{"id":32399,"date":"2022-05-15T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T13:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/?p=32399"},"modified":"2022-11-20T14:30:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T14:30:10","slug":"may-mayhem-e-biking-lundarreykjadalur-eyrarfjall-recitals-scotland-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/may-mayhem-e-biking-lundarreykjadalur-eyrarfjall-recitals-scotland-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"May-Mayhem: E-biking Lundarreykjadalur & Eyrarfjall, Recitals & Scotland-Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Photos taken 08 – 15 May 2022, posted online 20 November 2022. I fell in to serious TV-binge mode this weekend, been a long while since the last one. I’m in denial about Christmas being around the corner.<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The madness that was May continued with two e-bike rides in one week, two music school recitals, trying to figure out what to do about Emma’s somewhat injured foot, a bike-to-work challenge, rushing to clear the yard of leaves and branches, and Finnur traveling to Scotland to play in a soccer tournament (“old boys” division). (85-ish images total)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday 08 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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About to ride up and down Lundarreykjadalur <\/a>(Smoky Grove Valley) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Yes, we’d driven an hour north of Reykjavik to bike south-eastwards up a valley, and back again, first on a gravel road, and then a paved one. It turned out to be a good range test for the bikes as there was a good gust of wind blowing down the valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The Strava track, looks like we rode 50 km \ud83d\ude42 (Can click for a larger image) That long body of water is the water house #2 is by.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We rode for probably a half an hour before arriving at this church, where we stopped for a snack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Where we came from.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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This valley is the one north of where our house #2 is. This sign said it’s on the Pilgrim’s Way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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By the church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The small cemetery in the back-yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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One of our guides setting up for a group photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We rode to where the roads on each side of the valley merge into one, before going up on a heath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Deciding whether to go all the way up to the Cross-pool (Krosslaug<\/a>) or head back. We decided to press on, low batteries be damned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The sad abandoned pool inside the fence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We kept going, and made it to Krosslaug, although I was about done with all this mild climbing. The area is fenced off, and thus one of the few places around with any trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The view from the road was nice though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Information plaque. People used to be christened here in this natural hot spring. You should be able to see a larger image by clicking on this one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Brother enjoying his somewhat dodgy snacks that should have been refrigerated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Trying out the temperature of the water, it was plenty hot, probably 42 C \/ 107.6 F. When we’d arrived, a couple had been lounging in the pool, although people are discouraged from bathing in it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Cozy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We opted not to buy jam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We spotted a waterfall a little up the road, and biked up there to check it out. It may be called England’s Waterfall<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Looking up onto the heath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The way down into the valley again. You can sort of see specks of the couple that was exploring the area as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We made it back down to the junction, and were glad that the batteries seemed to be holding up as the wind pushed us onwards downhill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Stopping to pump up a tire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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There were quite a few horses about. It’s very cool when a large group of horses runs along with the bikes (but impossible to photograph).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We made it to the mouth of the valley!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I liked the question mark!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Yours truly, in all her middle-aged bike-gear glory!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I still had a little battery left in the tank, but my brother’s died as we rode onto the parking lot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our guide-couple had stayed on the camp-site overnight, and we got a little something to eat and drink before packing up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Two muddy bikes on the new bike-trailer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We took a quick walk around the camp-site area. There are trolls there!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Juicy?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We stopped in Borgarnes for a little bit of extra body fuel before driving back to town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Monday 09 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Emma was still not fully stepping on her heel after a bad gymnastics landing two weeks prior, so to the x-ray she went. It looked like a tendon had pulled a little bit of bone off, but there was very little to do about it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tuesday 10 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Music school recitals were back on! First, Bjarki was up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Finnur and Emma also attended.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Bjarki about to sit down with his teacher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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For some reason I went swimming at 9 pm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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One of our poor semi-tortured plants. But still it survives, somehow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Wednesday 11 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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The biggest sign of life returning to normal at work was the hiring of an official barista to work the fancy coffee machine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Angeles quickly became the savior of my sanity!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Emma about to play at her music school recital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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That morning, Finnur had taken off with his old-boys soccer club for a tournament in Scotland! The rest of us opted to eat sushi for dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The other two.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thursday 12 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Biking to work for the Bike to Work Challenge<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The hilltop on the right side is currently under construction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Not the worst 4x250m rowing relay times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Taking advantage of the nice light coming in through the window.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Tire bags turned out to be useful to bag cut-off branches before the township came to collect yard-refuse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Classic Hrefna-hates-cooking dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Meanwhile, Finnur was busy playing soccer! In Scotland!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Friday 13 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Patting myself on the shoulder for getting the yard-scraps out in time for the town to pick them up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The bike-view was very nice that morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The ditch unusually full of water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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By 18:30 I was 30 minutes north of town with the e-bike group. There are remains of a train-ish thing by the parking lot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our guide doing a quick speed check.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Photos rarely do views justice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Where we came from.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The geography of this corner of the world always confuses me. That lake is Me\u00f0alfellsvatn!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A better view of Me\u00f0alfell (Average-hill) on the left and its lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Looking north to Skar\u00f0shei\u00f0i (Scarred-heath).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We stopped by an official look-out point. Quite pretty!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The view to the north-west was marred by the ugly aluminum smelter plant that somehow got approved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Sibling-cheer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We rode back to the cars through a throng of cows, some of whom were clearly thinking about being curious.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The bike-route was around Eyrarfjall, a hill\/mound\/mount that is cut off from the rest of Mount Esja.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Meanwhile in Scotland, there were bag-pipes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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More soccer about to happen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Proof that Finnur was there!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Saturday 14 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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There were local elections that day, and I dragged Anna to the polls for her first ever voting experience!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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That evening we watched the Eurovision Song Contest that Ukraine won<\/a>, with the UK coming in a close second.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Meanwhile in Scotland, Finnur and friends went to visit Dunnottar Castle<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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What a crazy place to build a castle!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Old walls!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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At some point, there was a lion!?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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By Ferguson<\/a> in statue-form.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Finnur’s team got a medal!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sunday 15 May 2022<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Life continued to return to normal with a birthday party!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Singing happy birthday!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Finnur was scheduled to land in the middle of an earthquake-swarm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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He made it though!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We have a kilt!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Photos taken 08 – 15 May 2022, posted online 20 November 2022. I fell in to serious TV-binge mode this weekend, been a long while since the last one. I’m in denial about Christmas being around the corner.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

The madness that was May continued with two e-bike rides in one week, two music school recitals, trying to figure out what to do about Emma’s somewhat injured foot, a bike-to-work challenge, rushing to clear the yard of leaves and branches, and Finnur traveling to Scotland to play in a soccer tournament (“old boys” division). (85-ish images total)<\/p>\n

Sunday 08 May 2022<\/h3>\n
\n
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About to ride up and down Lundarreykjadalur <\/a>(Smoky Grove Valley) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-traveling","category-us","post-container col-md-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32399"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32486,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32399\/revisions\/32486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}