Iceland is often called the Land of Ice and Fire. A rugged landscape of volcanoes, waterfalls and glaciers. Some parts of the country you can only get to on horseback. Even though Iceland is getting more popular as a tourist destination, there are still plenty of 'wild' places to explore in this extreme landscape. Last week, Mary and I attempted another roadtrip and went off to see some less well-known spots. After a bit of car trouble we were off to Nauthusagil, a beautiful waterfall in a gorge. It was a bit of a mission to get there, you had to walk on slippery rocks in a stream, and part of the way was climbing along an almost vertical bit of rockface with only a chain to hold on to. But even I managed to get there in one piece, so I would say it's not too bad. The waterfall was pretty but the way there was even more beautiful I thought. And the best part was that there was nobody else there. It almost felt like you were in a different world as the narrow gorge sheltered us from the sun, I could see where all the stories about fearies and trolls came from.
After visiting the waterfall, we wanted to try if we could see the crest of the waterfall, so we attempted a little hike up the hill. We couldn't see it though so we decided to go higher, and higher, and higher. Untill we were at the point where we thought we might as well climb all the way up to the top of the hill, which turned out to be a lot higher than it looked. But we made it up there! And the view was definitely worth it. We saw the plains on one side and the snow-capped mountains on the other. It was gorgeous! And I wasn't even too exhausted, I felt a lot fitter than when Ilona and I hiked up Skogafoss a few weeks ago. The daily work-outs must be paying off. After our mountain climbing, we visited another beautiful waterfall (again no people there!) and ended our day with a swim at Seljavallalaug, the oldest pool of Iceland. The pool was in the middle of a valley, surrounded by beautiful green mountains and heated by a hotspring (but still not very warm, unfortunately).
Meanwhile at the stables, I feel like I know a bit better what I'm doing. I'm still not sure me 'training' horses is very useful but I perfected my tour guide talk (including all the fun facts I mentioned in one of my previous blogs). I still marvel at the view every time I go outside (we are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes) and I've met a lot of interesting people. We have weekly riding lessons and I am definitely making progress. I love trying new things but it is quite frustrating when you feel like a complete beginner when trying a new way of riding. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I always want to be able to do right at the first try. Of course I know that's not how it works but often I have to remind myself that it's oké to do something wrong and that is how I learn. The tölting is going better though and it's a lot of fun to do.
In other exciting news: Heleen and I are making heaps of progress with our horse travel business 'Centaur Trails'. We have our first official partners now, soon the website will be filled with awesome horse riding holidays all over the world. In June, our first client is going on an 8-day riding tour in Montenegro and I can't wait for all her amazing stories, photos and videos. You can follow our progress on
instagram,
facebook and
twitter. In less exciting news, I am still horrible at website building, despite all my efforts and a lot of help from google. It takes a lot more work, time and skill to build a website than I thought. Thankfully Heleen is a miracle worker and able to fix most of my messes on the website ;)
Iceland is often called the Land of Ice and Fire. A rugged landscape of volcanoes, waterfalls and glaciers. Some parts of the country you can only get to on horseback. Even though Iceland is getting more popular as a tourist destination, there are still plenty of 'wild' places to explore in this extreme landscape. Last week, Mary and I attempted another roadtrip and went off to see some less well-known spots. After a bit of car trouble we were off to Nauthusagil, a beautiful waterfall in a gorge. It was a bit of a mission to get there, you had to walk on slippery rocks in a stream, and part of the way was climbing along an almost vertical bit of rockface with only a chain to hold on to. But even I managed to get there in one piece, so I would say it's not too bad. The waterfall was pretty but the way there was even more beautiful I thought. And the best part was that there was nobody else there. It almost felt like you were in a different world as the narrow gorge sheltered us from the sun, I could see where all the stories about fearies and trolls came from.
Meanwhile at the stables, I feel like I know a bit better what I'm doing. I'm still not sure me 'training' horses is very useful but I perfected my tour guide talk (including all the fun facts I mentioned in one of my previous blogs). I still marvel at the view every time I go outside (we are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes) and I've met a lot of interesting people. We have weekly riding lessons and I am definitely making progress. I love trying new things but it is quite frustrating when you feel like a complete beginner when trying a new way of riding. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I always want to be able to do right at the first try. Of course I know that's not how it works but often I have to remind myself that it's oké to do something wrong and that is how I learn. The tölting is going better though and it's a lot of fun to do.
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