Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 37

ICELAND REVIEW 35
a break FroM real liFe
after each day of up to eight hours of riding, the group
is picked up and driven back to Bjarnastaðir where they
spend the night. Halldór’s wife elín maríusdóttir pre-
pares dinner, lamb from the farm or trout from a nearby
lake, and afterwards the party enjoys a glass of wine or a
beer in the late summer evening sun. By a brook, a flock
of ducks play, while newborn lambs prefer the company
of humans. Usually lambs are only born in the spring,
so these came as a surprise. “i found their mother dead
in the field,” says Halldór. aiming to make tourism
his bread and butter, for now he remains primarily a
sheep farmer. the women find the two heimalningar, as
motherless lambs are called, absolutely adorable, taking
turns in bottle-feeding them. Sharing a beer with anne
Kristine Boe from denmark, she tells me how much she
enjoys the riding. “Back in copenhagen, i’m busy with
my life as a social worker, so this was a much-needed
break.” We sit outside, even though the icelandic
summer evening doesn’t compare to the heat wave
Scandinavians have experienced this summer. “this
feels like winter,” shrugs anne Kristine, yet adding of
the trip, “we’ve been lucky with the weather. it’s mostly
been dry and sunny.”
the arctic circle special includes not only riding
trips, but also other kinds of sightseeing and activi-
ties, such as whale watching from Húsavík, driving
to Ásbyrgi canyon and dettifoss waterfall and sailing
across the arctic circle while sea angling. emmely was
the only one brave enough to jump in the ocean with
Halldór and maya. “it was cold,” she admits, yet stating
that swimming across the arctic circle was worth it.
mostly, though, it’s about riding.
it’s all over too soon. the three teens, Helena, alicia
and emmely, have to get back to real life and seem mel-
ancholy about leaving the group. the others are beam-
ing in anticipation of the adventures of tomorrow. *
trAVeL
Coming home to bjarnastaðir; mountain Hafrafell from a different angle.