Category Archives: Iceland2024

As is traditional, here’s my rogue’s gallery from the Lee Frost Iceland Tour 2024. From the left: Philip, Chris, Chris, Andreas, Lee, Yours Truly, Ann, John and Geriant.

Ideally, don’t get a cold when you’re in Iceland. If you must, make sure you have enough of your preferred cold medication. If you’ve failed on that, then you really, really don’t want to discover it on Saturday morning. In Iceland’s smaller towns the pharmacies close over the weekend. We then discovered at 2pm on Monday that Vik’s is only open 9-1. At 9 on Tuesday we discovered that the Vik pharmacy don’t do any over the counter sales, and then at lunchtime we discovered in a larger pharmacy in Selfoss that none of them sell what we’d recognise as cold remedies!

Fortunately my own stock of lemsips lasted just long enough to get me through the worst, and the pharmacist in Selfoss took pity on me and sold me a couple of tablets "for a good night’s sleep" which I took on Tuesday night. I was asleep within minutes and 9 hours later I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed and ready for the day. Now all I need to find is an English translation of the Icelandic-only leaflet and find out just what’s in them!

Wednesday dawned cold and with snow falling steadily. We set off on the drive along the north of the Snaefellsnes peninsula, but what should have been our first stop at Kirkufell was abandoned because we couldn’t see the car park from the road. Lee wisely decided to cut our losses and drive the long way around the south of the peninsula, where the weather was a bit better, and we finally fetched up at Búðir church, which we photographed with snow driving in the foreground and enormous waves breaking for hundreds of yards behind the beach. Kirk 1.

The next stop was the small town of Arnarstapi where we got an excellent fish & chip lunch, and photographed interesting rock stacks around the harbour, and waves crashing through a natural arch a short distance away. We then proceeded to the pretty red-roofed church at Stóra-Hella. This works very well if there’s snow on the ground but clear skies, whereas we were trying to get our shots in driving snow. Characterful, but not quite the shots we imagined. Kirk 2.

In sharp contrast the next town, Enni, is home to a striking, modern and very geometrical church. I think it works well with a monochrome treatment. Kirk 3.

A short distance up the road we passed a cliff covered in tumbling ice-falls. I asked to stop and got some wonderful images, but for some reason there were few other takers. All kirked-out?

However the main event was still to come. We had completely circled Snæfellsjökull at the end of the peninsula, and worked our way back to Kirkufell, which was now clear and bathed in the light of the setting sun. There were countless images to be made, but the classic one of the mountain in the background and the waterfall in the fioreground worked very well when I was able to quickly grab a shot without too many other people in it.

After a leisurely breakfast we hit the road for the long drive up to the Snaefellsnes peninsula, up on the Iceland’s North-West coast. Among a number of other attractions, this is home to the volcano Snæfellsjökull, famous as the point where Professor Otto Lidenbrock & co start their Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

First stop was the road to Dyrhólaey. On the drive in yesterday I had seen a great composition with the three Vik sea stacks framed on both sides by a combination of the mountains around Vik, and the edge of the island. It took a little finding, and my best shot was probably taken through the windscreen with the van momentarily stationary, but I not only found the composition, I was rewarded by a great sky including rolling clouds and breaking sunshine.

Next was the waterfall at Seljalandsfoss. I have seen this before, in Summer when it’s possible to walk behind the water. In winter that’s roped off for obvious safety reasons, but you can still get some great shots from the front, with the benefit in early Spring of much greater water flow. Images are all variations on a simple, obvious theme, but it’s worth the short stop to add one to your collection.

The drive into Reykjavik and out North was challenging due to the combination of frequent heavy rain showers, and occasionally settling snow. However we made it, including a lunch stop, to Borgarnes, beyond which the drive was again punctuated by snow showers, but also a couple of brief stops (brevity enforced by the inclement weather) to capture combinations of dramatic scenery and skies.

We finally arrived at Stykkishólmur. The Foss Hotel is modern and spacious, but doesn’t offer a laundry service so I had to resort to hand-washing a couple of items I needed to tide me through to the end of the trip. Unimpressed.

On a positive note the dinner was excellent, the lamb one of the best meals I have had in some time.

On Sunday we moved on from Höfn back towards Vik. I was still feeling fragile, but after a better night’s sleep somewhat improved, and I knew the day would be mainly a fairly steady drive.

We did make one photography stop, at the Svínafellsjökull Glacier. At one level this was very depressing. I visited in 2011, and I remember a short walk of maybe a minute or two, to a glacier towering above us. Now it’s a 10+ minute hike in, to a glacier which is at its leading edge some way below the viewpoint. It has obviously retreated at least 0.5km in the intervening 13 years, and maybe as much as 1km. There really is a case for tying all oil company executives to the front of glaciers at the start of spring, and explaining that if they are right about global warming, they won’t drown…

At another level it was quite hilarious. The path from the car park starts with about 100m of a steady moderate gradient, which was covered in sheet ice, in turn running with melt water. Those equipped with crampons (including all members of our group) just walked straight up on down the middle. Those in boots without crampons walked gingerly, occasionally on all fours, close to the path’s edge. And then there was this young oriental couple!

