Iceland 2015 Day 2 Kerid, riding horses and northern lights

I woke up after some short but good rest to head to Kerid. Thats the remains of an explosion crater with a lake in it, not far from here. I had an appointment at a horsefarm at 11.00 so I had some time left to explore this area. I was planning to do that tomorrow, but I won a trip to east Iceland so my wish to finaly get up close to Hekla vanished another time. I have been trying for some years now to get to Hekla but it just doesnt want to happen, either she is in state of lockdown due to increased volcanic activity or weather doesnt permit me to see her. I just hope this morning I will catch a glimpse of this volcano that has a special meaning to me.

Kerid is not far away, a 30 minute drive. And has fallen victim to the pay or no visit fever that is slowely flushing Iceland. While most places only charge in summer, here the man collecting money was up and running, and I threw him one of my coin bags which exactly holds 350 kronur. I made them for busrides. So I am glad I got rid of some more coins here, after all 350 kronar is like 2 euros. If it helps conserving nature I gladly pay.

It is a beautifull clear day, the rims touched by the morning sun start to damp after a cold night with frost. Here and there nature was still covered in white frost. The colors around here are amazing, red black brown sand mingle with the green of the moss and gold of the dieing bushes. The sky is clear and in the distance I see Hekla and Eyjafjallajokull on the horizon. Katla is there too, but less visible than those two. Its probably also possible to see Skjaldbreidur but without snow I didnt recognise it.

Eyjafjallajökull in the morning sun (Golden hour)

Hekla

The sun is warm and nice, but as I slowely descent into the crater to see the emerald lake, you fall bak into reality it is still Iceland. Its quite cold and chilly the deeper you go into the crater. I didnt go all the way to the lake, thinking I didnt have too much time left. But at 10.10 I was reaching Hveragerdi, and I decided to kill my time driving up to Reykjadalur the geothermal area. Once there I got welcomed by a whole bunch of nasty mini mosquitos like you would find at Myvatn in summer. The annoying pests kept following me, and I didnt feel like continuing this way. Took some pics and decided to go to the horse farm I should visit.

Great to be among horses again :-) I was warmly welcomed and I really enjoyed staying at this place, hoping this will be the start to a connection for the future plans I have. I talked about it with someone recently and I sparkle with excitement about it all. For once things look bright and clear and so many things fall together in place now. I must be approaching my destiny shortly!

I did ride 2 horses today, my first one, a black ex stallion was simply amazing, among one of the best horses I ever rode. One that stays in tolt and gives a 'I dont really have to think too much now' ride. Easy relaxing, and if this was a matter of a match to buy horse, I probably could start negociate about it. I never really thought about it, but I usually have the best matches with solid black horses. I am a sucker for colors, thats very true, but I know I should never ignore a black horse crossing my path.

In the afternoon I rode another horse one with an amazing beautifull color, Im not sure if it was a blue dun paint or a grey paint but it was eyecandy in color. A nice horse to ride too, but one you or me in this case, needs to work on. Totaly not a relaxing uncomplicated lets go out for a ride horse. But sure for me felt like a horse to educate eachother. You would always want to have such a horse to feel and see progress in your riding, this for me could be such a horse. And I loved it, but was completely broken afterwards. In a nice way :-)

It was a day with totaly awesome weather, almost like summer, I could easily ride in tshirt. A sheer blessing for all of us, as I was told it has been raining a lot for days before I came.
At the end of the afternoon, I left this place with the invitation to come by whenever I could. Sadly not during this holiday, but I never know when I am in Iceland again. It could be next month, it could be October it could be later. Simply never know.

I drive off to my stay for this night. Should stay 2 nights at the farm Lambastadir, but my trip to Egilstadir came in this week. It would be a short night, I have to be at the airport in Reykjavik at 7.00 next morning. I wanted to go sleep, packed the things I would take with me to the east and leave the rest in my car. But then the sky turned green again. My luck! Auroras all over the place, not as intense as last night, but still worth it. And this time, I managed to get some decent pics of it! So happy!