Date: 25th Feb 2023
This morning we set off for Skogafss, which is a 170km drive. Once again the weather was very overcast and dull. We chose to take a slightly longer route via Highway 35 as this would allow us to visit the read crater of Kerid, and also give us a lunch break in the fairly large town of Sellfoss.
Our first stop was at Skalholt Cathedral, which is reached by a short detour along Highway 31. The dioceses of Skalholt has a very ancient history, having been established in 1056, and there have been 9 previous churches on this site. The current church was built in 1963, and today appears to be quite isolated as there are no large towns nearby. Also close to the cathedral is a turf building known as Thorlaksbud, a reproduction of the type of buildings that would once have stood on this site. As the weather was very dull, I have chosen to go with a very dark gothic style of editing for the following images.
Skalholt Cathedral
Thorlaksbud
Our next stop was at Kerid Crater – 20km south of Skalholt Cathedral. This vivid red crater crater is about 1km in circumference and is the the remains of a collapsed volcano, dating back about 6500 years. The lake in the bottom is a vivid turquoise colour, but was frozen over on our visit.
Kerid Crater
After stopping at Sellfoss for lunch, we joined Highway 1, which is the main circular road around Iceland. On the route east to Skogafoss we stopped off at two waterfalls – Uridafoss on the River Thjorsa and Aegissidufoss on the Ytri-Rangá River. Both waterfalls are similar in appearance, being wide and not particularly high. Uridafoss has the distinction of being the waterfall with the highest annual flow of water in Iceland, however this could result in its demise as there are plans to build a hydro-electric power station that would result in the falls being bypassed.
Uridafoss
Aegissidufoss
Our final stop of the day was the village of Keldur, reached by a 15km detour off Highway 1 along Highway 264, which is partly unpaved. This is a preserved village of old turf buildings, with a small church and graveyard. As it is some distance off the main road, it is probably not visited very often, and we were the only ones there when we visited. Once again, with dark overcast skies, I have gone for a darker style of processing. Mono processing particularly suited the graveyard, which given the sombre weather felt very much like something out of a Dracula film.
Keldur Village
Keldur Graveyard