We spent almost the whole day trapsing around the valley visiting turf buildings, either reconstructed, renewed, or collapsed. Our tour guides came from a nearby site where some restored turf houses can be visited by the public. One of the guides, Helgi, learned how to work in turf some nine years ago, and does it full time.

He explained a great deal about how he cuts and lays turf, and why and how it must be used differently within walls or roofs. He says that turf in roofs should have living grass within it, but turn walls must not have grass roots because they trap the water, which dissolves the walls. Also, although turf resembles pear when cut, peat and turf differ more than seems to be the case at first site.

Seeing the turf buildings in real life, at close quarters, provides much greater insight into what we can expect to see once we put in trenches where structures may lie buried. The tephra layers within the turves look attractive from seen within the walls of the house, but Helgi believes that the walls should not include tephra, for best results.

We plan to put in two 9m x .5m cuttings tomorrow in a place called Hof. We visited there in the late afternoon in order to use a conductivity device to enhance the data gathered from the resistivity machine.

Today turned out grey and windy, with a few sprinkles. It stayed rather light well past midnight last night, but not so much that it prevented sleep for those of us still under the spell of jet lag.

Having a warm swimming pool and hot tub available after the time in the field beats having a pub nearby.