Epilogue: Scotland to Iceland 2023 #14

There’s one story that I missed in my coverage of the Iceland road trip. When we got into Dalvik we discovered that there were 4 places to eat in town: a cafe that also served meals, a restaurant that served the same menu pretty much every day of the year, a pizza place, and a higher end restaurant specializing in local cuisine. We decided to go for pizza only to discover that the place was closed and, when I checked on Trip Advisor today, it looks as though that has become a permanent closure.

One of the people at the hotel told us about Gisil, Eirikur, Heigi kaffehaus bakkabraedra. They have one menu consisting of fish soup, salad, bread and tea or coffee.

Dinner

We thought we’d give that a try. The soup refills were free and I think she gave us an extra piece of bread too. We ordered dessert and drinks and the bill for the two of us came to $75 CAD. You just have to get used to that when you travel in Iceland.

Gisil, Eirikur, Heigi, is a fascinating place decorated with antiques of all sorts. Just inside the door was a shelf that held all manner of wooden planes, so of course, I had to have a good look at those.

Some of the decor. Not sure about the pants.

It wasn’t busy when we were there and we had quite a chat with one of the owners. She told us the story of the three characters the restaurant is named for and then, when she found out we were from Canada, she produced a children’s book in English with the same story. Unfortunately I didn’t make notes on the plot of the story and I haven’t been able to find it online. It was something to do with the brothers wanting to build a house to keep out the light and the various shenanigans that ensued. If you happen to find it please let me know.

She told us that people had asked her for the story in English so she searched and found the book on the internet and ordered it from Canada. It was a library discard with the card pocket and the card still in the back. Even more interesting, the writer and illustrator are both Canadian and the book was published in Red Deer Alberta. She also told us that Davik has a festival that draws 30,000 people to it. Dalvik is a small place and I don’t know where they put them all. We left the restaurant full, contented, and marvelling at the interesting coincidences that sometimes crop up when we travel.



The second night in Dalvik we ate at Gregor’s. The food was good. I had the cod but the experience wasn’t nearly as much fun as eating at kaffehaus bakkabraedra.

Finale: Scotland to Iceland 2023 #13

Top of the crater

Hotel Dalvik was our home for nights 4 and 5 of our Iceland road trip. On our way from Bifrost to Dalvik we climbed a cinder cone that was a short drive from our hotel.

Path up to the crater

It was very breezy at the top and, because of the wind, we decided not to walk to the smaller cone. We had to hang onto our hats and really brace against the force of the wind. At one of our stops after that, we managed to acquire gas and a paper map. I’m old fashioned and there is a certain sense of comfort that comes from having a paper map onboard because it’s much easier for me to understand the big picture from a physical map.

When we were, again, looking for a washroom we decided to take a detour into a little town where the community swimming pool overlooked the ocean.

Small town

We managed to find a washroom and ice cream there. I drove for a while but Richard did the bulk of the driving.

Around noon we arrived in Siglufjordur and, what ship should be in port but the Ocean Endeavour so we decided to put on our Adventure Canada jackets and play a few head games with the staff.

We meet again

We met a couple of people we knew as we walked toward the ship and then on our way back to the car, at an outdoor pub, we saw a collection of the distinctive light blue ball caps worn by staff. We sidled up and began a conversation as if we had never left. Some of the folks knew we were driving around Iceland but it took one person about 15 minutes before she exclaimed, “Hey, you guys aren’t on the ship anymore are you?” We confessed and everyone had a good laugh. Shortly after that we said our goodbyes and headed for Dalvik.

In the morning we intended to take a hike noted in All Trails but we weren’t able to find the start of it so we headed for Akureyri. Turns out the Ocean Endeavour was docked there when we arrived and again, we bumped into staff that we knew. We checked out a pedestrian mall which was very crowded and decided to head for a Bonus store to buy stuff for lunch. Richard found a pull off by a pretty little bridge so we opened the hatch and had our lunch there. 

After lunch Richard sketched while I had a nap. We caught something on the ship and, although we tested negative for covid, we were left with coughs and diminished energy on our circuit around Iceland. We finished up the day with dinner at Georgie’s. I was doing my best to eat whole foods that are plant based on this trip and it was a challenge. In the smaller towns dinners rely on either fish or lamb to anchor the meal. I had cod which was very good but I was feeling the lack of fresh veggies.

Sunday July 9 brought us to our 6th day in Iceland. It was a perfect day with the car thermometer reading +23C by 5 pm. We stopped at Godafoss where we walked down one side of the falls, crossed a bridge and then walked up the other side.

