18.06 - Day 155 - Stokkseyri
Tuesday 18th June - Stokkseyri (Day 155)
A purposefully shorter day of driving allowing time to get through school work plus another night ahead at Fisherinn so no need to pack up and check out. Unfortunately for Seb, by the time he’s finished his school work, the bouncy pillow he wants to go on again is swarming with school children on their morning break.
Luckily we’ve found another in Hveragerdi, 25 minutes away where we’d planned to go for a walk anyway, so we head there, the kids continually laughing as they jump and stumble on the bouncy pillow.
More of the geothermal pools where we had done our walk on Friday are dotted around the town and we wander on our own next to gurgling and hissing pools in the collapsed earth.
We’ve been very lucky with the weather so far; some light drizzle but never stopping us from doing any activities - plus bouts of blue sky (even applying sunscreen one day), but now the promised rain is starting to appear so we retreat back to Fisherinn for toasted cheese and ham sandwiches and another bottle of Applesin, a fizzy sugar free orange drink native to Iceland which is tasty (in moderation).
We enjoyed our hot natural pools so we followed that up with a more local’s visit to Sundholl, the public swimming pool in Selfoss. There are two indoor pools 33 degrees and 34 degrees, two outdoor pools at 29 and 35 degrees, three spa sized outdoor pools at 37-39 degrees, 38-40 degrees and 40-42 degrees, plus a sauna and a steam room - all for 17,000 ISK half the price of the touristy (yet enjoyable) Secret Lagoon (36,000 ISK) which in turn is a quarter of the price of the more famous Blue Lagoon (about 130,000 ISK).
Oh and a 6 degree plunge pool in a large black barrel, which after an hour and a half we finally build up the courage to take turns dunking ourselves in before rushing back into one of the hot pools.
Our last supper at Fisherinn to round off this trip is a students favourite of frozen pizza and garlic bread, of course washed down with some Skyr yoghurt.
With the promise / threat of an early start it’s earlier to bed, after, and in hindsight a mistake, I take the kids into the Ghosts and Haunted Tales trail at the back of the hostel. Jirka the host turns it on for us - it reopens to the public in a few weeks - and you’re given headphones to walk through, explaining some of the tall tales that form part of the folklore here. Sienna backs out almost immediately, Seb and I go a few more metres, but a ghost springing up from the floor is enough to send us scurrying back out the start. Seb briefly complains of not being able to fall asleep but thankfully his tiredness washes over him.
Alarms set for a very early start and a flight back to England.