I thanked my entertainers; but refrained from tasting any thing, excusing myself on the plea of not feeling hungry, which was in reality the case; for if I only looked at the dirty people who surrounded me, my appetite vanished instantly.

So long as my stock of bread and cheese lasted, I kept to it, and ate nothing else.
Taking leave of my good hosts, we continued our journey to Reikjavik, by the same road on which I had travelled on my journey hither.

This had not been my original plan on starting from Reikjavik; I had intended to proceed from Thingvalla directly to the Geyser, to Hecla, &c.; but the horses were already exhausted, and the weather so dreadfully bad, without prospect of speedy amendment, that I preferred returning to Reikjavik, and waiting for better times in my pleasant little room at the house of the good baker.
We rode on as well as we could amidst ceaseless storms of wind and rain.
The most disagreeable circumstance of all was our being obliged to spend the hours devoted to rest in the open air, under a by no means cloudless sky, as during our whole day's journey we saw not a single hut, save the solitary one in the lava desert, which serves as a resting-place for travellers during the winter.

So we continued our journey until we reached a scanty meadow.

Here I had my choice either to walk about for two hours, or to sit down upon the wet grass.