Friday 1st August

Breakfast at "Summerhotel" Aning was rather good ­ another surprise given the institutional nature of the place. Wonderul coffee and fresh bread, along with the usual selection of cold meats, cheese, cereals, pickled fish and so forth.

After breakfast we followed our itinerary on to the Snaefellesnes peninsular which is a pointy outcrop of land roughly north west of Reykjavik. Our destination was Stykkisholmur village, where a boat tour would hopefully await us. It was a very long drive from Saudarkrokur to Stykkisholmur, around 240kms, and we surprised ourselves by dispatching the distance in less than three hours. The sun shone and visibility was good for driving, which helped.

We had coffee in Stykkisholmur and then ambled down to the quayside for the boat trip. Stykkisholmur is a twee little place nestling on the tip of a small rocky outcrop of land surrounded by hundreds of islets, channels, coves, and cliffs which are the home to many different bird varieties, among them puffins, eagles, cormorants and several others all of which we saw during the 3-hour boat trip. This was a bigger boat and therefore thankfully a good deal less bouncy than the whale-watching vessel. There is a gift shop near the harbour at which we bought two cute cuddly seals. One of these we christened Stykki Bogi because he was from Stykkisholmur; Bogi is a name we just happened to find in an Icelandic telephone directory and we thought it suited him. Stykki Bogi's lifestyle has taken a turn for the better as he now spends his time surfing our bedclothes.

The highlight of the boat trip was the dredging: one of the crew put the dredging line down, and was soon hauling up all sorts of goodies from the seabed onto a flat panel at the back of the boat. Included in this were sea urchins, scallops, mussels, stones, shells and bits of weed. We didn't fancy eating the stones or bits of weed but Richard was brave enough to try half a scallop. We like cooked scallops and the raw, fresh-from-the-sea version tasted remarkably firm and similar, albeit with a more evident sea-like flavour. Some of the more daring tourists on the boat with us sampled sea urchin eggs, which look a bit like a gooey red hamburger relish, but neither of us particularly fancied this delicacy.

Our next destination was Bourganes, about 90 minutes south. This was taking us back nearer to Reykjavik, as the driving tour was drawing to an end. We arrived in Bourganes at about 7pm and checked into Hotel Bourganes. This was the model of a smart, provincial hotel, slightly tired and grey around the edges but otherwise presentable. The room was small yet clean and pleasant and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The town of Bourganes has absolutely nothing in the way of evening entertainment (unless walking around in the rain and looking at wet, grey buildings appeals) so after an abortive and slightly damp town tour on foot we decided to dry off, relax, and eat at the hotel. Cured farm trout, simply served with a tartar sauce, sliced tomato and toasted bread, was enjoyable, while a dish of halibut served with a shrimp sauce was acceptable but a little underflavoured for my taste. Reasonable for a small town, we found this to be filling food not too expensive at around £45 for dinner for us both with modest alcohol.

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© Richard Harrison

All photographs are © Richard Harrison and Samantha Coe 1997