The morning was a very lazy one as it was raining heavily outside, with no visibility. I'm happy to go out in the rain (well, not exactly happy), but if it's pissing down and there's nothing to see then I'd rather stay indoors. On these trips I try to cram so much in that I hope for a bit of crap weather, so that I can catch up on sleep (always a problem, wherever I am!) and review the previous day's photos and process a few. Very important to post a couple of images to social media, of course... So I had a leisurely morning, drinking cups of tea, waiting for the rain to stop, although I didn't rush out as soon as it did.
Eventually I got up the energy to go out and headed down the pretty driveway onto the road down to the beach. I love that stretch of road - the anticipation of what the beach will offer me building as I turn the bend on the last straight. The weather had cleared quite suddenly and the sun was out. It was pretty cold - not dissimilar to winter temperatures, and the wind was incredible. The Icelandic wind never ceases to surprise me. As I wasn't able to park on the east side of the beach I parked near the café and then had the extra walk under the bridge to get to the beach. It wasn't too far or too much of a pain, and at least it gave me a chance to look at the icebergs in the lagoon, which were quite impressive. The place was chock-full of massive ones, many with black stripes from the moraine.
As I walked along the river - which was pouring out towards the sea at a hectic speed - a couple of bergs were being tossed around, over and over by the current. It was quite mesmerising to witness, but I was keen to get to the beach to see if the massive bergs that I'd seen emerging at moonrise in the low tide were now nicely placed on the shoreline for me to photograph. Someone had put a stencil graffiti on the side of the bridge - not sure why people do this...
It was 1.45pm by the time I got there, so only a few hours left until sunset (well, ages actually)! The iceberg situation wasn't great, with scattered bits and pieces strewn along the beach, but nothing remarkable immediately obvious. The waves smashed them relentlessly. There were only a couple of tourists there, unusually - perhaps the distance from the new car-park was putting people off this side of the beach (hurray!). Actually it's often pretty quiet in the middle of the day as the light's a bit harsh for most photographers and tourists are off elsewhere.
It wasn't long before I put the filters on - slowed things down a little...
I wandered up the beach a bit towards a black iceberg that kept getting hit by massive waves crashing against it. It was difficult to get a shot of it not blurred, as the waves moved it almost continuously. I hate a blurred iceberg, so it can be pretty challenging. A big miss rate on these shots!
The freezing wind was whipping at my back, and covering the scattered bergs on the beach in brown sand (it's not very black with the sun shining on it!). I was very glad that I'd decided to take my new heavy-duty 66° North jackets - both the raincoat and warm down jacket were coming in handy.
The wind blew onto this little iceberg and stuck in the scalloped ridges, making it look like a beached fish (to me) |
Definitely some kind of bird |
A Henry Moore? |
A swan taking off |
A torso :( |
A push me-pull you?! |
I looked behind me and noticed a massive snow storm coming towards me. I don't know what it is about that particular beach, but I've seen so many massive snow storms coming towards me there over the years! Always awe-inspiring, until they reach you...
A woman ran down the beach to take a few pictures before scarpering back up the slope.
The storm looked more and more menacing, so I made my way back along the beach a bit. I always stop though, so it always takes me forever to leave! Normally in these conditions I see a wedding photoshoot going on, with the poor bride trying to act as if she's enjoying herself as the biting wind freezes her exposed flesh, before the photographer's assistant wraps her up in a coat between shots. There weren't any out today.
Before I turned up towards the bridge I looked out to sea and noticed a few gannets flying around. I was pretty chuffed with that - I've never seen gannets in Iceland before. A couple of seals were playing around in the waves too. I like this place :) The storm passing to the south was also pretty amazing to see, and thankfully wasn't coming directly overhead as it usually does!
Gannets! |
As I reached the bridge the wind was just ridiculous. The edge of the lagoon was packed with visitors, all trying to stay upright and protect their faces from sand being whipped into their eyes! The conditions were very similar to those in winter, so I was surprised to see a Zodiac boat sailing among the icebergs in the distance - it can't have been much fun.
The boat gives a sense of scale of the size of the icebergs - it's actually pretty difficult to see how big they are otherwise in the vast lagoon ahead of you.
Spot the troll! |
The place was packed. The new car-park was full, and people milled about everywhere. I guess better here than down on the beach.
I remember the days when there were only.... |
This is Hrútárjökull, if my google maps identification is correct... |
I walked down the hill; the other couple turned around and went back to the car, so I had the place to myself (bonus!). I reached the lake and walked along the western side. It was very different to the other glacial lakes nearby - different-sized icy bits floating around, very tranquil and little movement of the muddy, brown water.
The weather began to deteriorate and I felt a few spots of rain. I continued on, though, as I could see some interesting brown hills in the distance. I eventually reached a point where the face of the glacier was ahead of me. I could see that I could get a little closer to the brown hills at the edge, so I continued on. The rain was holding off mainly, with the odd spot here and there.
I reached the small brown hills, to discover that they were indeed icebergs. But brown icebergs, from the moraine. I was in love. An odd thing to fall in love with, but I was in love. They were just so cool!
I carried on walking across some piles of muddy rock to discover a little lake alongside a line of these brown icebergs. The sky ahead of me darkened by the second - it was only a matter of time that the rain I could see ahead would come for me!
Nice to have the mountain with the hole in the top behind; I've seen it driving past on numerous occasions and believe it is called Stadarfjall |
Muddy iceberg hills, my new favourite thing! |
That rain came and got me! |
It was a lovely hike, but I was glad to get back to the car. The wind and rain were not very pleasant. It was now getting towards sunset time and I had that usual panic of where I was going to be. I decided to drive a little further, towards the colourful tree at Sandfell. As I drove I it rained and the sun shone brightly again and I noticed an intense rainbow in my rear view mirror. By the time I found somewhere that I could pull over it had gone, which was annoying! It was still raining a bit when I reached Sandfell, but the sun also came out from time to time. The sun was setting behind clouds in the distance, with the distant beloved Lómagnúpur just visible.
A bit of googling later on informed me that the tree was a rowan, and had been Iceland's "Tree of the Year 2015"! It was planted in 1923. So I've no idea how come I only noticed it for the first time on the trip in February. I will look out for it, and maybe pay it a visit again some time. I drove back home to Reynivellir as it got dark, and went through the usual rituals (downloading and reviewing the hundreds of photos I'd taken, cooking some pasta, speaking to hubby, drinking a beer, checking weather forecast). The forecast for the night and all the next morning was for cloud and rain, so I was able to forego getting up early again (hurray!). It had been a great day, even if it had started very late. It was so satisfying to discover a new glacier to explore, especially knowing that there's so many more too!
My route on Day 4 |
Click here for the blog from Day 3 - Hrífunes to Jökulsárlón
Click here for the blog from Day 5 - Jökulsárlón to Stafafell
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