The breakfast at the Farmhouse was just as good as last night's dinner. Everything about this place was gracious and welcoming.
Van problems were continuing. Jóhann was trying to sort things out again, as this was causing problems with our schedule. He and Matt were coming up with other things for us to do, so the major problem was accommodations. This is high season, so we needed to be at the planned locations for our overnight stays.
Those of us on the tour had no problems with substitutions and doing things on alternate days, but understood the pressure Jóhann was experiencing. We did feel sad for him that his tour company couldn't just send out another van - they said they had no spares.
Today we started by visiting the village of Vik and taking a walk across a black sand beach to see the sea stacks there, called Reynisdranger. The legend was that there were three trolls who were trying to pull a three masted ship to the shore. They were caught by the sunlight at dawn and they and the ships were turned into the needles of rock now seen. Of course, the earthcache wanted a better answer about their origin, so we had a talk on the beach about that. Were they from uplift? Had they once been part of the nearby hill and what you now see is due to erosion?
Do you see the trolls?
To prevent further erosion of the beach, it was planted with Lyme grass which is known for stabilizing sandy areas. Nootka lupine was then planted as well because it is a legume (pea family) and "fixes" nitrogen into the soil. The beauty of the flowers is also enjoyed, of course.
Nootka lupine
We were next dropped off at a combination wool factory/souvenir store while Jóhann once again headed off to deal with the van, once more trying to siphon gas and put new gas in. The woolen goods were beautiful, but are not as highly prized as those made by hand. Some of our group bought extra rain gear as it was still raining quite a bit. Others had a great opportunity to buy souvenirs. I enjoyed looking down at the work going on making woolen goods.
I pointed out a coffee mug with puffins to Nona, and she bought it for me! Now every morning I remember this tour when I have my coffee.
Down below - not much happening today
Nona discovers that long johns are truly long
Next we headed to Stuðlaberg Hellar. Stuðlaberg means basalt column (singular) and Hellar means caves (plural), so basalt column caves. This was a true highlight for me. Funny, because the rain was pelting down and the wind was the strongest experienced so far. Enormous waves were rolling in and crashing on the shore. Once you got around and inside one of the caves, everything was calm and quieter. Looking above you, you could see the bottoms of the basalt columns. The bottoms of these monstrous columns were hanging over my head. Impossible, but true.
In the cave
Above me
Looking out
Outside you could see columns that were still "attached" to the ground.
They're tall!
Back in the van, and it would barely go. We decided to stop for lunch at a restaurant while Jóhann headed off once again. This time supposedly there was a hole in some line? And it got fixed? I hadn't had a famous Icelandic hot dog yet, so decided to have one of them (plus some Skyr and chocolate) for my lunch. They're different and better than the average hot dog we are used to.
Back in the van, still problems. Off to a garage where we waited for the expert. The expert could find nothing. We put in something to get rid of water in the gas line. Worked for a bit, and then up the first hill, we could go no faster than a few kilometers an hour. More phone calls.
One of Jóhann's many phone calls about the van
The amazing thing as we went, Jóhann would start tell something about the volcanoes or begin a story. That would be interrupted by a phone call. Phone call over, he we pick up and continue as if there hadn't been an interruption. This time, finally, we were told to limp as far as we could toward our next destination, as they had found a van in Reykjavik that was on its way to meet us.
As we started out, Jóhann began the story of The Seal Skin of Reynisfjara. I'll post a picture in case you want to read it - you will have to enlarge it. The story is from the first collection of Icelandic folktales, collected and written down by Jón Árnason in the mid 1800's.
We limped along for about an hour when Jóhann received a phone call to start watching for a white van. We passed each other, and Jóhann pulled off into a convenient spot. The other van quickly turned around and parked next to us.
Everything happened quickly. One man was working to hook the trailer up to the replacement van which had even larger tires than the original. We gathered our things and got into the "new" van where the other man was telling Jóhann how to use it - talking at high speed. No time for questions - just listen and here's what you need to know. They rushed off to the old van, got in and took off. Jóhann had a question and tried to stop them, but they ignored him and drove off. We all wished them a dreadful journey back to Reykjavik. Jóhann must also be part mechanic, because he soon had things figured out and off we went to our next destination - or as we were soon to discover, our next adventure.
Somehow I had ended up in the seat next to the driver. Charlie had been sitting there so far because of a bad knee. At the first stop I traded seats with him so that he would be able to get in and out with more ease.
Inscrutable, enigmatic Charlie. Did we ever get to truly know him? He's from Austin, TX, and obviously enjoys holding geocaching events. He is becoming a world traveler and after Iceland was going to travel throughout Europe for about 5 weeks until the International Earthcache Event in Germany on September 19. Soon after that, he will be on a cruise through the Panama Canal.
We passed a place where houses had been built up tightly against the rocks.
Great protection from the wind
We also saw a large group of horses being moved. We were told that when there are treks on horses, each rider has more than one horse so that none of them get too tired.
These were just being moved to a new location
Along the way, Jóhann had us walk back into a little canyon. It was a matter of balancing on rocks in the river bed to avoid wet feet. We turned around sooner than he had hoped because it was getting too difficult due to all of the recent hard rain.
We went in just a bit deeper
Then it was off to drive to an area affected by the eruption of Eyjafjällajökull in 2010. You may remember stories of how it disrupted air flights for days. It was a barren landscape, just ash and rocks. No plant life, and because of the recent hard rains, the little streams were small rivers. We crossed more than 20 of them and came to one Jóhann thought we shouldn't cross. We backtracked and tried another approach. He reluctantly agreed that we would need to turn back and not visit one of his favorite places where he had done some research after the eruption. So close and so disappointing.
On the return trip, we stopped for an earthcache called "Earthcache on the Moon?" We got out of the van, and as we did, almost lost our balance due to the wind. Here's my footprint on the moon. When I bent over to take the photo, my rain jacket was blown over my head.
I didn't know the moon was so windy
Just as we were about to leave, we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Once back in the van, we forged through the last 18 rivers to get back to the main road, and headed toward our lodgings for that night - right at the base of Skogafoss. They held dinner late for us. It was good, but how many legs of lamb can you enjoy in 5 days? And dessert was once again carrot cake. I normally avoid carrot cake, and theirs isn't as good as what I've eaten in the states. Nona felt the same way. Matt worked out a deal that we could get ice cream instead. Oh, yum! Chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce. I owe Matt big time for that.
After dinner, we took the short walk to the falls. On the way back, three of us decided that we were going to climb those 377 steps to the top - me, Nona, and Debbie. Up we went. I stopped twice to catch my breath, and at the top I felt victorious. Some of you can remember when I couldn't climb a single flight of steps in my house without taking breaks last November. You will understand.
Once up there, we enjoyed seeing the falls from the top. Debbie mentioned that there was a cache a bit beyond where we were standing. Because this had all been spur of the moment, I had no camera and no GPS. We let Debbie lead us, and we had to cross a stile which only added to the fun and sense of accomplishment.
At the top of the stile
Joy, Debbie, Nona at the top of the foss
On this journey Debbie and I shared the reasons why we both felt victorious doing this. Yes, Debbie also has something incredible she overcame. On the way down Nona serenaded us with the opening chorus of Beethoven's ninth, fourth (choral) movement. In German as written. My heart was full.
The evening/day couldn't have had a better ending.
Repeat after me - Eyjafjällajökull
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