We are being blown across the volcanic landscape of Iceland, I know we should have expected it but its quite chilly here! We had an easy flight yesterday from London Stansted to Reykjavik, despite all the intensified security measures (everyone´s shoes being x-rayed, no liquids on the plane, no lighters at all) and are settled cozily with our hospitality club host, Thrudur, just outside the capital. The landscape on the bus ride to her apartment (the buildings and roads look all very Canadian) could almost be seen heaving and waving as the lava formed this island long ago, still devoid of trees and greenery, and great streams of steam shoot up into the sky in several spots on the horizon. And this was all just in our first hour on this bizarre island adorned only by stacks of stones several meters high to mark the ancient roads.
Our last couple of weeks in Britain were memorable, finally attending the Highland Games with Vivien and Dik in Aviemore near Inverness and watching the world´s strongest hurl a variety of enormously heavy objects ridiculous distances, all in various lengths of kilts. Meeting Kathryn and her English boyfriend, Adam, in Pembrokeshire National Park in Wales and exploring the beaches and cliffs. We thought it was hilarious to be one in the long parading line of beach-goers, each person equipped with at least four objects of entertainment: kites, tents, footballs, surfboards, snorkels, cricket sets. Mike finally learned how to play cricket! Although it is doubtful how much of the rules he actually understood. We hitchhiked from where Adam´s failing brakes left us in Bath towards Cornwall, unexpectedly finding ourselves in a campground in Glastonbury, and proceeded to feast happily on vegetarian food in this eccentric little town and visited the Glastonbury Abbey and climbed the Tor in the morning. Carli-Ann played Knots and Crosses (X´s and O´s) with the ten year old girl in the van on our lift to Cornwall where we stayed with our hosts, Sera and banger-racer Ian in Launceston. Sera was just going to drop us off on the highway near the cliff -scaling Tintagel Castle where King Arthur was supposed to be born, but ended up joining us and proceeding to graciously tour us through Boscastle that was destroyed in the flooding a couple years back, onto the Bodmin Moors and for lunch in a moor pub where she used to work (there really are supposed to be released jaguars and a lion roaming the moors since the 1970´s law that made it illegal to own an exotic pet without a permit), through the lovely Cornish towns and along the roads sunken into the fields to protect from the elements which made it feel as if we were on a secret mole-tunnel mission, and all the way to Land´s End! What a day, and it was only a few weeks before on Orkney that we looked south to John O´Groats on the mainland. A farmer dropped us off at his veternarian´s house who was also our next host in Devon, and with Mark´s lovely family we attended a very english community dog show and BBQ, went hiking on Dartmoor, and saw the National Firework Championships in Plymouth! Quite a day!
A few more lifts brought us next to Bristol where we met Carli-Ann´s Grandpa Ken´s family, Steve and Pip, and the bright matriarch of the family, Mrs. Sheila Whitfield who lives in a 400 year old thatched cottage in Wiltshire! They were as enthusiastic to meet more of the family from Canada as we were to meet them, and had a large family dinner and went through old family photos and the family tree (which was quite useful as I wasn´t quite sure how I fit in) and took us up in the hills at the back of their place to see the Uffington White Horse chalk figure. And they have extended their invitation to all the family back in Canada who wants to come and visit!
And as the day finally came that our British visas expired, Iceland´s discount aircarrier took us out of London to this little island where we will explore the geysers and waterfalls and volcanic activity and icebergs until the end of the month before heading back to the continent. Our photos of Iceland should be stunning, so we´ll post them as soon as we´ve got them organized!
No comments:
Post a Comment