First thing this morning we checked. Yay, the wind alert was over for our area. It was still on for other areas, but we should be okay to start travelling. It was cold this morning, 3°, and the fresh snow could be seen on the hill beside the campsite.
We started heading south west toward Reykjavik.
There were some trees to be seen. Although I have complained that there are not a lot of trees, Iceland is trying to re-plant and re-establish trees. When the Vikings first landed years ago there were many trees. However, similar to in Newfoundland, the people needed the trees for houses and warmth and other uses and the landscape changed. There is an interesting article you can read about the trees in Iceland here.
We had one more tunnel on our trip today. The Hvalfjörður tunnel goes under the fjord. This is the first time I have driven underwater (though we did take the Chunnel in 2005).
We made two stops when we got to Reykjavik. The first was at a consignment shop that I had been told about – Verzlanahollin. The store sells second hand and homemade goods. I was able to purchase a lovely Icelandic sweater for quite a good price. I was told by a local that when you buy Icelandic sweaters, always buy used. That way the roughness of the wool has been worn off and it is nice and soft.
We also stopped at the Hólavallagarður, which is a large cemetery and looked for the gravesite of Sveinbjorn Egilsson. This is the youngest rune stone in Iceland (erected in 1917). Iceland had the longest standing tradition of runacy lasting from when they settled Iceland all the way up to the end of the 19th century.
As usual, the scenery was beautiful with more waterfalls, mountains and flats.
