied by our relieve not having to sleep in the car on the beach!
Arriving at our AIRbnb in the dark our night was not quite over yet. We went and had the best pizza (ever, maybe even better than in Italy?!) and some amazing Shakes.
Also I had this crazy idea of visiting Stokksnes at like 11pm to photograph the beach and mountains at fullmoon light.
We regretted that idea as soon as we arrived. Basically we were in a sandstorm we couldn't see because it was dark. I think I was able to catch maybe a glimpse at the beach and the mountains. It really looked as beautiful as I anticipated but no way we would stay here for longer than two minutes or even take photos. I have sand in my jacket pockets to this day (03-27-2018).