We like þingeyri; it has pretty much everything one needs yet is only a small village. First stop was an excellent cafe which not only has an Italian espresso machine but sells all home-made cakes and bakes its own bread. It’s in an original grocery shop from 1915 which has been restored. It even has a resident sheepdog puppy who was very pleased to welcome visitors! ‘Simbahöllin’ is apparently run a by a couple, she from Belgium and he from Denmark, but we were served by a girl from Reading who was in her first week working there. We arranged to hire mountain bikes from them for tomorrow (and they also do Icelandic pony riding).

 

We then went exploring. The village is famous for the most amazing workshop, which trawlers from France and Britain used to come to for repairs. It was started in about 1919 by a self-taught blacksmith, and he added machine tools. His son joined him and then went to train in Denmark as a mechanical engineer, and the two of them built it up so it has a steel and bronze casting foundry complete with sand casting pattern shop, a smithy and all lathes and milling tools etc. It’s as well equipped as anywhere in the UK or US and they made an amazing variety of stuff from scratch, such as propellers, gearboxes and hydraulic pumps; anything a ship might need. It’s now preserved as a working museum and we were shown round by an enthusiast who still operates the equipment.

 

 

Just one corner of this amazing workshop

 

We also liked the place as we can lie alongside un-molested by fishing boats and where there is water laid-on and there is somewhere we can recycle rubbish (behind the swimming pool so it took a bit of finding).

 

 

The only thing we looked for and couldn’t find was a shop. There are several cafes, a swimming pool, a kirk, 3 or 4 guest-houses, a garage, many workshops etc, but no shop! Eventually we found it in the garage, which had looked unpromising but it actually turned out to be very well stocked. I suppose if a shop does not have to bother with one wall taken up with lager and cider, another taken up with celeb magazines and yet more space taken up with lottery equipment then it can fit in much more stuff one might want.

 

After exploring in the village we went for a walk around and to the top of the local hill, from which we got views of where we plan to go tomorrow. The hinterland comprises farmed valleys leading up to quite high mountains and it’s called ‘the alps of the north’.

The harbour behind its eyri seen from half way up, Awelina just discernable

 

 

Peter at the summit. Fe, note the mystery of the missing blue jumper is now solved!

 

Wild thyme grows in profusion at on the hillside, in case we run out.

 

The harbour was immensely busy before the imposition of the 200 mile exclusive fishing zone around Iceland being full of British and French trawlers, and we suppose the cod drying houses, which are all empty now, date from then. But it has been largely empty since.