Day 17
Wednesday 17th July – rest day 0Km
For once I don’t feel guilty about staying in bed late,
I’m having an official rest day!
When I eventually get up my Dutch friends from last night
have gone. I have breakfast and then laze around in the tent listening to the
BBC World Service. The weather is dull and overcast with a cold wind and
occasional light rain.
At 1:00 I limp over to the medical centre where the
nurse/practitioner examines my ankle and leg before diagnosing Tendonitis. She
advises me to rest for several days and gives me some more Ibuprofen and a
steroid based anti-inflammatory cream to rub on my leg.
As I’ve forgotten to bring my form E111 she charges me
for the drugs but not her time. It’s
probably easier to pay than to fill out the forms for such a small amount
anyway.
I do some of my washing and hang it up to dry in the
covered area provided. This is a big campsite and there are several organised
tour groups there taking over half the site.
The lake is called Myvatn, which means “Midge Water”
and there are a lot of them around. Unlike their Scottish cousins (shudder!)
these don’t bite but as they are attracted to carbon dioxide they swarm around
your mouth and nose all the time.
The German cyclists who were at Dreki turn up; they camped
overnight at the side of the road in the desert.
At 7:30 I go to the Gamli Baerinn, a local restaurant,
which featured in several peoples trip reports and is also recommended in
“Lonely Planet”. It’s a
friendly, welcoming place and they need to get an extra table for me, as
they’re full. The food I had was
not exceptional; the daily special of pan-fried sole was straight out of a
packet as were the chips. 2 large beers were 620Kr each! (£4.64 / $7.22 / 7.26
Euros)
Back at the campsite I find that my Swedish friends Richard and Martin have arrived. They followed the road around the coast to Husavik and have come on a coach via Dettifoss. I chat with Martin for a while then take my medicine and go to bed.