Iceland Hveragadi Walk

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Icelandic Geothermal Brown Bread and Boiled Egg

​I took a day off from the tour to do my own thing and I am so glad I did. The geothermal park here in Hveragerdi is charming and its geyser is the equal of the one we saw previously. And I didn’t have to ride in a bus for an hour to get here! 

The brown rye bred reminds of of Nova Scotia brown bread. Sweet with molasses and with a wonderful rye flavour. 

Iceland Wool week - geysers and long houses - maybe a waterfall or two

Iceland is a very tectonically Active Location. As a result, not only are their volcanoes, but there are also hot water geysers. The small town were staying in has a number of them, but we went to see the most famous, with an utterly unpronounceable and unspellable Icelandic name. In the last few weeks, something has changed because the geyser is much less spectacular and other surrounding hotspots are boiling rapidly.​

Then it was off to see a couple more waterfalls.

And a settlement era long house that was recently excavated after being buried in a volcanic explosion which produced pus stone. I forget the scientific name.

Across the valley from this settlement area people who own the blue Lagoon are building a bond villain layer into the side of the mountain. I thought it was a mind site, but our guide of that notion.

It doesn’t really show up in this photo, but it was a very interesting topic of conversation about how to control an address, mass tourism, and the effect that it can have on the natural environment . One of the gals on our tour lives on the island of Texel which is very popular with tourists. She was discussing the tools that the local community has put in place to restrict mass tourism and make it benefit the local community. It includes a tourist tax and a limit on the number of rooms that can be built in area. 

Icelandic Wool Week - Thing

​The Icelandic parliament is one of the first known. The rules seem simple and clear - a speaker is elected for three years. Laws are tested for

Three years before they are final. 

Iceland Wool Week - mini Mill and sheep

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Iceland Wool Week Coloured Sheep Show

​This afternoon we were treated to a livestock show of Icelandic coloured sheep. There was a lot of pride and joy in show with much discussion and conversation evident. 

The first ring full of sheep was remarkable. All the colours of the rainbow in the sheep world. 

Apparently this show judges all the regular characteristics, and then also takes into account, the wool color, quality and rarity of that particular colour expression. 

The two winners are in this photo the two young fellows fourth and fifth from the right.

One had a strawberry, blonde, fleece sheep, and the other had a white and gray fleece sheep.  This is them walking their sheep back to pens.

These three judges considered and graded every sheep. 

And there were quite a few sheep. 

Finally there for 14 sheep in a smaller area with a low fence suitable for reaching over to fondle their wool. And I was told that they are shearling’s, that is this year‘s lambs. Was also told that they are a special sub variant of Shetland sheep, whose wool is exceptionally soft. Feldfur? Not sure if the spelling. I can attest to that softness, having pet quite a number of them. Half of them were numbered and available for voting. I voted number seven a gorgeous steely, gray tiny little ram. He came in second or third I couldn’t quite tell. That’s him on the far right of this photo  

For tiny animals, they are amazingly strong. Part of the fun of watching the show was watching their handlers walk with them between their legs as the handler hung onto their horns.

These three girls were having a hell of a time getting their sheep to move out of the winners circle.

A really fun few hours. It looked like the audience and the participants were all having a good time. Possibly the sheep would’ve been happier out grazing.

Icelandic Wool Week Begins!

​We visited a couple tourist sites that were very interesting (Hella caves and the lava centre) but the highlight of the day was the coloured wool show. There were so many beautiful little Icelandic sheep.