We just came home after a wonderful weekend in Skagafjörður, where we joined for the annual Laufskálarétt. It was a very relaxed time, good horses, good food and good conversation. That's the way it should be.

 

 

 

Great weather today! 
When we went to check on our horses we saw that the 3 sailing vessels of Northsailing, which had been to Greenland, were arriving back home, displaying all their beauty infront of Kinnarfjöll Mountains. A real majestic view!
Afterwards we went to Ísólfsstaðir to renew our rental contract for the winter pasture, which in fact ment to go for a visit, chat with Joel and his wife Sigga, talk about sheep and how the summer has been and then getting to know their bottle lamb. Of course we were able to renew the contract and will start moving horses there some time in October.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingólfur was supposed to join the second roundup this Friday, but the weatherforecast was that bad, that the farmers decided to accelerate the roundup and cover the whole area in just 1 day instead of 2. Therefore Ingólfur took 2 horses with him, to have the possibility to change horses and don't ask too much of a single horse.
My job was to do my working day at school and then take a nice drive to Þeistareykir and fetch Ingólfur there. Well, didn't work out like that! I got a call from Bensi, who told me that Rut would meet me at Húsavík and we should drive to the very startingpoint from this morning, where we had put the horsetrailer to my car and I was supposed to follow the riders with the car and trailer, whilst Rut rushed home to get another trailer for some sheep.
Quite adventurous driving a very rough road with a horsetrailer attached to the car. I wasn't going very fast I admit.
Was quite happy when I finally met the other drivers and riders and we waited together for the last ones to arrive. Not too many sheep today, but good we got them!

 

 

 

 

Lucky me! When taking a drive today we got a call from our friend Bjössi inviting us over to go fishing in the sea. Of course I accepted the invitation, grabbed my stuff and met Bjössi at the harbour. His dad owns a small boat called "Afi"-"Granddad" and after a short chat we left the harbour to find a good place and fetch some cod.
There was even a fish radar on board, so we were able to find good places to try our luck. First there was nothing, but then we got one and one, and Bjössi was especially lucky getting tiny haddock, which he kept throwing back to the sea.
It was nice to have a look at the new seabath up on the cliff and watch the waterfall coming down straight to the sea. After about 2 hours we decided it would be enough and went back to the harbour, where Bjössi filleted the fish and to my big surprise gave the whole lot to me! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Réttardagur - Sortingday! One of my favourite days in the year, the day where you meet your sheep and lambs again, hopefully in good condition and great spirits after a summer in freedom. All of them very wooly and in different shades. 
Our friends from Swiss attended, too, and we showed them how to grab sheep and lambs, check the number and bring it to the right place. Fun to watch and help them. 
Snilld and one of her sons were in the group we fetched today, no idea where the second one is.
Driving them home went well, Rut was in front of the herd whilst Hrund, Arnar Ingi and Ingólfur guarded the sides and a group of pedestriants walked behind them.
Next step is separating the lambs and ewes and weighting the lambs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same procedure as every year -  it was time to round up the sheep and bring them back to the valley. This year Ingólfur will join the second roundup and didn't ride with the farmers now. But for a change we had nice visitors and were able to show them a bit around and explain one or two things. We already met them a few days ago and had dinner with the group og veterinarians from Switzerland. Today we met them at Þverá and showed them the differences in the 2 kinds of Icelandic sheep, the different colours and differences in wool quality. Very interesting for me, too.
And there was a big improvement at Þverá: there's a new fence helping the herders keeping the sheep where they should be whilst taking a break!
When watching the huge herd coming down I spotted Snilld and one of her boys, hope the other one will be around, too, but we'll get to know that better tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Time for one of the regular checks at Hagi. There are just the mares, foals and Rögnir left there, still enjoying the wonderful weather and the very diverse area. So much to explore, different places to be, areas to feed and holes to drink from.
When having a look one could think Þrá's foal would belong to Vordís as the little stallion follows her like a shadow whereas Pandóra keeps her big brother busy.