Disgustingly early one morning, I got up to take my car to the mechanics. This was a long postponed trip. At my yearly car inspection, amongst other things that needed maintennance, my left handbrake wasn't up to par. I'd bought the cables, and tried to do it myself, but then found that the rear brake hubs were rusted shut. It needed to go to a professional :) I didn't want to go to the nissan dealer, but eventually heard of a well respected nissan/subaru workshop, through Wolfgang.
I had to be in Kopavogur at 8am! I tried to get my bike in the car, but couldn't find a spanner for the front wheel, and running late, just decided I would bus or walk back home. This ended up being quite fun. It wasn't a short walk, by any means, it was a almost three hours by the time I got back into town, though I wasn't exactly walking super fast. It was cold and frosty, and I'd never walked or ridden through Fossvogur. I get the feeling it's cold and frosty there quite often. It stayed in the shade until quite late, despite being quite light.
The best thing was really just going for a long walk. There was a lot of autumn colour around, but also a lot of brown grass, and cut fields. There were a few gardens though, with labels on trees, and I think even a community garden. The place was also virtually deserted. As the morning wore on, I passed a couple of people, but really, the place was virtually mine.
Coming over Kringlumýrabraut to the forest at Öskjulhíð I started to meet a few more people, and also, not being on a bike, I also stopped at the info sign for the first time. It seemed to have a discussion about the rock layers along the shore there, and it's definitely got some interesting rocks that I'd always meant to go and have a look at one low tide, back when I still lived in Garðabær. The sign also mentioned something about fossils. Hah! Fancy that! After simply beginning to accept the "fact" that "there are no sedimentary rocks in Iceland" I had recently begun to realise that yes, there was, just not many. And they were all marine sediments uplifted by the island.
Walking around the shoreline it was obvious that yes, these were marine sediments lifted up by iceland. And, I did find more fossils! Not nearly as many as at Tjörnes to be sure, but still, fossils! In Iceland!
The rest of the walk was just an enjoyable stroll around the hills, and eventually some shopping and home. For the afternoon though, I rode back :) It later turned out that my bike actually has quick releases on the front wheel :) I'd been too rushed in the morning to actually look at the bike I guess. My old bike, a more expensive, but much cheaper bike, did need a spanner to get the front wheel off.
The car? Fixed. The next day I finally got it back for a reinspection, and it finally passed. After replacing/repairing both front and back brakes this year, I expect that next february, it should sail through it's inspection :)
