A quiet day

We woke up today in our spacious suite in the Fosshotel with an entire day of no plans and the prospects of a relaxing day. A little laundry was on the agenda, as it will have a full day to dry before we check out on Wednesday.

We had breakfast in the hotel (all of the hotels on this trip include breakfast in the rate), and then I did a little research about whether I could take a glacier hike in the afternoon. This turned out to not be possible for a number of reasons, largely related to my waiting until the last minute.

On my mark, dive!, June 2016

We had planned to go and check out the local town, Hofn. With 1,700 residents, Hofn is the largest town we've seen since Reykjavik. It has two gas station/mini-marts, a school, a number of restaurants, and a police station. We drove around the entire town first, which took all of five minutes. Then we drove back to the far end, where the peninsula it's on turns into a large park and nature area. There is a nice walking path around the park, which we covered.

The main wildlife in the park is ducks and Arctic terns. The terns feed by circling above the water, then dive-bombing and catching a fish swimming near the surface. The ducks engaged in a behavior I had never seen before. A large group, perhaps 20, gathered tightly together in the water. Then, on some signal, they all dive under water where (I assume) they feed for a long time - maybe a minute or so. Then they all pop up together in a new location, dozens of yards away from the starting point.

We also had lunch in Hofn, where Sally got the langoustine, which they loosely call lobster. It was quite good.

Sod roof, June 2016

After lunch, I went for a hike. I found a farm about 30 minutes from the hotel where the farmer lets people look around his property and hike on a couple of trails. He also rents small cottages and rooms. To give you an idea of the property, the rooms (no food, shared bath, no linens) cost $30 per bed. Not high end stuff.

When I got there, I though I was at the wrong place, or my Lonely Planet guide book was outdated because the buildings all looked deserted and decrepit. The large number of sheep wandering in the field kept me around. The farmer drove up after a few minutes, just after a German couple showed up looking for their lodgings. We all followed the farmer into "reception", which was his house. It smelled approximately like a park toilet that hasn't been serviced for days. But he gave me a map, and I left before the Germans started on their arrangements.

$30 a night, June 2016

The trail started behind the guesthouse and a small church. The guesthouse looked ready to fall over, but the church was very cute. It headed north, away from the ocean and into the foothills. I followed the trail for about 45 minutes out, then lost it and decided to head back. I took a few pictures of the scenery, which really don't do justice to the beauty of being out there in the mountains. And the weather was again great, sunny and mild, with a slight breeze. We've now had 2 1/2 sunny days of six.

Mountains and mist, June 2016

 

Family church, June 2016

On my way back, I noticed a trail marker and realized I had wandered off the trail in the first 1/4 mile, and had been following an unmarked trail. Which explains why the trail seemed to end suddenly. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. If I had been on the marked trail, I suppose I might have seen different stuff, but not necessarily.

Mother & child, June 2016

 

On the way back to the hotel, I passed these horses.

The day ended with a nice dinner and a bottle of wine in the hotel restaurant.



 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans