Cape Þórðarhöfði: Slow Geocaching

We have the slow cooking movement and in the art world there is talk of slow looking...it is all about taking the time to enjoy the process and the end result which perhaps comes after expending some effort before being able to reap the rewards.  Last Friday I went to Cape Þórðarhöfði with friends to find a cache, I would file this cache find as slow geocaching...it was not about clocking up numbers, or how many finds you can log in an afternoon but totally about the journey and the glorious reward after quite some exertion at the end. From where we parked the car, the cache was roughly a 6km walk...making the return journey close to 12kms. There is a long walk of at least 2kms along the pebbly isthmus to the rocky outcrop which is the cape and then a hike up and over hills and mounds again and again and again until you finally reach what looks like the second highest peak.  It took us a good 2hrs to arrive at ground zero and half hour or so was spent  soaking up the view and then another hour and half to make the journey back.  I am sure many can do this faster but we enjoyed the slow walk over the clumpy ground, hop stepping from mound to mound, not to mention the place was covered with bláber berries (Icelandic wild blueberries), so we spent sometime picking and eating along the way, plus lingering to savour the view and take a few pics.

The four of us looked a little like these sheep, we walked single file, the distance between us gaining as time moved on as we each settled into our own walking rhythm.

The youngest of our group, Annabelle, with her long legs quickly set the pace and lead for most of the journey.

Málmey is the island most in view and I was able to get a couple of different perspectives as my walk moved around the cape.

Still had a fair distance to travel before reaching our goal, but you can see the isthmus that we walked along connecting the cape to the mainland.

A bit higher up

 A view nearly straight up the middle of Málmey

Annabelle and Patricia at the cache, we spotted a whale in the distance...but my finger clicking camera skills are too slow!

Bjarki happy to have made it.

 Pretty spectacular from all 360° angles

View of Drangey from one angle

Aah time to make the trip back down.

Nearly there

and back to the isthmus

 We took so long that we saw the sunset over Málmey.

 As we reached flat ground

the colours changed and the landscape was bathed in a soft golden glow

Patricia and Bjarki had also been horseriding earlier in the afternoon and so were pretty exhausted by the time we got back...I think the leaning towards each other is for physical support!

A really memorable walk and an ode to slow geocaching!