[Photos taken 19 – 31 August 2023, posted online 02 June 2024. Iceland has elected a new president! (The Wikipedia article is in flux, but it will hopefully settle down soon). It’s a mostly ceremonial position, the only real power is vetoing legislation, which almost never happens. Thankfully nobody is alleging election fraud and the baton will pass peacefully.]
The guided e-biking group began riding again for the fall. I would manage to go on three rides before an ache in my left shoulder disqualified me for the rest of the season.
Bjarki got his practice driving license, and frequently asked us to go out on drives with him. I tried to remain calm. We all returned to school and work, and I managed to also keep going to the gym.
Small home improvement projects got implemented, and the summer house also got some love and attention. I even managed to read a book outside in the backyard, gasp!
Saturday 19 August 2023
The e-biking group gathered at the 2006 Úthlíð-church, about an 80 minute drive from the capital area.
The sky at 10 in the morning. The days had begun to noticeably shorten.
The route as recorded by Strava. It was about 22 km.
We biked up a hill I’d once ridden horses up (Úthlíð has both a farm with a horse rental, and a large collection of summer cottages). Then we aimed north-ish for Brúarárskörð.
Pretty nature getting double attention.
Looking backwards, people entering the gully.
As far into the gully as we could get with bikes. Time to refuel!
Some “Sarah-bread” by Anna, and dried mango.
There were also wild blueberries here and there.
All of a sudden we could hear a loud noise, and a chopper appeared.
It flew pretty much straight over the gully.
A better photo of the hillside opposite us.
Canine #1.
Canine #2.
Exiting the gully area the same way we’d entered it. We would then continue onwards on the road to the right.
There were massive erosion-tracks in the grassy field, where at some point a tractor had made tracks that had probably turned into small rivers, and then into serious gashes.
New terrain.
If you feel unsafe, it is better to walk your bike.
The sun came out, and we began shedding layers.
That white thing in the distance is the “Long glacier” i.e. Langjökull.
Starting to see the forested area where we came from.
Not the funnest terrain, but quite doable on an e-bike.
Navigating more rocks.
Somebody ran into trouble, but thankfully it was nothing serious.
We passed a gate, and were suddenly back to civilization, made up of summer cottages.
We were back at the church at 13:30, so there was plenty left in the day.
Úthlíð is only a 10 minute drive from the Geysir hot spring area. I decided it would be a good idea to go there for a late lunch.
All. The. Buses.
After a lovely lunch, I decided to check out the hot springs on the other side of the road.
There weren’t all that many people on the walkway.
Obligatory photo of Strokkur erupting. It’s always cool.
One day I’ll give myself time to hike up on to that hill.
Walking back to the carpark.
Do not put any part of your body into the flowing water!!
It was a gorgeous day!
At home, some of the shrubbery was flowering, and parts of the yard thumbed their noses at me as I’d totally failed in my weeding-duties that summer.
Hmmm… probably time to clean out the bottom of the BBQ?
All that remained of dinner.
Sunday 20 August 2023
Cleaning out the bottom of the BBQ. Lovely!
Bjarki needed to get a book for school, so he drove himself (and me) to the west-end of town. I tried to remain calm.
A weirdly nice book-store out in the middle of an industrial area by the sea. So weird.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we said hi to mom. She had a canine visitor!
Reading a book outside at 9 in the evening, under a thick blanket.
Getting murky around 22.
Tuesday 22 August 2023
Proof of gym at 8 in the morning.
Did a 100 m rowing sprint, and I was pretty happy with that speed.
Clothing-hanger-rod installed in Emma’s room. Success! (She’s mastered the art of regularly reminding me that I had promised to do something for her…)
Wednesday 23 August 2023
First day of Emma’s school. Rainbows FTW!
The new principal thankfully spared us the “reading up of names” and just told every 5th grader to follow one of the two teachers to their classrooms.
I showed up to the music school scheduling session super early to try and co-ordinate when Bjarki and Emma had their lessons, only to find out that their respective teachers did not have compatible schedules. Sigh.
That evening I attended an introductory meeting for parents of new students at Bjarki’s school. Again, they struck me as doing a really good job.
Thursday 24 August 2023
“Sunshine-coffee” outside in the sun at work. Somebody had brought in some cake!
The e-biking group gathered at 18:30 a short hop outside the capital, by the geothermal power station at Hellisheiði.
The route as recorded by Strava. It was a bit over 24 km.
