First time being chased out of a museum

We thought we would start the day with a morning stroll around the town. Hrisey only has 100 inhabitants so it wasn’t going to take long, we only saw 3 people the entre time we were on the Island, and one of them was caretaker of the holiday home. He greeted us on our stroll and handed us some dried fish that he was eating on his walk. Ali took some an instantly regretted it. Apparently it was really fishy and the taste lingered a very long time.

We walked through a very snowy town, through very colourful houses. A few of the houses has mini replica houses in the garden, I wondered if they were for elves possibly. I also liked the bins and washing lines attached to very heavy weights. We caught the ferry back to the mainland and drove to Akureyri which felt bustling and the first traffic we have seen for a while.

Our first stop was to Akureyri church. Our arrival coincided with the lunchtime service, so we stood in the foyer for a while and was then invited in to join the service. It was all in Icelandic, but we understood the Lords Prayer and the prayers for people who are poorly. It was strangely very moving, even though we couldn’t understand the words. We also got to listen to the gigantic organ playing. The service involved nine women only and after the tourists were allowed in to take pictures. The stained glass is stunning, one from Coventry Cathedral and a replica reconciliation statue that I’ve seen in Coventry Cathedral before.

After lunch, we visited the Akureyri Museum. It houses an exhibit of very old maps, exhibit of old Akureyri and an exhibition on Vigdis Finnbogadottir, first ever female president. The exhibit was full of her dresses, including a wool election dress, her traditional dress, wool coats and her power suits from the eighties. It also included her honours, including the Order of Bath, a gift from our Queen. We watched a fascinating video interview with her, talking about women in politics and how women are constantly having their clothes commented on. She talked about the national women day off day in 1975, where the country ground to a halt. Proving what would happen without equality. I just wish we could have stayed to the end of the video, but the gentleman told us that we had all of 2 minutes left. We hadn’t even got to the maps or the Akureyri rooms yet! We were literally chased out of the museum. This was a first.

It’s been a whole day since the last hot tub, so off we went to the local swimming pool, tipped as being one of the finest in Iceland. It was great. A huge pool, huge training pool with the local swimming club doing laps with their coaching shouting orders, lots of hot tubs of varying temperatures. We didn’t dare go into the 43 degree hot tub, 38 degrees was our limit. One of the hot tubs had a jet stream and I had to have a go. I should have known what would happen because I’ve never been in a hot tub with a waist strap before but the jet was so strong, it would have pushed me out of the tub! Instead, it pummelled my back. I’m still not quite sure whether I liked it or not, nor am I used to the whole naked changing room thing. What I am getting used to is the leaving your boots outside the pool and drying in separate areas to changing rooms. The result is clean changing rooms. Gosh I hope Icelanders never visit pools in the UK.

Spectacular show of the Northern Lights

What a surreal night. We watched Skyfall and then before bed, had a peak out the window, the Northern Lights were building. Kitted up, we went outside to watch them. Oh my gosh, it was the best we have ever seen them. They were waving across the sky, chopping and changing constantly. With no light pollution around, it was perfect. The American’s who are building a lodge close by, joined us for the show, with their many beers. They start work at 7am, finish at 10pm and between that time, they drink…with no days off.

Luckily, the workers were off at the crack of dawn so we had the gorgeous house to ourselves. I sat in the hot tub admiring the view of the Arctic sea. All hot water is taken from the natural geothermal spring on the hill close by. We could see the steam coming off of the spring. A morning hot tub was divine.

On with our journey and around the rest of the troll mountains, passing lots of skiing fields and lots of tunnels through the mountains. One village even had a ski jump! We arrived early to catch our ferry to Hrisey, an island North of Akureyi. We previously flew over this gorge when we got the small plane to Grimsey. It only took 15 mins on the ferry and we were there. We were in for a treat, puffins and eider ducks greeted us when we docked. We walked to our holiday home and found 6 Ptarmigan! Pure white and fluffy.

We thought we would do the island walk and followed the trail for a little while before it was impassable. The snow was so deep, we were falling about all over the place, so instead decided to walk to the lighthouse. Which is walking almost the entire length of the island (7.5km long). So, a very hearty walk through deep snow, with nothing and nobody around. Just us, in the middle of a fjord, on an island, just off the Arctic Circle. Bliss.

