I woke up early after a good sleep in the quiet nature of Atlavík. I packed my belonging and drove to Egilsstaðir where I had breakfast with a couple of friends who happened to be traveling through town on their way to go fly-fishing.

We continued the chat in the hot-tub of the local swimming pool, where we met an Icelandic speaking Catalan geologist who was eager to chat with us about geology, economy, Icelandic word origins and whatever under the sun — although it was cloudy.

Having said goo bye to my friends I headed back along the river Lagarflót and visited Skriðuklaustur, the former home of the Icelandic writer Gunnnar Gunnarsson and an archeological site of 15th/16th century catholic monastery. It now houses a museum, both covering the writer’s life and the monks’. The staff was very friendly and took me on a guided tour of the museum. As the museum is both about writing and monks, I thought it was appropriate to leave there a few copies of my short story The neighbors which features a cult of cross-dressing monks.

After a morning of culture it was time for an afternoon of engineering. I drove up to Kárahnjúkar to see the largest hydroelectric dam in Iceland. Having been to Itaipu dam less than a year ago, the one at Kárahnjúkar looked a bit small and underwhelming. I tried my best to put the dam into perspective with the surroundings and from that viewpoint it was huge indeed. Yet not as impressive as the neighboring landscape where the main role is played by Snæfell, the highest mountain in Iceland that is not part of a glacier.

I chatted a bit about the dam with the guide at Kárahnjúkar and he recommended to me to continue my journey along the river Jökulsá á Dal and take a look at the Hafrahvammagljúfur canyons from a different angle than is available at the dam. That was a splendid advice and I enjoyed the canyons very much as well as practicing my dirt-road driving after too long time on asphalt.

I ended the days trip in Vopnafjörður where I am now waiting to meet up with my sister and her family.