Isafjordur

Sunday 29th June

Noise, noise, noise! I woke before 7am to clanking and bashing noises outside my window, followed by hydraulics. It was the tenders being let down! I lay quietly, trying to sleep and assuring myself that it would be over soon. It wasn't. All I can think is that they were testing the hydraulics, because there would be a 10-second burst of sound every so often. This continued right through until my alarm at 9.30. I was too weary to actually get up before that. I knew that the physical rest was important, even if I was doing nothing more than dozing between bursts of sound.

Judith and I met up at 11 for the tender to the town. Once there our first stop was the Information Centre. I told the man behind the counter that I had read on the internet that there is a nice coastal walk. He looked at me in surprise. 'Here?!' In the end he drew a walk for us on a map that took us around the bay and then back on higher roads through the houses, ending in a lookout spot. 

On the walk around the bay we saw the usual Alaskan lupins. These are planted out in an attempt to stop erosion. They are spreading well. As they die down, they provide excellent manure and hopefully will help to build up soil. We were fortunate enough to see them in full bloom. 

We followed the map and thought we had found the lookout but I later realised it is only an electricity substation or some such. We could see people higher on the hillside - much too steep and no proper track up there. We were happy with our spot and ate our lunch on a rock (me) and a bridge (Judith). As usual I was pursued by flies and midges while Judith had no trouble. On the road to the lookout we saw three young girls with a stall set up with drinks and home-made cakes. I'm sorry I didn't have any Icelandic currency!

On the way back to the ship we walked through the town. 

I was glad we stopped in the Lutheran church. There was a fantastic wall mural. Closer examination made me wonder if it had been a school or community project. It consisted of individually modelled doves, and each was different. I spoke to a lady in a craft shop who said it had been done with the help of an artist in residence. In fact, even talking about it gave her goose bumps. It must have been a fantastic experience to take part.

I was sleepy and weary, so after lunch back on the ship I went to bed. I was in bed about 2.30 and dragged myself out at 6pm. Luckily I'd finished sleeping before all our departure noise started, but could not get myself out of bed any sooner.

 

I had room service dinner of penne bolognaise before getting ready for dancing. The first session was sequence dancing and I managed two dances with one of the passengers. In the later session, after my second dance I was aware that I could easily start weeping, my normal warning sign of over-weariness, so decided I was better off going back to my room and reading quietly.