Iceland 2.4: Grundarfjörður

It was a short drive along the coast from Stykkishólmur to Grundarfjörður, which is where I was staying for the night.  It was the second time I'd been to the Hotel Framnes, in fact, as Harriet and I had stayed there in 2013.  It is small, comfortable and friendly - unless one happens to be the poor German couple who turned up with a confirmed reservation only to find that all the rooms were full.  Oops.

It took a while for the rain to stop; but, when it did, I went out for a walk around the town to see what I could find.  It was still very windy, as the blow-back from the waterfall shows.  It was also dark and gloomy - again, just like last time - as the town appears to exist in a perpetual weather system generated by the nearby Snæfell volcano.

The Láki Café was a new addition since last time we visited, and provided a very warm and comfortable place to obtain a (reasonably priced) bite to eat.

The town is dominated by the Fisk factory.  No prizes for guessing what gets processed there...

The dock side was deserted apart from me, a few birds (gulls, oyster catchers, knots) and a lone seal bobbing about in the harbour.  One of the fields just outside the town was also home to a colony of arctic terns, which took great delight in attacking me as I walked past.  Beautiful birds, but they do seem to enjoy being vindictive.

I think one of those knots is an imposter, as it looks distinctly redshank-ish to me.

 Eventually, the cold temperature and bad light stopped play for the evening, so I headed back to the hotel with my fingers firmly crossed that the weather would improve the following day.

Iceland 2.3: Stykkishólmur

Stykkishólmur is a small fishing town and port on the north coast of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, and it provided a much needed break after a very long drive in challenging conditions.  It was cold and grey, with strong winds and occasional rain showers.  Pretty typical Icelandic weather, in other words.  As a place, Stykkishólmur is very pretty with lots of painted wooden buildings.  It is clearly fairly prosperous: as well as a thriving fishing industry, it's also the place to catch the ferry to Brjánslækur and the Westfjords.

I know I promised restraint on the hydrant front, but Stykkishólmur possesses a fine specimen made by Kennedy of Elmira, NY.  Now, not a lot of people know that...

The church was locked - rather unusually for Iceland - although my trusty steed was happy enough to reside in its car park.  Since I couldn't get into the church, I went for a wander around the harbour instead.

As with other Icelandic fishing towns, the processing is done on the quayside with any waste being fed to a large congregation of sea birds.  The fulmars were waiting patiently on the water, but overhead a small number of gulls - herring, glaucus and black backed - were waiting to pounce and steal the juiciest morsels.

At 16:00, having pretty well exhausted Stykkishólmur, I decided to hit the road for my final destination of the day: Grundarfjörður.  Since it was absolutely tipping down, I picked up a couple of (rather drowned) hitch hikers and took them to a place with a shelter where they could catch the bus back to Reykjavík.  It turned out that they were French students, working on Icelandic bird life at the Reykjavík Natural History Museum (yes, the very same museum we visited back in 2013 which is very proud of its collection of molluscs!).

Rods, Poles and Perches

Well, actually, it's a Pike not a Perch, and to my knowledge there were no Poles at Ravensthorpe Reservoir on the opening day of this year's fly fishing season.  Although the aim was to catch trout, this rather fine specimen decided to go for my fly (so to speak).  Photo courtesy of John Caldwell at the other end of the  boat!

What a handsome brute (the fish, not the angler).

Rutland Water

These pictures were taken at Rutland Water on Sunday morning, around 7:30 or so. It started as a fabulously sunny and windless day - so much so that the yacht racing was cancelled, and the fishermen (sorry, fisherpeople) had the water to themselves. As can be seen from the first image, there was a hot air balloon drifting slowly by - the views must have been spectacular. By 3 in the afternoon, however, it was "blowing a hooley" (not sure of the spelling for this technical angling term!) and had gone very cold. Still, with 8 fish in the bag, it was a Grand Day Out.

Why I was an hour late for dinner

Firstly a warning: those of a Photographic rather than a Piscatorial bent may want to skip this post...

This was the excuse I had to use yesterday when I was unexpectedly delayed in getting home for my dinner. Ron, who I know through the club where we go fly fishing, had hooked something pretty big and needed help in landing it. About 50 minutes later, a 14lb pike came to the surface - not the large trout he had been hoping for, but impressive all the same. The pike will be transferred to another lake where there are fewer trout to make it fat!