When driving around Iceland, it’s impossible not to notice all the abandoned farms.
If you add all that you don’t see as well – the number is high! Abandoned houses and barns built in turf (before the use of concrete took over), surrender to nature to such an extent that after a few years they are not visible except as small piles of grass.
However, the concrete structures are visible many many years. A lot of them are ugly, but some are actually quite beautiful in all their decay. By Highway 1, west of Höfn, not far from Rauðaberg, there are some ancient houses decorated with new and modern graffiti.
Iceland has undergone a period of heavy urbanization, and when it comes to the capital area – to the extreme. Of Iceland’s 350,000 inhabitants, 65% lived in Reykjavik and the surrounding area in 2021.
In the heart of Haukadalen, not far from Rauðaberg, we had our coldest bath to date, in March, only a few days after a nice bath at the same place in beautiful spring weather. This time minus 4 degrees and a fresh gale, so we were freezing long before we started to undress. Knut was first ready, and plowed the ice towards the pool while Idun took pictures.
Yes, it is also time for a bath in minus four degrees. But admittedly, the idea of a hot pot was clearly also rather present in our brains.
Getting dressed afterwards was a rather cumbersome affair, since the fingers had trouble cooperating. But regrets? We have a few! But any baths are not among them.