Iceland is known for microquakes, i.e. small earthquakes barely felt by anything other than instruments.
Sometimes, they do reach mag 4.5+, and you get some shaking. Today morning, its shaking. Non stop. No. Its not an earthquake.
The phone display says "Windy, 25m/s".
I sleepily navigate to the weather website, and its not cheerful. Wind gusts upto 30m/s, and rain full day, except for some respite in the evening for maybe a couple of hours.
I decide to test what does a 30m/s wind gust feel like. Bad idea. The door is literally ripped out of my hands and hits the rubber stopper with a loud "whack". Suddenly, its Katrina inside, and the 20 degree+ cottage is now freezing.
I wrestle the door back, and we decide its a good idea to stay indoors. Right outside is the very very famous black beach of Vik. And guess what tourists have started coming.
We can see them driving to the parking lot, getting out of the car, trying not to fly, and then again getting back in the vehicle and going.
Its quite entertaining, esp watching an a busload trying not to take wing. The bright yellow and read long overcoats suggest its a far eastern group. Its welcome change from the drab black and brown European dressing, and matches with the Icelandic rainbows.Bracing themselves, they take their load of pictures and then scamper inside the bus. This circus will continue whole day.
As for us, no local food means today its noodle time. And.... we do have a problem. A problem very very grave and serious. There is no sieve for the tea. And the cottage does not have one either. In all the lists and stuff, this got missed out!
But tea needs a sieve, and guess what, there is a carrybag made of cloth(thanks to the "no polythene" policy in Delhi).
Breakfast done, its time to laze some more. The weather report says it will get better around 3pm or so.
That is good, because we do need groceries.
And as predicted, the wind dies down a bit, and we set off to the town of Vik, about 15kms away.
The supermarket is open till 6pm today, since its a weekday. On Sunday its just 12-4, Saturdays are 11-5 and rest of the week its 8-6.
I am expecting Norway-ish prices, esp since this is a small town supermarket, and not a big chain like Bonus, but we are in for a pleasant surprise. Things are pretty decent price wise. Chicken is just about 30% more than you would pay in India, and onions cost about 80rs/kg if you talk about Indian prices.
Time to fill up the Duster. Don't know how good or bad an offroader she is, but as a mall roader, this is the perfect wagon.
What next, is the obvious question as the sky starts to clear up a bit? Well how about an air crash?
63.459228N 19.364771W
If you fly to this location on google Earth, you will find an airplane. Its a US Navy Douglas DC3. On a cold winter day in 1973, this bird came down as the pilot had to crash land after running out of fuel. Nobody was killed, which is quite a miracle in itself.
For countless years, this site has been very popular with 4x4s, making their own road. But anybody who's been to beaches knows, these places are not kind, and I guess the authorities became annoyed with people getting stuck.
So now, there is a marked F road leading to the plane. Its 4x4 only, however, with careful driving even a 4x2 can make it here.
I was expecting some navigational challenges reaching here, but the marked trail, and the exact trail marking in OSM meant, we reach here without drama.
The sky is overcast, the wind howls, and light rain chills us to the bone. Its a perfect setting for this spectacle. With clear blue skies and sun shining this would have looked like some amusement park attraction gone wrong.
But now, it looks like what it is.
An air crash.
We climb what's left over, and admire the machine, still majestic in its death. Somebody stole the tail a long while back, and graffiti adorns the fuselage.
Try and imagine, running out of fuel over a wild sea, and seeing all black sand down below, with no idea about the terrain. Its your one shot. If the black turns out to be rock, everybody dies.
AS we circle the plane, it feels colder than it actually is. The whole setting is pretty chilling, and the clouds are closing in again. It feels like rain, and so, we decide to hit the beach before the weather becomes totally uncooperative.