Hi again -
Will try to catch up a bit on some more details from the last three weeks. Attached here are some photos of the volunteers I worked with on trails - in the Vesturdalur valley not far from Ásbyrgi, at a place called Hljóðaklettar, (Resounding Rocks), in Ásbyrgi eating lunch in the rock face. Here is also a photo of me, Rogier (left) and Nils (right) at Þingvellir. Ásbyrgi is a giant canyon formed from a lava erruption about 10000 years ago, and then carved into the shape of horse-shoe by a glacial surge (from more volcanic activity) about 6000 years ago. The glacial flood-surge was so powerful it all happened in about 6 weeks. That is a LOT of rock to remove in a very short time! Hljóðaklettar is likewise a volcanic landscape carved out by water. The rocks you see in the distance used to be magma tubes, that cooled and then the surrounding rock was washed away by the glacial surge. Þingvellir is also rather volcanic. It is right on one edge of the rift between two tectonic plates, so you can see the fissures opening everwhere, and the other side of the valley is the opposite edge of the massive fissure that forms the valley, widening every year!
I attached a shot of Ásbyrgi to try to give a sense of one side of the horse-shoe. In the early 20th century the farmer who owned both the farm named Ás (God) and Byrgi (Fortress) decided to re-name this area as Ásbyrgi, the Fortress of the Gods. He created the myth that Óðin´s eight-footed flying horse Sleipnir had come too close to the ground, and hit it with a foot, making this gigantic valley. Neat story . . .
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