Iceland #14 - Flight There & Day 1

And so I returned to Iceland for my fourteenth trip in February....

I sometimes wonder if I'll tire of the place, and occasionally I have moments of "perhaps I should explore somewhere else?" - when I hear the excruciating whine of a drone above me, see groups of Chinese drive off in a blizzard, people walking across pristine sand in front of my camera, etc... but those thoughts soon pass, I move away from the crowds, look around me and know that I'll be back again and again.

I found myself flying to Iceland a few weeks earlier than planned after a rather annoying cock-up with the screening process for a new job. I had made an inadvertent mistake in submitting some bits and pieces online and the result was that my start-date for the new job was pushed back until 3 days before I was due to fly out to Iceland for 12 days - not ideal. I'd booked the Iceland trip back in May 2017; I never usually book until 1-3 months before, but I wanted to make sure I got the best value flights and the accommodation I wanted (and early March seems to be particularly popular with photography tours block-booking the places I might want to stay). When the new start-date presented itself to me it crossed my mind that perhaps I might be able to go to Iceland earlier and just start the new job once the trip was out of the way. This meant that my counting down the days until my trip went down from 31 to 6 days. It also meant losing a couple of hours of daylight each day, a little bit of money for BA flights booked on Avios, extra car-hire cost (minimal, thankfully), the possibility of losing a pre-paid hotel booking at a posh hotel, and the possibility of harsher weather. I managed to re-book everything, and only ended up being about £120 out of pocket (plus it cost me a few extra Avios spent to fly back in Club Europe, which was the only flight available on the day I wanted to travel on BA - all the other airlines had bumped up their prices last-minute). The posh hotel let me change my booking, which made me very happy.

The other last-minute panic was clothing. Usually I borrow a very warm Rab down jacket from my dad, which keeps me warm on the coldest of Icelandic nights, standing outside waiting for those pesky aurora to appear, but I didn't have time to go back to pick it up from my parents. I wanted to get a new jacket of my own anyway, so used this as an excuse to do so, did a bit of research and decided on a 66 North (Icelandic) one, to be purchased on my first morning there. I also invested in a couple of bits of Arcteryx clothing the day before I left.

And so I headed off to Iceland via City Airport, where BA now flies from, at a leisurely 1pm on a Sunday afternoon at the beginning of Feb. As I'd rebooked only a few days earlier, and had been busy finishing at my old job, having leaving lunches and drinks, I hadn't really spent the usual time obsessing about the upcoming weather-forecast, but I was a little nervous about a storm on my first couple of days there, so didn't book the second night's accommodation - deciding that I'd wait and see how far I could safely get, heading east.

We took off a little late - the toilet on the tiny plane wasn't flushing initially, but they managed to fix it. We flew out of grey London but soon I got my first glimpse of snowy hills over the Lake District, before noticing the bridges near Edinburgh in the distance. We soon reached the snowy highlands of Scotland. I was able to spot the landmarks on google maps when I got home - these are the River Forth at Alloa and Loch Monar!

Unfortunately even though I was right at the back, way behind the engine, there was still a fair amount of jet trail to distort any photos with the camera remotely pointed downwards, so shots towards the horizon worked the best. The windows were a bit scratched too, but I managed to get some shots I liked, even if they're not technically brilliant. The plane was pretty empty, so I was able to move from one side to the other, taking plenty of shots of the surreal aerial landscape. I managed to identify a few more places that I passed over (again, via google maps) - Portree Harbour and the Sound of Raasay (first photo), and the tiny little pointy stack in the portrait picture below is the one at the southern end of Talisker beach (on the Minginish Peninsula), where I spent an hour back in 2012! The light out of the west side of the plane was stunning in the afternoon light - the sea glowed a brilliant gold.

Eventually we left Scotland behind us and headed towards Iceland - the layers of clouds, shadows, weird light and the golden sea below me just mesmerising!

Some of the clouds looked like rolls of cotton wool.

I kept checking out of the right hand side windows to see if Iceland was coming into view, but the cloud was dense. On the other side, though, the view was just spectacular the whole way - with an enormous halo and sun-dogs around the sun at one point (shame about the filthy windows!), and orange glowing clouds.

We started to descend and soon were in the cloud, which went on and on; we only came out of it a minute or so before touching down at Keflavík where it was absolutely pissing down with rain.

