The ferry docked at Seyðisfjörður, IS, at 10:00 local time, making a turn abeam. The immigration police went up first for ad-hoc procedures after a good half hour's wait. The interrogation was good, I had obtained at reception a green card attesting to my vaccination and a negative test for COVID-19. Upon exiting the port, I was asked for the Smyril Line ticket attesting to my exit and that of my vehicle from Iceland. I was in Iceland until September 9, 2021 with a two week trip to Greenland. The outside temperature is 9.5 ° C with a temperature rain! The peaks of the surrounding hills are still covered with snow. I found a bivouac on a main road-951 where there was already a German VW van. I have some tidying up to do, prepare for the trip for the next few days, set up my website for Iceland etc ...
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Wednesday around 8:00 I left the bivouac to do some shopping in
Egilsstadir. On the way I stopped to take a photo of the Gufufoss
waterfall. I found out that the shops didn't open until 10:00 am and
even 11:00 am for the Bonus supermarket. I took patience with the
computer store supposed to sell SIM cards. Bingo at 10:00 I left the
said store with a 10 GB SIM card. Then I bought groceries at Netto,
open at 10:00. The day is sunny. I went on an excursion to see
shearwaters at Hafnarhomi about 70 km away where I arrived around
12:20. After a frugal snack, I climbed the stairs to reach the bird
observatory. The interpretative panels mention the birds during the
nesting period. To locate shearwaters it is necessary to have
binoculars and to be lucky. Indeed either they were playing in the
water or they were emerging from their nesting hole. I saw one! I
decided to put my tipi 4 km further down on the edge of
Borgarfjordur.
I received a message from Hurtigruten
announcing the cancellation of the Greenland cruise: "We regret to
have to inform you that we have just made a very difficult decision,
namely to cancel your expedition cruise aboard MS Fridtjof Nansen ,
reservation number 1541423. " Certainly, but with a subliminal
message that there are not a sufficient number of cruise passengers
to cover the fixed costs.
As a result, I will be skipping school in Iceland until 9/8/2021.
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Thursday June 3 I left the edge of the fjord around 9:30 am, I start to adapt to Icelandic schedules, the day starts at 10:00. At the entrance of a village I saw a house covered with mossy earth like I had not seen in the Faroe Islands. Iceland has basaltic organ pipe structures. From place to place evergreen tree nurseries to reforest the Iceland, whose primary forests were devastated by the cutting of trees for the construction of houses, boats and others. At the finistère of a small peninsula, the large Husey estate invites walkers to birdwatching and horseback riding, but drones are prohibited! Finally I stopped around 1:30 pm to have lunch and do the administrative work of maintaining the website. The day began with a hazy sky that cleared up to let a shy sun shine through. The temperature rose from 8 ° C in the early morning to 13 ° C in the afternoon.
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Friday June 4 I headed for the Langanes peninsula. On the way I stopped at Bustarfell to admire an 18th century building with a roof covered with mossy earth. I passed the big village of Vopnafjördur with a stop at the grocery store to continue to Þórshöfn at the entrance to the Langanes peninsula. I found a bivouac opposite Þistilfjördur where birds were frolicking in the waves. Iceland has, according to the Lonely Planet, a population of 350,000 and a herd of 460.00 sheep and related.
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Saturday June 5 I left to discover the Langannes peninsula by a fairly rolling track. The first stop was a former WWII military base in Heidarfjall, of which only a few structures remain. At the crossroads, interpretive panels tell the story of the base. Further on, the abandoned fishing village of Skalar with sections of walls and period photos testify to the harshness of life on this end of the world. I pushed on to the Fontur lighthouse in the finistère region of the peninsula. On the way back I did a photo pose of nesting birds at Stori Karl. The journey from bivouac to bivouac is 99 km in 5 hours including break. The morning was sunny with heavy clouds without rain but the afternoon had an overcast sky, the temperature dropped to 10 ° C.
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Sunday June 6 I entered the Merakkaslétta peninsula with the aim of hiking in Raudanes. The interpretive panel mentions a 7 km circuit on a track along the coast. I was patient to wait for any walkers so as not to be alone at the end of the world. Alas no quidam showed up. Disgruntled I continued my way to Raufarhöfn to visit the strange enclosure of the Arctic which is still in the making; indeed only arches are built… I bivouacked in the parking lot in full view of everyone!
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