I took this photo three nights ago, down by the seashore a block away from my place, at 10 pm. [Click on it for an enlarged view.] What you see in the distance is the Snæfellsnes glacier, which supposedly is one of the seven Chakras of the world. People claim it has mystical powers, and a group of Japanese tourists turns up every few years, convinced that aliens are going to land on it at some pre-determined date. [So far they’ve been disappointed. The Japanese.] Jules Verne, meanwhile, claimed it was the doorway to the earth’s centre in his novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

We just like to look at it, particularly when the weather’s nice and some sort of optical illusion makes it look as though it is rising high out of the sea.

Incidentally, one my personal highlights was when I climbed it a few years ago, along with EPI and a group of our friends. We trekked up at a pretty steep angle for an hour and forty-five minutes – at which time we gave up because it perpetually seemed as though we were going to get to the top in just a few more minutes, but the top kept moving further and further away the higher we got. So in the end we Just Didn’t Feel Like Doing It Anymore [except for our friends S. and Á. who’d had their skis transported to the top by a snow packing vehicle so they could ski back down] and just said ‘sod it’ and went ‘whooosssshhh’ and slid down on our bums! Just kept on sliding down down down for about 20 minutes and let me tell you, it was the best time I have had [sober] since I was about six years old! What a blast!

A closer view of the glacier is available here.

One more thing: the entire Snæfellsnes peninsula is one of the most beautiful, magical places on this earth. Believe it.

TODAY’S WEATHER WAS…
Brilliant sunshine, at least until mid-afternoon, when it started to cloud over. Just like in the past few days, though, there was a catch to the splendour: the northern wind. Brrr. But all the trees have all these tender little green leaves on them and right now the sun is out again after a brief shower. Current temps are 6°C and daybreak was at 03.10, nightfall will be at 23.44.