I got up and went for a bit of a jog. I was pretty stiff though, didn't warm up and suffered from running on the hard paths and roads, so I didn't go far and in fact decided that I'd better not jog any more on the holiday because I was doing my Achilles tendon some damage! Either way, had an enjoyable(ish), run round the marshes and water towers of Hofn.
The breakfast was very compactly laid out, but was actually deceptively good - especially the small pots with muesli and Skyrr yoghurt in them and the small squares of carrot cake!
We had some time to burn in the morning so we went up to Husserl to go in some hot tubs. However we changed our mind when we get there and Luca and I took a small walk to a glacier tongue while Ellis read his book. We then travelled in the opposite direction to the Viking Cafe, which had an old viking village film set which you could walk round.
One the way we saw a deer which was probably a reindeer (I'm not sure). Luca was sleepy and somewhat underwhelmed, but Ellis and I tried to get close to it, as it slowly ambled off into the fields.
The walk to the viking village was along an small but impressive mountain and the village itself was intriguing, though falling to pieces a bit.
We then travelled in the opposite direction a bit to the starting point for the Snowmobile tour of the glacier. Ellis got himself tangled up in his coat and came out with probably the best utterance of the holiday (in my opinion), when he queried "Dad, where are my hands?" Given the boys' seeming inability to find anything up to that point without my assistance, that kind of amused the hell out of me!
The drive up to the start of the snowmobile tour was in one of those large vans on huge wheels that we'd seen through the week. As we gained height the views out to see were impressive and driving along the winding road was exhilarating and a bit scary.
When we arrived at the top we put on helmets and more overalls. We eventually got sorted where Ellis travelled on the back of my snowmobile and Luca travelled on the back of the guide's snowmobile (behind another girl).
The weather was perfect, blue sky interspersed with perfect white clouds. The snow surrounded us as we travelled at pace in a long convoy, I pulled the throttle and happily exclaimed "This is Fucking Awesome!!!". And it was!
We stopped a couple of times, high up on the glacier, before returning to the hut, where the boys had a coke and I had a bottle of Vatnajokull which is brewed using water from icebergs. It was crazy expensive though!
When we were dropped off back at the car park on Route 1 we then travelled back in the opposite direction again to our next destination on the east coast.
We stopped to eat in a very authentic feeling little fishing village (which I can't find on the map), in a fish and chip place which did wonderful fish in a batter which was seasoned with saffron. There were no seasonal staff here, it felt very Icelandic.
We continued our journey to Egilsstaðir through the mountains as the sunset and produced a magical orange and pink hue to the sky, the rivers and mountains. I hope I'll never forget it.
We were short on time, but stopped at Ellis strong request at possibly my favourite waterfall of the holiday (which, again, I can't find on the map). It was short and stubby, but powerful, fast and perfectly formed in the mountain side. The boys scrambled ahead and I struggled to keep up as we headed toward it. A few quick photos and then back in the car.
It got gradually darker and more enigmatic as we drove higher and deeper into the mountains, but I got gradually more stressed as it started to look like we might miss the close of reception at our next hotel and not only did we lack phone reception to give them a call, but my phone was running out of charge. And the road itself was pretty difficult and not something I wanted to be rushing or driving in the dark.
Through team work of Ellis trying to charge the phone (the car wasn't playing ball) and trying to phone the hotel, and Luca checking navigation on the iPad and my going as fast as I dare, we managed to get to the hotel on time. It was a shame to have to rush through such beautiful scenery.
We saw another bird trying to get itself killed on the road as we approached the reception and also ptarmigan (with it's furry feet), which was running like crazy to avoid the car.
The man on reception made us laugh by being very serious and officious when giving us the keys, but then doing a funny Mr Bean run outside immediately after.
The accommodation was kind of a cottage, but kind of a shed. It looked cool from the outside- like a silvery triangular shack, but was a bit drab on the inside (Ellis thought it was cool though).
There was a TV with about 3 channels on it. We watched The Flintstones for a bit and then went to bed.
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