We biked up the hill by the station, and kept moving upwards for a bit.
Drillholes visible from a distance. There are a lot of pipes in the area.
The start of a slope that I had a little too much fun speeding down, at one point almost falling, which would have been a bit of a disaster.
Crossing rivers on bikes is fun too.
A few members of the group were more sensible than others and went down the hill quite slowly. We had to wait for a few minutes for them to catch up.
All together now!
The last of the river crossings.
The sun still blaring at 19:40 as we stopped to eat and drink a little something.
That blue thing in the distance is the Atlantic Ocean.
Biking over tufts of grass/moss is eeeeh… tricky.
Looking at mountains to the north, before biking south.
Following a pretty track on the other side of the main auto-road.
So glad to have sunglasses plus a visor on my helmet as the sun did its very best to blind us on the way back.
The drillholes we’d seen from a distance earlier.
Back across the big road (there are two tunnels, so you don’t have to risk life and limbs to cross the road). The big pipes visible along the road.
Another ridiculously fun hill to speed down. That’s the main power plant below.
Close-up on the structures. The pipes run zig-zag like this to better tolerate earthquakes.
Friday 25 August 2023
That morning I drove mom to the airport, as she had a ticket to fly to Sweden to stay with my newly emigrated brother and family. Just as we were parking by the terminal at 8 in the morning, this message came through…
… and some five minutes later this one arrived.
I’d given mom a late birthday/early Christmas gift of upgrading her ticket to Saga Class, so she ended up spending the entire day lounging in the Saga Class Lounge!
Off she went!
Saturday 26 August 2023
One of the local grocery stores had a pop-up farmers-market!
It looked pretty good!
Quick food-stop en route to the summer house…
Sunday 27 August 2023
The weather was lovely enough to eat outside.
Our guests had brought their pizza oven, which now seems to have reached “everybody-must-have-one”-status.
Finnur working on his big staining/oiling project of the summer.
Halli and I finally made some headway with this game.
Before heading back to town, I grabbed a few of the red currants growing outside.
Pit stop at the usual cafe… and the view lovely as usual.
The cafe-dog keeping watch.
Some of the carrots survived being left in the south-facing window for a week while we were away!
Monday 28 August 2023
A sweaty gym-selfie!
Tuesday 29 August 2023
Lots of new gear arrived at the gym, as they were outfitting a whole new room. I thought the actual vax seals were pretty cool!
Sewing club about to start. That’s just a reminder that a lot of houses in the capital area sit on old, but not that old, lava-fields.
Wednesday 30 August 2023
All the garbage-sorting items had finally arrived at Ikea, and it was time to install them! This was after I’d taken the old bin out, ugh.
I must applaud Ikea for this design. Relatively easy to install, and works really nicely.
Sorting-ready!
Bjarki out practice driving late at night.
Thursday 31 August 2023
At this point I was unaware, but due do a shoulder-injury, this would be my last e-biking-ride of the season, even though there were five more rides planned. We started out from a parking lot in the western part of Hafnarfjörður, and headed south-east.
The Strava recording of the path, we went counter-clockwise, and it was about 24 km long.
This is also the newest part of Hafnarfjörður, but if you look at a map you can see that it sits on a not-so-old lava-field. Geologists are not fans of this town-extension-placement.
Turning off the car-road onto something more wild. See all that oldish lava there in the background?
A bike needed a bit of attention.
Through e-biking I’ve discovered that where there are electrical pylons, there are also roads, … which tend to be bad to nasty.
Unexpected red-rock-hole.
Sadly, also a dumping ground according to some.
We finally reached the end of the electrical-pylon-access road…
… and found ourselves on an earthen path. Much nicer!
The endless lava-field on my left.
A young forest!
The sign points to the way up to Mount Helgafell, but also along the hillside I’d just ridden under, where a forest has been planted.
Mount Helgafell itself. I’ve now hiked around it, but I’ve yet to actually climb it.
Then there were lupines.
The best, most fun, kind of track. Hard earth, not too rocky.
We parked our bikes, left a watcher, and…
… walked a little ways into the old lava-field.
Can you spot the old shelter?
It’s those black holes in the lava-formations.
Somebody had built a sheltering wall a very long time ago.
Looking out from the second shelter.
Flat rocks as a mini-roof/windbreaker.
This site is a part of a treasure hunt.
More “roof”.
There was even an outer/courtyard wall.
Heading back to the bikes.
We then ended up in yet another forest. I didn’t know there were so many around.