The usual formalities at the airport ensued - picking up some Borg beer at the duty free shop (they had a special selection of the Sutur imperial stouts which would do me for the week), finding the backpack at the outsized luggage place (it was actually on the conveyor belt this time), and then heading to the car rental place. After my last-minute change through Auto-Europe (I have to give them a shout out - what a freaking fantastic company they are!) my rental was with Budget, whose counter was at the airport (it was the first time in years that Pro Car hadn't been the cheapest). I did all the paperwork and then headed out into the rain to locate my white Dacia Duster - the same model I'd had all those years ago (well, 6) on my first solo photography trip to the island. The rain was pelting down, so I packed the bags onto the back seat, got in, was unable to find the back window de-misting button, and set off towards Alftanes, unable to see anything behind me through the rear-view mirror.

This journey must be so disheartening to some people - along a tedious stretch of road, surrounded by stark volcanic black nothingness, in the rain, past factories and billboards, fast food joints and signs telling you that this is the home of elves, and then that this is the home of the Vikings, not really knowing what it's trying to tell you, before finally arriving in pretty downtown Reykjavík. To me it wasn't depressing at all, though, as it was the beginning of the my journey back to the south-east, to a couple of my dear favourite places in the world. And also I just wanted to get to Sigrún and Johannes's in time for a delicious welcoming supper!

I had the usual warm greeting (even though Johannes had come down with flu), with Sigrún having laid on a massive spread, including divine home-made tomato soup and finished off with a rather special peanut butter cake. It's always lovely to catch-up, and watch their children (and my favourite cat in the world, Jökull) grow. I checked the weather and it looked fairly mixed the following day, but not too windy - and certainly not windy enough for road closures - so I decided it was safe to book somewhere further west to stay. Sigrún's brother runs a guesthouse in Hrifunes, between Vík and Kirkjubæjarklaustur - the Glacier View - which he has just extended with ten lovely cabins, so she texted to see if he had any availability. He had one room left, so they booked me in there. I'd stayed at their neighbour's guesthouse a couple of years earlier (when a massive storm had come in overnight) and had always wanted to stay at her brother's place, but they'd only recently opened during winter, so finally I had my opportunity. We had a fairly early night and I checked the weather and aurora forecasts again (the former mixed, but generally okay, the latter fairly inactive). I googled how to de-mist the window on the Duster, and discovered that I'd just been completely blind - there was a little button to press (having said that, the lighting was terribly designed so I couldn't actually see it).

I got up fairly early and chatted to Johannes, who wasn't feeling any better and was staying off work. It had snowed overnight, so everything looked far prettier than the night before. I eventually set off (able to see out of the back of the car), my first stop being the 66 North shop, not far away in Garðabær - obviously I got a little bit lost but eventually found it (it is a lot easier these days with roaming not costing extra, so I can stop and look up on google maps at any time now, instead of waiting until I'm somewhere with wifi!). I'd decided which jacket I wanted to buy - a ridiculously expensive 3-in-1 combo of a thick very waterproof shell and a very warm down, which could be warn zipped together or separately. I tried on a few - boiling instantly, as I had thermals on - but eventually decided on the one I'd originally planned to buy. I got some light woollen gloves too, having left my other pair behind in London. Feeling a lot poorer I headed out, next stop shopping for some basics for the week. After that my next stop was obviously an important one - the obligatory stop to see my wonderful jeweller, Orr. I'd had a disaster a few months earlier - the front of one of my earrings had come off one morning and I spent the following morning walking along the Kings Road for half an hour looking intently at the pavement to see if the street cleaners might have missed it - no sign :( I parked at a metered spot outside a hotel around the corner, put enough money in the metre so I wasn't too rushed and headed to the shop. It was already 10.30am by the time I arrived - a little later than planned. I gave the remaining earring back to Orr and asked if it was possible to replace it - they'd see what they could do. I didn't go as mad as I have done sometimes, picking up a couple of pendants for gifts and one new necklace for me. Oh, and some new earrings. Okay, it was a little mad. It was an end-of-job treat for myself. Feeling all Orr-ed up I headed off, beginning my journey and adventure.

The weather was fairly miserable, with steely blue-grey skies. At least the snow overnight had made the landscape look a lot less bleak. I headed across the Hellisheiði pass, stopping at the viewpoint for a quick shot. It's a great spot to just stop and admire the landscape beyond - a few geothermal plumes visible in one direction, various mountains in another, and the flat plains towards the sea beyond. The sun was struggling to peak out, but not quite managing.

