{"id":40042,"date":"2024-07-21T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/?p=40042"},"modified":"2024-10-11T12:40:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T12:40:46","slug":"grabrok-glanni-nordura-wacky-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/grabrok-glanni-nordura-wacky-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k & Glanni @ Nor\u00f0ur\u00e1 \/ Wacky Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Photos taken 21 – 24 July 2024, posted online 11 October 2024. A busload of Italians has invaded the coffee house again!<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday 21 July 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Yours truly, looking oh-so-casual in front of the waterfall Glanni.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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I drove to Bifr\u00f6st<\/a>, and we set out on foot up the road to visit Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k. On the way is Hre\u00f0avatnssk\u00e1li<\/a>, a place that hosted many a country dance in its heyday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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It’s only rented out for private functions now, and the signs in the window direct you to the nearest public toilet and restaurants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The first hike: North from Bifr\u00f6st, up to Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k crater, and back.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The start of the climb up the old crater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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There’s two craters there, side by side, Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k<\/a> and Rau\u00f0br\u00f3k.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A general map of the area. They were staying in Bifr\u00f6st, we began by walking north up to Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k, then south to Glanni and Parad\u00edsarlaut. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Very surprisingly, this being Iceland, the entire path up the crater side was built up with actual wooden steps!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Approaching the rim.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The view north, along highway 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Looking east-ish. The hills are all slanted, as if something heavy sat on one end of them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The crater and its rim.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Looking south, towards our summer house. You can clearly see the lava flows, and the Glanni golf course!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I was quite surprised to see this lovely spot in what I thought was all mossy lava. This is lake Hre\u00f0avatn<\/a>, south-west of the Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k crater<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The other smaller crater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Remnants of dwellings, or sheep-sorting fences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A fancier sheep-sorting fence, and a freshly arrived bus at the parking lot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Wood paths, everywhere!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Areal photo of the two craters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Walking back past the Hre\u00f0avatnssk\u00e1la 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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“You owe me a pat on the head\/back.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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After a quick pit stop and a change of shoes at the apartment at Bifr\u00f6st, we set out again now to visit the waterfall Glanni, and Parad\u00edsarlaut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A flower among the mossy rough lava.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A weird plant to cultivate\/protect in the middle of a hiking path!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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It was a huge relief to find a tunnel under the busy highway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Not meant for the very tall!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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On the other side, we found ponds hiding among the lava structures and trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Spotted a mushroom!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Informative info-sign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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What’s with the insanely nice walking paths in this area?!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Trying to regrow an old path.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We found Glanni<\/a>, the waterfall!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I couldn’t resist photo-ing the selfie-session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The downstream view was also quite nice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We kept going, and found “Parad\u00edsarlaut<\/a>“, or Paradise-clearing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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More wooden stairs!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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It was quite idyllic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Looking to where the Paradise-stream joins the big one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Walking back, we saw the Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k crater, nestled in front of an even bigger mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Walking to the river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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So far, so good, there was a clear path.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Houses on the eastern side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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As we kept going, we obviously intruded upon some bird territory, and we got an escort or two, shouting at us to go away. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our escort is there on the right…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The path became quite lot less path-y, but we kept going.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A beauty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The environment getting rockier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I wonder if this is the same double waterfall as pictured in some paintings at my grandparents’ house back in the day?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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From the side. This area is referred to as “\u00derengsli” in one map I found.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We finally stumbled upon the bridge, and the road that would lead us back to Gr\u00e1br\u00f3k, and Bifr\u00f6st.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A flower by the side of Highway 1, which we had to cross on foot. There’s no tunnel on the northern side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The cat at Hre\u00f0avatnssk\u00e1li came out to greet us for the THIRD time that day, and after getting a pat from each of us, walked home again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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“My job here is done.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A sight for sore\/tired feet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A very late (4 in the afternoon) lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We drove to Varmaland to visit the swimming pool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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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!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Finnur and Bjarki also managed to re-attach the wood that had fallen off the side of the roof in the winter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Much better!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Finnur put together a lovely dinner for all of us, it began with a lobster soup!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Of course there was Skyjo before we said a fond farewell to our visitors, who had many other adventures planned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Monday 22 July 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n
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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<\/a> (not pictured).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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They revamped their couches this summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I think this place started as a flower store, and I think they still sell some flowers?!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Pretty colors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A good use of an old stroller.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tuesday 23 July 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Gymming…The weather was bleh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We went out to a fancy dinner with good friends! It was almost Finnur’s birthday!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Thin fish slices with stuff on top. Yum!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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One of the favorites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The signature “lemon” dessert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The rain was absolutely pouring down, like it does “in foreign lands”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Wednesday 24 July 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Emma’s specialty slime finally arrived in the mail…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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It had an amazing texture!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Photos taken 21 – 24 July 2024, posted online 11 October 2024. A busload of Italians has invaded the coffee house again!<\/em>]<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sunday 21 July 2024<\/h2>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Yours truly, looking oh-so-casual in front of the waterfall Glanni.<\/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":[130,155,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friends","category-hiking","category-us","post-container col-md-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40042","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=40042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40124,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40042\/revisions\/40124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}