Author Archives: Andrew

With the original cinema release of Life of Brian the Monty Python team included a wonderful documentary spoof called Away From It All, which includes at one point the memorable line “Gondolas, gondolas and more ****ing gondolas”. Tuesday’s journey through Iceland could easily be titled “Waterfalls, waterfalls and more bloody waterfalls” 🙂

Don’t think I’m being churlish – they were actually quite different, and it was a natural effect of driving along the edge of the highlands between the Hofsjokull Glacier (the one in the middle) and the mass which is the giant volcano Hekla (with the smaller but more recently troublesome Eyarfjallajokull), that we’d pass where several rivers drain rapidly onto the coast.

We started off visiting Gullfoss (= “gold waterfall”) from the East side, which gave us quite a different perspective to the usual tourist view from the West. We waited ages for a shaft of sunlight to create a rainbow in the spray, gave up, and then just as we were leaving the sun came out. I was at the back of the line, and close enough to run back and get one shot! Score 1.

We then had a moderately long drive underneath a power line through a fairly empty rocky desert, but this was justified by Haifoss (= “high waterfall”), where twin waterfalls empty straight down about 1000ft into a narrow gorge. I used the famous “switch on live view, lie on your belly and lean out as far as you dare” method to capture the above shot. I was really in the zone, clicking away, and didn’t realise that the rest of the group had already gone back to the cars until I could hear Finn shouting for me. Just as I was leaving a shaft of sunlight created another rainbow. Score 2.

A short drive took us to Gljufurleitarfoss (= “I haven’t got a notion on this one waterfall” :)) which was a dramatic contrast to the very stark beauty of the first two, a real oasis. I had to check we hadn’t gone through a stargate or similar – this green, lush, calm valley really didn’t look like Iceland. I suppose the reason is the way it is sheltered almost all the way around by moderately sharp cliffs – in Britain it would almost certainly be Coombe or Cwm somthing.

Sadly after this it was back on the bare, rocky roads to our last stop, Dynkur (= “nor this one, but it probably isn’t -waterfall”), which is another large, powerful and wide waterfall like Gullfoss. The hike in and out was quite interesting through dense moss, ferns and blueberries quite unlike the sparse vegetation elsewhere. Then it was off to the hotel via a shortcut which involved taking the jeeps through a quite deep and fast moving river. We got some great shots, and Hawk announced that “he loves his job”. Excellent.

I’m writing this with the most wonderful rich dawn light outside the window. Sadly Hotel Highland is located mainly to service a big dam and hydroelectric power plant, and all I can see out of the window is some grass, a sheep, and a couple of power lines. Oh well…

Meet our guides. I’m doing this trip with an Icelandic company called Nature Explorer, which is run by Haukur “Hawk” Parelius, in the background in this shot. He has several drivers, but always does the Fire and Ice trip himself, usually accompanied by his father Finnur “Finn” Frothason. I haven’t quite worked out why Finn (who’s originally Danish) uses an Icelandic patronimic, and Hawk who was born in Iceland, doesn’t!

Both are wonderful guides, with a great sense of fun, excellent English, and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Iceland and other subject matters. Highly recommended.

Just a quick update today, as I’ve had a few computer problems and time is tight…

Yesterday we were picked up from the hotel in two enormous “superjeeps”, which started life as Nissan Patrols but now stand about 10ft tall, and headed out into the country. The day’s itinery focused on the well-known natural sites within a day from Reykjavik, so we started (via a trip over the mountains to see a geothermal power plant) with Thingvellir, which has both historic interest, as the site of Iceland’s parliament from the 10th century until the 19th, and also geological interest, because it’s where you can most visibly see the North American tectonic plate moving away from the Eurasian plate, at about 1cm/year.

After that we travelled up to the big waterfalls at Gulfoss. I decided to try and get a close-up, which meant descending into a large cloud of spray, but thanks to my Kata Rainbag for the camera, and an excellent North Face raincoat I’d picked up in Reykjavik, both camera and I stayed adequately dry, and I got some good shots. They need a bit of work to bring out the best, but hopefully I’ll post one before the end of the trip.

After that we took the scenic (i.e. dirt track) route back to Geysir, which gives its name to powerful host springs in languages the world over except, ironically, Icelandic! Actually this is a little disappointing if you’ve been to larger sites such as Yellowstone, but it’s well worth seeing if you’re here… We wandered up the path to the main geysir, Strokkur, and waited. Suddenly this dome appeared, and the geysir erupted. And guess who was standing in exactly the wrong place? No raincoat, no rain bag – I got absolutely soaked. Fortunately I managed to turn quickly enough so that I took most of it on my back, and no harm was done. When I realised what was happening I was immediately worried that I might be scalded, but the temperature was fine, like taking a nice warm shower with your clothes on. Well at least the shot was worth it.

If you’re puzzled by the title of this piece, let me explain… Before I came away I was reading my mother’s journal from her Iceland trip, in the early 90s. At that time none of these sites had any significant development for tourism, and she remarked several times how unspoilt and un-commercial they were. That  has changed. You can still visit the attractions free of charge, although I suspect the paths and car parks are a bit more obtrusive than when my parents came, but you are also encouraged to visit the visitor centre / restaurant / shop and, of course, use the facilities should you need to do so. At Geysir and Gulfoss these were free of charge, but at Thingvellir they were extracting a punitive 200 ISK (about £1.10) for the privilege. Adam, the other British person on the trip, looked at me and we both said almost simultaneously “that’s a pound to spend a penny”*. Blank stares from those with other financial contexts. Oh well.

