Well, now we know what happened to all the hiking trail markers in Iceland.
What Trolls are Smoking in the West Fjords
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Tag Archives: West Fjords
Dynjandishæði
It is good to remember that a waterfall, such as the great Dynjandi, is just a fall. That’s to say, it’s a space where the lifting and holding energy of solid ground becomes its opposite, the energy called a fjall. A fall here is not a verb. It is a space, which creates the verb. To get a handle on this energy, its good to stand at the top of a waterfall, and feel oneself falling with it. The earth falls from beneath one’s feet with vertigo.
Now you are in Iceland. It does for you what it doesn’t do for water: it catches you and holds you. It is that moment when the keel of a boat rises and stops swaying in the sea, the landing when it is held. Don’t fight it. It only becomes your story when you don’t fight it.
Amateur Geologists, Go West!
Quartz Outcropping in Eyrarhlið (Skutulsfjörður)
The End of a Whale in Arnarfjörður
Never romanticize Iceland.
Bildudalur Harbour
But if you do, it will wrench you back to your senses quickly enough.
Trolls in the West Fjords are Sneakier than Most
Out in the West Fjords, you can still find trolls caught in the act of being born.
And you can find Rauðasandur, the red sand beach (more like quicksand, beware), that is made out of troll stuff spread out flat as it wades out to sea.
Iceland: where the fun never stops!
When you live on the beach, well, that’s nice.
But if you have a church on the beach, you build a wall. That’s nice, too.
A bit dark, though. So it is. But not half so dark as the church!
Kind of a repetition of the motif of the cliff, really, but, heck, in this place, even the sea is a cliff wall.
Skriðnafell
The land has its way with us.
Awe in the Land of Giants
Some mountains are so powerful, their names are primal forces from a land of giants.
Urðahlið: The Broken Mountain, or even The Broken Gate.
Borgarfjördur in Arnarfjörður
It is good that we are small. It is good to know.
Iceland in Black and Blue
Reykjavik.
West Fjords.
Most countries don’t have such a clear choice.
The Troll Cats of the West Fjords
Worth a trip, I think.
Is that a troll mouse? Or a troll kitten? I need to go back!
Wild Golf
Right. So maybe you see some tractor ruts. That’s tourist thinking, eh.
This is a city in the West Fjords. Yes, that’s the way they look out here. But, more than that….
… this is the þingeyri golf course. Yeah, yeah, in Canada where I live, golf is a gentrified sport, reducing indigenous and agricultural land to suntans and beer. In Iceland, it’s a bit different. I like that. A lot.
Note the amenities. Mowing crew.
Spotters.
Lookie-loos.
Water trap.
Clubhouse. Air conditioned.
Volcanic grunge. Very challenging.
9 holes, par 78. Watch that ankle. Here’s the first aid team. 
Lumpy bits. But lovely.
Really lumpy.
Real lovely. A bit soggy in bits.
But a great city view.
Lose your heart in the West Fjords. You won’t regret it. 
Fore!
A Farm in Iceland 