Day 4: Hvergerdi to Hellisholar

Some sleep was had and we were up early to visit the Almar bakeri in Hvergerdi (amazing cinnamon buns).  We drove to the Kerio crater which is a scoria crater and its water level reflects the water table in the surrounding area.  Difficult to capture the scale of it in the picture but the crater is 180 ft deep.

Then off into the mountains, I feel like I am in a movie on some of these roads.

We headed off to the Dingvillir National Park which is where the original Icelandic Parliament was established in 930.  It is now a UNESCO heritage site and it is a beautiful setting.  There is a viewing platform across the lake. 

The Icelandic president still keeps a rather desirable summer house here.

Also on the Dingvellir park site is the Logberg “Law Rock” where new laws were proclaimed.  There is also the “Drowning Pool” for adulterous women, but we didn’t dwell on that for long. 

As an aside there are lots of wooden walkways around tourist spots in Iceland and here is a particularly determined version.

Next stop was Geysir.  Guess what there was a geyser there!  Not the Great Geysir that has been dormant for many years, but Strokkur which erupts every 10 minutes.

Wait for it...

Whooo hooo!  I won’t try and post the video of it, but I will show anyone who will watch once I get home. 

Next stop should have been a mere 10 minutes drive, but I messed up the satnav and we drove 45 minutes back to Kerio (and then back again to Geysir).  We won’t speak of this again but there was swearing and that really annoying disappointment when you know you can only blame yourself. 

Next stop was Gullfoss falls.  I was expecting maybe double the size of your average Welsh waterfall, but to quote Pam from Gavin and Stacey “Oh my Christ!”.  I have never seen so much water.  It was so loud.

This is the view going back down the valley 

And here are three people giddy on the power ofwater

Then off for some relaxation in the Secret Lagoon.  It is a natural geothermal spring with black pebbles on the bottom.  Incredibly hot and I was incredibly envious of the people having a cold glass of white wine.  

I scored a particularly strong eye roll from Eve bysaying that I objected to the woggle floats because they were garish.  She suggested I might prefer it if they were tonal natural colour woggles - she is starting to understand me.  

Long drive to Hellisholar campsite where I had to cook pasta in the rain.

Yes that is a camping stove perched upon a frisbee upon a book. 

As I write this I can hear someone in an adjacent vehicle playing Elton John very loudly (Tiny Dancer since you are asking).  Whilst writing we have also had a light aircraft land in the next field.  A few people have said they are enjoying reading the blog (which is nice to hear).  I am enjoying writing it as one of the issues with single parent travel is that the conversations that start with “what was your favourite bit of the day...” are a bit limited, so I am writing it all down instead.