The Hotel Vik is by some margin the worst of the trip (at least so far). The rooms are poky and so poorly lit you can’t see what you’re doing unless you get them to provide an additional lamp. Given what most residents will be doing the lack of either rails to hang damp clothing, or a boot puller is a complete mystery. To sit at the desk you have to make movement between the bathroom and bedroom areas impossible. There was obviously a competition and the architects who claimed to put stuff into the smallest possible space won the job, but it’s not a good one. (Interestingly it only scores 25 on the dysfunctional hotel rooms scheme. That’s high, but not excessive – the issue is more the cumulative effect of everything feeling a bit squeezed and cheap.)

To add insult to injury dinner is served after 7, but happy hour is 4-6. WTF?

In the morning I was almost back to my normal self. Our first stop was the waterfall at Skógafoss. Even though we arrived by about 8.30 the site was already quite full of other visitors. Most of my group resolved this by setting up tripods some distance back and shooting over their heads. I found a different solution, put the 9mm lens on the camera, and walked in front of the grockles to get a clean shot without them. It took a couple of goes to get one before the spray covered the filter, but it worked. Afterwards I felt sufficiently recovered to do the short walk to the high veiwpoint, and was rewarded by an opposing hillside lit by the rising sun in wonderful oranges and browns, with the river and top of the waterfall providing leading lines below. Shot of the day?

After that we headed back to the island of Dyrhólaey. Lee suggested that we might want to try and capture the intricate patterns of foam from waves breaking gently on the black beach. Right:

Once we’d tuned into the stormy sea (not accompanied by a significant local wind) I did manage to get a few different shots, but most involved catching very big waves either in front of, or breaking over, the other features.

After lunch we went down to the Black Beach. Again this rapidly became a game of catching the biggest most threatening looking waves breaking in front of or over the rocks. While doing so I was caught out by a rogue wave which charged up the beach and reached me at thigh level even though I was some distance from the average water position. Fortunately I kept my balance, didn’t fall over or drop the camera, and the combination of muck boots and over trousers kept almost all the water out. One sock was a bit damp, but that’s not too much to complain about when it could have been very much worse.

I had wondered why the flashing light at the entrance was only on amber. I looked up and in the intervening 5 minutes it had gone to red. Fair enough.

We gave up on the Black Beach and drove round to Vik beach, which is usually calmer. Not today. After a short session trying to catch the scariest-looking waves breaking in front of the sea stacks it started to rain, so we finally called it a day.

The following day we moved on from Jökulsárlón to near Höfn, a relatively short drive but we stopped on the way to photograph wonderful light over the hills a mile or two back from the coast, despite the fact that we could only see thick cloud. We also stopped to photograph a cute little yellow house where Lee used to stay in years gone by, and a particularly photogenic group of Icelandic ponies.

We checked in to the hotel quite early, as obviously this far up the coast they are not busy at this time of year. The other good piece of news is that Chris was finally reunited with his missing bag! (After "only" 5 days…)

We took lunch at the Kaffi Hornið. They’re interpretation of the Icelandic principle of "get at least this amount of money out of each tourist" is delicious fare, but portions at least twice the size they need to be. I had a steak sandwich, which was absolutely delicious, but looked suspiciously like a sliced cow between two pieces of bread.

After lunch we found the Höfn computer store, and I was finally equipped with a working mouse, which has transformed the work on my writing and images.

We then drove up to Stokksnes, a small peninsula in the shadow of Vestrahorn Mountain, the famous "witches hat" which extends over a black beach full of small black dunes, and also puddles which were just melting to give me some scope for reflections.

Unfortunately by the end of the visit the cold was starting to catch up with me – I felt very weary and had a dreadful runny nose. I managed dinner, but then went to bed and slept soundly for many hours.

I woke up somewhat rested but still feeling rough, and gave the group breakfast and morning trip a miss. Fortunately this wasn’t a major issue, as the weather closed in and those who went out were battling rain showers and the like.

We again took lunch at the Kaffi Hornið. I tried to negotiate a smaller portion, but failed miserably. Fortunately the fish & chips was less enormous than some of the other options.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between rest (not completely comatose) and sleep (out for the count). I just hope that come tomorrow I will start to feel a bit more human again.

Day 3 started back at Jökulsárlón with another sunrise over the beach. Overnight some larger icebergs had reached the outlet and then beached, and the waves were somewhat higher than the previous day, providing for more dramatic images, but maybe less subtle ones.

Just as the sun rose we noticed wonderful pink light on the hills behind the lagoon, so I made the short walk up from the beach to photograph in this new light. It was also interesting to see just how much the visible bergs had changed, with several large ones poised to leave the lagoon, and others having changed position noticeably since the previous evening.

The other point of interest was the force of the water flow under the bridge and through the lagoon’s outlet. This reverses twice a day and at high tide salt water literally pours into the lagoon, helping to melt the icebergs, then the flow reverses taking any loose ice out to the sea. It was by stopping that flow that the Bond team made the lagoon freeze for the car chase in Die Another Day, then they simply unblocked the outlet and normal service resumed.

