This place is one of the hidden pearls in our area, not too many know about it or have visited this place. It's in the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon opposite Hólmatungur reached by a mud road and then a nice walk from the parking place. There's a lone rock called Vígabjarg with one of the hideouts of Grettir and as the story tells, Grettir jumped over the river with 2 muttons on his shoulders. Well, the canyon is rather narrow there, so who knows...
We invited Ingólfur's dad and Hjördís for the trip. Jón hasn't been there for about 50 years and it was Hjördís' and my second trip there.  Amazing to have places like this, where you can still experience unspoiled nature and don't encounter trash every second step. On the way back we spotted a female Gyrfalcon which was watching a few rock ptarmigans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...at the meadow today was Hjördís. Our horses haven't met her for quite some time, but of course remember her and the fact she usually brings some treats. So she quickly was surrounded by nosy youngsters trying to get her attention and treats. Really nice to watch that and how naturally she acts and reacts to them. Hasn't been like that all the time. 
Bensi got quite lucky today when one of the wheels of his car just dropped off when he slowed down to turn into his driveway, but he managed to stop the car without slipping off the road or getting injured. The wheel on the other hand just carried on its way and dissapeared over the next mound. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weatherforecast was nice for this weekend so Ingólfur and our friends finally could go for a ride to the countryside more precisely to our friend Bjössi's place. I was supposed to be the driver as I still couldn't join because of my knee. Whilst everybody was on horseback, I went back to Húsavík to fetch some sausages, bread, mustard and salad to have a nice barbecue later. When checking on our horses I saw a big bunch of sheep that weren't at all supposed to be in our field. I chased them out of our meadow and drove them further away hoping that they won't come back anytime soon. We'll see about that.
Back in the countryside we went for a refreshing swim in Bjössi's pool and had a quick dinner before heading home. Later in the evening we met again for some drinks and a chat. That resulted in 2 more joining the day after on the way back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingólfur got a call from our friend Halldór who asked him if he could help out. A good possibility to check out how Sigtýr and Sæla have been doing since they started their summerjob. We started the day at Halldórsstaðir in Laxádalur meeting the riders and guides. With 2 experienced riders in front it was possible to have some nice photostops so I could get one or another pic. Best part is alwasy watching them wade River Laxá and it was no exception this time. 
In the end of the day we took our horses back home as there was a planned break from the riding trips for about 2 weeks and they could spend those days with their herd instead of going east. We'll decide later if they'll go back or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a wonderful stay with family and friends in Austria, Ingólfur fetched me at the airport 2 days ago and we started our trip home via the east yesterday. The weather wasn't perfect, but not too bad. We hadn't booked any stays yet and decided to just see where we would "land" at the end of the day. Maybe should have booked in advance, would have spared us some adventures ;)
But first things first: we started at Reykjavík and had a few stops at interesting spots e.g. at the LAVA center at Hvolsvöllur, visited our friends at their new place near Hella and so on. We even saw barnacle geese with their youngsters next to the road. When getting close to Jökulsárlón we realized we hadn't booked anything yet and it would be time to finally do so... Well, that didn't work out so well, but there was a free room close to Höfn. We tried our luck there, but the place was rather bizarre and we drove into the village, where we got the last room at a decent place. But not without having another surprise when opening our room: there was already somebody in there, desperately trying to close the door when we tried to open. Poor guy just came out of the shower...
Got the right room after a few minutes and were happy to go to sleep. 
Today we drove all the way to Húsavík with a few stops inbetween. One of them was at our friends' place at Egilsstaðir, where we got a fine cup of coffee and a nice chat. Will be nice meeting the horses tomorrow.