When we are on holiday we usually try to get up and out quite early in the morning – what we hadn’t appreciated about Iceland is that it would still be dark at 9.30am! So we headed out at 10am – when it was fully light. It was our second day and we planned to do the waterfalls on the south coast and visit the beach at Vik.

Skógafoss

We set off on our 50 minute drive from Hella to Skogafoss – it had obviously snowed over night but the roads were perfectly clear.

When we arrived at the waterfall it was very snowy and icy so we put our crampons on our boots which made it so easy to walk. We had visited Skogafoss a few years earlier – but during summer – and it was so different in winter.

^Skogafoss

There is a uphill path with steps so we were able to climb to the top of the falls and see the views. There were also some tourist coaches which had arrived and they were all climbing up too. It did make us laugh as none of them were wearing walking boots (or crampons) mostly fashion trainers!

^{Views from the top of Skogafoss}

Vik Beach

We then drove a further 30 minutes down the road to Vik where we went for a walk on the beach. The beach appears black as the sand is formed from black basalt. However, as it had been snowing it was very atmospheric as we had the sea, black sand and white snow!

^{The black sand beach at Vik}

Next to the beach was a paddock of Icelandic horses so we stopped to take some photos of them.

Reynisfjara Beach

We then drove around the peninsular to Reynisfjara Beach. We had also previously visited this beach in summer when there were hundreds of puffins flying around the basalt columns. Since our previous visit there was now a warning system in place with flashing lights letting you know when it is safe to enter the beach due to the sneaker waves which occur there. It was safe so we were able to go for a walk.

^{Reynisfjara Beach}

Seljalandsfoss

Our final stop of the day was Seljalandsfoss – which was 40 minutes away – but in the direction of home. By the time we arrived the grey skies were leaving and the sun made an appearance. We also basically had the place to ourselves. We walked up to the main waterfall and took some pictures. Unfortunately we were not able to walk behind the falls like we had in the summer as the path was completely frozen over so closed for the winter.

^{Family photos in front of the falls!}

We then followed the trail to Gljúfrabúi which is a hidden waterfall in a canyon – about 400 meters from Seljalandsfoss. We entered one of the canyons where Tom & Izzy had a snowball fight and then entered Gljúfrabúi. You need to cross stepping stones through a river to reach the waterfall!

^{At Gljúfrabúi and then trying to exit the canyon without getting wet!}

At this point it was 4pm and the sun was starting to set so we made our way back home to Hella.

^{Making our way back to the car at Seljalandsfoss.}