Iceland #15 - Day 3: Hrífunes to Jökulsárlón

Day 3 in Iceland started with a lovely breakfast at the guesthouse, a chat with Élin and Borgar, before heading off late to continue my journey east - I didn't have too far today, so was taking it easy. I took the alternative route 208 back to the ring-road, which I'd avoided on my last visit due to the stormy conditions. It was a pleasant drive, alongside river braids before meeting up with the ringroad. It was a lovely day, mild and still, with mainly blue skies - nice conditions for a drive, if a little dull for photography.

As it was such a lovely day I decided to stop at the basalt floor of Kirkjugolf, but first headed a little further to a waterfall I'd never visited - Stjórnafoss. A coachload of tourists was there when I arrived, but soon headed back to move on to their next stop, so I had the place to myself for a while. It's only a short walk from a car-park, so easy to visit, like most of the sights along the ring-road. It was in annoying shadow - I was there at totally the wrong time of day for decent light - but it was still rather picturesque, set in a mossy, craggy canyon.

There were some interesting geothermal slopes on the low cliffs nearby that reminded me of Yellowstone National Park. And some nice trees.

I hadn't visited Kirkjugolf for a few years, as most of the times I've driven through nearby Kirkjubæjarklaustur it is covered in snow. This was a perfect time to visit. There were a few cars parked in the car-park, but I could see about three couples walking back across the meadow - only one pair was in front of me and hopefully they wouldn't stay long. I was annoyed to see the guy put his bag down on the basalt floor and get a drone out. He spent about ten minutes with the horrible thing buzzing around, and where he stood meant I couldn't take any photos of the view towards the hills behind. Eventually he retrieved the noisy menace, packed it away and they headed back to their car, leaving me in peace finally. I do like photos taken from above with drones, and have considered getting one myself, but they should never, ever be used with anyone in sight or earshot - that buzz is so unbelievably painful!!

Next stop was a brief pull off at the pretty Foss á Siðu, one of my usual quick stops. The falls were going straight down, as there wasn't a great deal of wind.

And then it was on to my beloved Lómagnúpur, which was looking spectacular with a little autumn colour nearby. It was time for the silly selfies, in a spot I've taken many before. I think the borrowed lopapeysa (thank you Sigrún!) made me fit in quite well as a honorary Icelander! The clouds were moving a little, so I did a couple of long exposures to capture their movement across the sky. I get a bit impatient and never work out the calculations, just putting the camera on bulb and trying out a few different times. Must be a bit more scientific about it!

I stopped after the long bridge when I found a pull-out to take a shot looking back - I just love that stretch of road (and was devastated to read of a fatal crash off the bridge last week).

I turned the corner and the glaciers in the distance came into view. The road goes on for ages, but it's certainly an easier experience in conditions like these. I passed the next corner near Skaftafell and stopped in at the petrol station for a burger, before stopping a little further on at a spot called Háalda. Just before I turned off I drove past a lone tree that was in peak autumnal colours - I'd only noticed the tree on my previous visit, which is odd given that it's been there for a long time! I'd always noticed the strange desert landscape, though, with boulders strewn across it, reminding me of the incredible surreal Salvador Dali area in the high altiplano in Bolivia. This time I turned off the road and parked, something that is tricky in winter when you've no idea how deep the snow might be and don't want to risk getting bogged down. I did a hike back the way I came, away from the road, turning round after half an hour when I reached a good viewpoint for the tree.

I loved the place - so peaceful and alien at the same time.

Nice views from near the car park at Haalda

Looking to the east - glaciers!

The landscape was dotted with sporadic patches of moss and plants, some with yellow or red leaves.

As I was leaving three girls arrived and got out to take a few snaps; I love this photo - I think it would make a good album cover!

Next stop: Jökulsárlón - hurray!! I always feel a sense of trepidation and excitement as I approach, with the usual places along the way to let me know I'm close - the turn-off to Fjallsárlón, the moraine along the road and the parking spots, and the electricity pylons and cables eventually meeting the top of the little suspension bridge. I arrived at the bridge at about 4.45pm and was surprised to find that a new road was in the process of being built on the west side of the bridge down to the car park. It wasn't completely finished, but looked as if it had a much better, wider road down the hill. The icebergs didn't look all that impressive at first glance. I drove across the bridge and discovered that the road down to the car park on the east side of the beach had been blocked off, and access was via the area on the other side of the road near the café. I carried on to Gerði to check in, to get that out of the way, and then returned to Reynivellir to drop off my bags. It was nice to be back there, in my little single room.

