Snæfellsnes peninsula and our hitchhikers

So off we were again.  Playing chicken on the road, this time heading north.  We were told that there was amazing views of several islands off the Snæfellsnes peninsula.  I love islands and I was so hoping they wouldn't be as creepy as the beach in Vik.  Did I mention I'm notorious for taking wrong turns in those dumb roundabouts?  I don't pay attention enough to know where I'm supposed to go and unfortunately, I don't ask M to check the map or tell me where to go until we're already in the roundabout.  Since I hate to drive in circles I turn out at the next available turn out regardless if it's the wrong way or not.  There we were hitting the roundabout in the town of Mosfellsbær when I spun around one of those roundabout things again and ended up going in the wrong direction.     I was looking for a sign that stated one of the towns that M mentioned we were heading towards and none of the signs said it.  Just "Mosfellsbær" and I knew that was one of the towns on the way, but not one we planned on stopping at.  We quickly ask for the right way to go and back onto the Route 1 we went. 

Right after the roundabout, we passed two hitchhikers.  I looked over at Michael and said, "should we?"  And he said, "sure, why not."  So foot on the brakes, I stopped as quickly as I could without injuring M and I.  The two guys picked up their stuff and ran towards the Rover.  I ask the guys where they were going and they said they were hoping to go up a mountain to go hiking.  I don't recall the name of the mountain but we soon convince them to just go with us instead.   We introduced ourselves and were on our way north once again.  Our new pals are James from England and Erik from Sweden.  It was nice to have other company.  Not that I didn't like M's company, but we had just spent 10 hours in the car the day before without a radio and I think I would have drove M crazy with my ugly singing.  Anyways, I was more than happy to give James and Erik a lift.  We spent some time getting to know them, where they were from and what they were doing in Iceland.  Turns out they were both college students studying there.  James studying the Icelandic language and Erik studying philosophy.  Erik intrigued Michael quite a bit since M is an avid reader.  They spoke of books and philosophers and I got lost, not just in turnabouts. :-)

I did it again.  I turned the wrong way on a turnabout.  We ask a girl walking down the street which way to go, but she responds with, "I don't speak English."  Strange, I speak English and I understood her completely.  Maybe she was freaked out when M and Erik rolled down the windows.  I don't think they are intimidating, but who knows what this girl was thinking.  Actually, I'm kind of glad she at least didn't point us in the wrong direction like the luck we'd had with other Icelanders.  So back route we go, round and round, where to stop nobody knows.  I realized that heading north we were now on Route 54... no wonder I was getting lost.  I kept looking for Route 1 in the roundabouts.  We told Erik and James we were going to do our best to make it to Stykkishólmur.   That meant the least amount of stops because we wanted to drive around the coast of Snæfellsnes peninsula to get there.  Did I mention we didn't have any good or accurate maps of Iceland?   Well we didn't, turns out they are very rare in Iceland ;-)

After some time of sharing food, stories, and laughs we make it to Hvalfjarðargöng or Hvalfjörður Tunnel.  This is a tunnel that connects Reykjavik to the northwest.  James made mention of this and we were glad we took this route because the long way around would have taken over an hour and it took us less than 10 minutes to get across.  This tunnel is pretty amazing, it runs under the Hvalfjörður fjord.  A history lesson  about Hvalfjörður... During World War II, a British and American navel base was located there.   And now, 2007, a British man and an American girl travel through the tunnel. haha Cheesy I know.  Ok, another neat fact about this tunnel, it is 5,762 meters long and the deepest part is 165 meters below sea level.  I noticed right away that we were decending quickly because I had to release the pressure in my ears much like when I go scuba diving.

After arriving on the other side, M pays the toll and off we went again.  I think we cut through and skipped the town of Akranes.  We make a pit stop, meaning bathroom break, at Borgarnes and then take Route 54.  I was hauling butt trying to make good time when we come across a large waterfall.  The closest we could get to this waterfall was to take a road that leads right to someones house.   So up the road we went!  All the way to their house.   Ok, for the life of me I cannot find the name of this waterfall.  Anyways, it's located just east of route 56.  The closest town is called Vegamót.  We snapped quite a bit of pictures at the foss before heading to Búðir.