Iceland 2.24: Landmannalauger 2

The main valley in Landmannalaugar is actually the bed of a very large river, and the water flow must be something to behold when the river is in full spate.  At the end of July it was possible to walk right across the valley bottom, jumping over river channels when necessary.

By the time we got back to the camp there were far fewer tents - presumably because their occupants had now moved on.  New arrivals were starting to pitch their tents, and this appeared to involve a ritual of digging a shallow channel around the tent's perimeter using a small rock.  We never did discover what the channel was for, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

A number of horses are kept at the camp which were available for hire.  We saw several being ridden, but I was more interested in those which had been left back at base.  There is something about these magnificent creatures which makes one realise quite why the Icelanders revere them so much.  Perhaps it is the obligatory comb-over?

In addition to the horses there were a couple of rather beautiful sheep dogs at the stables.  One was certainly making itself at home, running around the camp and investigating everything which was going on.

Catering at the camp was provided by a group of converted American school buses, all painted green, rejoicing in the name of "Mountain Mall".  We can attest to the fact that they served extremely good coffee and cakes.

Landmannalaugar has a natural hot spring, and this has been turned into a makeshift swimming pool for the residents.  There was a warning for people who were tempted to take a dip, however, in that the water was reportedly the home of a mysterious parasite.  It's worth reading the information about the pool, including its parasites, which is extracted verbatim from the official Landmannalauger website.  You'll just have to imagine that there's a "(sic)" after every typo and spelling mistake...

This kind of parasites seems to exist in nearly every natural warm water pool.  Depending of the weather, time of the year and global warming influence there will be more or less of them.  If you are do not have allegic reactions on moscito bites or flies - you should go and enjoy yourself in hot springs.  Do not play to much with swimming vegitation - parasites are ofen find themself in there or in ducks.  Do not play with ducks either.

If you are allegic in some way to insects bites - enjoy yourself by making fan on your friends, trying to change dresses when the wind is cold, or make some pictures of them.

No, we didn't play with the "vegitation" or the ducks, but thanks for asking.

Also enjoying the water was a family of red necked phalaropes, and I spent about half an hour watching them and attempting to take their picture.  By now it was bright sunshine, so contrast was a real problem.  These are absolutely beautiful birds, though, and I'd never been quite as close to them before.

Iceland 2.17: Birds around Mývatn

Mývatn (literally "midge lake") was formed when the Laxá river became dammed by volcanic activity.  Both the lake and the river are rich in insect life, and unsurprisingly this attracts a wide variety of bird life - especially ducks.  Harriet and I stopped for a while at the place where the main road crosses the Laxá river in order to see what was around, and the most plentiful bird by far was the Barrow's goldeneye.

There was a lone duckling, battling against the strong current, but I don't know which species it is.

Also in the vicinity was a red-necked phalarope making the most of the plentiful midges, which were absolutely everywhere.  If you look closely at the bird-watcher, he is surrounded by a large cloud of the wretched things.

A little further on we visited a lava field where I'd seen my first whimbrels on the previous trip.  There were none of my friends-with-the-bent-beaks initially, but the golden plover were certainly in evidence.  Their camouflage is almost perfect in the moss and low-growing vegetation which covers the lava field.

Eventually I spotted what I'd been waiting for: whimbrels.  I don't know quite why they made such an impression on me before, but it was just the same second time around.  They are beautiful birds, and I fell in love with them all over again.

By now it was the middle of the afternoon and we were definitely in need of "a little something", so it was time to head to the café at Mývatn's pickled bird museum.  While there I spotted a gyr falcon, but only for a split second so no photograph.  Rats!  The majority of the other birds on the lake were fairly anonymous ducks, but there was a Slavonian grebe relatively close to the shore.

After a hard day's museum-visiting and bird-watching, we headed for our hotel for a while before supper.  The Gamli Bistro, a short walk away, served superb pulled lamb burgers, but it was tipping down by the time we were finished.  Our plan had been to revisit Námafjall Hverir, but there didn't seem much point in the pouring rain.  I don't think the local horse population was too worried by the weather, however.