Elves and the Icelandic Landscape

You'll probably be surprised to know that Iceland has elves, yes real elves, at least as measured by how important they are for Icelandic life.  And significant parts of the landscape are considered sacred as the elves live there.  Highways and roads have been rerouted, and homes built, all in order to avoid the elves' sacred spaces.

For our last two days we took a full-size bus south of Reykjavik toward the south coast.  We got to see a bit of the very limited farmland on Iceland, some waterfalls, and the Skogar Museum, an open air folk museum - as well as some of those sacred spaces for the local elf communities.

These are typical views of the very limited farmland, on the rare patches of good soil below the central upland landscape.  At least it's flat!  And in fact Iceland's climate is surprisingly moderate, even though it is on the same latitude as Baffin Island.  It is heavily influenced by oceanic currents like the gulf stream, and has mild winters and cool summers.  On the low coastline winter temperatures hover near freezing, while in summer it rarely gets above 15°C.

From what we could see it is mostly used for grazing and hay production, and Icelandic horses are popular.  This is a unique breed of horses bred in Iceland over the past 1000 years.  No other breeds can be imported, though some of these are certainly exported.  They are a very hardy breed, often just pony size, but always referred to as horses.

The landscape isn't always such nice farmland, sometimes it is rough and rocky volcanic rock, remnants of various volcanic eruptions over the centuries.  Not suitable for much human use, but it is said that some of the elves live in the rocky lava fields.

And occasionally the rock just rises from the flat farmland, providing prime elf habitat - at least that is what we were told.

We were told that these are among the rocks where elves live, but we didn't see any ourselves, as no-one ever does.

Landowners often put out little house fronts for the elves so they can more easily come and go from their homes in the rocks..

I think the typical elf actually has a slight resemblance to the furry gnome, don't you?

Elves in Iceland known as the 'Huldufolk' or the little folk, the hidden people, and are central to Norse mythology.  More than half of the Icelandic population does believe in elves, even though they are invisible to human eyes.

Whales, Reykjavik and Glaciers

Our second day on Iceland was spent on two activities, a giant jeep tour up over the glacier, and whale watching outside Reykjavik.  The first of these was a little overwhelming, but the second was much like whale-watching tours we've been on in Canada, though with fewer, smaller whales than the spectacular whales we've seen here at home.

This is the sort of jeep we rode in, with 4 other people.  Icelanders have discovered that if you let the air pressure (partly) out of tires, they actually have better traction in snow, and bigger tires are better.  So they are up to 44" tires, with raised bodies for the adventurous few.  I think the tires we rode on were about 3 feet high, though they felt like 5 feet at the time, and we did stop to deflate them at least once.  We also got stuck which was only slightly terrifying up on the glacier miles from anywhere!  Thank goodness they travel in groups.  

Although both of these are internet images (thanks), this one is a very realistic illustration of our ride.  It was bumpy, really bumpy, slight terrifying and when we stopped for a quick break, it was an arctic blizzard with a howling wind and zero visibility!  I got no pictures of my own on that ride.  What Mrs. F.G. remembers most is bouncing so much she bumped her head on the roof!  We were still glad we went - why do tourists spend good money to get terrified and uncomfortable!

For the whale-watching later that day it was a quick ride down to the harbour and off we went in a tour boat.  This was our best sunny day of the whole trip, and we enjoyed the adventure, a much more comfortable adventure!

This is the most we saw of whales, but we knew they were there.  These were smaller Minke whales, but we've seen Humpback, Fin and Orca whales on both coasts here in Canada.

I know you always enjoy my selfies, so here you are.  I am a handsome dude if I don't say so myself!

After that we were free to wander Reykjavik, so we enjoyed exploring the harbour and walked up past the beautiful Hallgrimskirkja, the big Lutheran church in the centre of town.  It was designed to look like the basaltic columns in parts of Iceland, as you'll see in a couple of posts.

The Geyser at Geysir and Gulfoss

Continuing on our Golden Circle route, we came to the cluster of geysers in the Haukadalur geothermal valley.  The largest geyser there, the first geyser anywhere ever documented in writing, has given its name to this type of feature on the planet, as geysers, the anglicized version of 'geysir'.  Yellowstone in the U.S. and the Whakarewarewa valley in New Zealand are the other two places in the world where you can see geysers.  

This is not the Great Geysir, which erupts infrequently, but the nearby 'Strokkur' which erupts at fairly short intervals.  It starts out as a huge blue bubble of hot water emerging from the ground. 

The bubble then bursts and the geyser erupts.  You have to stand and watch a few times to be ready for the sequence of photographs.

Finally it blows 20-30 metres into the air, a quite spectacular sight to watch.

Moving on we finally came to Gulfoss Falls.  This view shows the entire double waterfalls, with two bedrock ledges at quite different angles, over which the water drops, into a deep gorge below.  This view, obviously taken by drone, shows both falls, along with the path leading to the observation point.  Can you see the tiny people standing under the rainbow in the upper left?

