The things I do for you people...

Well, this past week I managed to get fantastically ill.  That doesn't actually really do justice to the degree of unwellness which I experienced, but as this is a Family Blag,* I'll spare you the really unnecessary details.  Suffice it to say, from about Monday night through this morning, I was alternately shivering and sweating in my bed, softly mewling like a beaten kitten as what meagre defences my immune system could marshal fought off the invaders.


They probably would have had an easier go of things had I not won a drinking contest on Wednesday night and then went to Snæfellsnes on Thursday morning.  Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of Iceland, Snæfellsnes is about three hours north of Reykjavik.  This, of course, means it's a touch chillier than my temporary urban dwelling location.  Also windier.


Keep both of those in mind as you read what I'm about to type next:

Our initial plan was to go around Borgarness, maybe pop down to the coast for a bit, and then get to Helgafell and see the grave of Gúðrún Ósvífrsdóttir.  As such, I didn't bring a jacket, just my lopapeysa and gloves. Had we only gone to Helgafell, then that wouldn't have been an issue.

However, Helgafell was not our only stop.  No.  We went to Snæfelljökull, Arnastapi, Dritvik, Borgarness, and visited Reynhildur's uncle's farm, where he makes hákarl.

Now, none of that sounds too bad, right?  Except for that part where I mentioned Snæfelljökull.  For those of you not up on your Icelandic (or your old school Magic: The Gathering cards**), jökull means glacier.  Now, we didn't go all the way up on the glacier; that was around 8km from the base.  No, we just climbed up to Sönghellir and looked around for a bit.  And by 'we,' I mean myself, Paul, Myriam, Barbara, and Reynhildur.  It was gorgeous, no doubt about it, but the cold and wind conspired to make that climb the hardest 1.3km I have ever walked in my life.

Now, that being said, you people had better appreciate what I had to go through to get the following pictures.



*In that my mom and dad read it.
**See this card; when it comes for all-or nothing destruction, you can't go wrong with it.







OK, so without further ado, I give you pictures of the trip to Snæfellsnes.

Beautiful countryside...

...fearless Icelandic horses...

...and the last gas station for 80km.  Adventure!

 

Should also read "Don't climb without a jacket, jackass."  Alas.

The view from 1.3km up.

One of the Watchers on the Mountain

The view from around 700m up

The view from around 500m up

And the view from around 300m

The coastline at Arnastapi - I will warn you now, there are a lot of pictures of the coast.

The cliff at Arnastapi

More Arnastapi coastline

Yet more coastline.  Could you blame me, though?  This place is beautiful

Seriously.

The coast at Dritvik

More Dritvik coast

Snæfelljökull from Dritvik

Yet again, more coast

So there you have it, folks; I contracted some sort of terrible Icelandic death-plague in order to take a bunch of pictures and see some gorgeous landscapes.

I'd say it was worth it, really.