That’s a title for my year 9 students!

Started the day in the doctors office to see if we can get Harry better quicker. His energy levels have been so low that he has mostly slept. The reason he was not in all of the photos yesterday is that he was sleeping in the car. He can’t eat because of the ulcers in his mouth so he’s terribly lethargic. 

Doctor has written a script for an oral medication so fingers crossed it will kick in quick!

Sad to leave our lovely little AirBnb but moving on to a new one in Akureyri. By the way, the repacking part of holidays is a bummer.

Hvalfjördur

Continuing the ring road around Iceland we went through the 6km  Hvalfjördur tunnel under the fjord. Josh hit the side of the road with his tyre and a lively discussion ensued. ‘I drifted der’ being the explanation much to Harry’s amusement.

It’s an hour and a half drive to our first stop and the scenery is spectacular. It seems to change in only a few kms. From sheer black cliffs to rugged and green hills shadowing what seem to be tiny homes and farms. Living dangerously because landslides of rocks are common. Nevertheless, the homes face boldly in the other direction as if not to care what is looming behind them. In fact everywhere feels like it should be uninhabitable but the Norse are conquerors of nature as well as other countries. I mean the perfect example is the farm living in the shadow of an erupting volcano. That’s a big YOLO if you ask me! Or perhaps they are just stubborn. I wouldn’t want to move either if I lived here.

Hraunfosser Barnafoss 

More blue water and so many waterfalls springing from a lava field. Iceland just upped the ante in waterfalls!

Harry is feeling a bit better and started a vlog which is good to see! He also started freaking me out going close to edges and trying to scare me. It worked. Many tourists die trying to take selfies on cliff tops. I don’t want him or us to be in that Darwin Award category.

Borganes

Lunch stop and Hot dog number 4. This time it was bacon wrapped 😀 Josh and I have been discussing coming back and hiring a camper and taking two weeks to do the ring road. I said I would hate to have to cook but he reckons we could live on hot dogs. I believe him.

Grábrókargígum

The landscape changed yet again and we were surrounded by moss covered scoria. Deciding to investigate further resulted in a climb (for Josh) in the rain to three craters that are part of the Ljòsufjöll volcanic system that belongs to the Snæfellsnes volcanic zone on the peninsula. The lava is alkali olivine basalt for those interested in that sort of thing. Really cool to look at especially with the mosses that have grown on it. 

Nordurárdalur Valley 

Green undulating hills either side, rifts and shallow waterways and waterfalls. Sheep huddled among the grasses. It’s been raining since Borganes and the area feels very desolate. There are very few dwellings and I imagine because it’s bleak and swept with icy winds in winter because it’s not too inviting now. Nevertheless it is beautiful like the Yorkshire Moors in Jane Eyre.

Would you believe as I typed the landscape changed again! It’s now flatish and the moss covering continues. So do the rifts and waterfalls. So hard to capture from the car when it’s drizzling. Trust me it is absolutely stunning.

Hrútafjördur: Long fjord with fishing villages dotted alongside.

Landscape change yet again! Massive mountains.

Then green pastures…

I can’t keep up! I give up. Come see for yourself!

 Blonduos 

 Ski resort town. Looks like it would be stunning in the winter! Sun shining bright for us now.

Skagafjördur 

I am running out of adjectives for this place. So I’ll just use pictures. Josh says its like ‘Cards against Humanity’ and you get the card ‘big black d***’ and then you go around a bend and see a ‘bigger blacker d***’ and then you turn another corner and you see ‘blackulous’! All this because we turned a corner into a huge valley: take a look

Can you think up a word for beyond blackulous? Tell me in the comments!

The mountains have caps of ice now. Snows that haven’t melted and now it’s too late. In springtime this valley must be a mass of waterfalls!

Akureyri 

We have arrived! Our AirBnb is pretty blackulous. We are going to eat cheese and crackers and drink beer on the deck overlooking the fjörd and hope we see some aurora tonight.

That’s it for today. All I can say is Iceland, you are so blackulous it hurts. 

Edit: the Aurora Borealis is going off! Josh is in photographer heaven.