Our second day in Iceland was to be an easy one: drive anti-clockwise around the Snæfellsnes peninsula from Olafsvik, stopping at Djúpalónssandur beach and then lunch somewhere at Arnarstapi, a small fishing village to the south, and then back to the apartment via the same mountain pass we had used the day before, hoping for some more or better photos of the nice waterfalls along the way.
It rained lightly most of the day, and the wind was strong. Not ideal conditions for photography, with many pauses to wipe spots from lenses required. The beach was spectacular though. Black, composed entirely of smoothly washed pebbles, glistening wet, graded from fist size near the top to nearly sand-size near the water. The on-shore wind was making a moderate surf, which crashed and sprayed on the rocks at either end. The rocks were steep, craggy and spectacular. The end of a blasted lava field that composed the surrounding countryside.
At Arnarstapi there was a large carpark full of cars and campervans. The bar cafe of the local hotel was a modern affair but the lamb soup was delicious, and the burger was fine. The beer was a local one, Snorri, a pale ale flavoured slightly with thyme and delicious. I read later that the reason that the lamb here is special has a lot to do with their diet including a lot of thyme too.
The nice standing pool that we saw on the first day, near the crest of the pass over the peninsula, was not nearly so picturesque this time, its surface broken up by the wind, removing the still reflection.
Quiet evening filled with tracking down some seemingly missing photos from the backup drive. Mysteriously neither Cath nor my photos from the visit to Saksun, on the Faroes, had made it to the backup. Recoverd from cards: all seems well.
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