Day 177-biking Jafnaskarðsskógar and Hreðavatn

The Jafnaskarð forest west of Hreðavatn.

   June 29-One month left!  We spent this morning picking up and cleaning the apartment.  We mostly got all of the stuff from the European vacation put away finally.  Today was another nice day, so Shan went biking into the hills west of Hreðavatn.  Gaui and Magga had told us that we could borrow their bikes while they were up at their summer home, so Shan grabbed Gaui’s bike for the ride, since all 18 gears combinations are accessible on it!

This waterfall is on the Kiðá river just before it drains into Hreðavatn.



Lupines were introduced from the U.S. to stabilize roadsides
so they would not erode. Unfortunately, as often happens
in Iceland, no one considered what they would do with the
lupines once they were done being useful. Since the lupine
did not dutifully die off and since sheep do not much care
to eat them, they have spread widely across Iceland.


   The hills west of Hreðavatn have been extensively reforested, so the ride was very delightful and in many ways looked like a ride through the Colorado high country.  Meanwhile, Sally drove the kids to Borgarnes to do some shopping.  When they got back, the girls rode their bikes out to Hreðavatn and found Shan, so they all biked around a little together before returning to Bifröst.

Behind Alex and Joslyn are Hreðavatn, Bifröst, and Grábrók.

   We cleaned up and puttered around the apartment waiting for Emma and Pálmar to come over.  They have been in Reykjavík, where Pálmar works a variable number of days each week.  The arrival of summer over here means that the amount of traffic on the roads has increased dramatically.  This was even more true today, since it was Friday and many Icelanders were hitting the road to begin their month-long July vacations.  Since most roads are only two lanes wide, one slow vehicle causes all of the traffic to slow down, so their trip back to Bifröst took a half hour longer than it normally should!

Brynja and Alex have become close friends.

   We had lasagna for supper with them and then relaxed.  Brynja came over to let Alex know that she was also back at Bifröst and they took off to spend the rest of the evening hanging out at Brynja’s apartment.  Meanwhile, the other kids played with toys around the apartment and watched videos while the adults played a game of Settlers of Catan.  Sally finally won at 11:30, about the same time that Alex came home.  The light in the sky would make you think that it was only early evening, though; it is so disorienting!  Our guests left and we all went to bed.