The Mountaineer

I have never climbed a mountain before. Growing up in the Thames Valley never really provided me with many opportunities. well, all that changed on Sunday because just outside of town there is Asfjall,which is reportedly the smallest mountain in Iceland.

As part of my works latest 'get off you backside and do some exercise' campaign, I decided that it would be a good way to earn points for my team by attempting to climb this mountain.

This is Asfjall, as you can see its not that formidable. I will have to check the term 'Mountain' as I am pretty sure Egham hill is on par with one.


I managed to get to the top without the use of bottled oxygen, however the view was pretty good from up there.



At the top was this brass plate, I'm not sure how high a mountain has to be to be a mountain but 127 meters doesn't sound that high.

Its all in the Name

Icelandic names can sound very weired to foreigners. First of all there are no family names in Iceland (or very Few). A Child's surname is made up of the Father's first name with either Son or Dottir added on to the end of it, depending on whether the child is a boy or girl.

First names are also very interesting. There is an approved list of names issued by the authorities and you can only name a child if the name is on this list. The reason for this is to protect cultural identity but mostly to ensure the name is compatible with the complicated grammar rules that Icelandic has. I am told that the strictness of this list has been relaxed over the past few years with more names being added all the time. I checked the list myself earlier and found Mohamed was allowed, although Stuart is not.

Some Icelandic names can have very amusing meanings when translated directly into English. Here is a taste of a few and no, I haven't made these up.

Male names

Ljotur - Ugly
Ormur - Worm
Alfur - Elf
Astvin - Love Friend
Dyri - Animal
Godi - God
Ofeigur - Not marked for Death

Female names

Arnljot - Eagle Ugly
Dogg - Dew
Kolbrun - Brown as Coal
Mjallhvit - Snow White
Ninja - ???????
Nattsol - Night Sun
Sveina - Boy
Sylgja - Buckle

and my personal favorite.

Olrun - Ale Mystery

Flight over the City

On Thursday I made my way to the City Airport for my Air Tour of the City. I had been really looking forward to this and was a bit miffed that the weather was wet and dreary.

I soon cheered up when I saw the airport. The domestic terminal at Reykjavik city airport is the smallest I have ever been to. I had to wait at the check in desk whilst the only assistant was in the staff kitchen busy emptying the dish washer. The place has not seen a paint brush in a good few years and the size of baggage reclaim conveyor belt actually bordered on the preposterous, being only big enough for about 4 people to stand around. I was able to see this as departures and arrivals are in the same small room.

Anyway, as soon as the coffee mugs where put away I was checked in and heading out to the Plane.


The aircraft was a Fokker 50 and the engines had a sticker on them that reassuringly stated they were 'Dependable Engines'.


We took off and after a minute where over Harfnarfjordur where I live.


We then turned around and flew low over Reykjavik.

Reykjavik again.


We then headed north over the mountains.




As we flew up the coast it became clear that even though this was the first day of summer, things are still a bit cool, as the frozen sea here proves.




We then headed inland and over flew Thingvellir. This is the place where the ancient parliament of Iceland used to be held and is of special historical importance. It is also an incredibly beautiful place. The gully you can see running across the terrain from left to right is the fault line between the two continental shelves that Iceland straddles.

Dependable engines.

Last day of Winter

Its officially the last day of Winter today and tomorrow is the first day of Summer.

I am not really sure what happens to Spring around here, its just kind of forgotten. Anyway its a big excuse for a booze up, It also happens to be St. Georges day so that suits me just fine.

At 11 o clock tonight the sky in the west was still light. The days are getting so much longer now and at an amazing rate. Bring on the Summer !

I will be going for a flight over Reykjavik tomorrow, Hope the weather will be good as I want to get some good photo's of the City. So fingers crossed.

Newsflash

Sorry its been a fews days since my last blog. Been a bit busy with doing some DIY around the house and socialising with friends. You know how it is.

In the news today is a Human Rib bone found on a beach near Isafjordur. The bone has been sent to Reykjavik for analysis but the theory is that it could belong to one of the victims of the 'Spanish killings' of 1615. The victims were 32 Spanish whalers that were shipwrecked and were chopped into bits by the locals on the orders of a local sheriff. Nice !

Also in the news was the report of gunshots and a man being seen with a rifle running into a box factory in Reykjavik late last night. The police special forces, known as the Viking squad, were called in but found only three drunk youths. The noise of the gunshots the police believe where in fact just the drunk kids breaking a glass window.

