Sunday, 27 June: We are off to West Fjords, north west Iceland, for 3 days. It turns out to be a bright, sunny day, and
on our way from Reykjavík to Isafördur (40 minute flight) we could clearly see
the Snaefellsjökull glacier (one of the seven wonders of the world - read Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth) as pictured right.
Isafördur being located right at the head of the Skutuls Fjord, any landing aircraft must come
down the next valley, between steep mountains, then turn around and land on the little
airstrip between the waterfront and another steep mountain. We had been told (warned?)
in advance that
during the decent the mountains are so close on both sides it feels as if one could touch
them - and yes, it was an amazing experience, but we wouldn't like to try it in a bad
weather...
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10:40am: Our aircraft shortly after landing. The town of Isafördur can be seen on the other
side of the water.
Our friend Ásta came to meet us at the airport and drove us to Korpudalur, about
20 minutes away through a tunnel (the longest tunnel in Iceland, too!), at the head of
the Önundar Fjord.
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That's where we're going - Korpudalur is at the bottom of the middle mountain...
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...and this is the hostel Ásta looks after every summer, while we sublet her
Reykjavík flat.
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In Iceland you take your shoes off when you enter a house or a flat, but some
people seem to take their socks off too and place stones on them so that they
won't fly away :-)
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Admiring the view from the dining room window.
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12pm: after a cup of coffee, we decide to go for a little walk...
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...but it's so warm that we are soon sweating, and we give up our walk after an hour and
head back to the hostel.
Two girls - Ásta's grandniece Hrafnhildur and her friend Inga - have just
got up,
and
are taking some bedding outside, to
doze off again in the sun, so we go and join them.
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(Inga's hiding under the duvet)
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But then the sun is glaring and it really is too hot here too, so we go inside to have a nap in our room for a
couple of hours. When we get up in the late afternoon, it's nearly time for dinner.
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6pm, and the sun is still so bright!
Haddock with leek & mushroom, rice, salad, orvieto classico...
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...followed by strawberries (yes, Kousa is happy :-)
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