Godafoss

A little closer in

In the afternoon we visited Lake Myvatn. We walked part way around the lake and my birding heart was happy because we saw ducks, swans, loons, Arctic terns, and some LGB’s (little grey birds) that I couldn’t identify. We had lunch on the deck of the information centre and I discovered that I had left my Swiss army knife at the last place we stayed. I was not amused.

Lake Myvatn

From another angle

Swiss army knives seem to be a casualty of my travels. I lost one on our Cumbria way hike in 2008, and now someone in Iceland has a little souvenir from Scotland. I hope both knives found good homes and that their new owners are enjoying them. We spent the night at Hotel Laugar and in the morning continued our journey. We saw 2 waterfalls, some rather smelly fumaroles, and boiling mud pits.

Waterfall !

Waterfall 2

Dried mud

Stinky 1

Stinky 2

The volcanic region was quite different from the coast road. Whereas the coast road had farms and green fields, we passed through a desolate landscape where the only green was lichen on rocks.

After a night at Hotel Edda in Egilsstaoir, we needed to put on some miles so we drove. It was cloudy when we left in the morning and we had cloud, sun, and some rain throughout the day. We covered some beautiful territory with sea views, plateaus, farms, lavascapes, and a humongous glacier with more tongues than I was able to count. 

Sea view

Plateau

Glacier

River

Reflection

Finale:Scotland to Iceland #12

Our first hotel in Iceland was the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik and in some ways it was state of the art. I had never thought of electromagnetic pollution but you can read all about it on the large sign posted by the doors in the lobby.

Electro magnetic pollution

The Grand Hotel was quite a change from our  cabin on the ship. Another big change was being responsible for our own transportation. Since we weren’t scheduled to pick up the rental car until early afternoon, we found ourselves a little nook on the second floor and moved in there with our bags for a few hours.

View from the nook

We occupied our time by doing word puzzles and people-watching since we had a good view of the lower level. When the time came we got the hotel to call a cab for us and we went and picked up the rental car which was listed as a Toyota Corolla or similar. Turned out to be a Kia hatchback.

Our wheels

 We stopped in a little fast food place to have wraps for lunch. The wraps were good enough but it there were no washrooms there. In fact, finding public washrooms in Iceland turned out to be a bit of a challenge.

There was some pretty incredible scenery en route

Pretty nice scenery

before we arrived at Hotel Ork in Hveragerdi. [Apologies to Icelanders that I’m not finding the correct symbols that go along with the language so I’ve typed the names in naked English.] Just across the street from the hotel was a Bonus grocery store so we picked up berries, yogurt, cherry tomatoes, potato salad, zucchini, peppers, and cheese. I bought a tiny Swiss army knife in Scotland and it was a bit of a challenge to slice up the cheese and peppers but we made it work.

Urban picnic

The package from the rental company came with a self guiding tour and a wifi hotspot for the car. It took us a while to figure out that the directions for our driving tour and the hotels we were booked into were the reverse of each other. Once we sorted out that little detail things became easier.

After spending the night in a room with a view of steam coming out of the distant hillside,

Geothermal park

we found a Geothermal Park about 4 minutes from the hotel.

geyser

 It was quite small but there was lots to look at including a geyser. The park had a little greenhouse warmed year round geothermal energy. The gardener showed us around and gave us little sprigs of rosemary and lavender from the greenhouse. He said they would normally have had bananas but there was a very cold spell during the winter so the banana plant hadn’t done as well as it usually did.There was also an industrial hemp plant for cloth manufacturing and another marijuana plant that is used to produce flowers for CBD.

Legal plant

You can boil an egg over one of the steam vents (we didn’t) or try some of the rye bread that is baked by putting a can down into one of the vents. We did try that and it was delicious.

Yummy!

There were also warm mud basins where you could soak your feet. We gave that one a pass too since all of these were above the cost of admission and we didn’t feel like doing things just for the sake of doing them. We could have spent longer in the little oasis but got on the road and visited a geyser we had been to by bus to when we did the circumnavigation of Iceland with Adventure Canada in 2019. It was very busy but they did have potties. We ate our lunch in the parking lot. From there we decided to follow one of the connector roads but we only got a little way up it when we came to the dreaded ‘no cars’ sign.

We saw a lot of these signs

 If we were to drive in Iceland again we would definitely opt for a small SUV that could tackle some of the backroads which crisscross the island. We turned around and went through a 6 km tunnel.