I made myself a (nice) cup of tea and headed back to the beach and parked on the far side, got myself ready and headed off to see the icebergs. I'd left it a little late, and it was already 6.30pm by the time I got down to the beach, about 40 minutes before sunset. There wasn't a particularly spectacular display of icebergs to greet me, which was a bit disappointing, but I had a little wander along the beach and found a few small ones sitting in the surf line. There weren't that many people either - the usual 20 or so milling about in-between the icebergs. The sky wasn't very interesting either, with a few streaky clouds turning slightly pink over the horizon.

The light began to fade and I suddenly noticed a weird bright light on the horizon. At first I thought it was a boat on fire, then it dawned on me that it was the moon rising! As it was rising I also suddenly noticed that there were loads of large icebergs visible in the waves a little way offshore. This had happened on a previous occasion when in the space of a couple of minutes the outgoing tide revealed some huge bergs. They were moving around a lot in the waves, but I managed to capture a couple of weird-looking creatures with the rising moon behind (which was an incredible burning orange). The moon also cast a beautiful light on the crashing waves too.

I stayed around a bit, taking a few more shots of the stunning moon, before heading off to check out the potential northern light situation at the lagoon.

It's very handy now to be able to use 4G for free and be able to check the forecast from the car, rather than having to wait until I have wifi somewhere (back in the old days). There wasn't much aurora activity forecast, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. As I drove out of the car-park at the beach I couldn't find the new road - it took another car arriving for me to be able to find how to get out. I parked up along the road a little (where I'd parked on a couple of previous occasions) and set off across the moraine to the lake. The moon was now shining pretty brightly on the icebergs, although it was only just appearing from behind the moraine. I could see a very very vague greenness in the distance, but nothing to write home about. I wandered along the shore for a while; it was serene and not too cold. Eventually I got a bit bored and hungry, so walked back to car (managing to find my way up the hill in the dark, which was no mean feat, although the moonlight definitely helped!).

The forecast for the following morning was for rain, so I had some food, one of my lovely strong beers, and headed to bed with the alarm set for a positively luxurious 10am! Not the best first day back at my favourite beach, but that's just the way it goes, and makes it all the more special when you do get incredible conditions.

My route on Day 3

Click here for my blog from Day 2 - From Hraunfossar to Hrifunes
Click here for my blog from Day 4 - Out and About near Jökulsárlón

Iceland Highlights 2013 - Day 7: Jökulsárlón back to Vik

My love affair with Jökulsárlón had to come to an end at some stage, and today was the day. An appointment with the ice cave guide and accommodation booked in Vik meant it was time to go. I might've stayed longer, but the guesthouse was full that night back when I booked it.

I got up very early and headed back to the beach for one last visit, and the weather was surprisingly pleasant - not too biting a wind, no precipitation, and the odd break in the clouds. Sunrise is a nice time of day on the beach, and so another twelve photographers thought too - it was positively crowded! I saw the pair I kept bumping into, both standing on icebergs in order to escape any errant waves (my wellies helped when the wave got the better of me). Apparently some mornings in February there can be seventy photographers...

 

I left all the photographers there, sad to have to drag myself away, but I had a lot to do before getting to Svínafell for 9.45am. Packing is pretty easy when you've got a limited amount of stuff, but I seemed to have so much - food, camera gear, outdoor gear. A few trips to the car and I was off on my way, sadly having to pass across the little white suspension bridge at Jökulsárlón for one last time (on this trip, anyway - I'm sure I'll be back). It was a glorious morning, and there was so much I could've stopped to photograph if only I hadn't been short of time.

I met my guide Einar at the petrol station, together with a couple from Hong Kong who'd said it would be okay for me to join them on their tour (and make it affordable for me!). We set off in Einar's jeep and soon headed off the road towards the Vatnajökull glacier, in which the caves were located. The last part of the journey was on a track I certainly wouldn't have taken my rental car on. Once there we were kitted out with helmets and crampons and walked a couple of hundred metres to the first - and most exciting - cave. The season has apparently been pretty mild, so there are very few caves, and access to the two that were still okay was getting limited as the sun was melting them fast, pouring water and pieces of debris down in places.

Einar set up some ropes to help us to walk down over a few obstacles so that we could get down into the main chamber, where a huge icicle stalactite hung from the cave's ceiling. We were warned to give it a wide berth - if it fell it would cause some damage to anyone nearby, not to mention destroying the sight of it for any further visitors (and they did a couple of tours each day).

Photographing inside a dark cave is quite challenging! Einar was a great help, having lots of experience with it, and gave some useful hints on settings. I was glad to have the high ISO capability of my Canon 5D Mark III - I don't think my 60D would have handled it all that well. The main problem, however, was the high dynamic range, with the immense brightness of the entrance (where there was light!) and the darkness of the interior. I settled with f14 (as I wanted to capture as much detail as possible), a 30 second exposure length, ISO of 1600 and under-exposed by 2/3 stop. It was quite an impressive sight, looking down one side into another chamber, realising that I was underneath an active glacier (it had moved forward about 30 metres in the past year). We spent some time down there, careful not to ruin each others' shots with flashes or torchlight (or bump into the icicle!). I climbed up into a different chamber, from where the icicle looked like an enormous chandelier.

