Safe Return Doubtful

Seyðisfjörður is one of my favourite towns in Iceland, with its colourful wooden houses, hotels and cafes nestled around the head of the fjord with the curtain of steep snowy mountains almost surrounding it. But it gets wild weather, though fortunately not while I was there. There was one fine day, that I reported on in my last post, though the town itself doesn’t get any sun at this time of year. Other than that, mist was in, calm but cold, between plus two and minus two degrees. 

On Thursday morning I took the shorter trails to the south of town that take in some waterfalls, and a sculpture. 

Check in for the ferry was at 4 pm, though it didn’t leave until its scheduled time of 8 pm. I had plenty planned my three day journey, reading, some research for the next part of the course, movies, and I hoped, the international rugby on Saturday. The problem for the rugby was that the internet on board was slow, less than 2 Mbps, and the maximum data you could buy was 9GB, by my calculations enough for almost two games, and there were three. 

The first part of the voyage from Iceland was rough, with three metre waves, but those conditions, of which we had been warned, only set in during the night. They woke me periodically, but I don’t suffer anywhere near as much as others do.

I had brought some basic breakfast for the first morning, but the coffee in the cafe at the top of the ship is excellent, and it’s a great place to sit and read. At 8 am there were only a handful of other people there, the rest confined to their cabins waiting out the stormy sea in some discomfort. Mid-morning I used the gym. The swimming pool depth is lowered in such conditions, but still it’s a wave pool without any intentional input, and spills regularly across the floor. Again, the gym had just a couple of other people in it. 

We docked in Tórshavn mid-afternoon and had four hours there. Most people, now feeling better, left the ship just to stand on some solid ground. I actually got four miles in, walking old haunts from a month ago. The mist was down in Tórshavn, and the temperature ten degrees, which it seems it always is. It’s a good town, and perhaps my current favourite capital city. A nice size.

The boat was away again at 8 pm, and now the North Atlantic was much calmer, waves predicted at less than two metres. I used the cafe for dinner. There is a buffet each night for about twenty euros. Those prices seemed expensive on the way out, but returning from Iceland, they seem cheap. The food is good, always decent fish on, and plenty of salad and vegetables. 

After the gym again on Saturday morning I settled to try and watch the rugby. Streaming sites now don’t buffer like they used to, and give just a less quality picture on reduced internet speed. It was fine to watch, just very occasionally a slightly blurred picture. After the three games I checked my data usage, and it had barely registered. It seems their system of monitoring is fortunately flawed. 

We docked in Hirtshals this morning on time, at 11 am. Time on board the ship is Faroes time, the same as the UK at this time of year, so we gained an hour. 

I was clear of the terminal within half an hour, and drove for about an hour to the Rebild Bakker National Park, which I know quite well, having been here a few times before. At this time of year I can park in the main car park which is quiet, and ideal for a hiking trail tomorrow morning. The weather is very calm, cloudy with a maximum today of 9C and a low tonight of 4C. 

I had thought I’d stay in Denmark for a week or so, but I’m tempted to head south sooner, probably on Wednesday, and take some time driving the three thousand kilometres to the sea again. I need to spend some time working out details, but I am thinking to head across the Mediterranean around the 8th December, probably for ten weeks. More on that to come..