Arriving in Akureyri - sleepless night!

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I arrive at Reykjavik's domestic airport after a bit of a detour via a hotel restaurant - map reading blooper but I realise I'm actually really early and can afford to have some grub before I find the actual terminal building - only to find the flight is delayed by half an hour. I settle down to read my book and add a bit to my blog before finally my flight is ready to depart. We're in a fairly small aircraft, just two seats each side of the aisle and you have to walk up the steps into the plane from the tarmac. We are quickly airborne and as I'm in a window seat I can see all that's outside - which is mostly the tops of fluffy clouds! So much for seeing a bit of the interior of the country while flying over it. I do get a little glimpse through the clouds every so often but as it's snowy mountains it doesn't look a whole lot different to the clouds. We arrive at Akureyri and begin a series of figures of eights over the town getting gradually lower. I think the pilot is trying to avoid turbulence and cross winds before lining up with the short landing strip which starts just after flying in directly over the fjord water. We come to a halt and I breathe my usual sigh of relief.

It's a lovely sunny welcome to Akureyri and I decide to walk into town along the shore of the fjord - about 2 miles or so. Everyone else is taking taxis or is being picked up so I have the walk all to myself. It's stunning scenery again. Snowy mountains line the far side of the fjord and off into the distance surrounding the valley that the town is in. I watch an aeroplane take off and as it reaches the end of the runway and lifts off, it has to bank steeply to the left to avoid going into the mountains at the end of the valley! Yikes!

The air is really still, cold and very fresh and I have a big grin on my face, having to pinch myself to realise that I'm actually here in Iceland and now up in the very north of the country. I feel so free and independent and really enjoy my quiet time before the hustle and bustle that is likely due at the hostel. I spot more ravens and then out on the water see an odd looking duck. Through the binoculars I can see that it's a really exotic looking beast with a really long tail, which I find out later means it's a 'long tailed duck' - yes, I know, very unimaginative naming of wild fowl! I find it amusing to see washed up on the shore two massive wooden columns - are these Ingolfur Arnarson's pillars? Maybe he settled in the wrong place and Akureyri should have been his landing spot all those centuries ago. As I'm coming towards the edge of Akureyri I stop to admire another silver boat sculpture at the water's edge. Although much smaller, it's very reminiscent of the Solfar sculpture in Reykjavik and I wonder if it's by the same artist. Soon I find myself walking through the main shopping street of Akureyri and there is my hostel.

I'm welcomed by David who checks me in and explains where everything is. He also hands me a voucher for a free beer! I go upstairs to find my room and either I'm the only one in the dorm or I'm the first to arrive so I pick a bottom bunk and head back down to the bar for my free beer. It turns out the only supermarket likely to still be open is way out on the other side of town so I head off on yet another long walk. This seems to be a day of trudging, thankfully in yet more sunny weather. I've been so lucky with the weather on my trip so far considering all the warnings I'd had about how changeable the weather is in Iceland.

I find a little hill with a statue on and climb up to have a look. There's a great view of the town and the fjord from here so I take a timer 'tadah' photo before heading off to where I'd been told there was a supermarket open. Bad information - everything is shut, well except for a garage which only seems to sell car oil and pet food! I'll just have to make do with my snacks I'd brought along - shortbread, nuts, biscuits, raisins!

Back at the hostel I settle down for the night when all of a sudden a massive humming noise starts up in the wall - I'm talking light aircraft landing outside my room effect! I go to investigate and find it's coming from the air duct unit over the washbasins that are adjacent to my dorm wall! I get the guy from reception to come up and see how noisy it is and he says he can't actually turn it off, but offers me another room - right at the end of the corridor where there is now loads of load music blaring out from the bar next door! He leaves me both keys so I can take my pick of either a light aircraft landing on my bed or a massive gig blaring outside my room. I pick the latter figuring it will at least eventually stop. Silly me. It goes on and on and on and on - the people at the venue getting louder the more drunk they get. The air duct noise thankfully switches off at 11pm (as predicted by the guy on reception) so I move back to my original room to put a bit of distance between me and the awful racket from the bar. Unfortunately this makes little difference and I'm kept awake until 2am by the music and then until 3.30pm by the shrieking, cackling 'clientele' of the bar. I'm soooo pissed off. I really, really hate people inflicting their noise on others - it's one of my massive pet hates. It's just so bloody rude and selfish. I spend the hours of enforced lack of sleep booking into a different hostel on the outskirts of town. I even manage to find myself a single room for only £22 a night so don't even care if THIS hostel gives me a refund or not. I just want out! Eventually I get to sleep at 3.45am before being woken at 7am by the sodding air duct whirring into full buzzing landing craft mode again.

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