It was pretty nippy so I hopped back in the car and continued on down the massive winding hill. Next stop was Hvolsvöllur for a loo stop, my first gas-station burger of the trip, and a cheeky trip to the Vínbúðin opposite, to get a few other beers to provide me with an alternative to the stouts, should I so desire.

iPhoneSE shot of Hvolsvöllur burger - tasty!

iPhoneSE shot of graffiti in the toilets at the Hvolsvöllur petrol station

I continued on, not stopping until a pull-out not far from Seljalandsfoss, with the jumbled little peaks of Vestmannæjyar just visible on the horizon under the dark, ominous clouds. I could just see the braided rivers that ran between me and the sea and wished I was up in the air to look down on the striations.

Again, I didn't stay out long, although my new jacket was toasty, and continued on, not bothering to pull in to see Seljalandsfoss (with its ISK700 parking fee!). My first proper stop (with tripod, parked up) was at my favourite rocks. The water surrounding them was frozen and they looked fairly grim, but still striking. I do love them, I don't know why! (probably because the first time I ever saw them was in sunshine after three days of gloom and I drove on by without stopping and regret it to this day!). Near the rocks was a massive number of geese which from time-to-time would fly a little around and back - unfortunately no great goose murmurations for me!

I continued on, disappointed with the miserable conditions, not really in the photographing zone yet, feeling a little grumpy. I drove on for a while, pulling into the road opposite Skógafoss for a quick shot or two. It too looked pretty dreadful - the water an ugly dirty grey, the surrounding fields and hills only just covered with enough snow to hide the horrid yellowy winter grass, and the skies an overcast white-grey meh!

I continued on and hoped that the weather might improve a bit for me to visit one of the headlands or beaches around Vík, but no, it worsened! I drove through light snow with almost no visibility as I passed the turn-offs to Dyrholaey and Reynisfjara, and drove straight through the ever-expanding town of Vík. No point stopping if there's nothing to see, I decided, and a warm welcoming guesthouse and cabin awaited me a little further up the road.

I did make one little diversion, to an area on the sandur that had some interesting pointy low hills. I'd driven down that same road a couple of years earlier, again with menacing skies above me. This time I stopped on the other side of the road and took a few shots of the funny little peaks to the east. A sign showed me that this was the site of a Benedictine monastery from the 12th Century (or something - I didn't take a picture and cannot find anything online about this!). I noticed that I could also see my beloved Lómagnúpur mountain in the distance, not to mention the Vatnajökull ice-cap.

I continued on, and as I took the turn-off up to Hrifunes the weather started to improve slightly, with the sun managing to break the mass of nasty clouds briefly. I'd remembered from my previous trip there that the sides of the roads were dotted with small ponds and grasses and black rocky bits. It was quite pretty, in spite of being just a few ponds, grasses and rocky bits! For a moment there was a nice glow in the sky and I felt happy to be back in Iceland, in the middle of the nowhere, surrounded by big skies and a black road heading off in both directions.

I arrived at the guesthouse to a friendly welcome from Sigrún's brother Borgar (I'd texted him to tell him my approximate arrival time, as the roads weren't exactly clear, so he at least would know if I hadn't made it safely!) and his wife. He showed me to my cabin, which was absolutely lovely - one of a series of ten blackened-wooden cabins with beautiful simple decor inside and lovely bathroom and windows on both sides to enjoy the views. I decided to go for a little walk and ventured out down a slight hill - the guesthouse sits atop a river valley, and I could see the river braiding out towards the coast. One of these days I'll fork out for a sightseeing flight to capture those incredible braids.

It began to snow and get a bit blizzardy, so I headed back to my cabin to warm up. Again, I was glad for my excellent new coat, keeping me warm and dry.

iPhoneSE shot of the Glacier View Guesthouse new cabins

Borgar texted again to make sure I wasn't still out in the blizzard (I was enjoying the warmth of the cabin and was very safe!). Later on I went up to the house where dinner was served to guests around two communal tables. I chatted to a young Austrian couple, who were very much in love (!), an older French couple, and a Chinese couple - quite an eclectic bunch. We shared stories of Iceland and travel. The food was divine - endless courses and delicious - and I washed it down with a few local beers (can't remember the names - one was Freyja, I think). The snow continued, so no chance for any night photography, so I had a reasonably early night in my cosy cabin, hoping I might get my phojo (photography mojo) back the following day.

Click here for the blog from Day 2 - my birthday!

Iceland #12 - Days 10 & 11 - Brúarfoss, Faxafoss, Kerið & more Jewellery!

My last full day in Iceland was also a rather relaxed one, with only a short distance to cover, from Geysir to Álftanes.

