day 85 many miles little distance!

The south western fjord's are my home today, as ever home is where you are , where you merge with everything, breathing, food, communicating, emotion, enduring, shedding skin, hair, even defecating, you take in, you put out, you become a part of your current everything.... This isn't a new line of thought for me it's become a knowledge over the years I've wandered, the wandering is a huge part of the process, you stop wandering you stagnate.....

The current thoughts that are triggering this perspective strongly relate to where I am, Iceland was always a pivot point, a place where I could stop, return with incredible stories, head high and start to settle again, or I carry on..... 

I start the day unsure. 

I drive from my overnight stop early to avoid anyone taking umbrage to my illegal parking, I just can't be bothered with that communication today. 

The road calls, the skies grey today with only glimpses of sunlight, route 1,68,61,60 and 622 , that's my journey, it's not inspiring land under a grey sky, Prestbakkakirkja a small church as the name suggests (Scottish Kirk- too many name similarities!) on the shore of Hrurafjordur pauses my route.... I need to make breakfast and blog for yesterday, stopping here was a gift! The travel gods gifted such a view!

i could spend days composing such an image or luck will bring it about ... I prefer the spontaneous.... It shows the actual not the composed. 

I wander onto the shore line below the church, listening to the bird calls

mulling over what I'm doing, where I'm going, why I'm doing it at all ..... Who I am even. 

It's time will spent..... You'll see. 

I travel on, 

Like I've said the environment is pretty uninspired.... I'm suffering from overkill of beauty!

it's has the almost barren beauty of any moorland, beauty is never in one category. 

Even the rain can't dim that, with the roads changing intermittently between tarmac and pitted gravel I have to pay attention, stopping at Holmavik for fuel and food before going on up and over getting above the snow line with no chance for a photo sadly! 

Now starts the zig zagging! 

at the end of the first fjord before the (a marker) a quick break from driving to see Gervidalsárfoss

establishing just how spoilt I've been with waterfalls!!

Nice stop tho! 

At the end of the Fyord lies a small fyord Vatnsfjörður with a big history, ruins here of the farmstead with the same name, the history of this place goes back to Viking times with the archaeology of even a long house being visible now

Mostly care of Google maps... It's visible on the ground tho photography is difficult!

the farmstead was the richest in Iceland at it's peak and politically powerful! In my opinion that indicates how primitive Iceland was there's next to no farmable land.... Fishing presumably? This more modern Fiskhalle (fish hall) used for preserving/storage of fish is likely close to those existing at the time

Iceland was as I've found very much unchanged through the years, only within the last two hundred years has it really modernised (room for error here!)

During excavations one piece of gold was found

the highest status gold find in Iceland! 

As I said I believe things were very basic here!

the fjord.

So starts the intensive skirting of the fjords! From low level roads to high level this section went on for hours!!! I'll work out the distance one day! 

But it didn't lack beauty at all I'm back amongst precipitous mountains with sharp cog like geometry

passing small fishing towns whose impsortance is evident from having both harbour and airports! Likely to enable access in the deepest winter

Isafjurdur.

From here another now familiar tunnel design single track two way, where a flashing red sign just made enough impression to make me stop.... Avoiding a head on collision with a truck! Perhaps more tourist friendly signs here? 

Through safely and with the rain coming down

i have one more ascent, bank above the snowline before descending to 
pingeyri another nice fishing town, as always close community, with a nice sports center which homes the campsite too.... Right next to the fjord!

the valley the other side is where drove from. 

A nice albeit unexplained rock carving outside the church was a bit of fun

perhaps a fisherman in waterproofs? 

No idea! I slept on it!.... Not the rock!