Iceland - Day four

One thing you should know about Iceland if you intend to go there, apart from the fact that it is a fascinating and wonderful place to visit, is that visiting it is very expensive! For example, a hamburger for lunch would cost around $20 CDN perhaps more.

Remember to click on any photo to see a larger version.

This would be a long travel day from Brekka to the town of Akureyri so we had to be prepared for a pretty early start. Getting ready involved packing up the food and drinks we had purchased but not yet consumed - some we were able to take, some we left for the folks who maintain the “lodge”.  After cleaning up and putting out the trash and recycling we were on the road by 9:30 or so.

By the way, as with the sheep in the previous blog, this image with the horses in the distance was made a couple of days ago but I wanted to put it in, so this seemed a reasonable place.

Our route was mostly on the main highway #1 but not far past Borgarnes we left the main road in order to visit three places. At Deildartunguhver we expected to find the largest hot springs in Europe and Krauma, a brand new bathing complex with hot pools, a cold pool, steam baths and a restaurant.  A big buildup for a big let down as what we could see of the hot springs was unimpressive and all facilities were closed.  The second place we hoped to visit in that area, Viðgelmir, is the largest and least challenging lava tube to visit in Iceland. It is apparently 1100 years old and displays interesting ever changing rock formations along the 1.5 Km long tube.

This was another disappointment as we were unable to see the cave because our time there did not coincide with the next tour and we couldn’t wait as we had a long day planned. 

So, on to Hraunfossar, which means “Lava field waterfall”. Surely the waterfall would not be closed and it wasn't. Unlike Gullfoss, this waterfall is neither high nor clouded in mist but, instead, a beautiful series of lava formations of various widths and heights, extending quite a long distance along the river into which the waterfalls flow. Some areas of the falls are like rapids, others are low cliffs where the water falls off more sharply while some appear to be large springs. The source seems to be entirely from underground with water flowing both through and over the lava rocks into the adjacent river. 

From the Lava falls we drove back to the main road and headed north east en-route to Akureyri but with a planned stop at Hvitserkur, a 15 Meter high “sea stack” which, I read somewhere, is comprised of Basalt.  For  those like me who don’t know, basalt is a fine grained igneous rock with generally 45-55% silica (SiO₂) and at least 65% of the rock is feldspar. (I know, that's over 100% but my guess is that feldspar has silica in it.)  This is said to be the most common volcanic rock type on Earth. 

As you might expect, however, before arriving at Hvitserkur we stopped at a couple of spots for some photos. Here Michael is attempting, I think, to capture a glimpse of the west fjords and, below, Rod is zeroing in on the birds resting on that rocky ridge just off shore.

When we arrived at Hvitserkur we found that the parking lot is located in an area which did not make it easy to figure out where the rock was. We walked along a path on the cliff well above the water and finally found Hvitserkur.

Hvitserkur from the cliff

Initially we were content to take photos from the top of the cliff  until we realized that we could, by taking a bit of a hike, get down to the beach much closer to the item of interest. 

Beach path to Hvitserkur

So we did and, though it was a relatively steep climb back up, the trail was not difficult. The sun was getting pretty low so provided some lovely light for photographs. 

By the time we took our photos and walked back to the car it was getting late so we needed to move on in order to get to Akureyri before it was totally dark.

Looking south, I think, from Hvitserkur

In spite of passing up many great photo opportunities, we did not achieve the goal of arriving at our accommodation before dark, a factor which contributed to a bit of difficulty finding Hamragril Lodge.

Looking east from the cliff near Hvitserkur

When we  did find it we were pretty happy both because we were tired and ready to relax and the place was excellent, providing all the comforts advertised including a geothermally heated hot tub!

More about Iceland and Day three

More about Iceland.

And remember to click on any photo to see a larger version.

