Day 3, Aug 27 - Snaefellnes Peninsula

Up about eight for breakfast and break camp. Breaking camp entails somewhat the reverse of setting up - shut down the interior stuff and switch the cooler to battery power, disconnect the electric power, empty the toilet box, dump the "gray" water (from washing), and fill up the fresh water.

In town we found the Settlement Center but it was still closed so we wandered through a small mall close by. When it opened, we toured the Settlement Center. This small museum presents the stories of the first settlers to the island with exhibit and an audio tour. The stories of the early people have been recorded in a series of "sagas" that are part history and some myth. The people and events are mostly real but the stories grew in the oral retelling down through the centuries. They were first written down in the 12th century. The audio tour details the Egillsaga - the story of Egill and his family. It was a pretty rigorous life and Egill was a rough lout who didn't get along well with his neighbors or the king of Norway, who ruled the island at the time. Egil fought with his family and made an enemy of the queen of Norway. In spite of his many adventures, he lived to his eighties.  The exhibit was well-presented, very enjoyable and informative.

Headed west along the south coast of the Snaefellnes Peninsula. The landscape was the same green-barren vista that we've started to understand is the standard look of the country - hills and mountains of lava, tuft, and cinders, with waterfalls trickling, tumbling and sometimes gushing down the escarpment and running a short course to the sea (or, later, fiords).  The slopes and lowlands are green with stunted grasses and cultivated fields (mostly hay or alfalfa) and pasture for the small horses and sheep that wander the fields. We saw hardly any cattle, except at the dairy farm we visited yesterday. The sheep, of course, they farm for the wool but we were puzzled about were the horses. We learned that they used to use them for work but also for food. The farms are widely-spaced and look lonely. We speculated about how the kids get to school and learned later that they bus them into a central school. Another regular feature of the landscape is a lonely spire of a small church on a hill.

The land has been sculpted by the glaciers and eruptions that mark its history. We passed several small calderas. The slopes rise to steep, cinder and tuft buttes that have been sheared by glaciers and then filled in by erosion.

To the left, the fiord ran. occasional rock formations jutted out of the shallow water. A lighthouse came and went. Rolled through Buthir and stopped at a recommended tiny fish soup place along a small bay in Hellnar - great! Into the national park at the west tip of the peninsula below the retreating glacier that covers Snaesfell mountain. At the visitor's center, a semi-tame arctic fox (still in summer brown) prowled the picnic area looking for tidbits. Swung around the tip and stopped to climb cinder caldera, Holaholar, by means of a convenient metal-grate steps. Numerous other cinder cones dot the landscape in this area. Turning back east on the north coast, we stopped in Hellissandur at the Maritime Museum for a snack and visit, then continued east on the coast. Stopped to take pics of the Kirkjufell, the Church Mountain, so-named for its pointed shape. The road was uneven from frost heave but well maintained and hardly any potholes. Cruised into Stykkisholmur, where we found the campgrounds and set up. This campground is a grassy area next to the golf course. Fees for camping generally run about $10/ person, plus $8 for electricity. Made dinner of salad and sandwiches after walking around to scope out the facilities.

We have been trying to get to the campsites by 1700 or 1800 on the guide book recommendation to beat the crowds and be sure of a space. In high season, this is necessary, but we are in shoulder season and there are fewer tourists. It stays daylight well past 2100 so we can be out or reading. Temperatures have been mild 50s during the day and 40s overnight. The weather has been great with sun and some clouds - far different from the rains we'd seen in the forecasts.Läs mer