A hike at Latrabjarg

Wednesday, August 02, 2023
Patreksfjörður Camping Ground, Vesturbyggð, Iceland
Wednesday August 2, 2023
Another early day with the light in the tent waking me up at four o’clock in the morning. I manage to fall asleep again. Cozy in my sleeping bag, because there is much wind, and the tent is flapping everywhere.
After seven I get out and wash and shave at the washing basin of the handicapped toilet. After eating breakfast in the kitchen, out of the wind, we get ready for today’s outing. We fill the tank with diesel and in the mini supermarket we get a few essentials. Then we start driving to the westernmost part of Europe.
For those of you who thought you visited that in Portugal, alas… This piece of Iceland is considerably farther west.
We have to drive around the fjord and on the other side it becomes a dirt road.
In a low spot the first steel boat in Iceland is beached. All rusted and falling apart I am sorry to see something that was once so much part of human society slowly and forlornly fall apart. People used to live there, and sleep and eat. And now…
We continue and landscape becomes impressive: relatively high mountains drop off steeply and the slope into the sea is almost vertical. 
There is no vegetation, only some mosses and lichens. Driving is very active with very steep slopes and sharp hairpin loops, and Didi is thoroughly enjoying himself.
After we work our way up the slopes we see an undulating plateau covered in debris - rocks of all sizes. As if a giant volcanic eruption far away has showered this region with stones. 
We pass a place where in the past over one hundred fishermen used to live for half a year every year to fish and dry the fish. A very hard life it must have been.
Then we reach the end of the road where we park the car and start to hike along the top of vertical cliffs. We walk south, so the ocean is on the right, and a moon-like plateau on the left. In front of us the cliffs become increasingly higher so our path through stones and short tough grass goes uphill.
And a beautiful walk it is. Every time we think we reach the top, a higher point appears ahead, and for an hour and a half we climb along the tops of the cliffs. Initially there are other people but after a few kilometers we walk virtually alone.
What makes this place interesting - besides its geographic location - is the presence of a bird, the puffin. It’s a small bird, with the coloring of a penguin, with the bill of a parrot. And it walks funny : very straight up, and with every step it moves up and down. 
We see some from very close up, and I enjoy the enthusiasm of the people, who crawl forward on their belly to take good pictures.
Deep below is the ocean, and sometimes views of the precipitous cliffs and dozens of seagulls whirling around. 
The landside is bare and grey and brown. I have to think of the Hound of the Baskervilles, although there is no heath. But the loneliness and the fierce cold wind are there. 
And that makes me think of the long winter evenings that are coming. When I will light a fire in the wood stove, and find a good book, and turn on some classical music. And I will read about these arctic regions while the flames lick upward. 
Life is strong within me.
By the time we return we are hungry. Fortunately we have plenty food in the car, and for a while we sit and eat and enjoy being out of the wind for a while. 
Then we return to the camp where Sisi prepares an early dinner. We meet a very small Italian girl who is biking solo through Iceland. She has almost made the full circle in the last 28 days, and she still has two weeks left. She sleeps in a tiny tent and I see some clothes drying in the wind. I ask if she is not afraid alone all by herself. ´Oh no. People don’t lock their house or car here. It’s a safe country. Nature here is more dangerous than the people.’
The sun returns and shines into the windows. Four Chinese girls prepare a dinner after having struggled for half an hour to put up their tent. Four Frenchmen prepare dinner, including a sliced sausage and a bottle of wine. I discuss the size of their opinel (it’s huge) compared to my size 7. The Italian girl sits reading her cell phone in the corner. Nice to see these different nationalities.
It’s early but we all feel tired. Time to turn in early.
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Comments

Marie-Louise
2023-08-02

Prachtig!

Roy
2023-08-03

De melancholie slaat toe!

Jetty
2023-08-03

Heel mooi!

Joseph
2023-08-04

Thank you for sharing your travels.

2025-02-10

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