Iceland, one of the youngest landmasses on the planet, is situated on the 18,000 Km Mid Atlantic Ridge. The ridge is a rift between two of the earth's major tectonic plates, the Eurasian and North American plates, which continue to separate at a rate of 1 to 18 mm annually. Iceland was formed about 20 million years ago by underwater volcanic eruptions along the junction of the two plates. The earth’s crust in Iceland is only one third of its normal thickness and the constant rising of molten rock from within is what apparently continues to force the plates apart. The thin crust and the shifting plates are believed to be responsible for most of Iceland’s volcanic and, likely,  accessible geothermal activity. Iceland’s volcanoes are in a variety of states from extinct to dormant to preparing for the next eruption. Several of the most active ones lie under glaciers or water, which apparently can lead to quite dramatic eruptions when molten lava comes in contact with ice or water. I have read that Glaciers and ice caps cover about 11% of Iceland, and we had the good fortune to see one of them today.

Today we were on the road a bit earlier as our drive north to the Snaefellsjökull Peninsula, and the Snaefellsjökull National Park was a bit longer than previous days. Our first stop was at the town of Borgarnes where we had some lunch.  Here we were served by a young woman who spoke to us in perfect English. We learned from her that she and her friends learn to speak English so well through video games, music, movies and in school where they begin to study English from age 10. We also learned that they get “lots of snow” and cold (lower than -10º C) in Borgarnes and that she is planning to go to Florida!  And this, it’s important to note, is the place that I left my Algarve baseball cap. :-(

If I told you these sheep were seen today that would not be true, but there were sheep almost everywhere so they fit here as well as anywhere else.

Not surprisingly, we found a number of interesting photo opportunities along the way including streams in front of spectacular mountain as well as a little church with the Snæfellsjökull ice capped volcano in the distance.

Snæfellsjökull icecap

Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano.

According to Lonely Planet, Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called "composite volcanoes" because of their composite layered structure which is built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes. One famous stratovolcanoe with which most of us are familiar is Krakatoa. 

The highlight of the day came after a drive up a deeply rutted trail which turned out to be the maintenance trail to a cell tower high above the main road, which is already well above sea level. From here we walked a couple of hundred meters further up on moss and lichen covered rocky terrain to a prime location for views of the icecap and the surrounding area.

The moss covering on the rocks was amazingly thick and soft and on testing it we found that it was almost as comfortable as lying on a good mattress.

View from atop the cell tower hill

View from atop the cell tower hill looking east, I think.

The photo right was made from the top of the cell tower hill as were the next two photos, which I have labelled.

View from cell tower hill looking south east.

After basking for about an hour or so on our wonderful elevated point of view, we reluctantly left this spectacular spot and moved on down the rutted trail to the highway and toward the Snæfellsjökull park - which, when we arrived, seemed anti-climatic by comparison to our earlier experience of the snow capped volcano from our “tower hill”! So we left the park shortly after arrival and continued on toward the north side of the peninsula. 

Along the way we made several stops on the west side for photos of the Snæfellsjökull icecap and fields of volcanic debris in the foreground.

Snæfellsjökull volcanic icecap and volcanic debris

When we reached the north side of the peninsula we found the beautiful small town of GrundarfjÖrður, which is reminiscent of a typical Icelandic fishing village though it may now depend more on tourism for its income than fishing. And, it almost looks as though it could be in Newfoundland! The town is surrounded by ice-capped peaks some of which were visible though not clearly as they were surrounded in fog and and mist. Somewhere nearby there is also a waterfall, which we missed.

Another point of interest nearby is the unusual, almost pyramidal shaped,  iconic mountain, Kirkjufell, which some claim is the most photographed place in Iceland. Apparently one can hire a guide and climb this 493 meter high mountain. Two areas involve rope climbing which is quite dangerous especially when the surfaces are wet, which is most of the time. We decided to pass on that adventure.

Kirkjufell

On the way back to Brekka we stopped at an interesting cluster of cone shaped hills adjacent to an area of moonscape looking terrain and streams and ponds and greenery. These cone hills are clearly not volcanic but what they are is not clear to us and, so far, I have not been able to find any information about them.

