A trip to Iceland with perfect weather every day would be rather dull. I think for me it is the variety of the weather conditions that makes each trip exciting and different. Rainy or stormy days allow me to relax a bit more, catch up on a bit of sleep or photo reviewing, and push me outside my comfort zone if I do force myself to brave the elements. I have enough gear to take photos when the weather is ghastly, and it can actually be quite good fun.
Day 8 on my recent trip was one of those rather ghastly weather days. I'd set my alarm for the middle of the night to make sure I wasn't suffering the ill effects of internal-bleeding from the previous day's fall; I was still alive, if feeling really stiff and sore. I managed to sleep okay for the rest of the night and slept in late. When I finally got myself up I had lots of tea, processed a few photos from the previous day, looked out at the sleety weather, and had more tea. Eventually at 1pm I made myself go outside, and not waste the daylight I had. Even if I came home with one photo that I liked surely that would be worth it? I headed east towards Hvalnes, stopping only once to capture a snowy hillside - I quite like the shapes the snow can make. Maybe I just see beauty in everything in Iceland...
I carried on and took the little turn at Hvalnes up to the lighthouse. The weather was absolutely terrible - freezing cold with an even icier, fierce wind, and snow showers coming and going. I parked in the usual place, being careful to open the car-door with both hands in case the wind grabbed it from me. I headed down the hillside to the east where it's a little more sheltered but it wasn't doing much for me.
I headed back up the hill and down towards the beach on the other side. Below me were tyre tracks from naughty 4WDs covered in snow. Visibility was deteriorating.
There weren't any decent waves in the bay, in spite of the fierce winds, so I walked back up the hill and across towards the lighthouse. There was a frozen boggy area with some interesting patterns and clumps of grass dotted about. I was treading very carefully!
As the mountain began to disappear in front of me it started to snow heavily, in a particularly unpleasant horizontal manner! Behind me, though, the sun was trying to peek out. Typical weird but still wonderful Icelandic day.
I took a couple of iPhone8 videos which illustrate the conditions a bit more vividly!
I got back to the warmth and snowlessness of the car and sat there recovering for a couple of minutes before deciding what to do. I was acheing but didn't want to give in to a bit of pain, and snow showers come and go, so the weather might improve. Indeed it did, as I drove a little further east to Fauskasandur. A photography group was there, with the participants split up into smaller groups exploring the area. It's not an easy place to photograph, and I will try to spend a little longer there on my next trip (next February) to see if I can find some better compositions. It is a great place to stand and watch the sea though, from atop the rocky outcrop. The snow had eased off a little, which made it a little more pleasant than Hvalnes.
I walked around to the rocky outcrop to get a better view of the beach and the stack. It began to snow quite annoyingly again, although not quite as horizontal. Again there were some bright patches out to sea.
I couldn't get right to the edge of the outcrop as there were a pair of fulmars at the end and I didn't want to disturb them. They were sitting in grass right at the end, with a great view around them, and any time any other bird came near them they would squawk loudly at them. They looked to me as if they were having a row, but actually they were shouting at competition for their prime spot! Their feathers were getting pretty ruffled in the wind.
The snow was getting heavier so I turned round and headed back towards the car - it was really unpleasant and challenging to focus on anything as there was so much precipitation. The mountains to the west were disappearing fast.
Snow was settling on the beach, creating some nice patterns with the white waves lapping against the black sand.
By the time I reached the car and looked back at the beach the snow was just crazy! It was now 3.45pm - I was amazed that I'd spent that much time there - it always flies by... There were some nice snow patterns on the black rocky, scree slopes above.
I drove back towards Hvalnes, and pulled over at the pull-out at the foot of the steep bit that used to scare me. Having driven in the Westfjords I'm now no longer fearful of this stretch of road, thankfully! It was still snowing, but visibility had improved and I could even see some patches of sun and blue sky further in the east towards Djúpivogur. If I'd had the energy I would have driven in that direction to get out of the snow, but energy was not in great supply. I was more interested in driving back to the yellow cottage for some tea!
I stopped a few more times along the stretch of road just before the turn-off to Hvalnes. I've always loved that view as you approach Eystrahorn from the east. The roads were striped with tyre tracks from the few cars out on the road in the fresh snow. Birds flew around the rocks above me.
I carried on, passing Hvalnes, stopping again at the far parking spot overlooking the serene lagoon. Again the sun was trying to peek out, making the still-falling snow look dark.
I drove on, stopping again at the entrance to a little farm at Vík. There are very few places to stop along this stretch of road, and I'd really like to stop every 100 metres or so! So when I get the opportunity, I stop. There were some lovely patterns on the ice in front of me, and again the sun looked magical behind the clouds with the snow falling, more gently now.
A little further on I stopped again when I saw two reindeer gracefully plodding along in the snow. When they saw me they gathered pace and trotted away, their heads in the air as they did so.
I didn't stop again until I reached Stafafell, and decided to see how the poor horses were doing in the snow. In spite of the incessant near-horizontal snow, the beautiful creatures seemed fairly unbothered by their surroundings. They'd got fresh hay and were busy munching, so were neither interested in the snow, nor me. Such incredibly hardy creatures!
I reached the cottage at 4.45pm - I was surprised I'd managed to stay out so long, given how difficult the snow and wind were to deal with. Not the ideal photography conditions!
The storm wasn't showing any sign of subsiding, although I kept checking out of the windows, in case the visibility suddenly improved or there was one of those magical, surprise shafts of sunset light that appear from an invisible gap in the clouds. No such luck today - so I just watched the snow blowing and storms in the distance until it got dark.
It certainly wasn't the most successful of photography days, but at least I'd managed to take it relatively easy and wasn't exerting myself too much. I still managed to walk 1.6 miles (according to my woefully inaccurate Heart app!). I cooked the second piece of salmon, chopping it into bits so it cooked through properly, to accompany salad of avocado, broccoli and the delicious Icelandic lettuce grown in greenhouses along the south coast. I allowed myself a beer, now convinced I wasn't about to die from internal bleeding. I was fairly sure by now that my injury was just a little crack of a couple of ribs - nothing serious, but still really painful (any sneezing or coughing was off limits!). I had to leave this magical place in the morning, but the weather forecast was for more snow showers, so I didn't bother to set the alarm too early - just before eight in case there was one of those unexpected sunrises.
Click here for my blog from
Day 7 - The Day of the Dreadful Fall
Click here for my blog from
Day 9 - More Snow Driving West
No comments:
Post a Comment