8 July Fludir to Kirkjubaejarklauster

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Our first day's driver Matti left us yesterday and this morning we met Olie, our driver for the remainder of the trip. He would turn out to be wealth of information if one asked. A morning drive towards Myrdals-Jokull, the country's southernmost glacier, offered us views across the lava plains toward Hekla. This volcano was believed to be the entrance to hell, the name being one of several Icelandic words for that destination. At the entrance to Thorsmork, Valley of Thor, we stopped for a walk around and behind Seljalandsfoss. The suffix foss denotes a waterfall.

After a drive through a flood plain up Thorsmork, including the first of many river fords, we stopped short of the end of the road, avoiding the campsites there, for a hike up a side canyon. The canyon floor was mostly river stones and as the stream meandered across the canyon we crossed it several times. The rock formations of the walls were a myriad of shapes and the birds that live in them put an a continuous aerial show. At our furthest point in we stopped for a picnic lunch packed this morning the hotel parking lot. While this was a great hike with fantastic views, it brought the low point of my trip. A few days before departing Washington I wrenched one side of my ribcage on a flubbed golf shot. Catching my balance on one of the stream crossings reminded me of the location of each of those muscles and nerve endings, and served as a irritant for the rest of the trip. Well, I have a few golf outings coming up so maybe I can pull something on the other side to balance things out.

On the drive out of the valley we stopped to take in the views of the three volcanoes around us: Tinfjoll to the north, Katla to the north, and Eyjafjallajokull close by to the south. The last two are located in the Myrdals-Jokull glacier. Eyjafjallajokull is the volcano that erupted in 2010 interupting European air travel for several weeks, and had the newscasters struggling to pronounce it.

On the drive toward Vik on the Ring Road we stopped at a family farm in the shadow of Eyjafjallajokull and learned what is was like to be there durig the eruption, and how the farm activities were restarted. Further along the road we took a walk around and up the side of another large waterfall Skogafoss. The end of today's travels took us across the Eldhraun lava field some of which is covered with moss. The field was formed when Laki last erupted 1783 - 1784. This eruption was the largest in historic times on the planet, in terms of the amount of lava put onto Earth's surface. We ended today's travels in Kirkjubaejarklauster at lodgings that appear to be making the transition from full time working farm to farm and traveller's stop.

After dinner several of our group ended up walking along the river near the farm. Poonam, Raj, and I continued further along the river to the end? of the road. As we walked we observed a tractor across the river mowing hay with an attachment that rolls it, and wraps the rolls in fabric to be left in the field and picked up later. As we watched a roll detached from the tractor and instead of lying where it was dropped, rolled down the hill stopping a few meters short of going into the river. As we wondered whether the roll would become waterborne we all had the same thoughts: Too bad for the farmer / Photo op.

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