They are shaped a bit like the mysterious Cone-Shaped Chocolate Hills in Bohol in the Philippines, and some are reddish brown colour which looks a little “chocolatey”. These are not in clusters like those in Bohol and as no one seems to understand the origin of the Bohol hills, this similarity doesn’t really help to understand the Iceland cones. If anyone knows the origin and nature of these cones I would appreciate hearing from them.

A fantastic day! 

Our last evening view across the bay from Brekka Lodge

This is our last night at Brekka as tomorrow we leave for a long day of driving to Hamragril Lodge near the town of Akureyri north and east of Brekka.

In case you're wondering, the photo, right,  was not photoshopped - this is the way it looked.

A bit about Iceland then more day one plus day 2.

Brace yourself because this is a long post. And, just a reminder to click on any photo to see a large version.
You may notice occasional font changes - Unfortunately, I have been unable to fix these so have to live with them.

A couple of general comments and then a bit more on our first day trip before moving on to our day 2.

As I kept very sketchy notes while in Iceland, writing this with any degree of certainty has been a challenge.  So, if my commentary seems a bit fuzzy it’s because it reflects my memory - that is, fuzzy. 

A view across the bay from Brekka Lodge

A bit about Iceland. The first permanent settlement in Iceland was established around AD 870 by outlaws and disgruntled anti-monarchy Vikings and Celts from Norway and the British Isles respectively. The main language of the settlers was Old Norse or the Dǫnsk tunga (Danish tongue). During the 12th and 13th centuries a number of great literary works - the sagas - were written by Icelanders. These sagas, many of which were the work of unknown authors, were written in a language very much like Old Norse. 

From about AD 930 Iceland was governed by an early form of  “democracy” through a nation wide “Þing“ - a kind of “parliament” of tribal chieftains who apparently met annually in an area within what is now the Þingellir National Park. Here, all important decisions affecting Iceland were made - laws were passed, marriage contracts were made and even religions agreed upon. Unfortunately, over the centuries increasing violence among the most powerful groups led to collapse of the Þing and subsequent take-over by Norway.

From 1262 until the 15th century, Iceland was governed by Norway, then by Denmark. During the periods of Norwegian and Danish rule, Norwegian and Danish languages were used in Iceland to some extent.

In 1944 Iceland gained its independence and the Icelandic language was revived as an official and literary language. Today there is a very successful publishing industry in Iceland and Icelanders are among the most enthusiastic readers and writers in the world.

Now, back briefly for a bit more on our day one hike to the waterfall, Glymur, Iceland’s highest waterfall (198 meters), a hike we aborted about half way (or less) to the destination.  In order to move forward from where we stopped, we would need to clamber through a cave, for what distance we knew not, in order to then

continue on a very rough terrain trail to the waterfall at least an hour further up the river gorge seen in this photo. From what we could see in the distance, in order to continue on the trail we would have to successfully walk over a single log bridge across a fast running stream… - well, you no doubt get the picture - this appeared to be an attractive challenge for 18 to 30 year olds that were entering the cave but out of the question for this octogenarian, and,  I think, for our sexagenarian! Michael might have tackled it, but in the end we all agreed that we would turn back.

After aborting the hike, we decided to go on to Reykjavik to stock up on supplies for the coming days.

On our way to Reykjavik we noticed something we would see repeatedly, namely farms/buildings situated in the lee of mountains which presumably offer protection from the weather.

Day two - We had a relaxing morning before setting out for Þingvellir National Park, a drive which took us through amazing topography both on our way to the park and later to Geysir and Gullfoss water fall. Actually it's redundant to say "water fall" as "foss" means waterfall.

After rounding the tip of the bay we noticed a solitary "dock" on this spit of land. A road side sign described it as a “View from Hvitanes”, a view of what was a strategically important location in the protected end of a long bay inlet. This site is in the Hvalfjörður area - which during WWII saw naval bases for both Britain and the USA. At some point there were over 200 buildings including a hospital, movie theatre, living quarters and workshop for maintenance of the submarine barrier and the naval mines which protected the entrance to a harbour. Repair and supply ship convoys moved in and out protected from the German fleets in the north Atlantic by battleships from this harbour.