Some of the tunnels in Iceland are interesting in that they are one way.  There are two arrows at the entrance of the tunnel. If the black arrow is pointing the direction you are heading,  you have the right of way. We did. That means that vehicles coming in the other direction have to deek into little pullouts in the tunnel to let you pass. If the red arrow is pointing in the direction you are heading you must yield the right of way to  oncoming vehicles.  It must be a bit nerve wracking to have to judge the distance of the oncoming traffic and the distance to the next pullout. Cars tended to come in bunches so, I imagine, it could get a little frustrating waiting for one batch of cars to pass only to find out that another batch was close enough behind that it wasn’t safe to leave your pullout. I’m sure people who drive the tunnels all the time are used to it and can time their timing down to the second. We spent our third night in Hotel Bifrost.

Finale: Scotland to Iceland 2023 #11

 

Goodbye to The Ocean Endeavour

We landed in Reykjavik on Tuesday July 4, 2023. It had been a short night. because Jason, our expedition leader, wanted us out of our rooms when we went for breakfast. We left our duffle bags outside the room and took our day packs upstairs to the lounge.

The folks who were taking flights left in a bus at 8:00 am. We were staying in Reykjavik and Adventure Canada allowed us to leave our luggage on the dock under their tent until we found our hotel and returned for the luggage. We weren’t sure about where to pick up the rental car but, through a series of phone calls, Richard managed to get that sorted out.

We had lunch at a place called ‘The Laundry’ and, yes, there really was a laundry in the basement of the building. The folks at the table next to us struck up a conversation when they saw our jackets. Turns out they were about to board The Ocean Endeavour for the circumnavigation of Iceland.

It took us about 45 minutes to walk to our hotel and we decided not to do that while dragging our duffles with us so we called a cab, returned to the dock, picked up our bags, and said goodbye to the Adventure Canada folks. The last part of our adventure was underway.

Heading for the North Atlantic: Scotland to Iceland 2023 #10

Our Scotland trip actually consisted of three parts. The first one was a tour of Scotland and the Isles. The second part was the sail from Scotland to the Faroe Islands to Iceland, and the final leg was our leaving the Ocean Endeavour and travelling around Iceland by car before flying back home.

On June 24, 2023 we landed in Aberdeen and said goodbye to some of the friends we met on the Scotland trip. We opted to go into Aberdeen with the bus taking folks to the hotel before their departure for home. We wandered around for a bit, took a few photos and had lunch at a funky little fast food place. Then we opted to walk back to the ship. It was a very hot day and we stuck to the shade as much as possible. Our walk took us through treed neighbourhoods and at one point we passed a street festival complete with a steel band.

Lunch stop

I don’t remember how it started but we met a man on the street and had a long conversation with him about Scotland and Canada. He walked with us for a few blocks and then turned toward his home. The people we meet while travelling are always one of the highlights.

When we got back to the ship we were able to watch them loading supplies for the next voyage. I enjoy that kind of stuff so I was perfectly happy standing at the rail watching huge pallets of food being loaded into the ship’s hold via the side doors. When I decided to go back inside the wind caught the door and slammed it on my left hand. I got ice on it right away and, luckily, I didn’t break anything although I had a definite lump for a while.

Loading through the side

Our first stop on the crossing to Iceland was supposed to be Fair Isle. The winds had other plans and the seas were too rough to land so, instead, we took the zodiacs and toured the bird cliffs. I was glad we were able to visit Fair Isle earlier and I was happy enough to be on the water among the birds. When we got back to the ship I noticed my nose seemed to be dripping more than usual and by midafternoon my throat was feeling scratchy.

The next morning I went for a Covid test which turned out negative. The medic told me to come back if I felt worse the next day. I didn’t feel worse but opted to stay onboard while Richard took the opportunity to go into Kirkwall on Orkney Island. As I wandered around on deck I met one of the women from the first trip who had tested positive for Covid and had been isolating in her cabin for five days. Certainly not the way anyone wants to spend their holiday.

After leaving Scotland our next stop was the Faroe Islands. I love the Faroes. They are green and rugged with spectacular waterfalls and puffins. I’m happy anywhere I can watch puffins. I stuck close to the ship when we stopped in Vagur. I wandered around the town, did a bit of sketching and dropped into a coffee shop that was offering us free coffee, tea, and muffins. I chatted with Janet, a fascinating woman from the US. It was her 76th birthday and she shared some of her cake with me. She had been a social worker and then decided at the age of fifty to go back to school and become a lawyer so that’s exactly what she did. She was an excellent storyteller and I wish I had made better notes on some of the experiences she related.

Torshavn near parliament buildings

My cold hampered activities for about four days although I was left with a cough for a number of weeks after the main symptoms disappeared. In Torshavn I went on a photo walk. I find most serious photographers prefer to shoot in RAW because of the amount of control it gives them. I don’t really enjoy any sort of post processing which, I know, is essential to creating really stunning photos. I tend to blunder along, doing the best I can in the moment and enjoying myself. Also on Torshavn we had a lunch of traditional Faroese food. We tried air-dried lamb and fish, and fermented fish with mashed potatoes. That wasn’t my favourite dish.

