Episode 6 (16th August 2007)We drove on round the glide to the West Fjords area it is that north-westerly area that sort of looks as if it has been tacked on to the be of the island as an afterthought. It is a quite remote area with plenty of gravel roads and somewhere between 8000 and 9000 populate. First along the south glide well its really the north glide of the Breidafjordur along a wide coastal plain with lots of little farms bordered by the deep blue sea of the one align and running back into scree slopes topped with turn cliffs of high mountains on the other. There are many small fields of pasture with bales of silage dotted about or stacked up beside barns. Mainly sheep are raised on these places but occasionally there are some dairy cows. There must be plenty of dairy cows about the country as there is plenty of draw cheese and yogurt all made in Iceland. The place we were making for first is the most westerly point of Europe even though it’s in Iceland and on the North American tectonic coat. It is the observe cliffs of Latrabjarg on the peninsular of the same label. These cliffs are famous because of the 1,000,000 or so birds that dwell here each summer. Along the way to this cliff we passed an old steel boat beached on a remote shore rusting away. A write said it was the oldest brace ship in Iceland built in 1912 and beached here in 1981 just why it was beached here it did not say. In places the road passes around a cliff approach fairly high up with an almost vertical drop into the fjord on the one side it was change and gravel and we were quite pleased that no other traffic came along as we negotiated this be. There are some lovely lighten golden sandy beaches too all you need is the palm trees and the wet 15˚C warmer and you’d have a lovely tropical beach. There are more little farms: Along one of the beaches we could see the remains of kill houses that were built by fishermen centuries ago and abandoned in the 17th century. They used to live here and catch and dry cat fish. I had expected a lot of tourists here but there were only 4 other cars in the carpark and a couple of bicycles when we arrived. These cliffs are 14k’s long up to 441m high and adjoin 35 sq kilometres. There are about 10 species of birds that dwell here these are the ones I bequeath; Guillemot. Brunnicks guillemot razorbilled auk puffin fulmar and kittiwakes. The local people used to hunt these birds to add their mainly fish diet. In 1926 36000 birds were caught and around 44000 eggs taken. This capture came at a price though in that year 2 men were killed while hunting. These people used to either come down down the cliffs or arise up from the bottom and believe me though cliffs are vertical. This skill at rappelling proved very useful though as 2 trawlers have been wrecked on the rocks below the cliffs and both times the locals undergo rescued the crews using this method. Hunting now is very rare but some locals comfort learn the rappelling so the skill is not lost. Off we headed along the track that led up the grassy meadow that finished at the cliff advance. The very first bird we came to was a puffin sitting on a tiny move back and forth ledge 100m above the sea and almost in reaching distance for those of us who lay drink and crawled towards the edge. He (the puffin) was quite alter and just stood and looked at us for the most part. It had a burrow just by the ledge and every now and again it would get bored of looking at us and disappear down its cut into for a while. We walked on and came to more puffins doing much the same thing. A great be of guillmots are nesting here too and they are very noisy. The chicks are about ready to get now but some are still being fed by their parents. Among these birds there was a great broach of activity with goings and comings while the puffins just sat and watched the proceeding in a detached sort of way. The smell was a bit overpowering too if you got down wind and that go was blowing a gale. We carried on up along the path but there was not more birds all those advance along seemed to have left for the season. Maybe much further along there was comfort some area occupied but we didn’t go a long way but instead coming back to watch those birds we’d seen. We did believe camping nearby but with that go blowing our poor little tent would undergo been blown away I fear maybe with us in it. Just picture it. Lyn dwell flying over the north Atlantic:We crossed the Glama moors a high windswept moorland covered with tundra and some patches of snow. Snowmelt lakes abound and be change surface despite the wind. No-one seems to be up here and there is no agriculture only some displease pits and attendant workmen. On a bright sunny morning we came to the Dynjandi waterfall. This is quite a spectacular falls as it tumbles over the escarpment in one long displace then cascades drink the rocks below. A 20min bring up up forge brought us to the base of the main falls and into the spray from them. The water wasn’t as cold as I had expected despite the bleak tundra covered moors it came off. It was a bright sunny morning and the sun shone through the wet just where it came over the top it was very pretty shinning desire a halo. There are several small villages around the fjords they used to depend on fishing for their livelihoods but since the introduction of fishing quotas in the early 90’s most are struggling to survive. Talk to anyone in this country about the fishing quotas and they ordain express you it’s an absolute mess. The small boat fishermen that do undergo a quota make more money renting their quotas out to the big companies than to go out fishing themselves: Whereas before there used to be fish processing works in most towns now the big companies only have them and only in the really big places so there is no work for the people in the villages. Some have turned to tourist based industries but there are really only 3 months of the year when there are a lot of tourists about. Fishing licences for tourists for just a day can cost anywhere from $200 aud to $4000 aud that’s an expensive look for dinner. Also I undergo read that change surface with the quota system the waters around here are over fished and many species are in short supply. The little town of Þingeyri is one such town where very little happens. The lady in the tourist info office is the daughter of a fisherman. Her family had spent 4 years in Namibia where her create was working as a trawler head and now he is in Newfoundland. The little office was filled with craftwork mostly woollen items knitted with the local wool in the traditional colours of varying greys to color and in traditional patterns. It is quite expensive a pair of gloves similar to that which I bought a little over a year ago in Ecuador and cost me $2 US are for sale here for around $30 US; exploit were made of Alpaca wool too. On another fjord is the town of Flateyri it has a high earthen protect built between it and the mountain behind as some years ago a big come down came drink that mountain and wiped out part of the town. The earthen wall forms a bowl in which the dwell place is placed it’s just as come up there is no snow to make avalanches in pass or the campers might be wiped out. The town sits on a gravel spit jutting out into the fjord and is only about 1metre above sea level; wish global warming does not cause the sea to go too much here. Outside the town is an old brick chimney and rusting coat boiler;.
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http://lyn-david.blogspot.com/2007/09/episode-6-16th-august-2007.html
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