Blog 5 - Akureyi to Guest House Hofsstadir

---

Blog 5 August 10 – Driving Northern Iceland

Left Akureyri today hoping to play golf. Signpost in the hotel carpark told us we were 97 miles from the Arctic Circle. We felt a little cool but the locals were doing early morning laps in the pool.

Arriving at the Akureyri Golf Club we learnt there were no tee off times until 5pm because it was Northern Iceland’s week of championship golf for men and women. Well the weather was not the best so we weren’t too worried. Drove on to Dalvik and tried another course there but received the same response – basically no room at the inn!! Golf Cancelled and back to being a tourist.

Driving on we noticed the salmon fisherman were really having a great time and they seemed to be everywhere. The fishing festival at Dalvik was just as popular as the golf.

Driving further north we enjoyed beautiful coastal views of the glacier capped mountains, the fjords and the sea as well as the narrow strips of farming land where the hay had been recently harvested. Driving the narrow road we were stunned to come across a huge waterfall coming off the cliff and crashing directly into the sea. We have never seen a waterfall like this before. Had to take a quick photo of it before we entered the 10 km long tunnel taking us across the top of the peninsula. Exiting the tunnel we were basically at lands end on the Peninsula of the Trolls – next stop the Arctic!

Called into the town of Siglupjofdur where we visited the Herring Museum. Here we walked through the old factory buildings and saw the equipment used to process massive hauls of herring. Basically they mashed up thousands of tons daily, cooked it and turned it into meal for export for use as cattle food. We kept thinking about the stink and the noise of the engines driving all the equipment etc. Bags not being a worker there - YUCK!

The harbour is now beautifully restored and the sheds are well used as restaurants. We had yummy cod and chips in the Kaffi Raudka. The furniture in this restaurant was amazing. We sat at high, long bench tables and the big wooden chairs were so heavy Leanne struggled to move her chair.

Moving on we drove to the 16^th century fishing village of Hofsos. The harbour was quite sheltered and we saw the old log building called the Pakkhúsið, a warehouse used in the 1600’s to trade with the Danes. When things got tough here in the early 1800’s most of the locals emigrated to America. There was also a little museum telling the story of those emigrants.

Next stop was the Hofsstadir Guesthouse where we arrived just before the rain started. This accommodation was a side venture for the owners of a potato farm. They had built quite a few guest houses and did a great job of cooking really good food – both for dinner that evening and breakfast. Graham tried the smoked horse meat for breakfast – very strong. Leanne did well on the cold salmon – strong but yummy. We found it difficult to get our heads around the amount of water everywhere. The farm sat at the end of a fjord and there seemed to be rivers running all over the place and of course it was raining! Don’t know how the spuds didn’t rot in the ground! Somewhere different to spend a night away from city life.

Cheers from Leanne and Graham

---