Day 4, July 7, 2013:
Well today I turn 55 and - while that qualifies me for the
seniors discount at Denny’s - what did I do for my birthday????? Why ride a pony and jump in a glacial river
of course! Today we were out early just
after 8:00 on our only organized tour of Iceland. Our first stop was a riding camp to tour the
countryside on the sturdy Icelandic horse (I call them ponies because that’s
what size they are). The Icelandic horse
is a breed unto itself and its genetic lineage is fiercely protected. Their ancestors were brought over with the
Vikings, experiments back in about 1000 AD to breed them with oriental horses
(for speed and size) were disastrous and almost wiped out the breeding stock so
a law was passed to keep the lineage untainted which has held for over a
thousand years. You cannot import any
horse at all and all equipment, hooves, tack, etc. is scrupulously cleaned upon
entry to the country (or simply taken away) to prevent disease. The horse is small, 300-400 kg and only
stands as tall as a grown man yet they are strong, sure footed and grow a
shaggy coat in the winter allowing them to stay outside year round. The ones we rode were also pretty patient
because it was obvious we didn’t know what we were doing. I brought up the rear on my white horse who I
called Odin because he had a mind of his own and thunderous farts. Duncan’s horse liked to snack and cuddle the
other horses, Mary Rose’s mount liked to kick up her heels and run and Connor,
well we called his horse Scrappy and he always had to be in the front (Connor
actually traded with another rider when Scrappy refused to play nicely). Amazing how we all got horses that suited our
personality. The weather gods favoured
us and the rain which threatened all morning did not arrive, a couple of hours
of riding the volcanic countryside left us hungry and we tucked in to a hearty
lunch of mushroom soup and sandwiches before heading off to the second half of
our adventure – white water rafting.
We rafted the Hvita (White River – pronounced “KWEET-ow”),
which is a large glacial river originating from Iceland’s second largest
glacier Langjokull (Long Glacier), tumbling over the Gullfoss (golden falls)
waterfall which we saw a couple of days earlier. We did not get the chance to raft the
waterfall, instead we started downstream.
The river is not terribly challenging considered Class II with only a
few exciting rapids but it cuts through really interesting volcanic formations
including pyroclastic flows, massive vesicular basalts and columnar basalts –
for the geologically inclined... What it
lacks in excitement it makes up for in frigidity, it was at its warmest of
about eight degrees Celsius, but of course it was raining and only ten degrees
outside – positively balmy! The rafts
are small, ours held nine people and a guide and we all geared up in neoprene
wet suits just to look sexy and smell like rubber! We rafted about two hours with a break in the
middle to jump off the volcanic cliffs, Connor of course was first, then second
and third, the rest of us took one look at the 8-10 meter drop, stuck our toes
in the water and declined the pleasure, so far we have no regrets. We had loads of fun splashing the other raft,
bouncing up and down, racing and acting foolish all the while wet, freezing and
having a blast. Connor got to show off
his steering skills in the last half hour and we all lived through it. We ended the day with a lamb barbecue and a
bus ride back to Reykjavik which of course everyone slept through. Tomorrow is our last day and we plan to hit
the Blue Lagoon before heading to London in the afternoon.
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