The theme today seemed to be nature and what an incredible force it is, in both its ability to astound us with its beauty and chill us to the bone with its raw power and ferocity. But first we eat!
Breakfast that morning consisted of a huge spread that would make even a Caper jealous. It consisted of: cheese, ham salad, granola, sour milk, milk from the farm, cold cuts, SKYR!, crackers, coffee and tea. A good way to start the day. The perfect day to start the day would have been to be sent off by the farmer in his underwear....oh wait. That actually happened. The whole experience at the farm was incredible. The family was more than happy to have us there and treated us more like guests in their house than some rube paying them an inflated price to rent a single room for a night.
Off we zoomed, our bellies full of delicious food and hearts with joy...only to end up at the end of a dead end. Garmin obviously hadnt had her coffee this morning and steered us astray. Back on track we made ou way to the REAL sulphur springs. They were magnificent, albeit stinky, blasting plumes of steam out of the ground, which reached temperatures of up to 200C underground. After a rather long stroll around we decided to set off, in the car reaching a consensus to not follow Ari's advice to take a shortcut he had advised us of which promised to be more scenic than the route we had chosen to take.
Next on the docket was Dettifoss which is the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe. I have never seen Niagra Falls and upon hearing this Lynn confidently proclaimed "This will be the biggest waterfall you have ever seen in your life!"
After traversing a stretch of land on foot that can best be described as moonlike, we ascended over a hill to a roar. Upon descent I saw what was most definitely the greatest display of pure hydro power I have ever seen. It was magnificent and terrifying and completely soaking us head to toe. But I couuldn't move; I was completely mesmerized. Once I managed to peel my feet out of place we made our way back to the car and were back on the road.
Greeted by a thick blanket of fog and a magnificent (insert sarcasm here) dirt road we started our trek around the mountain. After a rather long ascent we rounded a corner to have a valley revealed that was the definition of "breathtaking" replete with the stereotypical heavenly light shining down in the middle of it. I was completely awestruck. We must have spent a good 20 minutes down there. It was heavenly. Shortly after loading back into the car we were ground to a crawl by a small group of sheep who seemed determined to drink al of the water from a puddle in the middle of the road. motorists be damned!! Excessive honking seemed to slightly get them moving, but being approached by the car seemed to turn their leisurely stroll into a gallop more effectively. Sheep averted we continued the journey to the next accommodation, unbound by schedule or light in the day (seeing as how it typically lasts til 930 or 10).
The weather varied throughout the drive, switching from rain to fog to the slightest peak of sun, back to fog then rain again and so on. Our last major stop was a coastal one to watch the waves crash against the shore and a giant column of land. I absolutely love to watch the ocean, not only because it reminds me of home, but because it is a force that demands our respect because of its unbridled power and unpredictability. It is a true force of nature.
We concluded our day by rolling into an inn only to have our car chased by a posse of three dogs (one of whom was a one eyed chihuahua) which was immediately joined by a cat as soon as our feet hit the ground.
After some deeeeelicious Mr Noodles, Facebook, Instagram and this blog post we headed to bed, dreaming of the adventure into the birthing ground of icebergs we were about to undertake when morning came.
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