After a long bus ride and a slightly more exciting scenery we reached our stop at Stadarskali. We got off the comfortable bus seats to get back onto our own saddles. It was slightly drizzling and quite gray. A member of staff from the rest stop recommended us to take the other road instead of the one we were intending to take. Nevertheless, we chose, according to his words, the "hard road".
Soon the smooth tarmac road changed into rougher gravel road. Although it slowed us down, it provided us with a richer and more exciting experience. It was a winding road that followed the coastline, with amazing views across the many fjords. The wind was cold, whilst the sun was beating down hard on us. This led to taking off everything we could on the way up and put everything back on as soon as we reached the summit of a hill.
As the evening approached, we started to look for a camping spot. We stopped at a house to ask if we can pitch our tent on their property. The owner said - "Yes! Anywhere!" He pointed us in a direction of a nice grassy spot right beside the ocean. Despite the cold, it was an amazing night. The sound of the wind beating against the sides of the tent, constant motion of the water and waves crashing against the rugged rocks, and ongoing "oooh-ooh-oh" sound of eiders. Our presence along the way was also greeted by the many other birds, including golden plovers, snipes, black guillemots and many other birds. We were surrounded by so many birds! Jamie's first and the only sighting of a Scottish eider duck was on Isle of Mull, West Coast of Scotland. It was only a few weeks before our flight to Iceland. Now we were seeing hundreds of their Icelandic cousins everyday!
The road kept changing from the gravel to tar, back to gravel every several miles. We were back on the gravel again. The morning was cold and misty. The low clouds were rolling down the hillsides. Soon the road led us up a steep hill into a thick fog. The beautiful scenery overlooking the long, stretching bay and the distant snow covered mountain range disappeared from our views. There was still a lot (not from an Icelander's perspective) of deep snow lingering on the tops of higher mountains.
Just before 17:00 we arrived in Holmavik. We learnt that our host farm is another several miles along a very rough gravel road from where we were and out of reach for us that day. A community centre across the road served as a good spot for having dinner. Soon after a car pulled up, and the lady rolled down her window. With a warm smile and mild accent she asked "Are you people from Scotland?" It turned out to be our host!