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* Explanation for the foreign, the young and the hard of thinking: before Britain changed to decimal coinage in 1971 the standard charge for a public toilet had been, for many years, one old penny, 1d. “Spending a penny” was a convenient and common euphamism. The expression still works, although mainly as a measure of long-term inflation.

And here’s some more of the flower of Iceland’s youth! Judging by the outfits Reykjavik has at least two pole dancing clubs in competition with one another. I would say it keeps them off the streets, but of course yesterday that wasn’t true. 🙂

I wanted to show the breadth of the “Culture Night”, and was torn between these three cute Icelandic maidens singing their very tuneful folk songs, and the pole dancing. I suspect in the interests of journalistic integrity I have to take a leaf from the BBC’s book and show both…

From the Ministry of Odd Coincidences: I’ve been on four organised photography tours, and I’ve now been in the right place to witness marathons or “fun runs” on three of them. The latest was the annual Reykjavik Marathon. I wonder why this keeps occurring?

From the Health and Safety Executive: If you sit down at lunch and all the welds holding the seat to the chair legs suddenly fail, it isn’t necessarily because your wife is right and you’re overweight. It could simply be down to the fact that the chair has been out in one too many Icelandic storms and the restaurant should apologise to you instead of the other way around. The lesson: understand how to inspect a cracked weld for rust (and maybe lose a few pounds too! :)).

From the Department of Pointless Activities: If a restaurant has limited English reading matter, a two year old copy of Stuff really is probably worse than nothing. It’s quite scary how many of the new gadgets in that magazine have been, gone and already been replaced.

From the Icelandic Department of Culture (OK, they really exist, but why spoil a good format?): Reykjavik “Culture Night” is a fascinating thing to experience. Having seen the Marathon off this morning downtown Reykjavik was a bit dead, and I got a taxi over to the big shopping mall, and had lunch there. When I got back, Reykjavik was completely transformed, with almost the whole centre pedestrianised and every street corner sporting a burger/beer stand and live music. It looks like almost the whole Icelandic population has turned out, and I’m amazed that the country has that many musicians and PA systems.  It’s not even just music – one square was hosting a pole dancing competition! The only minor problem is that the area opposite my hotel has been given over to an Iron Maiden tribute band. They’re not without talent, but very loud…

I’m off now to sample some more of culture night. Hopefully I’ll be able to update you later with some pics of the fireworks.

… The remainder of Culture Night was a mixed bag. The big Jazz concert to start the Jazz festival was, to be as charitable as possible, “simply weird shit” (the uncharitable wouldn’t bother with “weird” :)).  However, once I gave up on that and went in search of a drink I found an amazing Christian blues band playing in the back of a tiny coffee house. The fireworks weren’t quite where everyone expected them, and by the time I’d moved and got the camera settings right I didn’t get many good shots. On the other hand, the lighting up of the Harpa concert building worked wonderfully, and I got a couple of decent shots, one of which is the image for today.

The guides arrive early Sunday, and then the landscape photography begins. Watch this space.

Well my Iceland trip has finally come round – I just hope it rewards the wait. As many of you will know I originally tried to do a trip to Iceland last year, but was stymied by a combination of volcanoes and economic uncertainty, which meant that there were insufficient other takers. This year things looked better, but it still took a couple of months of emails with the tour leaders before things were settled.

The waiting continued at the airport. The check-in and gate check processes were both interminable, with long queues which between them chewed up over an hour. Now it’s ten minutes past departure time, and I’ve just watched the baggage handlers unload a plane load of frozen fish from our hold, and only just start to load our baggage, one item at a time. I thought the aviation world discovered palletised baggage and freight about 40 years ago? I can see this flight running at least an hour late, and to think I rushed lunch because of the check-in delays…

I’m sitting in a plane with a seat pitch which makes Michael O’Leary’s plans to offer standing accommodation on Ryanair look half reasonable, and I’ve just scratched the back of my iPad quite badly on a very ill-designed “seat pocket” with near zero capacity and an exposed screw head just inside. Iceland Express is definitely at the EasyJet end of the scale.

At least I’m getting better at beating unreasonable baggage constraints, even if I did have to walk through check-in like John Wayne due to the lens down each trouser leg! Also I’ve discovered that if you can lift your camera bag with one finger they assume it’s light and don’t bother to check the weight. At last the weightlifting comes in useful.

… The flight was uneventful if a bit boring. There was no in-flight entertainment, and the noise levels were a bit too high to watch any video on my iPad. Oh well, thank goodness for Kindle and Angry Birds 🙂

The road from Keflavik to Reykjavik is flat and straight, with nothing much going on either side, but there are tantalising glimpses of more promising terrain in the distance. What is interesting is that you can see sunlight, cloud, dry weather and rain patches in the same vista. I see what they mean about waiting 5 minutes if you don’t like the weather here.

… Reykjavik looks a lot as I expected, clean and Scandinavian, although there’s almost a North East USA feel to some of the road and larger building layouts. After I settled in at the hotel I wandered down to the town centre, and got a couple of shots including this rather nice one of the Hallgrimskirkja and the statue of Lief Eriksson in front of it.

The daily cycle is going to challenge an early bird like myself. Sunset is after 9, and sunrise about 5. I was just starting to stir this morning and was rudely awoken by a party coming down the street, presumably having just been chucked out of a night club!

Oh well, I didn’t come here to rest. I have a free day in Reykjavik today, and the tour proper starts tomorrow. I’m going to try and update at least once a day – connectivity doesn’t seem to be a big challenge like it was in Cuba – so please check back soon.