19
Jul 15

Heimaey – Reykjavik

We woke up into a super strong wind, shaking up the tent. Despite that the weather was still plenty nice and sunny, if a bit hazy.

Coastal Path

Coastal Path

Gina marching ahead

Gina marching ahead

We set out on our puffin-hunting, along the western shore of the island to the south. Even after walking the five or so kms along the coast we still didn’t see any (although we saw a number of other birds), and the wind was really pretty gusty. (We later learned that this is, indeed, the windiest spot in Europe.)

Looking out towards Suðurey

Looking out towards Suðurey

The beach at Vikin

The beach at Vikin

When we reached the southernmost peninsula, we were almost losing hope for puffins. We climbed up the hill to the bird-watching hut – and there they were! In their hundreds along the cliffs and on the sea, some bravely trying to fly in the strong wind, their little orange beaks and feets flapping along. It was really pretty awesome.

Puffin

Puffin

When we had enough, we went back to the road and decided to try to thumb to town to spare us another hour in the gusts despite the fact that there was very little traffic at this place. We were super lucky though and got a ride immediately with a nice French couple before we even really started hitching.

A sunburned and windswept Iest

A sunburned and windswept Iest

Gina and Toti

Gina and Toti

Back in town we got ourselves a Panini lunch and headed to the last unexplored spot on the island – the aquarium. The place was fairly small but full of wonders – huge amounts of stuffed birds and animals and fishes, and also tanks with live fishes and other water creatures. It also had boxes with little gull chicks, nursing them after they’ve fallen out from nests, until they’re strong enough to survive. On top of all that, there was one guillemot walking casually around; aaand and one local puffin who’s just living there since four years, and I got to hold him! Excellent visit.

Local Puffin - Toti!

Local Puffin – Toti!

A very curious Guillemot!

A very curious Guillemot!

Afterwards we bought some skyrs and went to pack up before heading out for the boat.
We said a sad goodbye to the island, and zoomed over to the mainland seamlessly connected with a bus to Reykjavik. We arrived at the campsite at about half ten, pitched the tent in the strong wind (still here as well!), and went to make a dinner in the nice warm common kitchen. Decided we wanted to sleep in a little bit tomorrow, so no getting up crazy hours to catch a bus to Borgarnes, we’ll see about renting a car for the trip.


18
Jul 15

Heimaey

Beautiful sunny morning, probably the sunniest yet – not a cloud in the sky. We started by walking up the cliff of Herjólfdalur right above our campsite, to the peak of Blátindur for epic views of the whole island and many nesting seagulls. The rugged cliffs and the beautiful sea made for a magnificent setting, together with the other Vestmannaeyjar islands scattered around. We walked over the whole ridge of the crater, saw one solitary puffin too, and walked down on the other side to town.

Looking back towards the mainland

Looking back towards the mainland

Gina at the summit

Gina at the summit of Herjólfdalur

Heimaey

Heimaey

Cliffs of Heimaey

Cliffs of Heimaey

Gina tuc'ing into lunch

Gina tuc’ing into lunch

We made our way through town to Skansinn, a 15th century fort built to defend the harbour, and a reconstructed medieval wooden stave church. From there we headed over to Eldheimar, a new a beautifully designed museum of the 1973 volcanic eruption, which altered the island forever and buried over 400 houses under lava. There is also a whole section on Surtsey in the museum, a neighbouring volcanic island and its ecology. Everything was super interesting and amazingly presented. From the museum we went up the culprit volcano crater for another set of splendid views.

Skansinn

Skansinn

Eldheimar Museum

Eldheimar Museum

Iest on the volcano

Iest on the volcano

Gina on the volcano

Gina on the volcano

By now we were getting quite hungry, and headed back to town for our carefully chosen treat of the trip – Slippurinn restaurant located in a beautifully remodelled old machine workshop (hipster’s dream!), and serving fine Icelandic cuisine. I had creamy lobster soup for starters, fish of the day (ling) with celeriac purée, mustard and pickled onions plus mashed potatoes with smoked buttermilk sweet onions and crispy rye bread on the side, while Iest had cured lamb with cheese, truffle oil and salad as a starter, with the same main, and skyr and sorrel sorbet to top it all up. It was all very lovely, and beautifully complemented by the finest beer from Akureyri – Einstok. We really did not want to walk back to camp but finally we managed, and slept like babies.

Our main course

Our main course

Best beer in the world

Best beer in the world

Gina at Slippurinn

Gina at Slippurinn


17
Jul 15

Þórsmörk – Heimaey

Still sunny – unreal. We picked a nice little walk to Valahnúkur viewpoint, from where we had some spectacular views over the whole valley and onto all three surrounding glaciers. Then we had a nice filling lunch while waiting for a bus to take us out of there, as we’ve had enough mountain beauty for now.

Campsite and sauna

Campsite and sauna

View of the valley

View of the valley

Valahnúkur

Valahnúkur

Spectacular views

Spectacular views

We had a pretty sweet time posing for the camera up on the Valahnúkur viewpoint – with Eyjafjallajökull behind us.

Gina posing well

Gina posing well

Iest and Eyjafjallajökull

Iest and Eyjafjallajökull

Us

Us

Gina's spectacular pose

Gina’s spectacular pose

By the time the bus was going, there were some heavy black clouds coming in from the mountains, so just as well that we were going. We took the bus only to Hvolsvöllur, which is not even a village, just a cross-roads type of place (Groeslon if you will), and there we waited for another bus to take us to the ferry in Landeyjahöfn. We bought some sandwiches for the wait so the times were good. The bus came more or less on time and soon we were buying ferry tickets too. Everything worked out pretty seamlessly. The ferry ride was short and sweet with calm seas and setting sun (ish of course, it does not do it here). Heimaey welcomed us with some epic clifs and the screams of thousands birds. We found our way to a nice small campsite in a volcano crater, Iest did some washing and we called it a day.

Heimaey's Herjólfsdalur

Heimaey’s Herjólfsdalur

Herjólfsdalur Campsite

Herjólfsdalur Campsite