Iceland is Such a Strange Place
So there we were, crouching in the warm river, embracing the warm banks where hot water burst from the earth, our butts resting on sometimes surprisingly hot stones, and with freezing rain pelting our faces. I don’t think there are many places where you can ride for two hours up a mountain side in 40 degree weather (that’s +4 Celsius) and then have a warm outdoor bath. And then again, it’s probably not most people’s cup of tea anyway.
Did I mention that we ate our sandwiches in the river, at our guide Anna’s suggestion, in order to enjoy everything at once? Or kill two birds with one stone, or something like that?
The tricky part was getting out of the nice warm water in the freezing rain and then struggling into our clothes again. We had had the wit to cover them up with our rain jackets, but it’s hard to put on damp clothes over damp skin at the best of times, and harder when you’re freezing and slipping on the mud and there are people with cameras roaming around. Fortunately, there is also a lot of steam from the hot pools, so eventually we just decided modesty be damned, dropped our towels (into the mud), fought our way into our trousers (slightly muddy) and then our raingear (very muddy, because we had been using it to preserve the rest of our clothing from the … mud).
The good thing is that dressing is so energetic, you don’t have time to get cold again.
Then two more hours back down the mountain on death-defying tracks, and finally, back at the barn, cake and tea. And two beamish little boys, having just experienced their first riding lesson: “Do I have stuff on my butt? Because I was sitting on a saddle!” “I didn’t even fall off!!”
Well, we didn’t fall off either, although we had stuff all over the place.
May 28th, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Well, best blog entry in the history of everything! 🙂 And I had to save the pic of Loose-Wheel — I mean, the bathing beauty with an Icelandic sammich and brooding hills in the background… the very stuff of myth! Love you both.