As is typical in Iceland, there is no protective railing, the path just ends on the bedrock by the lip of the falls.  We got there successfully, but we didn't go too close to the edge!  This is the largest waterfall by volume in Europe and reminded me very much of Niagara Falls.  Try and imagine standing at the edge of that rock with the roar of the water in your ears and the spray in the air!

This view shows the lower falls and the canyon below it, as close as I could find to the actual view we had.  Unfortunately I've misplaced my own photos of these two places, so I give credit to the Internet for all of these pictures.  Both spectacular places!

Iceland and the Pingvallir

Join me on our 2014 trip to Iceland.  This was a totally spontaneous trip that we decided on over only a couple of days after seeing an ad on Travelzoo.  The attraction was the price, and the need to get out somewhere, anywhere(!) after a long Grey County winter!  It was only 4 days  plus two days for the flights, but it was a memorable adventure.

Iceland is an island in the north Atlantic, a separate country, though Nordic in traditions, with only about 350,000 people, most of them concentrated in the southwest around Reykjavik the capital.  The population is entirely spread around the coast, as original settlement was entirely by boat.  The centre of the island is upland, partly ice caps, and largely volcanic.  The lowlands are all around the coast, as you can see on this map.

But before I get to the details of our visit I just want to say a word about how well organized this whole trip was.  It was entirely booked through Icelandic Air, with one price for the whole package.  You could choose which tours you wanted from a long list, and once we saw the list we chose to stay two extra days to fit in more tours.

Each day we gathered in the hotel lobby by 9, and the different tours started stopping by.  A driver would come in and read off names, and off you went.  The vehicles ranged from full-size buses down to vans and jeeps.  It all operated so smoothly; somebody had obviously done a great deal of coordinating behind the scenes.

And yes, Iceland has a reputation for being expensive, but there is a short 'in-between season' in late April where travel is much cheaper.  In fact this was advertised as being half-price.  I kept watching for some extra costs to show up, but they never did.  Everything except our evening meals out was covered - two flights, 6 nights posh accommodation, and all the tours - for about $3000.00 for the two of us.

With that introduction, let's move on to our first tour.  It was the 'Golden Circle', a day-long tour that took in the three most popular sites in Iceland, and the Pingvallir was the first of these.

Iceland is the only place on earth where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is above water so you can see it.  If you have read any geology, you'll know the idea that the planet consists of continental plates, that 'float' on the underlying mantle.  Continents are slowly (very slowly) moving apart or together, depending on where you are in the world.  Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge the North American and European plates are moving apart.

The picture above, taken after we got off our bus at Pingvallir, shows the cracked western edge of the rift valley on Iceland.  Our walk went down through that rock canyon and out at the bottom, where the ancient 'parliament', the Pingvallir, used to meet.  Iceland's version of a democratic parliament arose in the 900s, so it's about 900 years older than ours in North America.   This is an important historic as well as a geological site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The pathway down between the cliffs was a paved easy trail.  Believe it or not, the Icelandic parliament , the 'Alping', started here in A.D. 930, over 1000 years ago.  This pathway would have been a well-used entry to the site for all that time.

There were a fair number of visitors, but it wasn't crowded.

At the bottom you came out into the edge of the broad flat rift valley that runs through Iceland.

The open area on the right hand side of this photo was the site of the Alping.  Until 930 Iceland consisted of separate villages around the coast, the first Norwegian settler having arrived in 874.  But there was no agreed upon legal framework for the island as a whole.  Settlers in the south-west corner of the island took the lead and the Alping started.  That lasted until 1262, after which Norwegian and later Danish rule began.  In 1918 Iceland gained its independence again.

People attending the annual gathering would set up temporary shelters, and the area has been described as looking like a medieval bazaar for two weeks.  Iceland thus claims to have the world's oldest functioning parliament.

Once you've arrived at the river in the valley you can look back and effectively see the eastern side of the North American tectonic plate.  A fascinating place for geologists!  Earthquakes are detected almost very day under the rift valley.

In the next post we'll visit Geysir, the original geyser, and Gulfoss, the largest waterfall in Europe by volume.  See you then!

It Finally Snowed!

It finally snowed last night, and the world is looking very wintry.  And with highs for the entire month forecast to stay below freezing, and sometimes quite a bit lower, the snow should stay.  There's about 8" on the ground now and all the trees and shrubs are white; it's a very gentle fluffy snow.

The day dawned a little bit sunny, and I could see immediately that significantly more snow had fallen last night.

There were at least 8" on top of the planters.

Plenty of snow was caught up in the tall dry Zebra Grass, as well as in Mrs. F.G.'s winter decoration.

The sunlight was shining brightly on the snow trapped in the bark of one ash tree.