First stop was a repeat visit to Brúarfoss. I expected the Italian photographers to be there (I'd spoken to one the previous night and he said they were staying nearby and would be there), but the place was empty when I arrived at 7.30am. Obviously I knew exactly where to go now, so no time wasted trying to find the place, and no problems parking on the bend in the road. The skies didn't look very promising for a particularly interesting sunrise; there was a little colour in the sky, but only very slight.

As the sky brightened up a little there was a touch more colour, reflecting on the water. Unlike the previous evening I had to turn the polariser to a point at which the water wasn't black, otherwise I couldn't capture the sunrise colours reflected in the surface of the water.

The cloud above me began to thin, and some of the clouds glowed pink.

I wandered along the river bank as the sun finally began to illuminate the waterfalls. I stopped to eat my cold pizza - perfect breakfast along the shores of this beautiful river.

The sun came in and out, illuminating the falls and the birch shrubs that surround the area. I kept looking back towards the bridge, expecting the Italian group to appear, but they never did - I was all alone the whole time I was there.

I find it so hard to tear myself away from some places, and this was certainly one of those places. I wish I'd had an even long zoom lens so I could capture more of the detail of the main falls. The sun began to disappear, so I headed back to the car. The birch trees were beautiful, some of them dripping with raindrops. The colours made it look autumnal, but it was just the branches are very red.

 

I got back to the guesthouse and saw the owner and asked if she had any milk - I was desperate for a cup of tea! She reappeared with a jug and I sat and chatted with her for ages while drinking my tea - she grew up in Sweden but moved over to Iceland in her late teens and stayed. I had hoped to go horse-riding there - given that it's a horse farm - but they don't start riding until May or June. Obviously I'll have to return in the summer or autumn! Eventually I packed up (I noticed that I had a view of Geysir and there was a slight rainbow as a storm passed over) and said goodbye to the woman and her lovely sheepdog.

I headed south, next stop Faxafoss, as recommended by the German guy I'd met the previous evening. It was just off the 35, and I was surprised I'd never heard of it before. There was a car-park which was already pretty full of people. I wandered along the top of the bank overlooking the falls to get a view of it in its entirety. It was quite an impressive waterfall - as many of them are - and named after a horse's mane, as the shape resembled that. Unlike Brúarfoss the water beneath the falls was a deep green, not blue.

I walked back along the path, wanting to get closer to the river, stopping to take a few macro shots of the birch trees.

I took the path down to the river's edge and walked along as far as I could, hoping to get a better view of the falls - and perhaps even a rainbow, if the spray and sun combination allowed it. The path was through rocks, covered in moss and lichen and interspersed with small shrubs. The macro lens was on, and I took quite a few shots with it!

Next stop was the crater lake at Kerið - one of the few places in Iceland where you have to pay to "get in". I'd been there once before and wandered around the crater rim, and did the same on this occasion. It wasn't possible to walk down to the lake's edge (too slippery), so I was only able to enjoy the frozen patterns on the surface from above, which was a shame as the ice patterns were wonderful. The sun came out from time-to-time as I walked.

The walk around the crater doesn't take very long, and it was nice to get a view of the nearly-round lake below and the surrounding countryside, which is dotted with summer houses. I became fascinated with the shapes and patterns of the ice, and wished I could have got closer. Changing the position of the polarising filter the colours looked completely different too - ranging from grey to green and blue.

As I reached the far side of the crater the sun again was struggling to break free from big dark clouds. People walking around the crater rim on the opposite side looked like little ants.

Next stop was Reykjavik. The drive was pleasant, and I stopped only once near Hveragerði to take a shot of a cute church in the afternoon sun.

I always love the drive up the massive Hellisheiði hill, and then the long drive across the plateau, which is always covered in snow, with Reykjavik eventually coming into view. My first stop was at back at Orr to get another piece or two of their fantastic silver jewellery. I parked near a hotel a couple of blocks from the shop - this time no problem worrying about meters as it was after 5pm so I was allowed to stop. I popped into the hotel to use the loo and then wandered down to the shop. Kjartan was pleased to see me and I was pleased to be back. I began trying on numerous rings and necklaces, and finally ended up with a necklace to match the first earrings I'd bought from there by mail order last autumn, a matching ring, and another ring. That place is heaven! I told the woman working there - a beautiful Icelandic woman with a short blonde bob - about how my Australian friend had recommended it and she said "did she come in here on the culture night last summer?" and indeed she had, so she remembered her! They gave me a nice little discount and off I went, having spent a little more than planned, just like last time!

