Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Valahnúkur
[Photos taken 15 July 2023, posted online 21 April 2024. I screwed together a 120-cm wide non-Ikea bed for Emma yesterday, and re-ignited the sprain in my lower-back from my 140-kg ego-deadlift a couple of weeks ago. Such is life.]
The first night in our Thórsmök cabin went ok-ish. The skinny foam mattresses in the cabin turned out to also be quite thin, so I woke up every time I changed sleeping positions. Thank you massive hips! On the upside, not everybody showed up to the fully booked cabin, so we had a bit of extra space.
It was a groggy Hrefna that emerged in the morning, but the day turned out fabulously, both weather- and hike-wise.
Saturday 15 July 2023
Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Hike Towards Tungur
[Photos taken 14 July 2023, posted online 20 April 2024. Spring is in the air!]
It turns out that I’m a sheep when it comes to outdoor activities. I suck at making them happen, but will happily show up when someone tells me to be somewhere, and do the thing.
Thus it was that I was invited to join what turned out to be a 10-lady group on a weekend trip to Thórsmörk (Þórs-mörk, the area/forest of Þór/Thor), which is a beautiful area in the south of Iceland, only accessible by large all-wheel-drive vehicles, as the rivers leading there change too fast for bridging to make sense.
Friday 14 July 2023
Waterfall Trolls & Glacier Trip
[Photos taken 23 – 24 July 2019, posted online 08 March 2020. Very chilly but gorgeous day outside.]
Our second set of house #2 visitors, aka Adda, Halli and kids, were in an adventurous mood, as this summer was a stay-cation for us all, after we’d spent 10 days in Florida together in February.
We therefore used the time we had with them to check out nearby tourist traps and go snowmobiling on a glacier (!!!), as well as just trying to relax and enjoy a few days away from life as usual. (50-ish photos total)
Tuesday 23 July 2019
Anna Travels with Tina & Justin Along the South Coast of Iceland
[Photos from Monday & Tuesday 17 & 18 AUGUST 2015, put online 8 November 2015. The grass is still somewhat green.]
Since everybody but Anna had somewhere to be during the two days Tina and Justin had planned to tour the south coast of Iceland, she was invited to go along with them.
They drove eastwards, visiting Jökulsárlón, and then stayed at a campground close to Skaftafell. I no longer remember quite what they did on the way back, but they arrived in town for dinner.
I’ve borrowed a few photos from Tina’s facebook page, and then I’m posting some of the photos Anna took. The rest of them can be found here (Day 1) and here (Day 2).
First the photos from Tina: (100 photos total)
By Jökulsárlón on Day 1.
Hrafnagil Day 3: More Horses!
[Photos from Wednesday 22 July 2015, but text and layout from 01 $#^@$ September 2015. How?!?!]
Our super fun horse ride along a beach on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula had us hungering for more horse-time. We decided to book a tour with Pólar hestar a little ways north of where we were staying.
This time, Finnur also wanted to try riding, so our hosts graciously offered to babysit Emma for a few hours.
On the way to the horse rental we picked up Solla and Gunni’s oldest daughter, Arndís, who tagged along with us on her first horse ride.
All in all it went well. It was a little troublesome to only have one guide out in front, because some of the horses were fairly willing, but Bjarki’s was not, so he kept falling behind. Bjarki was also still pretty traumatized from the last ride (where his horse took off like a rocket for a short spurt) so the overall speed was kept down low.
At one point, the guide tried to allow us to sprint away from her (and Bjarki) and back again, but the horses were unhappy to leave their lead horse, so that didn’t go so well. I did learn though that shorter stirrups beat long ones (Hello there, near fatal accident!).
We were a happy group at the end though, so that’s all that matters. (13 images total)
Horses!
Hrafnagil Day 2: North Along the Coast
[We did this on 21 July 2015, but I’m writing it up on 31 August 2015. It’s been a while!]
Our hosts decided our ignorance of the northern parts of their fjord was a travesty, so they set out to fix it.
First we drove to Dalvík where we visited the Hvoll folk museum, and then went to eat a late lunch. Afterwards we drove further and through one tunnel to Ólafsfjörður where everybody except the old geezers took a dip in the excellent swimming pool.
We kept driving on, passing through two long tunnels, to arrive at Siglufjörður. There we had a quick cup of coffee in the surprisingly lively town, before arriving at the herring era museum fifteen minutes before closing. It was nifty to see the entrance exhibit, but we decided we’d return when Emma was a bit bigger to investigate further.
With that we returned back to home base. (54 images total)
The house Hvoll houses Dalvík’s Folk Museum.
Hrafnagil Day 1: Relaxation
[Events of 20 July 2015 are being chronicled on 29 August 2015. Hope is eternal.]
After a stiff touristing program around Ólafsvík, we decided to take it as easy as we possibly could during our first day up north. So we did. I can’t even remember what we did for most of the day, but I’m sure it wasn’t much of anything.
We did manage to drive across the road to take a dip in the local swimming pool, and then drove a little ways late in the afternoon to visit our friends Solla and Gunni, while our hosts attended a birthday party.
Oh, and Finnur climbed up a hill with Bjarki and took photos. (16 images total, 1 video)
It doesn’t get a lot more relaxing than this! Emma getting her servants to put her shoes on after swimming.
Travel Day: From Ólafsvík to Hrafnagil (by Akureyri)
[The five hour drive happened on Sunday 19 July 2015, but is finally being written up on 28/29 August 2015. I’m very very stubborn.]
We’d made arrangements to stay with our friends Kata and Jói who live in Hrafnagil by Akureyri for a few nights before heading back home.
Little did we realize that Ólafsvík is so far out on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, that driving from there to Akureyri actually takes longer than driving straight from our home to Akureyri! It doesn’t help that the road from the Stykkishólmur turn-off by and large all the way to Staðarskáli is unpaved. Seriously people! Who represents you?!?!
Also not in our plans was the fact that the weather up north had sucked for pretty much the entire summer, and the weather forecast for our week there was dreadful. But, friends are friends, and the weather doesn’t matter nearly as much as the company one keeps, so we sucked it up and got in the car! (19 images total)
Finnur’s snapchat.
Ólafsvík Day 3: Horseback Riding, Hellnar Lunch, Cave Descent, and Rif Coffee!
[This was Saturday 18 July 2015. It’s being blogged on 24 25 26 27 August 2015. Head-desk!]
For the second day in a row, we all set out pretty early (around 9 am) because we’d booked a tour on horseback some 20-30 minutes away, at Stóri-Kambur on the southern side of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
I (Hrefna) had decided to find out what all the horse riding fuss was about, so I set out to try riding for the first time in about thirty years, and had a grand time. Also riding were the three big kids, but everyone else skedaddled somewhere else for a and hour and a half. (75 images total!!!)
Here be horses!
Ólafsvík Day 2: Sea-Fishing, Pool-Dipping, Lawn-Mowing, and Bad Parenting (with a view)
[The events chronicled here happened on the fine Friday of 17 July 2015. It is however being internetted on 14 August 2015, well, barely, because it’s almost midnight. Oh, it’s pretty dark outside. Weird.]
Guðrún and Snorri’s son, Baldur, wanted to go sea-fishing very much, and being an internet kid, he googled and discovered a boat service in nearby Grundarfjörður that would allow him to do just that. So reservations were made for the big kids and their dads, while the moms would shepherd the little kids to the local swimming pool. (47 images total!)
Emma by the floating harbor where Láki sails from.