Traditional Faroese foods

One of the highlights of the Faroes was a trip toTorkilsheyggjsgarour Gjogv, a sheep farm near Runavik on the island of Eysturoy. By this time Richard had my cold so he stayed on board while I went to visit the sheep. It was quite an operation. They were well set up for visitors and had two sheds where the farmer or members of his family talked to the visitors and showed off some of his sheep. He was the sixth generation to run the sheep farm.

He told us that there is a set yearly cycle to raising the sheep. He has 200 sheep and eleven rams. The whole family helps with farming operations. On January 7 they collect all the rams and each ram services 30 sheep. It’s possible that the rams forget to eat during this period. During the winter sheep take shelter in sheep houses and the farmer knows that if the sheep are lying on the floor there is a big storm coming.

The farmer explains

Spring brings lambing season and that year the last lamb was born on June 2. July is shearing season. On this farm they don’t use dogs to manage the sheep. He didn’t tell us exactly how they do it or I didn’t write it down. He did say that they shear the sheep by hand and it takes 8 - 10 minutes to shear a sheep . The wool from these sheep is white, light grey, dark grey, light brown, and dark brown; many of the garments for sale in the islands use wool in these natural colours.

October is the time for slaughtering sheep. Sheep are not sent away to a slaughter house. Five men slaughter the sheep and four women take care of what comes out of the sheep. [I’m not exactly sure what I meant by that but that’s what I wrote in my notes.] All the meat stays in the islands and is either dried or fermented. Fresh sheep meat comes in from Scotland. When the talk was finished they ushered us into another shed where there was hot chocolate, very welcome that day as it was rainy and chilly. In the meantime, the next group arrived and occupied the first shed.

Hot chocolate on board, we went for a walk around the property and saw the sheep in their natural habitat. It was rainy and I used all my rain gear and my gloves. Where there are sheep there is sheep poop and it became impossible to avoid it. We counted on being able to clean our shoes on the wet grass before we boarded the bus to take us back to the ship.

Walking the farm

Other highlights of the Faroes included more conversations with Janet whose first husband was a theatre director. In addition to being a social worker and a lawyer, she was also a teacher. She was from Texas. We met a couple on deck who were also very interesting. He was a retired RCMP officer who spent 20 years in forensics. He said he had seen everything, photographed everything, testified in court about everything and just got burned out.

On the scenery front we paid a visit to Gasadalur Falls.

If you look up the Faroe Islands you’ll probably find a photo of Gasadalur as it is one of the more famous ones. We also took a boat tour of more bird cliffs. I don’t remember the circumstances but we couldn’t get to one of the islands we were scheduled to land on. In true Adventure Canada fashion we were treated to a very interesting plan B. We visited the island of Soruagur. [A note on the spelling of Faroese words: there are a number of symbols required to spell the words properly and I can’t find them so, with apologies to the Faroese, I’ve left them out.] Soraugur is privately owned by an outfitter but we got permission to land our zodiacs and wander around the island. One of the attractions for me was a series of fulmar nests that I could watch at fairly close range. I had fun trying to figure out the relationships between the various birds. Were they parent and chick or were they two parents? At times it looked like one pair in particular was involved in some sort of domestic spat. There were puffins but I didn’t think I’d get any better pictures than what I had managed on Fair Isle, so I concentrated on the other birds.

Our last day before reaching Iceland was a sea day with various presentations available. We landed on the island of Heimaey when we arrived in Iceland. We visited there in 2019 on our circumnavigation of Iceland. That is the island that saw a volcanic eruption in 1973. There is a great museum which included some of the houses that were partially destroyed by the lava flow.

Volcanic material inside a house

The townsfolk managed to save some of the houses by using huge pumps to pump sea water which they sprayed onto the encroaching lava. One house is buried in lava except for the front porch which remains intact. Rather than spend time in the museum on this visit, we chose to hike up the volcano. Vents near the top were steaming and the ground was noticeably warm around them. From our vantage point on the top of the volcano we saw a plane fly below us and land on the airstrip.

Since Heimaey was our last stop before disembarking, we took the opportunity to get sim cards for our phones. I found an Icewear sweater and indulged in a licorice ice cream cone. I was hoping to have my fill of licorice ice cream while in Iceland but that wasn’t to be. From Heimaey we sailed to Reykjavik where we left the ship and struck out in a rented car. That’s for the next and maybe final blog post on the Scotland to Iceland trip of 2023. Stay tuned.