Dagur Sjo (Day 7 – no more jokes about the heading…) and we were in our final port – where we had begun this cruise, Hafnarfjörður.  Rough seas were behind us but we had an early start to our day as we had to meet our Backroads guides out on the pier at 8:30.  In the rain!

And it rained the whole time we were out.  An hour’s drive (the last part being over extremely rough terrain) brought us to Hveragerdi.  The hike started with a very steep descent atop large, rough, loose gravel.  [DW even took one walking stick for that part, but then she had to carry it the rest of the way – and confirmed that the hassle isn’t worth the benefit for her.] The hike took us to a place where a hot geothermal river mixes with a cold glacier river – a favorite place for Icelanders to bathe because you can vary the water temp just by moving up- or down-stream a little.

We were offered the opportunity to bathe in the hot springs, but quite a few of us opted out.  There was no dry, sheltered place to change clothes or to store them while soaking in the warm water.  Despite rain gear we all got fairly wet [either the rain seeped in, or perspiration soaked you from inside].

We did get to see waterfalls, steam vents, mud pots, hot springs and plenty of sheep.  There was evidence of the presence of Icelandic horses on our trail – but none in the fields.  [This confirms that there are no wild horses in Iceland.]

In a little under 5 miles, we made it to the vans, which could shuttle us to lunch or we could continue hiking there.  Enough is enough!  We decided that we were not in the ‘wuss van’ but in the one with the highest IQs!

A hot buffet lunch awaited us at Skyrgerdin starting with a hot, flavorful soup.  Salad and vegetables, potatoes and chicken in a sauce were yummy and filling.  And an iced, almond layer cake mit schlag filled us to bursting.

We were back on our ship a little after two, thanks to Magdalena’s skillful driving.

The two of us assessed the water damage to our belongings and began hanging them around the cabin.  [The shower stall has a clothes line and a great ventilation system so that everything dried very quickly.  This was great for DIY laundry – even though as Ponant ‘Majors’ we were entitled to free laundry throughout the cruise.]

DW took a break up in the 6th floor forward lounge for awhile.  No one else was there.  And then she had a coffee-flavored mini cream puff (today’stea).

At 6:00 we all gathered in the main lounge on Deck 3 for our Backroads farewell cocktail party.  Delicious canapés were circulated and wine and champagne were available.  Also mixed drinks at the bar.  [I ordered a Hendricks G&T but had to stop the bartender when she started to pour in Royal Club tonic – see the extensive thread on Cruise Critic about this awful stuff: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2447579-the-recurring-tonic-question-anyone-on-journey-now/  Thankfully I had noticed one can of Schweppes tonic in our cabin mini-bar, so I ran back and got that to save the drink. The Hendricks ‘call’ cost 11 Euros – that seems excessive since a ‘well brand’ G&T would have been free.]

Backroads had arranged local entertainment at their party.  A young Icelandic singer, Hanna Mia, spoke to us about Iceland, answered our questions and sang three songs.  Two were folksongs in Icelandic and the third was in English and was made popular by a young group called Of Monsters and Menwho are known in the US.  She told us she had tried to find the happiest Icelandic folk songs she could, but all of them are sad!

After the party we walked by the Theater to catch the end of the movie The Vikings– just as Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas were clashing swords over Janet Leigh.  They were ‘chewing the scenery’ as always…

[We received the semi-final statement from Ponant in our cabin, showing a 100 Euro credit that we hadn’t expected – another benefit of our ‘honorary’ Major status.  That took the sting out of the 11 Euro charge for my Hendricks G+T, but left little time to spend the rest as the shop had closed when we docked.]  So I bought a bottle of Barolo at dinner and shared it with our tablemates, Kathy and Rick, and new acquaintances, Harriet and Tom from Orange Beach, AL.  That left 4 Euros, which I donated to the crew fund [gratuities are included by Backroads except for their tour leaders, but more is always welcome.]

We all enjoyed our dinners.  I had beef cannelloni with red sauce, Caesar salad, chicken fricassee, and DIY peach melba [the featured peach dessert with raspberry sorbet on the side].  DW had octopus carpaccio, grilled vegetables, flounder and chocolate fondant.We packed our bags and put them in the corridor for pickup.  [They weren’t due until 6 am, so for the first time in our cruising history we were early!]

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