When all else fails - POWER

Breakfast in a layby in Blonduous was a great way to start the day, overlooking a snowy gorge and river. Quite a hairy drive to Kalfshamarsvik cover along a very snowy and icy road. Most of the journey was unpaved and the road to the cove was filled with snow. At one point, Ali went over a peak and we descended quickly. More on that peak in a mo, before we had to go back over that peak, we had a walk to the lighthouse to see the columns of rocks, similar to Giants Causeway. We were the only tourists the cove had seen for a long time.

We walked for the final bit of the journey. Ali accidentally walked onto a frozen lake and I then fell into a ditch and had snow up to my knees. The view at the lighthouse was stunning and absolutely freezing. It’s minus 6 today without wind chill. Back to the car to the bum warming seats and on the road  again, until we reached the peak in the road. Ali jumped out and I took the steering wheel. Attempt one – nope, roll back. Attempt two – nope, roll back. All I had in my head was Jeremy Clarkson and POWER! Skidding all over the place, I did a hard right and success, we were free. You should have seen the look on Ali’s face, there was nobody around and probably nobody passing for quite some time.

Ontowards to the museum of prophecies in Skagastrond. The only problem was that we couldn’t find it so abandoned ship and instead went onto our next stop at Holar. It’s a historic town from 1106. We did the walking tour, starting at the spring, onto the cathedral, then the university, Icelandic horse museum alas closed and the beer factory which was also closed. But still a lovely tour and a lovely setting, surrounded by mountains.

Our next stop was to Hofsos infinity pool, funded by two wealthy local women. It’s stunning, overlooking the fjord and Drangey island. Nicely warm but the windchill got to us, so after a few laps we were in the hot tub.

A little further down the road to our guest house for the right, at the end of a snowy path so I got to drive again. Our guest house is stunning, on the edge of 5 covers and by the side of the arctic ocean. I’m sat watching TV, two picture windows in front of me at the sunset and picture window to the left looking to the mountain. Our 5 male capenter house friends have just arrived. Cosy.

Can eyeballs freeze?

Last night we were talking about missing Grabrok crater yesterday and I asked if we could maybe do it today. Ali said she doesn’t know how far it is away, so we might not be able to do it. But we were staying in Grabrok Guesthouse, it can’t be that far away. Low and behold, we exit after dinner and it’s right behind our guesthouse! So that was our mission for the morning, to climb the crater of an old volcano. A gloriously sunny day again, but it was minus figures when we were at ground level, I hate to think what the temperature was at the top with wind chill.

Luckily there is stairs and a boardwalk to the top of the. Many were icey so Ali adopted an animal like pose to climb to the top. It was stunning but oh my gosh, it would easily blow us into the crater. Thank goodness for our wind proof clothing! We walked along the edge of the crater, Ali attached to my bag, it was that windy. I was wondering if eyeballs can freeze, it’s the only bit of me that was exposed to the elements and they were burning with the cold. Ali also dislikes heights so descended on her bum instead. A great visit, I loved walking the rim of a crater but gosh the heated seats in the Outlander were very very welcome when we got back.

Coffee and cake in our guesthouse, then on the road to our first visit to Hvitserkur and sea stacks. The journey was stunning, pure white snow and glacial rivers. The sea stacks were along an unpaved road so we were jumping around for an hour. We first walked down to the beach, the only footprints on the beach. We are doing a great job of avoiding tourists today. We saw the sea stack which to me looks like a donkey drinking from the sea. We had lunch overlooking the inlet, spit, lagoon, mountains. You couldn’t get many more geographical features in one lunch spot.

Onwards to a treat and unsignposted waterfall. Gulfoss is a double cascade, but this was a six cascade waterfall which was iced but still flowing wildly. I could have driven over the wooden bridge across the fall but thought better of it. Instead, we went further to Pingeyar church, a gorgeous stone church in the middle of a stunning surrounding. Mountains, a lake and nothing around. We stopped to see what we could hear….absolutely nothing.

Our overnight stop is at Guesthouse Kiljan in Blonduos.

Five layers is the magic number

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.