Between the Hvalfjörður area and the Þingvellir National Park we saw some amazing rugged beauty and stopped frequently to try to capture it!

For anyone who has had the opportunity to drive the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton some of these images may bring back memories. That is certainly what came to mind for me as we drove through these areas.

Note a tiny Michael in the distance

I am unable to say where all of these images were made except that they are somewhere along our drive to Þingellir National Park.

Below, Rod is aiming at a relatively small waterfall (which you won't see). He is down behind the rocky area for two reasons. The most important one is that the wind was incredibly strong that day, so strong that you could literally lean into it almost without falling, and it was virtually impossible to hold the camera steady enough to get a reasonable photo. The second, of course was that his location offered a better view of the falls. 

I don't recall for certain why we stopped in this location below though I think it was to take photos of several swans swimming in this small pond near the road.

I noticed and liked the colorful house (below) peeking up just across the road.

At the same spot just before leaving I stood in the middle of the road to get the photo below and just as I took the photo I heard a car approaching me from behind at a pretty good clip so had to move quickly to avoid disaster.

Inside the Þingvellir National Park near the huge fault shown in the photo on the right,  the AlÞingi - the world’s first “democratic parliament” was established by the Vikings in AD 930. It was in the adjacent rift valley, created by the separating junction of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, that they met annually for about 4 centuries (see above information). It is said that the plates are currently moving away from each other at a rate of 1 cm or more per year.

The image left, though not a very good photo, shows the fault ridge wall and 

the one to the right is the rift valley and somewhere out there is where the AlÞingi apparently met.

On to Geysir - site of the “hot springs” and, of course, geysers. It is said that this is the place that gave name to the general term "Geyser". 

The area is literally “teeming” with geothermal activity bubbling and steaming at or just below the surface, along with at least 3 geysers which release their burst of steaming hot water at various interval - the one pictured here had intervals of about 10 to 15 minutes.  

A bit beyond this one was an allegedly larger one that erupted every 30 to 60 minutes. We waited a bit but decided to move on to Gullfoss, the “Golden Falls” which is a relatively short drive from Geysir.

Gullfoss  - Iceland’s most famous waterfall - cascades down 32 meters. Once you see it you understand why is it is considered the most famous of the major Iceland waterfalls. It is a spectacular double or triple cascade of roaring water filling the air, and camera lenses with spray, - beautiful to see but not good for taking photographs unless you clean your lens frequently!  If you look at this image of the falls closely you will see, left middle, an outcropping where people congregate to get a better look at the falls. It's a bit tricky to get there as it is basically a walk over rocks wet from the continual spray. 

I managed to get up there with difficulty (fell gently to my knee once without serious consequences) and got many images of the falls. The ones I have include here I think captures Gullfoss, as well as I was able. 
There are lots of stories about the name - Golden Falls - but the only one that sticks in my mind tells of a man who once owned the property on which the falls is located. He was apparently very wealthy with lots of gold. It is said that he was so fearful that someone would rob him of his gold that he decided to hide it in the falls. Getting it in was easy, getting it out would have presented more of a challenge!

After Gulfoss,  home for a great Rod Marr meal, hopefully a hot tub and photo processing. Unfortunately, the barbecue lacked fuel and smelled overpoweringly of fish forcing a more difficult meal preparation for Rod. The meal was excellent in spite of the difficulties!

Iceland

The long planned trip to Iceland, mentioned in the previous blog was, unfortunately, postponed because of an acute illness that presented itself the day before departure. After spending half a day in the Perth Emergency department for early treatment and a week of antibiotics, recommended diet and continual improvement, I was persuaded, thankfully, to go ahead with the trip. So, after a lot of reorganizing with airlines and accommodations in Iceland, we set out on Friday for a  very smooth approximately 5 hour flight on Icelandic Air.