After an hour or so it was our turn in the other cave, and Einar's son Aron (who I'd met on the previous Friday) brought in another couple. He told me that the reason the two people hadn't shown up on Friday is that they'd gone to the wrong Foss Hotel - instead of the one at Svínafell they'd driven a further 130km to the one at Höfn! We walked out into the open air, and the light was astonishing after the darkness of the cave's interior. The other cave was close by and didn't require any equipment, other than the hard hats in case of any falling debris - there was quite a lot on top of the opening to the cave.

There wasn't a great deal to see inside the cave itself, just nice blue walls, but they weren't very obvious with the bright hazy sky outside. The four of us played around with our camera settings and I tried the in-camera HDR setting again and got this result - a big fail, Canon, I'd say! I wouldn't normally include such a ridiculous photo, but I do find it quite amusing, and as a result I won't be using the in-camera HDR option again.

I took a few bracketed shots and did some HDR processing once I got home and think I got a rather more realistic shot of the couple, also standing in the entrance to the cave. So the walls aren't so blue, and you can't see any detail in the sky, but it does look a bit more real (although I still don't like it all that much).

The tour came to an end and off I set, the skies having clouded over, leaving the south-east and all the magical glaciers and mountains that comprise the Vatnajökull National Park behind me. My first enforced stop was just short of my first planned stop, at Lómagnúpur, as a long, high (for Icelandic standards) bridge across the river was being replaced. I took a few snaps, wishing I was on the other side, down by the pools in front of the mountain. The delay didn't last long and I was soon across the half-repaired bridge, taking the side road, scrambling down the bank and taking silly self-portraits with the camera on 10-second timer (which involved pressing the shutter before madly running to a suitable pre-focused point, making sure my hair wasn't caught up in my hood and then standing there trying to look all thoughtful, staring up in awe at the mountain (that bit's real)!). The ice had melted a little, and there was little wind, so I was able to get a couple of reflection shots.

Just around the corner from Lómagnúpur is a small settlement with turf-covered buildings that I'd planned to visit, but was disappointed to find a gate across the entrance and a sign saying "private land". Ho hum, plenty more to see, and by this time it was already 3pm and I still had quite a way to go. Next stop was Dverghamrar (or "Dwarf Rocks"), a couple of small outcrops of basalt columns (I'm rather fond of basalt columns), just across the road from Foss á Siðu (which was flowing straight downwards for a change). I had a quick wander around, and the sun tried to pop out and managed briefly, which was decent of it.

Back in the car and onwards to Kirkjugólf, with a promise of slightly better weather than on the journey out there. I knew exactly where to go this year, so parked and walked along the little track back towards the town, reaching the basalt column floor just as the sun came out.

I drove on, keen to get to Vik to secure a bottom bunk in the hostel again, but also to get there for sunset. I passed through Kirkjubaejarklaustur and stopped briefly at the moss-covered lava, this time no snow in sight. I wasn't the only one stopping there.

I stopped again, a short way down the road and was surprised to hear the sound of police sirens and to see a police car screech past, then turn around and turn into the side-road I'd just stopped in. Uh-oh! Fortunately they weren't after me (hadn't been doing over 90kmph on that stretch), but they had ruined someone's day. I carried on and soon the stacks off the coast from Vik came into view, as I raced (within the speed-limit!) against a storm approaching from the east. I got to the beach (more important than the bed!) just as the storm did, but still walked down on the black sand to capture a few shots.

It's got to be one of the most striking beaches I've ever been to (without icebergs, that is - nothing can ever match Jökulsárlón beach) - so dramatic with those jagged stacks, black sand and huge towering cliffs. I didn't stay long as the rain brought with it a freezing wind and soon I couldn't feel my fingers. I checked in at the hostel (top bunk only, grrrr) and sat reviewing my photos from the day, intermittently looking out of the window to see if I should head back down to the beach for "sunset". The weather changed every five minutes, but I decided that I must go (it wasn't very far, after all). Sunset didn't really happen, although the light was still quite nice and moody - it was worth the small effort, I think.

Again, no northern lights forecast that night (how bad was my luck?!!) and storms set in for the night, so I settled down to a lovely evening in the hostel (no Frenchies stinking out the place with fried fish this time) chatting to an English couple, and sharing another of my duty-free bottles of wine. Ear-plugs in and no alarm was set at the end of a very long and varied day!

More Iceland photo highlights on my website.

Click here to see Day 8: Around Vík