Hike 6 - Reykjavik Parks & Gardens

So much for taking it easy today. It didn't feel like quite so far because my foot didn't hurt. Somewhere along the line my boots started aggravating the Achilles tendon (I think) of my left foot, so that it hurt to take a step. I've been walking through it for days, but today, despite walking seven miles, was a "break" in that I haven't put on my boots today. I went by Hotel Fron where my duffel is living and switched out my Crocs for a pair of actual shoes - not seven-mile-hiking shoes, perhaps, but it did the trick. My feet are tired but my heel feels better.

Tomorrow I go to Hveragerði and actually attempt to walk around in boots with a pack, which may or may not go well. However, there's plenty close to the city so I won't be disappointed even if I can't walk quite as much as I might want to (note that "as far as I might want to" is pretty relative here - obviously I walked eight miles or so in Vík).

Side note: I cannot seem to remember how to pronounce Hveragerði. Part of this is because the pronunciation is weird, but a lot of it is that the tour guide for our Golden Circle tour explained that it meant "steam garden," which resulted in me filing away the town under "steam garden" and never needing to have some rough notion of how it was pronounced in order to remember the place.

Hike 4 & 5: Vík and West of Vík

Google Maps doesn't give me enough resolution to chart the probably 3-4 mile hike that I did on Sunday, wandering about Vik from the bus stop to the black sand beach to the hostel, to the church, the cemetery and then through some fields that were more 4-wheeler friendly than hiker-friendly back to the hostel.

Hike 5 is was incredible - the hike pedometer says 7.75 miles - I think if I could see the route better it would be closer to 8. I hiked up out of the glacial valley Vik is in into... well, basically into a cloud, which was depressing - that cloud wasn't there when I started! However, right as I got to Mile 3 the cloud ceiling lifted and I got this dramatic view off the end of the cliff to the ocean, and I could also see the area west of the plateau - the next glacial valley over - and I decided to check it out. Walked off of the plateau to an unnamed town that didn't have the good fortune of being on the Ring Road, but was otherwise apparently similar to Vik. There was a really neat cave-like thing by the ocean, and I met a Swiss tourist whose parents had gotten married in the cave.

Hike 3: Straight to RU

Also, I walked to the conference on Wednesday, attempting to take the shortest path instead of the longest, as usually appears to be my goal, I know. Just for kicks, here it is.

Hike 2: North Shore

Went on an even longer hike tonight. It went till 11. Sky was still blue. This place is crazy.

Tried to find the Botanical Gardens but (recurring theme alert) zigged where I should have zagged and ended up wandering through a commercial district. However, when I got roughly back on track I found what seemed to be an Olympic village (about mile 1.75), a neat sculpture garden (about mile 1.8), and a Subway (mile 2.5). I remembered my sister's story about going to the Subway in Grenoble because it was the only place with turkey, and stopped to enjoy a turkey sandwich. The Reykjavik hostel is at mile 3 on this hike - I now have some clue what I'm doing after Friday, which is positive. Then I walked the entirety of the north shore of "downtown" Reykjavik, which is gorgeous around 10:30 at night.

Hike 1: Perlin South

Took a bit of a hike today - the long way back to the hotel from the university where the conference is being held. This is the route. I'm certain it was more than 5 miles when you take into account me getting lost south of Perlin, the flower-shaped thing around mile 2 - it's a tourist trap built on top of some water tanks built on top of a hill overlooking the (not international) airport. Around mile 1 I went through a cemetery that was unusual in that many of the fairly recent headstones were wooden - I took pictures but I'll upload them