After a couple of hours of photography we were ready for coffee, but we again had to choose between the warmth of the cafe, and the use of a seat. I joked that when Lee said there would be limited down-time on the trip, I hadn’t realised he meant limited sitting down time.

Fortunately a resolution presented itself. Several of the group wanted to go back to Fjallasarlon. I joined them, but just went for an extended lunch in the warm, seated cafe at the new visitor centre.

Lee had planned an ice cave tour for the afternoon, but in the middle of lunch started getting messages that our tour had been usurped by a group of 56 school children, which would make serious photography impossible. After a bit of haggling we switched to an alternative cave and the trip was back on.

The drive out was entertaining, in a capable but very noisy and rough super jeep, followed by another long walk on ice to the cave entrance. Once inside we photographed a few "set piece" compositions, but did get a couple of promising images from each. However my expectation of a lengthy walk through a colourful cave went unfulfilled.

The drive out seemed even longer than the drive in, and we were late back to the hotel. Dinner was fine, but I was starting to feel very weary and departed early for bed.

The first full day of the tour started with breakfast, one advantage of being sufficiently far North is that sunrise is around 9, and sunset around 5. After breakfast we drove back to Jökulsárlón and went down onto the Diamond Beach, where many icebergs released from the lagoon are driven. We photographed them with the rising sun behind, with waves breaking over them, and as beautiful sculptures against the black background of the beach’s pebbles.

When we tired of that we went the short distance to the lagoon, which unusually was completely becalmed and in bright, low sunlight allowing for dramatic reflections.

The only problem with Jökulsárlón is that it’s become overrun by a massive number of visitors compared with when I visited in 2011, and the facilities haven’t even remotely kept up. The main cafe now only has standing room inside, and a very limited lunch menu. There are a few food trucks in the car park but each has at least a half-hour wait. And don’t mention the queue for the Ladies…

After an adequate but somewhat constrained lunch of lobster soup we set off for another glacial lagoon, at Fjallasarlon. When I was here before this was completely undeveloped, we drove the jeeps to the edge of the lake, and photographed the lake, a small, distant glacier, and a few icebergs. Not only does it now have a nice new visitor centre, where you can sit down!, but in winter the glacier comes right to the edge of the completely frozen lake on which you can walk.

Like knowing that aurorae are faint to the naked eye, I also "knew" that in clear air distances can be deceptive. Chris and I walked down the relatively short path from the ridge to the lake, and a few hundred metres to a very large, very sculptural iceberg.

At that point I looked at the front edge of the glacier on the other side of the lake and said "that doesn’t look much farther". So we set off. Some time later we were still walking, with our spikes on the ice, and it was only slowly getting closer. Eventually the ice started to look a bit broken and slushy, and we decided for safety’s sake to turn around. When we got back my Fitbit suggested we’d walked around 5km, and Andreas’ drone had recorded 6km going the full distance, safely above the ice. The walk was very enjoyable, but it was a lot further than I had planned.

The last stop of the afternoon was back at Jökulsárlón, however there wasn’t much of a sunset. I got a few more reflection shots, then it was back to the hotel for a nice dinner and early night.

New one for the dysfunctional hotels blog. Not only is the toilet positioned so close to the shower partition that someone with broad shoulders can’t sit straight, but as you sit there the door gradually swings open and comes to rest between your knees, with your left leg wedged firmly up against the partition, and your nose against the door handle. Double fault, 10 points.

Breakfast was complete with all expected humans, but we were collectively short one case which EasyJet had managed to leave at Gatwick, with an expected delivery date in four days’ time, so big Chris was going to have to do some emergency shopping.

We set off on the long drive to Jökulsárlón, our first stop proper. With the whole of southern Iceland covered in a fresh coat of crisp snow it was stunningly beautiful, but the combination of high winds and some ice on the road made it a very hard drive for Lee. Even though the storm had moved on, at times drifting loose snow caused a near white-out, and we passed at least one accident where a large vehicle had effectively pushed another off the road, albeit hopefully without significant injury.

We had a short stop for lunch, but otherwise we were on the road for about 5 hours. However that got us to the new FossHotel near Jökulsárlón, and after checking in we headed for the glacial lagoon, getting there just in time for sunset. There was great light on both the icebergs near the mouth of the lagoon, and also the hills behind it.

Back to the hotel for dinner, and then out again, with fairly clear skies and a good forecast for aurorae. We weren’t disappointed – it got started just as we got there, and put on a stunning show for two hours. I was in my element, with scope for all sorts of wide shots, and the Panasonic 9mm f/1.7 lens I bought for the purpose two years ago finally got used as intended.

One thing of which I was already aware in theory is just how faint the aurora is in practice. With the naked eye it’s just a dim glow and you need long exposures at high ISOs with a fast lens to make more impactful images. With my camera, at least, that leads to quite a noisy RAW image, and I’ll have to experiment to get the best results. However it all looks very promising.