Iceland, the fairy-tale – day 5 (1)
Posted: July 14th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: trips and notes | Tags: Asbyrgi, Iceland, Jökulsá á Fjöllum | No Comments »Iceland – day 5, 28/06/2011
when we wake up, the small fishing village is enveloped by clouds
for the next few hours we drive a tiny bit above sea level; the clouds leave us just a few meters of visibility – enough to see the endless tufty peats, as if painted with a brush
mystical, enigmatic and fairytale-like
we drive over low wide-spreading lands along the coast; the mountains have given way and visibility reaches far the small slit beneath the clouds
we reach Asbyrgi unexpectedly; if one has not started off looking for that place, it can be passed by unnoticed… the ground suddenly splits, revealing a vast, hidden valley below, bordered on all sides by vertical cliffs; nothing hints its existence if looked upon from the side; we go in
Sleipnir’s footprint (Sleipnir is the eight-legged horse of Odin) is the folklore name due to the shape of the canyon, resembling a horseshoe
everything changes in the canyon; a forest appears (anyone noticed a forest up until now?!), the wind subsides and even the birds behave weirdly – as if nothing bad can ever happen here; I was so close to these two that I could touch them
upon entering Asbyrgi, the thermometer shows 8 ˚C; it is drizzling; we start walking and can’t get rid of the feeling it is warm and cosy here
alongside the cliffs, at points reaching 100 m.
from the heights we notice a lake at the end of the canyon
everything looks as if arranged, as if somebody thought about where each rock should be placed, each tree should be planted, each duck should swim
Asbyrgi is a fairytale, a Northern one; The Last Homely House and only Elrond did not show up although we though we heard the songs…
I’ll spend the next few days making plans how to come back to this place and the place we are about to reach just half an hour uphill – Jökulsá á Fjöllum
