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Up at them at 5:30 am! Of course, back home it's only 10:30 pm but getting used to this new time zone has got to start somewhere. It’s a gorgeous day out and the views from the dining room are spectacular. Up for coffee ahead of me are Arnold and Elaine so I sit myself down for a cup or two. A simple little breakfast of jam on bread, cheese, and some fruit seems in order. As I look out the window, I decide I have got to get a picture of the views. Well, this proves interesting because I take my pictures and after every few minutes, I have to delete and retake them because the sun changes position and the view gets even better! Eventually everybody got up and we had our breakfast to get the day going.
Our first ride of the day will be about three and a half hours long to the beach and back. You can see the Atlantic Ocean from where we are but it’s a ways off. We have help picking our saddles and find helmets that fit best and our guides choose our horses based on where we tell them we are on the experience curve. At this point, I figure honesty will most likely save my life so I let them know I have limited experience and have not been on a horse in years. They pick for me a horse named Keflavik (just like the airport). This horse is a beauty and they call him the gentle giant although by his height, I would not really call him a giant. It took me forever to get this poor horse’s name right since I don’t speak Icelandic and everything here is Icelandic, go figure. I am told this is a good tolting horse as that appears to be his natural gait.
Tolting might be Keflavik’s natural gait but trotting seems to be his favorite. I am trotting along getting beat to death by bouncing off the saddle when Arnold comes alongside me. Arnold pulls up and tells me how to get Keflavik to tolt. Well, no sooner do I pull the reins closer to my body and squeeze slightly with my legs and off tolting we go. Once tolting, I release some pressure on the reins as a reward for the horse doing what I ask. Now this is a comfortable way to ride a horse! I get going and pass Tammy right up! Keflavik is doing such a great tolt that Tammy can’t seem to catch up!
We get going and get to our first river crossing. This is not a very deep river, or so we are told. Our lead guide Siri marches her horse into the water with the rest of us right behind her. Now, you would think that seeing a backhoe on the opposite side of the river might be a clue to some of us that hmmmm, someone might have dug out the river bed? We are in the river when suddenly Siri’s horse drops low into the water and starts swimming. At this point, I am halfway across and I jerk the reins to the right to turn around and kick the horse. Poor horse, I think I gave it whiplash because we were out of the water right now! I should say I wasn’t the only one to give their horse whiplash but I guarantee you I was the first! Once Siri made it back to our side of the river, we all agreed that she should go back to the bunkhouse because she was soaked. It was windy and a little cold and nobody wanted her sick from our first ride. We are going to need this gal! The funny thing is that Siri had crossed that exact spot the day before with a different group and the river was fine then. Karolina took over as our guide. She is not as experienced as Siri but she did a great job finding us a better place to cross the river. Although she found us a better spot, we did have one river crossing in between that we had to turn back from because we sent her first and the water got deep fast. Yes, we sent the young girl into the river. I figure she can swim better than us!
So we meander our way through the sands and such till we reach the beach and find that it is much windier than anywhere else. The beach is covered in black sand, which is essentially granulated volcanic rock and ash. It’s beautiful but this wind whips it up and sometimes you feel like you are being sandblasted. We decided that a full out gallop on the beach must happen so we take off. Well, I think Keflavik decided this was his chance to make a run for it. He took off at full throttle past everyone and off in a slightly different direction. When I say full throttle, I am not kidding. This horse was giving it everything he had. I decide I am real close to losing control of the horse and decide to pull back on the reins. I pulled back as hard as I could but we are not slowing down. I swear, this poor horse definitely knows what the bit tastes like because I am pulling as hard as I can. I think Keflavik must have thought this meant I loved it and wanted to go faster; either that or he thought that going a little faster meant I might come off and he could be done with me and go home. Either way, he put it in overdrive! At this point, I remembered something they told us at the commercial riding place we went first. The guide there said that if the horse ever took off, we should pull one side of the reins, and get him to go in a circle and that would stop him. I pulled hard to the left where the sand looked like it might make for a softer landing, just in case, and sure enough he turns and slows down so I get control back.
