Two popular places to visits on the Icelandic South coast are the Sólheimasandur plane crash and Dyrhólaey, in June I made a day trip to see them with Ladislav.

The Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck is reached by a short walk along the black sands. The wreck is of an US Navy DC-3 which in November 1973 which crash landed at Sólheimasandur, on the South coast of Iceland. Everyone survived the landing and there is some speculation to the cause. I have heard two explanations the more popular being the pilot switched over to the wrong fuel tank and the engines ran out of fuel, the other is icing caused the crash landing.

The plane was left abandoned and over time many parts have been salvaged but the remaining wreck is a popular attraction. It is located approximately 4 km from the road (N1) where there is a car park. The wreck has been weathered by sand storms with the paint stripped away and the surface rippled with small dents.

Note: all the photos were taken from outside the plane and it is requested that no one climbs on the wreckage.

We hitched a ride from the Sólheimasandur plane wreck car park to the turning for Dyrhólaey, and then we managed to get another lift to the bottom of the track which leads to the top of the hill.

Dyrhólaey is a 120 m height promontory located on the most southerly part of the Icelandic coast near the village of Vík, and a place I previously visited in 2016.

We walked up the hill to where the lighthouse is positioned and looked out over the cliffs, we then followed the path down to the bay. We saw the large arch from which the place-name is derived ‘Door hill island’. There are also many basalt columns and other interesting rock formations.

From above the bay we saw two puffins, and many other birds.

Afterwards we hitched a ride back to Kirkjubæjarklaustur.