Today was meant to be very different. We were meant to first
go to the Blue Lagoon, and then on with our exploring. Alas, the downside of
Iceland being a popular destination now is that we can’t just rock up the Blue
Lagoon when we fancy it. Last night I checked, every time was fully booked and
they now limit you to one hour! We’ve spent hours there before. So, change of
itinerary. We started with a very Icelandic breakfast for Ali – picked herring,
rye break, smor butter, Skyr, Ham and Cheese!
We then had a meander around Grindavik. Gosh I’m glad I
brought two coats, we were blown along our travels to look at the statue to an
author, and then a walk along the harbour. Grindavik is a bustling town due to
salted fish, but on Easter Sunday, we were the only people outside. On with our
travels and to test out the Outlander on gravel roads. Our first stop was
Seltun, which we visited back in 2010 and I remember being repulsed at the
smell. I don’t really mind it now. The main difference now though is coach
loads of tourists that keen descending.
Onwards to visit somewhere we haven’t visited before, mainly
because on our first trip, we had an awful map that took us on a 4 wheel drive
road so we missed a treat. Kleifarvatn is huge and said to be the home of a
gigantic worm. Two villagers were bickering over property, so they each had to
walk from their farm at an allotted time and where they met, that was their
boundary. However, one accused the other of leaving early so they then put
spells on each other, one was the giant worm in the lake. We didn’t see a giant
worm, but we did see amazing ice at the edge of the shore from the black sand
beach. We walked along the beach, along shards of ice rather than surf, and
then stopped at a lovely cave with icicles.
On with our journey and our next stop we visited before, but
I hadn’t seen it this ferocious before. Gunnuhver hot springs is a mere 200
degrees under a very thin crust. As soon as we arrived, a tourist hoped the
barrier and walked to the edge. Silly silly man, he could fall through the
earth! There was so much steam that it was rainy under the steam cloud. Our
next stop was a little further on, to the Reykjanesviti cliffs where we walked
to the top to see kittiwakes, and then onto the lighthouse, the oldest in
Iceland. Strangely, it’s a bit inland and not actually on the sea edge.
We then ventured to somewhere we visited in a gale. It was
so windy we had to run to the Bridge over Two Continents , take a picture and
then rush back. Not this time, in glorious sun and lots of wind, we were able
to stand between the American and Eurasian plate, which have divded a whole
10cm since we last visited. I walked over to North America and waved back at
Ali on Eurasia. Too many hols in the bridge for Ali.
A very unprecedented day, but a real corker, with lots of
great finds. A long drive up to Bifrost where we are staying in a guesthouse on
the 1.
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