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Iceland 2018

February 2018
I return to Iceland once again but to concentrate on the amazing southern region and the peninsula to the west. Last time my friend Tony and I were plagued with rain and dull conditions so will we be lucky this time? Why not find out. Read more
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  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 7

    First Photography Location

    February 12, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    We hadn't been driving all that long, admiring the fantastic scenery as we went, when came across a parking area. As we've said already, these are few and far between so we decided to stop and photograph the landscape there.

    We spent about an hour looking for compositions and taking a number of photographs. Time disappears when we get behind our cameras and in the morning sunshine it was a real pleasure to be there.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    2
    Day 7

    Skaftafell National Park

    February 12, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We were scheduled to visit Skaftafell yesterday but had ended up at the ice cave and so decided we'd do it today and not miss out. We arrived at the visitor centre to discover it's no longer free to park which was a bit of a nuisance, though they had completely redone the visitor centre and cafe so that has to be paid for somehow. We immediately organised our gear and headed down the trail for about 1.25 miles to the end/nose/stub, or whatever, of the Skaftafell glacier tongue which nestles below Iceland's highest mountain. As we approached along the footpath we were presented with a stunning view of the glacier with its rich blue colours and a frozen lake containing a scattering of blue icebergs.

    As we arrived you can see there were clear skies and sunshine but during our time there it became cloudy and the light changed. This simply resulted in different colours in the ice making it appear even more blue than it was in the sunshine. The temperature dropped tremendously though and we both suffered from extremely cold fingers. It was definitely worth the visit and hopefully we have photographs to prove it. We were able to get quite close to the glacier though perhaps not as close as it felt. We were midgets against its size and to get right up to it meant walking on the frozen lake ... a risk not really worth taking though one person had a go, just like the people at Fjallsarlon. Are we chickens or wise?    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 7

    Travelling to Vik

    February 12, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ 🌙 -1 °C

    After leaving Skaftafell much later than we'd planned (because we enjoyed our time there) we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us. It was cloudy and dull as we left as you can see from the couple of photos taken from the car. The light slowly faded and more ice covered the roads the further we travelled. Then the wind started blowing snow across and over the road. Soon the road was covered in a layer if sheet ice ... you can see the lights of the cars reflected in it. Of course, in England everyone would be crashing about and everything would stop, but in Iceland we all just carry on.

    The wind got stronger and it started to snow and soon the visibility was very much reduced. At times only the yellow marker posts showed where the road went. All quite normal for a winter in Iceland.

    Eventually the conditions improved and we arrived at Vik, where clearly it had been snowing quite a bit. There was a lot of snow on the road and so at first we didn't spot the turning to get to the guest house where we're staying. We sorted our room and went for a meal ... the snow had stopped but as we write this it's snowing again. We wonder what tomorrow will bring.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    1
    Day 8

    New Day at Vik

    February 13, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    It had started snowing as we settled down for the night and when we opened the blinds in the morning we could see the cars were covered. We went down and found breakfast and while eating we watched the early morning sun appear from behind the clouds. A quick pikky was taken for you to see and the second one only a few moments later. The photos don't show it starting to snow nor the map we were looking at on www.road.is showing how bad the road conditions were. As we drank coffee we decided it was best if we started the day photographing the stacks from the beach. Vik is known for its series of stacks at the end of the headland. We'd photographed them last time from the other side but it's this side where you can see them more clearly.

    Maybe after time on the beach the roads would be okay.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 8

    Time on the Beach

    February 13, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    When we got outside we discovered rather more snow had fallen that we'd thought when we looked from the window and it now seemed as if maybe we'd need to dig the car out. But no, the Duster did it yet again ... that car really does work!

    Driving down to the beach we were amazed at how much snow there was and also at the number of ploughs clearing it. Then, even though the drive to the beach was only 5 minutes or so, in that time the winds had got up and the snow was falling. We sat in the car park for a while deciding if we could face the Arctic conditions. In the end we did.

    It was a short walk to the beach in blizzard conditions, a howling wind and temperatures which felt like minus 10 but we don't really know. The wind chill probably meant it was. Okay let's play safe here and say it was minus 50 ... there, that should do it.

    We struggled to get a decent photograph in the wind but we had a go. It doesn't look too bad from the photos here does it ... how do phone cameras do so well? You can see how big the waves were and we had to wait for a lull in the wind to take a shot. Once again we stayed warm in the clothes we were wearing though it's the fingers that suffer. It's hard to control the camera in thick mittens.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    2
    Day 8

    Skogafoss Waterfall on Ice

    February 13, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ 🌙 -1 °C

    Having finished with the stacks for the time being we decided, now the roads were reported as improved, to revisit Skogafoss as we guessed it would most likely be frozen and, after all, Tony did want to come at this time of year to photograph frozen waterfalls. So, having purchased as eaten two Mars Bars for strength and be able to work, rest and play*, we set off westwards to Skogafoss.

