In my last travel blog, I told you about a drive I made on a mountain road to visit the majestic waterfall Hvítserkur in a gully off the beaten path. We had taken the road Uxahryggir number 52 and turned onto the mountain road F-508 leading to Skorradalur valley.
Now I want to show you where the Uxahryggir road would have taken us if we hadn't turned off it to visit Hvítserkur waterfall. Straight into the 25 km long Lundarreykjadalur valley.
This valley offers natural attractions: here you will find 2 natural hot springs, where it is possible to bathe. They are called Krosslaug and Englandshver.
Top photo: Englandshver
Lundarkirkja church
But first, we visited Lundarkirkja church by the farm Lundur. A hobby of mine is visiting all the churches I encounter on my travels in my country.
Lundarkirkja church is on the pilgrim road in Iceland, leading from Bæjarkirkja in Borgarfjörður to the historical Skálholt.
A church has been on this site since the 11th century, but the current church is relatively new, built in 1963. It is so beautiful, white painted on the inside with beautiful decorations on the ceiling.
Sadly, due to vandalism, most of Iceland's churches are locked now, so I always have to bug the farmers to show me the church.
Inside Lundarkirkja church
There are more than 350 churches scattered around Iceland, and I have visited around 97% of them and plan on going for 100% ;)
Fitjakirkja church at Fitjar, which I showed you in my last travel blog, was an annex church of Lundarkirkja.
I turned from Road 52 onto Road 512 to visit the church at Lundur. At the intersection of these two roads, I stopped at Brautartunga rural activity centre and swimming pool.
The pool was built in 1964 by the youth organization Ungmennafélagið Dagrenning, and the geothermal water in the pool comes from a nearby hot spring.
The swimming pool at Brautartunga
The swimming pool is open but unsupervised, and I didn't dip in because I felt I might be trespassing.
However, it is allowed, and I have been told that there is an honesty box where you can leave a small fee.
Krosslaug hot pool
Krosslaug hot pool - the memorial sign
We now drove towards the Krosslaug hot pool. We saw a car in the parking lot and realized that we would not be dipping into this pool on that day, as only 3-4 people can fit into Krosslaug at the same time.
But this is what happens, as the natural hot pools are very sought after, and they are usually crowded nowadays.
By the entrance to the grove leading to Krosslaug hot pool, you will see the memorial sign above.
It reads both in Latin and in Icelandic: "Hoc loco incolae Islandiae Occidentalis Anno Domini millesimo baptizati sunt" and in Icelandic: "Hér voru vestanmenn skírðir árið 1000" meaning that in the year 1000, men from West Iceland were baptized in the pool.
Visitors in Krosslaug - photo posted with their permission
Follow a path for some 50 metres, and you will reach Krosslaug.
Krosslaug is small and contained 3 guys, plus 1 sitting in a hot creek close by. So there was no room for me to dip in, or so my husband said ;)
I asked the guys to pose for me and got their permission to use their photos for my travel blog. I hope they see their photos someday. They spoke English, so I guess that they were tourists.
Revisiting the pool in June 2020, when there were very few tourists in Iceland
I revisited the pool in 2020 when there were very few tourists visiting Iceland, and we had the pool to ourselves. I only dipped my feet in as I had left my swimsuit behind.
I was finally able to take a dip in the pool in 2021 when no one was around for 15 minutes, and we had Krosslaug to ourselves. Then 5 cars arrived!
The pool water is around 40-42°C, and it feels heavenly. There are no changing facilities here, but you can change in the bushes as a grove has been planted by the hot pool.
I was finally able to take a dip in the Krosslaug pool in 2021
The name of the pool, Krosslaug - the Hot Pool of the Cross - stems from the time of the Conversion to Christianity, which took place back in the year 1000 at Alþingi in Þingvellir.
When the pagan Vikings from the west faced a cold immersion baptism in Lake Þingvallavatn, they protested. I understand why.
They settled on being baptized in the hot spring Krosslaug here in the valley. But the water had to be consecrated before the baptism of the pagans.
Since then, it is believed that the Krosslaug hot pool has healing powers.
Krosslaug hot pool
The historic pool is protected. Let's respect the natural hot pools and leave nothing behind.
This is such a sacred pool, and I don't want to see it filled with litter like so many other hot pools in Iceland :(
Krosslaug pool is on the land of Reykir farm and is also known as Reykjalaug. The farmers at the Reykir farm sell their produce here and at their farm.
When I visited, I saw a wheelbarrow with rhubarb jam next to an honesty box.
Rhubarb jam for sale by Krosslaug
It always warms my heart seeing such a sight. I think that it is so cosy. The jars had colourful lids and beautiful golden letters. I hope that everybody puts money in the honesty box so that such trading can continue.
There are many farms in Iceland called Reykir, and it always means that there is a geothermal area nearby, as reykur in Icelandic means smoke and, in the olden times, also steam.
