[Photos taken 21 – 24 July 2024, posted online 11 October 2024. A busload of Italians has invaded the coffee house again!]
I was in a hiking mood, so I contacted a couple of lady-friends who I knew were staying close to our summer house, and they kindly let me join them for a day out and about. We fed them dinner in return!
Then the weather turned windy and rainy, so we mostly just hunkered indoors for a few days, but did make it out to fancy dinner with friends.
Sunday 21 July 2024
Yours truly, looking oh-so-casual in front of the waterfall Glanni.
I drove to Bifröst, and we set out on foot up the road to visit Grábrók. On the way is Hreðavatnsskáli, a place that hosted many a country dance in its heyday.
It’s only rented out for private functions now, and the signs in the window direct you to the nearest public toilet and restaurants.
The first hike: North from Bifröst, up to Grábrók crater, and back.
The start of the climb up the old crater.
There’s two craters there, side by side, Grábrók and Rauðbrók.
A general map of the area. They were staying in Bifröst, we began by walking north up to Grábrók, then south to Glanni and Paradísarlaut.
Very surprisingly, this being Iceland, the entire path up the crater side was built up with actual wooden steps!
Approaching the rim.
The view north, along highway 1.
Looking east-ish. The hills are all slanted, as if something heavy sat on one end of them.
The crater and its rim.
Looking south, towards our summer house. You can clearly see the lava flows, and the Glanni golf course!
I was quite surprised to see this lovely spot in what I thought was all mossy lava. This is lake Hreðavatn, south-west of the Grábrók crater.
The other smaller crater.
Remnants of dwellings, or sheep-sorting fences.
A fancier sheep-sorting fence, and a freshly arrived bus at the parking lot.
Wood paths, everywhere!
Areal photo of the two craters.
Walking back past the Hreðavatnsskála cabin, the resident cat came out AGAIN to get a pat from all three of us. It had already greeted us and gotten three pats when we’d walked past the first time.
“You owe me a pat on the head/back.”
After a quick pit stop and a change of shoes at the apartment at Bifröst, we set out again now to visit the waterfall Glanni, and Paradísarlaut.
This supposedly short walk was supposed to by about 5 km, but ended up being closer to 9 km! I would have brought a water bottle if I knew!
A flower among the mossy rough lava.
A weird plant to cultivate/protect in the middle of a hiking path!
It was a huge relief to find a tunnel under the busy highway.
Not meant for the very tall!
On the other side, we found ponds hiding among the lava structures and trees.
Spotted a mushroom!
Informative info-sign.
What’s with the insanely nice walking paths in this area?!
We kept going, and found “Paradísarlaut“, or Paradise-clearing.
More wooden stairs!
It was quite idyllic.
Step back a little, and an ugly blue rope appeared, that hoped to stop people from trouncing on the grass, as it was quickly disappearing.
Looking to where the Paradise-stream joins the big one.
Walking back, we saw the Grábrók crater, nestled in front of an even bigger mountain.
We found the Glanni golf-hut. We stopped to use the facilities, and then decided to take the long way back, walking north along the river, as the Strava heat-map indicated there was a path there.
Walking to the river.
So far, so good, there was a clear path.
Houses on the eastern side.
As we kept going, we obviously intruded upon some bird territory, and we got an escort or two, shouting at us to go away.
Our escort is there on the right…
The path became quite lot less path-y, but we kept going.
A beauty.
Much to our surprise, we met a busload of people walking in the opposite direction. This is the tail of the group. We figured the birds would all get a heart-attack!
The environment getting rockier.
I wonder if this is the same double waterfall as pictured in some paintings at my grandparents’ house back in the day?
From the side. This area is referred to as “Þrengsli” in one map I found.
We finally stumbled upon the bridge, and the road that would lead us back to Grábrók, and Bifröst.
A flower by the side of Highway 1, which we had to cross on foot. There’s no tunnel on the northern side.
The cat at Hreðavatnsskáli came out to greet us for the THIRD time that day, and after getting a pat from each of us, walked home again.
“My job here is done.”
A sight for sore/tired feet!
A very late (4 in the afternoon) lunch.
We drove to Varmaland to visit the swimming pool.
The very old, long, and very skinny bridge on the way. It’s always quite terrifying to cross, because you can’t see if there is a car coming in the opposite direction until you’ve reached the top.
Earlier that day, Emma got to use real tools to clear out weeds from the front area. I was glad to see someone had the sense to put safety goggles on her! And yes, the wood is in dire need of a coat of something, but the weather refused to cooperate all summer! You need two dry days before oiling/staining on the third dry day!
Finnur and Bjarki also managed to re-attach the wood that had fallen off the side of the roof in the winter.
Much better!
Finnur put together a lovely dinner for all of us, it began with a lobster soup!
Of course there was Skyjo before we said a fond farewell to our visitors, who had many other adventures planned.
Monday 22 July 2024
The weather decided to be windy and wet again, so we headed back home. Not surprisingly, there was a pit stop in Borgarnes town for our favorite cafe (not pictured).
They revamped their couches this summer.
I think this place started as a flower store, and I think they still sell some flowers?!
Pretty colors.
A good use of an old stroller.
Tuesday 23 July 2024
I’m not sitting in quite the same seat, but close, as I write this, and the busload of Italians is still randomly showing up.
Gymming…The weather was bleh.
We went out to a fancy dinner with good friends! It was almost Finnur’s birthday!
Thin fish slices with stuff on top. Yum!
One of the favorites.
The signature “lemon” dessert.
The rain was absolutely pouring down, like it does “in foreign lands”.
Wednesday 24 July 2024
Emma’s specialty slime finally arrived in the mail…
