Laugarvatn, Geysir, & Gullfoss

Time to finish the golden circle ... still low cloud and a little wind... we were also on the move having run out of time at this (main) hotel and were moving to our second and final hotel.
This time we paid the money and took the tunnel ... and along the coast road towards Reykjavik .. then turning off east on the road towards Pingvallavegur, then taking the road to Laugarvatn. There was lots of traffic (relatively) however the sun breaking through the clouds from time to time got a lot of photo opportunities.

Views of the mountains from the road, Panorama as we neared Laugarvatn

At the famous site - Geysir - we really joined the crowds, definitely a commercial enterprise, with the site being free, but the retail opportunities huge. We wandered around the various ponds and streams, as well as climbing up behind to get out of the crush.. and in that time we saw the main geyser go off several times.
As we finished it started snowing big flakes, and we took the opportunity to grab a soup for lunch waiting for it to pass.

Following the main trail we then headed for Gullfoss, the snow stopped, but then started with a vengeance .. Everything at Gullfoss was covered in snow ... very slushy. With the crowds we wandered around the viewing platforms, amazed at the lack of preparation of most people, who had expected pavements and snow clearing

From Gullfoss we headed South aiming for Selfoss and traveling through lush farmland.

From Selfoss we picked up route 1 again and headed back towards Reykjavik, from here we turned towards the airport trying to avoid the city, but met the end of day traffic a little.
Turn back down past Blue Lagoon, it cleared and all was quiet when we got to Grindavik.
The hotel was a basic rubber stamped travel hotel , and we had to fend for food ourselves, so headed out to the fish and chip shop - in the wind and rain ... still expensive but not restaurant prices. The fish was really good, large cod fillets.

That night we had the closest to the northern lights .. not green but red.
Tomorrow we return home so very timely.