Kanga And Wombats Adventures

23.10.19

On a beautiful sunny (but still freezing) day in Reykjavik, we picked up our hire car. Let’s just say we think Nordic Car Rentals should have had ‘Shonky Brother’s’ before the word Nordic! Rather than show us any damage to the car for counterchecking prior to renting, they gave us a blank drawing and asked US to identify the damage. And there was quite a bit!

We left feeling paranoid we’d missed something! And we had…also found a cracked and chipped windscreen and passenger sun visor non existent! We tried asking for another car but were told nothing was available. Them’s the breaks I guess!

Message to self: rent a car from a known car rental company next time, not the one Driveaway recommends!

The car was a cute little two-toned 4WD suzuki, and we set off with high hopes we’d get to our destination!

The driving was easy, and before we knew it, we were heading north on Highway 1, through the 6km long Hvalfjordur Tunnel, (not as exciting as the Harecastle) towards Reykholt.

The scenery was stark and beautiful.

Reykholt is a sleepy little village that was home to one of the most important medieval chieftains and scholars, Snorri Sturlson, who was killed here. The Snorrastofa, or museum, is a homage to his life and achievements. John was excited about Snorri as he is mentioned quite a lot in the book he was reading called Sagaland, by Richard Fiedler. In fact, I’d heard a lot about Snorri from John too!

After reading all about Snorri at the museum, I sum up his life thus:

He was a womaniser, taking 5 wives although only one legally. He was good at fighting as he was chieftain of many kingdoms. He travelled a lot especially in Norway where he was a favourite of the king. The king forbade him to return to Iceland, but another would-be king told him to go. A menage-a-tois perhaps? Snorri did return and was violently murdered for his disobedience by his ex son-in-law and a few of his friends. In between all this he managed to write some poetry and translate some ancient sagas. Busy man.

Snorri was fond of his hot tub,

and went to church….not this one I’m guessing, but on the same site.

A few kms up the road, we spied our first waterfalls! Barnafoss, a thundering, roaring mass of water surging through rock arches and caves.

And Hraunfossar, a more gentle cascading waterfall along a rocky lava field that was completely frozen in places.

We were beginning to understand why it’s called Iceland!

Our destination for the night was Budardular on the Hvammsfjordur. To get there we had to traverse a mountain pass, not massive, but as we started to ascend, a snow storm hit! It was pretty scary!

The poor ponies were very brave!

Just as quickly, the snow stopped and it was brilliant sunshine once more.

And then the snow storm came back again! By the time we reached Budardular, it was winter!

Our Airbnb is very snug and has the most gorgeous view right across the road from the fjord.

As the snow continued to fall, we became a bit concerned as to whether we’d get out of here tomorrow!

There was only one thing to do. Hop in the hot tub outside our door and gaze at the stars. As it was snowing!

Pure bliss!