High Winds and Rain

Perhaps you can tell it must have been a different kind of day if you've spotted the blog being updated before dinner instead of afterwards. All looks good at breakfast time with a bright dawn following a night of torrential rain which has amazingly washed a lot of the snow away, leaving the roads much less icy and bare areas of ground. Not as pretty as it has been we thought, but still it's an amazing landscape to be in.

The forecast was for it to be cloudy with some wind but it turned out to be very strong winds indeed and as we left the town into the wilderness the car was being buffeted around as we drove through the lava fields. We stopped at one point so Tony could take a photograph of a coastal inlet and he braved the gale force wind while Rob stayed wrapped up warm in the Duster. We stopped again later and did the same and Rob stayed warm while the mad photographer forced open the door and crouched to get his shot. We then stopped for coffee and watched the cars in the car park jitter and roll as the wind howled around them.

Having consumed our coffees and cakes we set off once more and decided, in a mad moment, we'd stop again at Kirkjufell because the overnight rain had melted the ice around the waterfall and we thought it'd be good to get (yet) another shot. This was just plain silly.

We suited up, sorted our gear, fitted our spikes to our boots and headed off towards the waterfall. It was an endurance to even walk in that wind let alone stay upright. We made it to the location to the left of the falls, as you see it, having been jet washed by the spray on the way and even more so on the way back down. We got back to the car wet and dishevelled and sat and watched others as they attempted what we had done. We are all mad as hatters.

So we returned to the hotel and in a while we'll go to dinner. We haven't achieved much today but there's always tomorrow on our drive to the airport. Hopefully we'll fare better than today.Read more