Faxi Campsite / Flúðir Folf / Finnur’s 50th
[Photos taken 25 – 31 July 2024, posted online 14 October 2024. It’s chilly but beautiful out there.]
One day, Emma noted that she’d never slept in a tent, and we decided that was something we should probably fix. A few days later, we lucked out in getting invited to join some friends at a campsite by the waterfall Faxi.
We arrived just as the most recent rain-storm was passing, stayed for a couple of nights, and managed to pack up the tent just before the next rain-storm arrived. We tried Frisbee golfing (folfing) for the first time, and it was a resounding success for all.
We returned home in the rain, caught out breaths for a few moments before attending a multi-Christening/Confirmation, and then it was Finnur’s 50th birthday!
Thursday 25 July 2024
Ten Lovely Ladies @ Hveradalir & Gullfoss
[Photos taken 14 July 2024, posted online 09 October 2024. It’s pretty out there.]
Our stay at Gíslaskáli (Gísli’s cabin) came to an end as the storm had finally passed. We decided to drive up to Hveradalir (“Fumarole-valleys” or “Geothermal-valleys”), where we’d attempted to hike to the day before.
On the way there we passed by the pretty Gýgjarfoss waterfalls (two rivers merging into one), passed the Highland Base area, and lots of pretty vistas, before finally oooh-ing and awww-ing over the Hveradalir area. It really is quite beautiful.
We then drove back to civilization, again getting thoroughly shaken on the long unpaved road back to paved asphalt. We stopped at the visitor’s center by Gullfoss (“Golden waterfall”) where a husband awaited us, to whisk his wife and another traveler off to a new adventure. We then drove back to the capital area, all quite happy with how things turned out.
Sunday 14 July 2024
Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Básahringur
[Photos taken 16 July 2023, posted online 27 April 2024. Currently sitting in a coffee shop in Amsterdam, on the King’s birthday. It’s been a strange spring.]
We had to clear out of the sleeping portion of the Básar cabin before 11 in the morning, but our bus wasn’t leaving until 16 (4 in the afternoon). We therefore packed up our stuff and stacked it outside, had breakfast, and headed out for an easy hike among the hills around the campsite.
When we arrived back, we had a late lunch and then relaxed until the bus was ready. The bus-ride to Hvolsvöllur was uneventful, and so was the drive to Selfoss where we ate dinner, and then Agnes dropped me off at home, blissfully full of nature!
Sunday 16 July 2023
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.