And there was a line of tiny icicles across the front edge of the shed.

And yes, the heron's head has started to disappear in the snow.  Soon it may be transformed into an Ostrich, with its head in the snow.

I'm working on those Iceland pictures.  I'm afraid I'm missing a few photos, but I'm getting it all organized in my head.  Our trip was in 2014 and I've never really done anything with these photos, so it takes a little remembering, and some internet sleuthing to be sure I have the names and places right.

If you've heard of Canada Post cancelling deliveries in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley because of a snowstorm, bear in mind that snowfalls are few and far between there, so they're totally unprepared for it.  They don't have many snowplows and people don't get snow tires.  Cars slide around all over the place - our daughter has described it to us.  So it's not quite the same as here where virtually everyone is well prepared for winter.  I expect ths same goes for the drivers on that interstate in Virginia.

Found - A Hand Cycle!

When I was in the hospital, after I'd woken from my near coma and been moved out of ICU to a recovery floor, I had access to a hand cycle to build my strength back.  We've been looking for something similar for months - the one the hospital had cost $1000.00+.  It was just a coincidence but on a drive to Owen Sound Mrs. F.G. stopped in at the MED-E-OX store to see if they had blue pads (they've been back-ordered for months).  And lo and behold she found a simple cheap hand cycle!

It's actually a hand/foot cycle, but obviously my feet aren't going to use it.  We have it set up on the dining room table, on a rubber mat so it won't slide around, and I've tried it out 3 times.  It's wonderful!  This gives me an upper body workout that is better than anything else I've experienced in the past three years, and I expect to use it often.  We've pretty well given up on keeping the house clear of my stuff!

Meanwhile we're in a run of cloudy grey days that will probably last well into February.  The sun never quite breaks through, so as winter unfolds and spring gets closer (in about 10 weeks), the return of the sun will be deeply appreciated!

The snow is on-again, off-again as it partly melts and then gets covered again, but we have had no deep snowfall yet.  However, our terrified provincial Premier, Doug Ford, has re-imposed a lockdown.  Students are back to online learning and at least one of my PSWs will probably be off work supervising her three children, much to her dismay.  Ford has also closed restaurants which eliminates our coffee group for now, something that I'll really miss, while the cafe has to survive on take-out orders.

I'm pretty well out of ideas for blog posts, so I thought I'd take you off to Iceland in a few upcoming posts.  We were there a few years back, and I've never put together anything with those photos.  Hope you enjoy it, while it takes my mind off winter here!

Best of 2021 Part II

Looking back on the summer of 2021, one highlight was the arrival of the Monarchs, which have laid eggs on our Milkweeds each year since we moved here.  These two pictures are by Mrs. F.G. since she can get closer than I can, but we have lots of pictures like this from the past and it's always fascinating to watch them.

In later spring we were in Harrison Park in Owen Sound and found that the old 'One Mile Drive' has been paved as a walkway.  And the pavement makes it completely accessible to me.  I don't know of any other paved trail like this through mature forest.  It's an absolute delight to me!

This photo isn't exciting - unless you love going to the library and you're in a wheelchair!  The wide aisles and the short stacks make our new library totally accessible, and I love it!

September 30th is Orange Shirt Day in Canada, a day to remember the children from native communities taken away to residential schools, forcibly if necessary.  These are a pair of children's handcuffs they used when children didn't want to leave their parents.  The day is named after one such child, Phyllis Webstad and her memories of the orange shirt she wore for the first day of classes.  It was immediately taken and burned by the nuns who ran the school.

One of the joys of my life is simply riding around the nearby streets and heading downtown for a cup of coffee.  I see lots of things of interest, but these New England Asters were I think, one of my best photos of the year, simply because I could get close to them.

I must also speak of the welcome I've felt at McGinty's, our downtown cafe.  They go overboard in being friendly and welcoming, as well as in brewing great coffee and making delicious sandwiches.  It goes a long way to making me feel a part of this community.

The fall colours mark the mid-point of fall, and we saw some great colour in Harrison Park, beyond the ones here in the neighbourhood.  They're always one of my favourite things to photograph.

It was fairly late in the fall when I managed my last visit down to the harbour, but there always seems to be something new to see, and I managed several visits over the summer.

And in December we got our first snowfall, just a light few inches, but it still means winter is here.  Even though I speak of hibernating during the winter, I actually now look forward to it as a peaceful time of working on things I want to write.  And Mrs. F.G, is always gracious enough to take me out 3 or 4 times a week.

So in spite of covid, I think it has been a good year overall. We've gotten out, I've made new friends, and my coffee group is enjoying itself.  We continue to go searching for Snowy Owls and Sandhill Cranes, my PSWs continue to arrive and help me, and the seasons unfolded here as they should.

So Happy New Year everyone!  And may 2022 be a better year for all of us!