Camp Easy on the Ring Road
Our Camp Easy van has, thus far, truly been very easy and enjoyable. We had a pleasant check-in experience where we picked up our van, added our extras, and received our on-the-road tablet. The tablet serves as a hot spot for our phones so we can stay connected throughout these six days of driving the Ring Road. Learning to navigate the tablet was the most difficult part of the check in process. I think that means we are OLD! To make the trip more fun, in addition to our super warm bedding, we have tables, chairs, tea kettles, stove, frisbee, and very cool orange sunglasses to match the Camp Easy logo! (Pics to follow later.) And based on the current temperatures, we are especially happy to have a heater! All of the amenities of home minus the bathroom. More about that later.
We have driven 650 km over the past two days! First night, we slept in the small community of Hofsos! We drove through lots of beautiful farmland and are reminded that some call Iceland the Bread Capital of the World. There are certainly plenty of bales of some kind of grain all over the place for many miles. The land is hilly and green – what I imagine Ireland to look like. We traveled through our first fjord, Skagafjoour Fjord, before reaching our campsite.
We were quite confused about camping. We arrived to find simply an open green pasture with a small bath house, an enclosed room for eating and not much more. As we learned later, there are no assigned campsites, you just throw your tent or drive your van to your place of choice. In the US, we spend lots of time carefully selecting the perfect site. Not true here. It is more like a parking lot with lots of tents around the perimeter. If you drive your vehicle away from your selected space, it won’t be yours when you return. A very different approach to camping!
We did just that- drove our vehicle away. We found a wonderful locally owned restaurant named Petro’s where we chatted with the new owner, learned about the history of the area, and shared a delicious dish of Artic Char. Another specialty for the day was foal file – baby horse. Last year, we were told that no one here really ate horse but no one told Petro. He described it as super tender and tasty but we just couldn’t do it. You should see the cute Icelandic horses.
We left the restaurant and visited the local city thermal pool! Lots of locals hang there. It was inexpensive and was located right on the beautiful fjord! We returned to the campsite and chose a different spot.
Day two took us to MyVatn where we found a much larger campsite. The area is noted for midgets (gnats) but the strong winds kept them at bay for us. Oh, did I talk about the wind? It is brutal. While mild, compared to our 2022 visit here, it is much colder than we imagined. The temp this morning was 36 degrees with lots of wind. I have a puffy coat, rain jacket, and heavy sweat shirt and I’m so glad I brought them all! The wind is especially rough when I must crawl out of bed to make my way to the bath house in the middle of the night – well, by the clock, but the midnight sun keeps it bright at all hours. For that, I am thankful!
Today, we saw some amazing sites including the Gooafoss waterfall. It was quite close to the road and only a short walk. We also spent several hours at the MyVatn Natural baths. Amazing! We soaked in the natural waters probably longer than we should have before returning to the small community for a dinner of local fish (cod) and chips. We are certainly enjoying the Icelandic foods.
Lastly, I am sad to report that although we traveled through Trollaskagi (Troll Park) for most of the day looking at the fjords, we never had a troll citing. There is always tomorrow!