    This was an interesting drive. The road initially climbs fairly steeply out of Vik before winding between hills and mountains. From the start the roads were covered in snow and ice and in places only the roadside marker posts defined where the road was. Gusting wind also blew thick clouds of snow across the road so at times visibility was very poor. In other words, the driving conditions could only be described as 'tricky', as quoted by the Department of Understatement. We made it though though.

    When we arrived at Skogafoss conditions were much better and there it was, all frozen and surrounded by tourists, coaches, cars and photographers. It did look very pretty with so many icicles around it and after a while the buses left and there weren't so many people there. We spent a while there with our tripods but we're not sure we got very much for our efforts. We waited ages in the hope the sun would break through but it never did. Rob did brave it, especially for you, and went right up to the falling water to take some photos which you can see in this footprint. At times it was dry but then suddenly he got sprayed from the falls. This spray then froze to ice as you can see on his camera.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 8

    Vik Stacks Take 2

    February 13, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ☀️ -6 °C

    When we left Skogafoss the weather really was much better. Still no sign of the sun where we were but, annoyingly, it did look as if it might have been a sunny afternoon at Vik. We therefore decided to go back to the beach where we started and see if we could get a sunset photo of the stacks. Maybe our luck with the weather had been lost down a crevasse at Skaftafell because when we got back to Vik the clouds had moved in. Once again the phone seems to have made the best of it though we suspect that once we see our photos on the computer back home we'll end up with better than we think we've got right now.

    The next stop was the restaurant before returning to our guest house. Here we learned of a big storm arriving in the early hours and lasting through tomorrow morning. The roads will be closed so this changes what we do tomorrow, but then clearly we'll have tomorrow morning to decide what it is. The owner of our guest house has lived in Iceland for 15 years and hadn't seen this amount of snow in all that time.

    There is a lot of snow here.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 9

    All Roads Closed

    February 14, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    Yes, all roads are closed along the south coast of Iceland but you wouldn't want to drive in any case. Neither of us have heard winds like this before and the front of our guest house is coated with ice. Well, we assume it is because there's ice covering our windows so we can hardly see out. What we can see is ... not a lot. We can't tell if it's new snow being blown or existing snow being blasted across the landscape. It's probably both. It feels as though the whole house is shaking at times.

    At the moment it's the height if the storm and roads may not open until midday. Looks like a quiet morning ... not including the noise of a raging storm of course. Where has all that lovely sunshine gone?

    In case you're interested, the little boxes on the map show wind speeds in metres per second. At Vik that translates to 40mph gusting 80mph but to the west, where we drove yesterday, its gusting 110mph. We're sure the figures here must be higher than that because you have to hear the wind right now. Amazing.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 9

    Those Stacks Again

    February 14, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ 🌙 -8 °C

    It was after 2pm before things settled down and the roads out of Vik didn't open until around 3pm, maybe later. At least we didn't have to be somewhere and we did feel for those who were stuck and had destinations to get to.

    We didn't really know what to do as most of the day was lost to the storm so we decided to stay local. When we left the guest house it was brightening up and much warmer but the roads were still showing as closed. As you can see from the photo, we headed back to the beach to see if we could improve on our photographs we'd already taken of the stacks. It was actually quite pleasant on the beach and the sun made an appearance for a while.

    Around 4pm we decided, as the roads had opened, to go to the other side of the headland to the beach where last time we were here we saw all the tourists and christened them 'penguins'.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland 2018
    Day 9

    Reynisfjara Beach

    February 14, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ 🌙 -8 °C

    As you can see, the Penguins were there again. It really is a tourist hotspot and the car park was almost full including several coaches. The main attractions here are the sea stacks, basalt columns and the huge waves hitting the beach ... and they really are massive. As you can see from the first photo here, the sky looked ominous though to the south west there was a half-hearted attempt at sunset colours. We had a go at trying to capture images of the waves hitting the beach and the stacks but nothing spectacular hit our sensors. We were there about an hour and in that time the temperature dropped again and it got quite windy, so we gave up and went to the cafe for refreshment and a warm up. As we headed to the car to leave it started to sleet quite heavily.

    This evening the temperature is above freezing and the roads are quite slushy. It's quite windy too and there was more sleet as we returned to the guest house from the restaurant. Not the best day today, but then maybe we've been spoilt up to now.

    Tomorrow we're hoping we can get to photograph a canyon but it'll depend on whether of not we can get to it after all the snow that's fallen. We'll find out tomorrow but as we get ready to sleep there's a howling wind outside.    Read more

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