Iceland Day 6

We set off after breakfast, passing Gryla, the bad troll-witch who is reputed to eat children if they are naughty, to leave the bags in the minibus before climbing up to the church, then on to pretty botanical gardens. It was quite warm and sunny for the walk. We returned to the van past some lovely old houses which are wooden but have been coated in corrugated iron sheeting to protect the wood from the weather.

It was going to be a long drive to our guest house on the Snaefellsnes peninsula so we had coffee and a very sweet but delicious pastry before leaving Akureyri.

After climbing up through a pass of snowy mountains we stopped at Blonduos and walked to look at the modern church but it was locked. Next stop was to see another spectacular waterfall at Kolugljufur Canyon. Here you see Mr C totally ignoring my request to keep away from the edge. The water was turquoise and the falls gushed down the gorge with great force.

Our next stop was for the Grábrókargígar craters in Nordurárdalur which were protected as natural monuments in 1962 to preserve the beautifully formed scoria cones. The moss growing on the lava takes 100 years to grow. It was a steep climb up more steel steps but so interesting to see the craters.

We finally arrived at the guest house at Lysuholslag at 6.15. After a substantial dinner we walked down the road to take photos of the snowy volcano and glacier Snaefellsjokull which played a starring role in the Jules Verne novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

There are 7 of us sharing a cabin. We drew the short straw and are sleeping up a steep, slippy stair a bit like those on a ship. There are two bathrooms downstairs at the opposite side of the house. Those youngsters in their 30s and 50s have the better option sleeping downstairs but probably don’t need to get up in the night anyway! If I don’t blip tomorrow you’ll know I’ve had a mishap on the stairs!