We didn’t write anything yesterday, mostly because it was more or less a typical “travel day”—long, drawn-out, and kind of boring.
We had planned to have another go at the bird-cliffs in the morning, but…guess what? It was raining! So we packed up, drove to Patreksfjörður to tank up and pick up some supplies (not easy to find a grocery…only happened because we’ve learned the Icelandic word “verslun”, which was hand-painted on a building on a side street), and drove off to catch a ferry to Stykkishólmur. We got to the ferry dock FIVE hours early, just like several other small touring groups we keep meeting. It was a bit challenging to waste five hours, without getting so far out of range we couldn’t make it back, plus Sheila wasn’t feeling very well, and so wasn’t really up for hiking, or long walks, which we could have done. So we drove around, and Lars took pictures. Iceland has lots of waterfalls that are especially striking when snow is melting rapidly, so, here are a few more. We have been seeing bunches of white swans in green fields ever since we picked up our rental auto, this time Lars took their picture.
The sheep are grazing on the beach…eating seaweed?
They should call Iceland “Waterfall-land”—these don’t even have names, and are probably only “spring thaw” waterfalls.
The ferry Baldur left Brjánslækur (BRYOWNS-lie-kur) a bit after 6, stopping briefly at Flatey. There are about 2,500 islands in Breiðafjörður Bay, most barely above the sea. Flatey is the only one still inhabited year-round. We let off a couple of passengers, and picked up a dumpster.
When we finally got to Stykkishólmur at 9 p.m., we still had an hour drive to our hotel. This is really the only thing Nordic Vistor could have done better on, though we certainly can’t complain about Guesthouse Virkið otherwise. The room is beautiful, we have our own bathroom, and it’s well-situated for exploring Snæfellsnes (SNY-fet’ls-ness). Which we did today, after collapsing into the king-size (!!!) bed after a tiring day.
We woke up to…rain. The locals ALL say there hasn’t been a spring like this in living memory. Just our luck. Anyway, since “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”, we set off. Arctic Terns don’t seem to mind the weather…here they are lined up on the runway, ready for take-off. Snæfellsjökull was playing hide-and-seek today…this is where Jules Verne set the scene for “Journey to the Center of the Earth”.
We drove all the way out to the very tip…well, you can’t drive all the way, so we walked part of it between showers. There was, of course, a lighthouse…there is quite the string of them all around the country. And there were ruins of some fishermen’s huts…no idea how old they were. And the “ancient well” called Fálki (FOWL-key), or “Falcon”.
And…spring has come to the lava fields!
And speaking of lava fields, Lars thinks they’re pretty ordinary stuff, while Sheila finds the textures fascinating. So, by request:
Note that THESE columnar basalts are only about 4-6” across…baby basalts.
And there were bird-cliffs, not as impressive as Látrabjarg, but more accessible:
Can you see the 3 birds flying into the “cave”? Flying through this “cave” seemed to be a favorite thing for some of the local sea birds. The two big white dots in the upper left picture appear to be a newly-mated pair of razorbills that seem to have found a totally new “house”. They have not even been there long enough to “white-wash” the front entrance! Razorbills seem to be the “cave-dwellers”...see top middle pic. The fulmars have their little nooks (lower left), whereas some other species make do with most any little flat place.
Three more random shots from the day—the church at Stykkishólmur, the rock formation “Kirkufell” (Church Mountain), and “Roadhenge” at a pull-out.
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