Once we all get the gallop out of our systems, we do the typical tourist thing….out with the cameras. It is pretty funny to watch people wandering around taking pictures of each other without noticing the ocean first. Finally, we turn and notice the view of the ocean. I doubt there were many hands without a camera in them. We played around on the sand and rode around. My horse is great because he will run at every opportunity and running is fun anytime it’s not me doing the running. We enjoyed the beautiful black sand beach for a while and decided it was time to head back.
We saw a few sheep on the way back but they are pretty easily spooked. They wouldn’t let us get close enough for a good picture. We also ran across some dairy cows as well. It seems that the only livestock here is sheep and dairy cows although I think I heard that they eat some of the dairy cows as well. Here we got a funny and interesting lesson on cows. It seems that here in Iceland, some cows wear bras! Yeah, I said bra! They use the bra on cows with bigger udders to protect them from the overabundance of volcanic sharp rocks that are everywhere. I half thought my leg was being pulled until we came across a couple of cows with the biggest udders I have ever seen. These are definitely future lower back problems in the making! They were practically dragging on the ground in a grass field! I felt sorry for those cows and now believe the whole bra story.
So on and on we continue our fun ride back to the farm. The closer we get, the more the horses want to run since they know home means we get off. Since we all enjoyed the canter, we let them run a bit on the way back.
We got back to the farm pretty quick to find that they spoil us here. Waiting for us is a delicious lunch of mushroom soup piping hot with bread to go with it. We sat and enjoyed our soup and talked about how fun our ride was and made fun of poor Siri for riding into the deep part of the river. She was very good-natured about it and kept saying she had just crossed at that spot the day before. That’s when Mummi, the farm owner, told her that he is the one that dug out that spot with the backhoe!
After lunch our next ride will be up the mountain right behind the farm. This will mostly be walking, as it looks pretty tough to get up there. Siri says it should be about an hour and a half ride. Not all of us made this ride as a couple of folks decided they had enough riding for the day and wanted to rest instead. Remember, this group is people in my age group or better so we need rest now and again.
Forty-five minutes after lunch, 3:15 pm and we are off again. This time my horse is Bingbut or something like that. As I said, everything is Icelandic so this is the best I can do. So up the mountain we go. I didn’t have a chance for too many pictures since we are moving at a steady pace and I have to choose between taking pictures and hanging on for dear life. The horse likes to walk close to the edge, so hanging on for dear life it is!
Bingbut, should have been name Dumdbut because this is one stubborn horse. I can’t seem to get him to do what I want that often and we darn near came to blows over it trying to decide who will be in charge. I’m still not sure who won that fight. From up on top of the mountain you get a spectacular view of the area and can see the ocean in all its glory. What a view! There are cows up here and these could definitely benefit from bras! We rode down the mountain via a different path and went to the waterfall we walked to the day before on our evening walk.
The waterfall is beautiful and the water cold. Tammy wanted to taste the water here but we didn’t stay long. We have been told that you can drink from any river with clear water here. They have no beavers so no fear of beaver fever! So, off with our guides Siri and Tatianna we go. We crossed several neat streams on our horses as we worked our way around. I had a real hard time getting this horse to tolt but the gallop at the end of our ride was awesome and smooth.
We got off our horses at the paddock and they all promptly dropped to the ground and rolled around in the dirt. We made it back to the farm at around 5:30 and the cook had already started preparing dinner. In the few days we have been together as a group we have had a chance to get to know each other. In the process of talking and looking at the foods here, we all discovered that Dar hates fish. This made it funny when the cook asked who did not eat fish and everybody answered in unison "Dar"! We laughed about it quite a bit and then proceeded to have more laughter at poor Siri’s river crossing that morning and how she might have figured she could spare a tourist or two. We enjoyed some coffee and good company, got our showers and off to an early bedtime.
Details on the photos:
Pic 1 - Breakfast
Jam on toast, cheese, some sandwich meat, apples, oranges, and coffee. Let's go!
Pic 2 -View out the Dining Room Window
The views kept getting better every few minutes so had to keep retaking these pictures.
Pic 3 -View out the Dining Room Window
Pic 4 - Ready to go
Just waiting for the horses! From left: Elaine, Dar, Tatiana, Lee, Tim, and Tammy.
