Day 13 - The West End

This morning our coffee making was put to shame by a German guy in the camp kitchen. You thought we were obsessive?  Just you wait.

He had a hanging scale, which he used to weigh the beans in a plastic bag, tipping some out, putting a bean or two back in until he was satisfied the weight was perfect. Then he ground them in a hand grinder, and put the ground coffee in the filter basket. Next he pulled out what I now know (thanks google) is called an espresso distribution tool.  It looks like a miniature version of those wire head scratches things you see demo'd at the mall. 

Coffee distribution tool

He used this to make sure the coffee grinds were evenly spread around the filter basket. Once happy with the even-ness of the grinds, he tamped, and placed the filter into a fancy dancy stove top espresso maker.  He heated milk on the stove in a separate jug, and once it was the correct temperature, frothed the milk with a portable milk frother. 

It was like watching a play, and we were transfixed! I'm now regretting that I didn't ask where he got the scale from. That was cool.  Google has not been forthcoming with that answer.

Once we'd finished our inferior coffee, we headed for the most Western tip of Iceland, Latrabjarg, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from where we stayed, that took us back past Dynjandi waterfall again. It also took us through a long tunnel, about 5.6km that was started in 2017 and finished in 2020. It went from one side of the peninsular to the other. Very impressive, and hard to believe it only took 3 years to build. NZ would still be arguing about whether to build it or not in that amount of time 🙄

Into the tunnel

Our route took us past a plane wreck, photos duly taken and sent to the plane geek, who almost immediately replied with a "before" picture.

The story

We eventually made it to Latrabjarg and the lighthouse after about an hour of rattling and bouncing a deeply pot holed dirt road.

Mid summer in Iceland 🥶

Wool layers x 2, wind proof coat, hat, buff, hoodie and rain pants to keep the wind out.

Apparently there are up to 800,000 individual birds (not just puffins) along these 14km of sea cliffs at the height of the breeding season.  We didn’t walk the whole thing, but what we did see was pretty impressive.

And finally some puffin photos 🤣 tho these were taken on my phone.

Landing

They are not the most graceful or accurate fliers, and tend to just face plant on the ground before scurrying into their burrows.

On the drive home, there were wildlife hazards other than sheep.

Why did the geese ....

And just to prove I am not the only loser on the L Trail, I noticed on the Facebook page for the trail that someone else left behind their sleeping bag.

We are camped at Bolungarvik tonight and plan to stay in the area as we are catching a boat to Hornstandir Sunday morning. 

In fact I need to go shopping for a convertor plug as mine has "disappeared".  It may well be still plugged into the wall in Egilsstadir, as 'someone' who is known to lose stuff or forget stuff was using my laptop, until she was able to buy a replacement charger for the one she had forgotten to pack 🙄