Another hotel, another buffet breakfast! I felt bad for not trying the chia seed porridge the other day, so I started there today and was pleasantly surprised. They had make your own oatmeal as well, but the expected me to make it with water and add salt. Grandpa would have been happy but no thanks! Had to get some bacon and eggs instead. Then I found some happy marriage cake. Ironically, Keith didn’t have any!! (EDIT: Keith – that’s because I don’t link needing cake at breakfast with a happy marriage…!)
We tried to follow the confusing directions to the hiking trail in Hallormsstaoir. We managed not to fall out, driving the same road three times, but it was a little frustrating. It was a peaceful walk up either side of a creek with lots of little waterfalls. While we were putting our boots on by the car, we heard a really strange noise. It turned out to be a very big, flappy-winged bird. I only caught a glimpse from underneath, so I have no idea what it was. That big, I am guessing raven. The only thing (inland) here that is bigger is an eagle and that seems unlikely at head level right next to a road.
The woods were creepily quiet once we were away from the road, but I did hear and see a wren and what I think were multiple blackbirds. There were loads of mushrooms and flowers, some of which I could identify. The trail had posts with orange paint at the top, so all we had to do was walk from one to the next – no navigation required!
Our next recommended stop was the Wilderness centre and local museum. The boys decided they weren’t interested after an extended gravel road journey to get there, so only Mila and I went around the museum. My highlight was a stuffed reindeer, but the YHA space upstairs was pretty cool as well. Fourteen children were born to the couple who lived on this farm in the early 1900s and they had loads of artefacts from then and also had information about how Iceland was mapped – it took twenty seven summers of climbing every peak and they didn’t finish until 1940! The Danish army and some cartographers did it. Quite a contract!!
We retreated from the end of the very long valley and started to climb the 910 – a very long winding road up to Snaefell which is 1,833m high. The winding road had about 10 hair pins to get up to the top so it climbed pretty quickly! The view down the valley from the top was amazing. We drove a long way along the 910 with a view to driving up the approach road to Snaefell. We saw sheep and about three 4x4s, but that was it. It is a strange plateau with volcano shaped peaks all around it, the most impressive of which is the black and white streaked multi-peak of Snaefell. We arrived at the turning to discover a stern signpost that implied the Santa Fe was not capable of the scary road in front of us. We turned around and headed to an Audley-approved hiking start point instead.
Laugerfell is another YHA-type with bunk house and basic thermal baths. From here you can do one of two hiking trails: 14km back down to the Wilderness centre, or a 7km loop around the local waterfalls. We sent for the second option, with a strong probability of not making it all the way around. We walked along the edge of a river with small drops every few hundred metres. Again, posts (this time with red tops) marked the way, although this time it was a bit trickier to see the next post and a LOT trickier to stay on the path as the sheep had somewhat muddied the navigational waters.
We diverted away from the river at one point, through a heath-like area and heard a bird. Binoculars didn’t help me locate it but Danny did!! It was a beautiful little thing with a medium length narrow beak and the most beautiful yellow and brown plumage. We saw it again on the way back – this time face on so I could see the black and white markings on its chest – and this time we saw it’s chicks which were also covered in the yellow and brown mottled feathers (Had a chat with Uncle Google, who says it is a Golden Plover). What a treat! Again, we saw loads of wild flowers, but this time they were all tiny. I would say alpine, but maybe Arctic would be more accurate. I stopped many times to direct my photographer to capture them, so I hope he was successful.
By the time we got back to the car, the sun was out in all of it’s glory and we were all very warm. Getting back into the car for the way back down the crazy 910, I did succumb to my first car nap. For those of you who know me well, I am sure you are impressed I lasted a whole week without an afternoon nap. I have Linda/Grandma to thank for teaching me to nap successfully! I did feel bad for Keith though as he isn’t allowed to sleep while he is driving…
It was a serious climb to get up to Hengifoss. I fear Danny’s review of this waterfall is going to be scathing! A two hour round trip, with an elevation of 253m (according to Strava!) and when you get to the end of the path, you are still 500m from the base of the waterfall! The rock strata made it worthwhile for me though as from that distance you can see the stripes of ash, lava, ash, lava (etc.) really clearly. The ash has a high concentration of iron in it, so it shows up really red. There were some really interesting formations further down as well, where the lava had filled the stream bed and then cooled down really slowly so you get hexagonal vertical pillars. In this case, you can see the bend at the top as it was still warm enough to move. Roll on retirement and a U3A degree in Geology!!
The sun made the climb warm, the wind made it cold. The weather here (even in August) is relentless and aggressive, but the East does seem dryer (so far!) than the South. We took the shortest route back to Egilstadir and went straight to “Salt” for our tea. Four beef burgers and two beers later and we were full and ready for chilling (so then Keith started editing photos and I started writing the blog while the children chilled!!).