Pic 5 - Round Them Up
This is a short video of the horses being brought in at the start of the day for us to ride.
Pic 6 - Rounding the Horse Up
Pic 7 - Rounding the Horse Up
Pic 8 - Rounding the Horse Up
That's Karolina at the back of the horses.
Pic 9 - Our First ride at Skalakot
Tammy
Pic 10 - Our First ride at Skalakot
Me
Pic 11 - Our First ride at Skalakot
Geri
Pic 12 - Our First ride at Skalakot
Monica and Tim.
Pic 13 - Our First ride at Skalakot
Nancy
Pic 14 - Headed for the Beach
Just following Tammy's lead to the beach.
Pic 15 - The Black Sand Beach
Yea! We made it to the beach.
Pic 16 - The Black Sand Beach
This beach is beautiful but the wind is serious business. It is blowing so hard, it's like being in a sand storm.
Pic 17 - Tammy, Tim, and Dar
The Black Sand Beach.
Pic 18 - Monica
Monica enjoying the high winds at the Black sand beach!
Pic 19 - Lee and Arnold
Finally a picture of our chief guides together.
Pic 20 - Dar at the Black Sand Beach
Pic 21 - Tim and Dar
Pic 22 - Dismount
Time for photo ops!
Pic 23 - Tammy and I
Notice the coats. Good protection for cool weather but especially for the killer wind!
Pic 24 - The Black Sand Beach
Pic 25 - Getting Ready to Move Out
Some are more anxious then others to get back in the saddle!
Pic 26 - Elaine
Pic 27 - Karolina
Always smiling and ready to go.
Pic 28 - One Last Shot
Nice little silhouette.
Pic 29 - The Trail Back
That's me headed back to Skalakot.
Pic 30 - Sandy Berm
These are the least of what we will be climbing!
Pic 31 - Cows in Need of Bras
Notice the black cow. The poor thing's udder is practically dragging.
Pic 32 - Lots of Cows
They have plenty of dairy cows around here. The only livestock is sheep and cattle.
Pic 33 - Mushroom Soup
This stuff is great with a little bread!
Pic 34 - Afternoon Ride
Our second ride of the day. We are headed for the mountains.
Pic 35 - Enjoying the Ride
That's me with Tim right behind me as we climb the mountain.
Pic 36 - View from the Mountain
Pic 37 - View from the Mountain
Pic 38 - View from the Mountain
That's Tammy moseying up the trail.
Pic 39 - Skalakot
That's Skalakot from up the mountain.
Pic 40 - Still Climbing
That's Tim in front followed by, Lee, Arnold, and Dar.
Pic 41 - More Skalakot
The building on the right is the new hotel under construction.
Pic 42 - Descending the Mountain
That's me, Lee, Dar, Tim, Tatiana, and Arnold making our way down.
Pic 43 - Church
Pic 44 - Church
Pic 45 - Almost Down
That's Geri, Tammy, and not sure who as we go through a gate to the neighbor's property on our way down.
Pic 46 - Curious Cows
They look curious, don't they?
Pic 47 - Headed for the River
Geri in the lead now!
Pic 48 - The View
What can I say but wow?
Pic 49 - The Waterfall
This is the same waterfall Tammy, Elaine, and I saw last night but now we can get much closer.
Pic 50 - Looks Drinkable
Tammy really wanted a taste of the clean water but we didn't stay long.
Pic 51 - Time to Head Back
I can only make out Dar and Geri here and maybe Tim?
Pic 52 - Ride Over
Back at the paddock and off with the saddles.
Pic 53 - Stop, Drop, and Roll
No sooner does the saddle come off then it's time to roll around!
Pic 54 - Side Saddle
In the gift shop is this really old side saddle. I can't believe anybody could use that!
Pic 55 - Nancy had to Demonstrate
Pic 56 - Nancy and her Love of Sweaters
Everywhere you go in Iceland, you find gorgeous Icelandic sweaters. Go Figure!
Pic 57 - Dinner Time
Fish for dinner and when asked who doesn't like fish, everybody says Dar at the same time!
Pic 58 - Our Accomodations
Bunk beds one and all. At least our group was small enough that we all slept on the lower bunk.
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