For example, the capital city Reykjavík was named by our first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, after he saw steam rising in the air.
Englandsfoss waterfall
Englandsfoss waterfall
On our way to visit the next hot pool, Englandshver, we stopped by a small, but lovely waterfall called Englandsfoss or the England Fall. It is an 8-metre high waterfall in the river Tunguá.
England is an abandoned farm close by. It is not named after England in the U.K., though, and it is believed that the farm is named after engi, the Icelandic term for a meadow. According to Sturlubók in Landnámanók - the Book of Settlements, then eng is the old term for engi.
Here is the sentence from Landnámabók:
"Ljótur kaupir slátur að Grími til tuttugu hundraða og galt læk, er féll meðal landa þeirra; sá hét Ósómi. Grímur veitti hann á eng sína og gróf land Ljóts, en hann gaf sök á því, og var fátt með þeim".
The word "land" is the same in English and Icelandic. Thus, the farm was named England, or the Land of the Meadow. A funny coincidence though :) Ref.: DV-August 1986
Englandsfoss waterfall
I have heard a story about the farm, England that goes something like this: The farmer was asked where he was from, and he said, "England."
The man who had asked him said, "What, you don't look like an Englishman!" The farmer replied: "Það er víðar England en í Kaupmannahöfn skal ég segja þér" - meaning "I can tell you that England is to be found in more places than in Copenhagen".
This funny answer has been repeated many times in my country, and has almost become a saying ;) I don't know when this happened, but Iceland was part of Denmark for a long time, and Copenhagen was the capital. So he must have thought that foreign things, including England, were in Copenhagen ;)
Englandshver hot pools
On the way to Englandshver
It was a bit trickier to visit Englandshver hot pools, a series of pools hidden away in nature.
They cannot be seen from the road, and you have to know beforehand how to reach them.
Stop when you see a red metal pipe bridge and a small pump house. You can park your car here. We encountered some tourists who thought the pump house was a changing room.
It is higher up than it looks in the previous photo
Now, how to reach the other side of the river Tunguá? My husband found out, and we very slowly crossed the river, hanging onto the red metal pipe "bridge" - step by step, no looking down.
It isn't high up, but high enough for the couple we met on the way back to get into trouble when the woman froze halfway across the river.
While crossing the bridge, I counted my steps and thought about the piping hot water in the red pipe. This is a geothermal area, and I am always wary when visiting such places.
Englandshver
Immediately, as we had crossed the bridge, we saw a large hot pool. It was only tepid, so I just took a footbath in it. The pool was once used to teach swimming, but it is now too cold.
At both Brautartunga and Englandshver, the geothermal water reaches a temperature of 75-100°C, so it is pumped and used for heating.
It had been sunny, but almost as soon as we reached the hot pools, it clouded over, darkened, and grew windy, and the temperature dropped. You can see the difference between the two photos taken only 10 minutes apart.
When the sun disappeared, it immediately turned colder
We had been travelling all day long, and it was getting late. I know I am a wuss, I should have just jumped in, maybe I will do so next time I visit Englandshver!
We followed the creek further up and saw many places where the water was comfortably warm and would have been an ideal bathing place. It was a bit slimy, though, but so serene.
It reminded me a little bit of the Reykjadalur valley in South Iceland, where you can bathe in a hot river.
My travel blog about Reykjadalur is by far my most popular, which also means it's become crowded. There was nobody at Englandshver, on the other hand.
Further up the creek by Englandshver
We left after taking a footbath in several places to check the water temperature. Now it was time to cross the river on the metal pipe bridge again...
I have seen photos of Englandshver where some people have taken a dip in the river itself beneath the bridge. So that river must be at least tepid. A little bit further, you will find a wading spot popular with kids.
I am already looking forward to my visit next summer. Lundarreykjadalur is not far from Reykjavík, where I live, so I can just take a day trip there.
Here you can see the location of Englandshver on Google Maps.
Englandshver
To visit this area, it is best to rent a car in Reykjavík and spend a couple of days in this area.
I would recommend renting a 4x4 so that you can also visit the beautiful waterfall Hvítserkur, which I showed you in my previous travel blog: The majestic Waterfall Hvítserkur in the Fitjaá River in West Iceland.
The beautiful sights on the Silver Circle are close by.
To sum up a bit, what you can see and do here:
Árhver, the hot spring in the middle of the river & Deildartunguhver, the most powerful one
Reykholt - the historical home of Snorri Sturluson, the most influential Icelander
The Ice Cave Tunnel - deep inside Langjökull glacier
The extraordinary lava formations and colours in Víðgelmir lava cave
My next travel blog is also about West Iceland and the neighbourhood of Lundarreykjadalur: a lovely hike up Mt. Hestfjall, a visit to Andakílsárfoss waterfall, and a dip in Hreppslaug pool.
Have a lovely time exploring the pearls of West Iceland :)
