idonthaveacoolname

One of the places I have really been looking forward to visiting is the Lake Myvatn area. I’m there for two days for my birthday and the highlights include hot springs and Europe’s most powerful waterfall: Dettifoss. I haven’t seen the northern lights yet due to cloud cover but, fingers crossed, the weather looks clear for the next few days.

From there another really long driving day to the northwest region, then to the Snaefellsnes region, diving at Silfra, overnight in Reykjavik, then I leave.

I feel like I just got to Iceland. There is still so much to see and places to explore. I’m going to consider this a scouting trip for my next visit!

From the article: The piece by Goldschmied & Chiari presents the scene at the end of a party, a metaphor for the 1980s, Italy’s ‘age of plenty’: a period of consumerism, financial speculation, the advent of commercial TV and much partying.

  

And then one night the cleaning staff cleaned it up!

I have had a busy few days, driving four to five hours each day in order to cover more ground. I’m in Egilsstader, in the north. The eastern fjords were very difficult driving not only because the roads were hundreds of feet in the air but the views were spectacular making it tough to keep my eyes on the road! 

I was in Fáskrúdsfjördur last night, a French fishing settlement from the early 1600s. My hotel was the former French hospital that had a fantastic collection of fishing gear and a recreation of a French fishing gallery hold! I was mesmerized by the old French maps and the importance of French fisheries in Iceland was unknown to me. From the number of vessels it may be true that French fisheries in Iceland was greater than that in Atlantic Canada during the 16th century.

I’m quite tired so I’ll just post images but suffice to say that I have seen sights in the last few days that I will never forget. One was the rising of the full moon over the eastern ocean. I didn’t get a chance to take a photo before it disappeared behind a cloud but it was impressive. The second you can see below is Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland covering 8% of the island!

Oh… And I visited an early Viking settlement! 

   
  
    
    
 

What a day. I awoke in Vik to a blistering wet snowfall. I knew that I had a 3.5 hour drive north in front of me and when I checked vedur.is I saw that it was just going to get worse in Vik until at least 2pm meaning that if I didn’t leave early, I would essentially lose the entire day. 

I brushed off the car in complete darkness and knew that the big difficulty was going to be driving the high pass into Vik but once past Vik, at least the road was flat. I pulled out to the road and, just then, the snow plow came around the bend. Someone up there likes me. 

I cranked up the heat and Led Zepplin 4 to get my heart rate up. The incline to the Vik pass is about 15% and with the wet snow it was tough, even with the plough. Seeing the town of Vik was a relief but as I passed the town the wind began to pick up. Driving in Iceland can be challenging!

The weather turned as the sun rose and I knew that the storm covered the southern tip of Iceland but not the east coast where I was heading. 

I passed some amazing landscapes as you can see below. The sun hardly rises so the light is beautiful and the shadows are long, as you can see below. That photo with my shadow was taken at 11:38 am!  My first stop was the Black waterfall, Svartifoss, that is accessible only after a long hike. My friends SL in Switzerland and MVH from the office would have loved the hike. The view from the trail was fantastic!

The weather started to cool and I could feel the weather beginning to turn. I grabbed my gear and headed back down the mountain. I got to the car and as I began to drive away, the rain started.

The next stop was Jökulsárlón, the glacier lake that is fed by the Vatnajökull glacier. While beautiful, the tour buses swarmed the parking lot. Iceland is a land of extremes. I can be alone for hours and then surrounded by hundreds.

   
    
   

I’m packing up now. It’s early morning here on my last day in Vik. There is a raging snow squall outside and I’m heading north to escape it. Vik (meaning “bay” as in Reykjavik and Viking) is the southernmost town in Iceland and gets the most precipitation in all of Iceland. I have all day to reach Hofn on the east coast so once I get over the high pass leading to Vik, the driving will be flat and much easier.

Here is a wood carving at the black sand beach of Vik showing the three trolls in the background who were caught by the sunrise and turned to stone as they attempted to bring to shore a stranded ship. To eat the crew, I imagine.

  

I woke early this morning to take some photos here in Vik. The weather was beautiful and the sunrise was breathtaking!   

 

I have been a little bummed with the laptop and all that but my friends in Ottawa (you know who you are) have been very helpful. 

And KE, you were right! It was a troll! I went out this morning to take photos and when I opened the hatch to the truck, there were my two GoPro batteries and my SD cards! The empty bag must have fallen out at some point. And by “fallen out” I mean stolen by a troll. Oh well, one less camera bag.

FYI after I contacted the Apple Store in Rek I decided to try one last thing in order to avoid the 6 hour round trip. I thought that since I had recently upgraded my OSX that this might be the issue rather than my initial assumption of a corrupt hard drive. I was able to download the OSX last night to a USB and then rebooted. I am now able to import my photos!!!!!

// edit – The hard drive is definitely corrupt  but I can still load everything with my USB key 🙂

 

With my laptop gone I am having to make due with using SD cards sparingly so imagine my surprise when I checked in to my cottage near Vik today that I had lost my small camera bag with spare GoPro batteries and spare SD cards. 

Perhaps I offended an Icelandic troll or something?

Today was busy but the weather was really the issue. It went from sunshine to hail in minutes but I was, thankfully, close to my car. Five minutes later the hail was finished so I went out for more photos. 

I’m here at the cottage now, going through images since I now have very little space left. The GoPro is a bust since my card is full with no way to dump the contents. 

These images are from Vik and the Sólheimasandur plane wreck. The surf is incredible here, the waves are  20 feet high that break close to shore. I laughed when I saw a sign stating that swimming was dangerous in these waters. No kidding.

   
 
   
 

I started the day near Skaholt, an early Icelandic settlement. The church, seen below, is like all Icelandic churches I have visited, anti-Baroque in that they are literally empty buildings with a cross, chairs, an organ, and some candles. Spartan indeed. After a visit to the archaeological dig that has unearthed the remains of the first church on that spot I went Foss hunting after a quick detour to the Kerið carter. Very cool. By the way, foss is Icelandic for waterfall and the three I visited today were the best I’ve seen. The first Hjalparfoss is a twin waterfall that, like Gjain, only accessible after a harrowing drive over the lunar landscape. The third is Seljalandfoss that I raced to in a minor break in the thundering rainfall here in southern Iceland. I also stopped at a black church (they use tar to weather seal like a boat) and bought a hat! 

    
    
 

RIP

I will have to make due with using my SD cards sparingly. Luckily all my files were on an external drive.

I’m trying a restore now through disc utility but I’m not holding my breath.

🙁

//edit – failed