Sunset

Another Sunset picture, yawn !

Brass Monkeys

Went out for a night on the sauce last Saturday, it was a lovely sunny evening so I did not bother to take my coat. Stumbled out of the pub at chucking out time only to find myself in Ice Station Zebra. I had to take refuge in 'Pizza King' to avoid Frostbite/Snowblindness, ect. whilst I awaited my rescue.

It was a close call, I can tell you.

Swaning Around

There are quite a few of these Whooper Swans about at the moment. I took this Pic Today at one of the ponds up the road from my house. They winter in the UK and then migrate to Iceland for the Summer.

I read about a project where the Wetlands Trust has tagged some of these swans in Northern Ireland and are tracking them on their Journey to Iceland. They say a whooper going full pelt can do the Journey in a day. Not bad eh !

Check out the website, its got a really cool map so you can track the birds.

www.wwt.org.uk/superwhooper

April (Snow) Showers

Yes, the Snow is back again. I went to bed last night and the weather was overcast and Foggy. This morning I woke up to find about 4 inches of snow on my balcony. The weather changes so fast here.
I went for a walk after work today and took these pictures, the problem was as it was a sweltering 7 Degrees today a lot of the snow had melted away during the day. Still plenty left this evening though, as you can see.

Driving me crazy

I have been meaning to write something about driving on the roads in Iceland for a while now but its been difficult to find a way of putting my thoughts on this down without upsetting any of the local Puffin Eaters that would read this blog.

I have been trying to think of a nice way to put it but I can't, So I will just come out and say it. Icelandic Drivers are Loonies !

Its not like the drivers are intentionally dangerous, there just seems to be a general lack of Road etiquette. Tailgating seems to be the norm, changing lanes lightning quick without any indication is also a favorite and the less said about roundabouts the better.

The interesting thing is, as yet, I have not actually witnessed any acts of road rage. I have seen driving maneuvers which would enrage your average British driver into an act of murder but the Locals don't seem to get very flustered by it.

I have also been told that the reason I personally see such bad driving from other road users is because I am altogether too polite when I Drive. Its like they can sense this as a weakness somehow and prey on me accordingly.

Just the other day I have a car pull out on me while I was driving down a main road. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid the collision. I could only assume that the driver of the other car did not see me. I thought maybe she forgot to look both ways before pulling out, you know sometimes these things happen. After I had screeched the car to a halt I looked at the other driver and held both of my hands up and out to the side, with a look on my face that said 'what was all that about, I nearly ran into your car full of kids'.

The reaction from the other driver was a wave of the hand , a cheeky smile and a thank you for letting her out of the side road. I was dumbstruck.

I have never looked at myself as a meek driver, so the thought of being preyed on by other drivers is quite upsetting. I have toyed with the idea of fighting fire with fire and upping my aggressiveness on the road, but my pompous English sensibilities get in the way.

Why should I go down to their level.

Keilir

I just realised I never actually posted a picture of Keilir. This is as close as I got. I overheard one of the locals say that the hike through the lava to get to Keilir was actually a lot tougher than climbing to the top of it. I don't know how true that really is but it made me feel better.

Puffin Season

It seems there is a season for Puffin Hunting and its from about July to early September. I am reliably informed that the kit you need is giant Lacrosse racket on a 3 meter pole.

You go out and stand on the cliffs and basically swat the incoming birds with your lacrosse net as they try to land. The cunning bit is placing the recently caught and dispatched puffins on the ground around you in natural poses in order to fool the other puffins into thinking that there is nothing to fear from a bloke holding a big net, clubbing Puffins to death.

There does seem to be some etiquette involved, apparently it is bad form to go after a Puffin flying in with little fish in its beak as these are the ones that have young.

The Puffins have been hunted in this way for centuries and they still haven't worked out that flying home with a mouthful of Sprats is far safer than coming back empty handed.

Not one of the smartest Animals then.

Monster Identified

Some of the Guys at work know a thing or two about fish, well after all this is Iceland and fish is their thing I suppose. After consulting them it was suggested that the Skull I found belonged to what they call around here a 'Hlyri'. Its English name is Spotted Catfish but it is also sometimes known as a Wolf Fish. I was told that they can survive quite a long time out of the water and often give Trawlermen a hard time when the nets are opened and the fish are being sorted. Ugly brute ain't it.