Remember that you can click on any image to see a larger version.

One inside view of Brekka.

We arrived in Iceland at 11:30 pm (there is a 4 time zone difference). From the airport to Reykjavik, where we were able to pick up some groceries, is about a 40 minute drive. From Reykjavik the drive to our very pleasant nordic cottage, Brekka Lodge, which took us through a 6 Km tunnel under the bay, was another 45 to 50 minutes. So, though we arrived at 7:30 pm our time, by the time we reached Brekka and got settled it was well after midnight. We slept latish and relaxed a bit in our new surroundings. The view from the deck of water and mountains was quite spectacular and a great introduction to even more amazing topography that we were to see in time.

Below is a view from the deck of the lodge.

Later we drove to a relatively short distance to a waterfall (Glymur) - it was a long rocky climb from the parking lot and we discovered after more than an hour of walking that we still had another hour to go through quite difficult terrain so we aborted the walk.

At one point on our way back from the hike there was a nice view of the bay which we can also see from our diggs at Brekka.

Waiting for me.

Later Michael heard from his contact here that “you need a helicopter to get to that one”! After returning to the car we went to Reykjavik to shop for groceries and wine and beer.

We spent the evening editing photos and just chilling out. We intended to use the geothermal heated hot tub but initially it was too hot and later, when the hot tub was ready the weather had turned cold, windy and rainy and we were tired so some of us just relaxed, sipped some wine then went to bed.

Below is a view from the deck of Brekka just after sunset.

Because our time is so limited this may be both the first and last blog post from Iceland.

August 2017

It’s been about a year since my last blog post (so I’m a bit rusty) and our August 2017 at Crow Lake is in its final days!

(Remember, you can click on any photo to see a larger version.)

But 2017 activities began a bit earlier.

As in recent years Bob James and I came up in June to “open” the place with the main job being to get the water system filled and functioning. The Spring in Ontario has seen record breaking rain so the water levels in the lakes has been extremely high and when Bob and I were here we found the dock under water, a water level that we have seen only once before in our 40 years here.

The next activity was at the end of July when our friends Rick and Joanne spent a few days here - a time which turned out to be more eventful than they had planned. During their stay the pressure valve on our kitchen hot water heater failed, spreading hot water over the kitchen floor. Fortunately, Rick knew how to deal with the immediate problem but we still needed a new hot water heater before our next guests -  long time friends Vic and Babs along with their son Mark and his wife Robynne Edgar and their boys, Jacob and Coleman as well as V and B’s youngest son, Reid. Eight people without hot water in the kitchen would have been a challenge. Fortunately I was able to install the new heater in time for their 3 day stay.

Sorry, only a few photos from those visits. Not sure how that happened.

Not sure if that is Reid or Vic in the canoe.

Below, that is definitely Reid swimming but not quite sure if the other is Mark or Jacob.

On to August, which, as usual, has been a great month for us though a bit quieter than many. Thankfully, Michael was able to be here for a long weekend during the 5 days that Ann and Pat and Shayla and Ryan were also here.

Shayla has two rather large "ducks" - this is the larger of the two. Both have been given names - the smaller is Daryl and this one's name has varied so I'm not quite sure what it is.

And for part of a day we were joined by Jesse, Ruth's godson, and his partner Theresa.

Jess is an avid fisherman and Michael had brought his new fly fishing rod so they had a bit of a fly fishing "expedition".

Michael and Jesse perhaps in conversation about fly fishing.

Ryan has also developed an interest in fishing and he spent quite a bit of time catching fish both from the dock and the canoe.

Ruth and I have had to manage on our own, along with Kita and some local Loon friends, 

for the rest of the month while we look forward to a brief visit with Rod and Hope before Michael, Rod and I leave from Toronto for 14 days in Iceland!

So, stay tuned as I hope to post the next blog with images from Iceland, images as good or better than this Crow Lake sunset!