I made a quick stop at Perlan, where you get fantastic views of the city from the viewing platform at the top. The place is being renovated, but the terrace was still open. Unfortunately the cloud wasn't being very cooperative, so generally the city was in shade and looked a little dull. I'd also only taken the 100mm macro lens up there with me, so my photographic opportunities were limited at that focal length. 

The day wasn't over yet - last stop was Álftanes to see my friend Sigrún. The drive there from Perlan was very quick - being Saturday there wasn't a great deal of traffic. I was greeted with a delicious salmon salad - nice to get some vegetables again after a rather limited diet of tuna pesto pasta, burgers and pizza! She had also made a delicious crumble tart - I do get spoiled there! I realised that I hadn't actually had any lunch, so I gobbled down a few portions!

I was aware that the sunset was rather nice but almost missed it through laziness. I finally kitted up and went outside and along the road to the beach. I just caught the sun as it dipped below the horizon, and then watched as the colours and clouds changed as it got dark.

The northern lights forecast wasn't up to much, so after sitting around chatting for a while I had an early night. My flight home the following day wasn't one of the horrible early ones, so I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn. It was nice to just be a bit more relaxed. I got up late, had a nice breakfast with Sigrún and the kids. Her father popped round and he showed me some fantastic old photos of the summer house they had built in the Borganes area. I finally set off around midday. I had thought of driving out to Garður to take a few pictures of the lighthouses there, but I was nervous about the car damage and just wanted to sort that out as soon as possible, so instead just drove to the car rental place. The man asked me how everything was, and I told him that a bit of the trim appeared to have come down. He went out and checked the car on the outside and made sure I'd filled up with diesel, before getting in and driving the car away. I had a nerve-racking few minutes and then he reappeared. "So what's the deal?" I asked and he said "everything's fine". I was shocked - I hadn't remember doing anything to cause the damage, but the trim was definitely hanging down a bit. I wanted to ask him a bit more, but thought I should just keep quiet! So he gave me and some other customers a lift to the airport terminal and that was that! Such a relief, knowing that I didn't have to worry about insurance claims, etc. After dropping off my backpack at the oversized luggage area the next chore was to do the VAT reclaim on my jewellery (which amounted to quite a bit!). It was an easy process, filling out a couple of lines on a receipt that Orr had provided each time, and then giving it to a woman behind the desk (and it was credited into my account a few days later, so all very efficient).

I headed through the bag check and into the departure lounge, and had a tasty open prawn sandwich, washed down with an expensive Myrkvi Borg beer.

An amusing little thing then happened - a guy wearing sunglasses was sitting up at a raised bar area and got up to go, leaving a pizza that he'd barely touched. A Spanish man on the opposite table to me then got up and brought the plate back to his table. He said to me "well, it's going to get thrown away otherwise. Do you want a piece?" I took one - it was delicious (lobster!). I then started to think that maybe the guy might come back, and lo and behold he did - he'd just gone up to the counter to get another beer! The Spanish guy moved his bag on the table to obscure the pizza as the man came back. He did look around, but didn't seem too bothered that his pizza was gone (he had put his napkin and cutlery on it, so it certainly looked as if he wasn't planning to eat any more). The Spanish guy and I kept exchanging guilty glances and smiles, but eventually the pizza guy left and there was no embarrassing exchange.

After that I wandered through passport control to the gate, and had to sit on the floor as there were only a handful of seats there. Eventually I was on the plane, after the bus taking us to the plane took us to the wrong one and then we sat next to a plane for ages, wondering if they'd got the right one this time. I sat next to a lovely English anaesthetist who lived in Clapham. We were talking about sunsets and she had been in the same area as me on the night I'd photographed my favourite rocks. She looked through her phone photos and there was one taken from the road near the rocks, and on the edge of the lagoon was a photographer - me! We spent the next three hours chatting about travel stories, taking my mind of my sadness at leaving Iceland. Unfortunately there was a lot of cloud over the Icelandic landscape, so my last glimpse was of the coast before it all disappeared.

Occasionally I took some photos out of the window - the sky was beautiful as it got dark and a full moon came into view. On the other side of the plane beautiful light flooded the cabin as the sun set.

I took the train back to Clapham Junction with my new friend and her companion and then the bus for the last bit back across the river to Parsons Green. My hubby and very excited dog met me from the bus. Another wonderful Icelandic trip was over, and it felt sad, as always, but I had the promise of reviewing the thousands of photos over the next few weeks, which always lessens the blow. And the next trip is only ever months away...

Click here for Day 9 - Skógafoss and Brúarfoss