Laugar to Thorshofn, September 4, 2019

HOLD THE PRESSES - HERE’S THE RESULT OF TONIGHT’S ADVENTURE!!

I'LL ADD THE REST OF TODAY'S PHOTOS SOON.  IT'S ONE A.M. AND I'M GOING TO BED!!

Another spectacular breakfast, just like yesterday’s, and we’re on the road by 8:30.  We are supposed to check in for our second attempt at whale watching by 9:15, and we arrive in good time.  Everyone is in the near-by parking lot, donning their warmest clothing and rain gear.  One brave man has stripped down to his shorts so as to begin with warm loggings!  I finally get to use my rain suit!  The waist of the pants is so large that it goes OVER my sweatshirt and everything that is underneath! It’s a lot of layers!  I look ridiculous but I’m nice and toasty!

We wait in line to check in and gather that at least one boat that is going out from Gentle Giants will have lots of rocking and waves and splashing.  We’re hoping that’s not our boat!  When it’s our turn we learn the unhappy truth.  Not only does Marilyn get seasick;  but we wouldn’t have our hands free to take pictures!  That’s kind of the whole point for us, so we request a refund and it gets put right on our credit cards.  Now we have three extra hours and mad money!  Not all bad!

Restaurant with the wonderful breakfast, part of the guest house.

The harbor from which we did not sail!

There’s a little souvenir shop across the street with some cute stuff and when we’re checking out Marilyn asks what time the interesting church across the street opens.  The sales clerk says, “When I unlock it!”  We follow her across the street and go inside.  Both Gunnar and Tricky Ricky have suggests a stop here.  It’s obvious that it was built by ship builders!  Check the photos!  Cool stuff.

There really isn’t anything else in Husavik, so we continue north along the coast and into the northernmost part of the country.  Along the way we stop for crashing waves, old Siberian driftwood that is scattered everywhere, and abandoned farmhouses!  We don’t know why they were abandoned and speculate wildly! And there are more swans!

As a matter of fact, it IS my road!

Crashing waves and Siberian driftwood - check!

And more, double check!

And triple check, with bonus points for black beach!

Oh no, this is OUR road!

Old, abandoned farm - check!

Double check!

They're whooper swans, and it must come from the sound they make!  And they are all along our route.

Our goal for tonight is a guest house called The Nest in Raufarhofn and we expect to be pretty early.  There is no breakfast tomorrow and we’re hoping to pick up dinner and breakfast at a cool place Marilyn found on line that is supposed to be right across the street.

Before that, though, we stop at The Arctic Henge!  It’s a huge art installation that is based on an old Icelandic legend, The Voluspa prediction, something about seventy-two dwarfs and the calendar.  I’ll have to look it up when we get home.  Anyway, it’s pretty darn impressive and would feel very spiritual if there weren’t two drones flying overhead!

On to The Nest.  Oh dear, can that rusty building be it?  The name is right but the door is locked and there aren’t any cars!  Marilyn calls the number on the sign by the door and the lady who answers doesn’t know we have a reservation and says there aren’t any other guests except a fisherman who lives on the third floor!  Marilyn calls Gunnar and tells him we aren’t staying here;  the place looks like a dump.  He says he’ll find us a place further down the road and will straighten out the problem with The Nest.  He’s used it before without problem.

He must be on the watch for tourists!

We go to dinner at the little cafe a few doors down.  When we first passed it, the sign said Closed;  but now it’s open.  The choices are soup, fish and chips, burger and fries, or ham and cheese sandwich.  Oh, and they’re out of soup!  I get the burger and it is really good and has a very different flavor.  And the fries are seasoned to perfection.  Marilyn’s fish has three huge pieces of fish and fries (chips).

While we’re eating Gunnar calls back with the name and location of our new resting place!  It’s called Grasteinn and is about an hour down the road, in the direction we will be going tomorrow anyway.  And it’s a sheep farm!

We finish our dinner and call to let them know we’re on our way.  As we’re driving we see a rainbow!  It becomes brighter and brights and there is even a very faint second one!

The directions are a bit cloudy and we go pass the turn off.  Eventually we call and ask for clarification!  No problem.  We are now on the right road and think we see the place;  but there’s no sign and it feels like trespassing!  We go a bit further and the road ends at someone’s house.  One more call.  We’re actually at her mother’s house and she can see us!  We turn about and Hide comes from the sheep shed to meet us.  She’s a delight and we have our own cabin!  And she will deliver a breakfast basket in the morning! (She used to have a sign by the road but her “sheeps like to rub against it!”)

Marilyn asks what they are doing with their sheeps and Hilde says they are separating out the lambs from their mothers and processing them.  Marilyn asks if we can watch and she says of course!  Come on down around 7:30, after their dinner break.  We go on to get settled and to be awed and amazed by our cabin.  Soon Marilyn gets a text saying the Hilde’s husband has decided they will work through supper, so we can come down now.  And we do!

Perfect cabin! It even made me tall!

GEEZ!  This is a lot of work!  Right now Hilde’s husband, Sikki, is grabbing a lamb by the horns and wrestling him into a small cage where he will be weighed.  If he meets the requirements, he will be sent to slaughter next week.  If not, he’ll go back out to pasture until October and be weighed again.  Hilde records each lamb’s number, from the tag in his ear, and the weight.  The ones they want to think about a bit more get a blue dot on their heads. They separate out the rams, who are quite majestic with their curly horns.  They also have “leader” sheep.  As they names suggests, they are more independent than the regular sheep!

Hilde waiting for the weight, Geussie at attention, and Mr. Ram giving us the evil eye!

Watch your step!

Many sheeps, close quarters!

I find the dog the most fascinating!  He runs up and down the walkways between the pens, keeping the lambs in line, so to speak!  He is having so much fun, doing his job!

We finally head back to the cabin and get to watch our first Icelandic sunset!  

We’re watching the sky hoping against hope for the Northern Lights.  We are certainly far away from any light pollution and there isn’t much cloud cover.  This might be our night!