Well after a bit of messing about in gImp and Picasa I have finaly managed to create the spectacular "Sharon at the Volcano" Picture.

Safely Home

Landed at Heathrow about 10 minutes ahead of schedule and then waited 20 minutes for our baggage to appear.  Didn't notice when we picked it up but my suitcase had been slashed, either by accident or.......
Nothing missing luckily

Lauren and Ian were waiting for us in arrivals, very good to see them.  It was only 10 days, but we packed so much in it seems longer.  We were home by 10:00 and got a chinese take away for 4 for less than an Icelandic main course for 1!

Have spent most of today emptying bags, catching up on post and sorting out digital pictures.  next job will be the video editing and then deciding what prints to get from the pictures.

Sharon is back to work tomorrow and I suppose I ought to make the effort and do some work this week.  back to reality.

Day 11

Up at 6:30ish showered, packed and breakfasted by 8:00 and on the road soon after. It was a grey rainy day all the way down the west coast from Snaefellnaes to Reykjavik. Parked in Reykjavik and had a walk round town. Passed the Salvation Army hostel and several other interesting buildings.

It's a small island, we saw several people in Reykjavik that we had seen in other places on our travels and realised that you can drive from the north to south in about 3 and a half ours. We stopped in a massive N1 service area on the way, it was too close to the urban centre of Reykjavik to have anything interesting in the shop, but it had a huge selection of food, cakes and drinks. I will miss the N1 service stations.

Missed the fuel stop on the way to the airport and had to have a run round Keflavik to find a petrol station so we could return the hire car full. As is always the case, the GPS bateries ran out just when we needed it most. We had plenty of time though and am now sat waiting at the airport wishing the wifi was free. Instead I will type this now and post it when we get home.

The staff at Keflavik international have scooters for getting up and down the corridors. Now I don't mean small motorbikes, I mean scooters that you stand on and scoot. I have even seen a couple with luggage racks at the front. I suppose it's green and keeps the staff fit.

Trolls, Lava, Big Stones and Beaches.

We have driven all but 10km of the road in the Snaefellsjokull National Park and we have only done 120 kms.   We headed out from the hotel over the mountains to the south coast of the peninsula as directed by the tourist information guide yesterday.  She promised that by doing it this way we would have the sun with us all day.  I am sure the sun was with us all day, it's just that the clouds hadn't been instructed by the tourist guide to let it through.

Anyway, first stop was a huge crack in the rocks caused by one of the local eruptions at some point and now hiding a stream and many birds nests.  we explored right inside the crack and I would have gone further had I been younger, fitter and wearing a wet suit.

Then it was onto the Singing cave.  According to the sagas Bourdan lived here for a while after he returned from Vinland and you can hear the elves and dwarves singing.  Wasn't as spectacular as expected, just a dingy little cave and some rocks.

Next stop Arnastapi.  I didn't like it here.  It was very busy, the only loos were for use by restaurant  customers only and the whole place was a bit of a let down really.  Nice little harbour though.

So we moved straight onto Hellnar.  interesting heritage centre with all sorts of interesting information, including some Ork eggs that are conical in shape so they don't roll off the cliffs and some sheepskin fisherman's shoes for you to try.  Didn't have a go because I don't know what the level of verukas is out here.  Had a coffee in the cafe overlooking the harbour and a spectacular lava tunnel in the cliffs full of screaming gulls and terns.

Stopped briefly to inspect some volcanic lava plugs, very spectacular and again covered in nesting birds.  Then onto the beach at Djupalonssandur.  Here on the edge of the beach are four stones.  To qualify as crew on the local fishing boats you had to be able to lift the first two stones and place them on a pedestal, then toshow off you could have a go at the other two.  The first was 24kg and the second was 54kg, the third 100kg and the fourth just bloody impossible at 154Kg.  

You will be pleased to know that even at my age I can still qualify to crew the fishing boat and managed to get the third stone off of the floor but just couldn't stop it rolling out of my arms.  You use so much strength holding the stone straight that you don't have any left to lift it.  Even the Viking in the silly hat who was lifting with me only got it to his lap.

We then climbed up to the volcanic crater at Saxholler, it's a very old crater and was smaller and older than others we have seen.  Moved a bit further up the coast to a lighthouse, some archaeological remains and a great beach with huge slabs of lava running out into the sea.

Wecalled into Rif and Olafsvik to see about possibilities for eating.  Rif has an N1 service station, but it was a very small one offering just pasties in a microwave.  We found a possible grill and take away in Olafsvik and then went on a quest for Ice.

After much messing about I finally got the Vitara electronic transfer box to select low range and we set off up to the Snaefellsjokull glacier.  Obviously this wasn't going to be a superjeep ice crawling expedition, but one of the mountain roads went quite close so it had tobe done.  We saw some mini glaciers and got a pretty good view of the main glacier.  Would have liked to have got closer to it but the lady in tourist information had told us yesterday evening that there were no expeditions onto the glacier as it is too wet and too dangerous.  It looked good though.

Then it was back down to the grill and take away in Olafsvik, where for the price of one main course in the hotel we had hotdog chips and pizza with coca cola.  excellent value and how can anyone not eat at a take away called The HobbittInn with a picture of a hobbit painted on the window?

Back to the hotel, bags packed, beer drunk and bill paid ready for an early start, drive down to Reykjavik, onto Keflavik and then fly home.

Haven't noticed any significant health and safety issues today, but I still love this place.   Oh hang on, there is a lad on a small motorbike with no helmet or lights riding round the old fish sheds opposite the hotel.  I am sure there isn't a policeman within 20 kms of us so I think he'll get away with it.