Show me thumbnail imagesIceland, September 2008 (20 photos)
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Viking warship sculpture, Reykjavik (233KB)
Viking warship sculpture on the seafront in Reykjavik. Its a great piece this, and looks really good at night too!
Poetry on Reykjavik Wall (353KB)
Poetry on a house wall in the centre of Reykjavik
Just look at how the mountains
so very mighty be
sharp as razors at the top they span the land + sea
but don't forget that though
majestic spires,
capped with snow...
from each and every grain of sand
is where they grow
Viking warship sculpture, at night, Reykjavik (241KB)
Viking warship sculpture on the seafront in Reykjavik, lit up by the light pollution from Reykjavik itself. I'm so please to have the camera kit to be able to set this sort of thing up, as there was no way I was going to hold the camera still for the 30 seconds needed!
Faxi Waterfall (379KB)
Waterfall at Faxi, Iceland. Literally a hundred yards from the main road, we stopped for a short break. To the left of the waterfall is a 'Salmon Staircase' which allows the salmon to climb the waterfall. The drop of the waterfall is about 20ft.
Faxi Waterfall and shallow gorge (375KB)
Waterfall at Faxi, Iceland. A view looking down the shallow gorge carved by the river water. Iceland has a pretty bleak landscape, look - no trees. There's no native trees of any great size on Iceland due to the rocky volcanic ground underfoot and the fact its about 65 degrees north.
Gulfoss waterfall and dramatic gorge (233KB)
The Gulfoss, or Golden Waterfall, Iceland. In so many respects the 'bigger brother' to the waterfall at Faxi. I don't know how far the drop is on this one really, there was so much spray it was impossible to see the bottom.
Gulfoss waterfall and surroundings (352KB)
A bird's eye view of Gulfoss, the Golden Waterfall, Iceland. This photo almost makes it look like a glacier; you can get a sense of scale from the people standing on the rocks on the left (its quite big...).
Gulfoss waterfall (238KB)
The Gulfoss or Golden Waterfall in Iceland. You can get really close, on the rock on the left, but there's loads of spray so its hard to see. Its weird how the water falls and then makes a sharp left turn down the gorge and into the valley beyond.
Typical Icelandic vehicle (207KB)
Chelsea tractor, Iceland style. No, really, they need these things to get around - you should see some of the roads!
A little geyser (480KB)
The Little Geyser, Iceland, with its eruption at full size. Awesome. Yup, that is as small as it looks. The word 'geyser' used internationally comes from the Icelandic 'geysir', and this is one of several in a small area.
The bubble of Strokkur (202KB)
The bubble of Strokkur, an Icelandic geyser that reaches about 25 metres when it goes for it. You might have noticed the weather wasn't especially good so there's no decent picture of it at full height, but there's this funny effect where the steam rises and pushes the water up into a dome-like bubble, before bursting with great force. I just about caught it here - these things are pretty quick and not very reliable!
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (308KB)
The mid-atlantic ridge, viewable at the surface in the Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. The North-American plate, on the right, moves away from the Eurasian plate (about 5 miles to the left) at a rate of about an inch a year, leaving a subsided 'no-mans-land' in the middle. Its quite dramatic, but less so with a perfectly white sky...
Rock formed by flowing lava (618KB)
Ripples in the rock at the Thingvellir National Park showing how young (geologically speaking) Iceland is and giving away how it was formed. Unlike the UK, Iceland was never under the sea, so while you don't find fossils you do find interesting rock textures.
Thingvellir national park (227KB)
Part of the village of Thingvellir, Iceland. The Icelandic parliament was based here for many years before moving to Reykjavik. Its a beautiful place on a crappy weather day, so it must be fantastic on a good day.
Typical Icelandic landscape at Thingvellir National Park (151KB)
A view of the Icelandic landscape from the North-American plate at Thingvellir. So much of Iceland is geothermally driven, with power stations dotted around, hot springs, and naturaly enough no shortage of hot water!
Hofdi, famous for the end of the cold war (248KB)
Just back from Reykjavik seafront there's a white house that looks important with floodlights and flagpoles, and looks totally out of place against the industrial estate next door. This is Höfði, the place of the Iceland Summit of 1986 where Reagan and Gorbachev met to bring an end to the Cold War.
Becky in the hot springs (189KB)
Alas, the last day and the best weather. This is Becky relaxing in the Blue Lagoon hot springs - a small detour from Reykjavik to Keflavik Airport. The water was about 40°C, in pleasant contrast to the 8°C air temperature!
Rocks in the Blue Lagoon hot springs (193KB)
Water and rocks of the Blue Lagoon, Iceland. The water is cloudy, from the bacteria and minerals in it, but its amazingly clean in many ways - the bacteria that live in normal swimming pools can't survive in this water, so no chlorine is added.
Arctic sun over the Blue Lagoon (177KB)
No trip to the Arctic Circle is complete without a photo of the low sun, this was taken in the early afternoon. The people's heads you can see in the foreground are probably crouched, as the depth of the Blue Lagoon hot springs is about 5ft at the most.
The Blue Lagoon, Iceland (247KB)
Wide-angle view of the Blue Lagoon geothermal springs Iceland. As ever in Iceland, any geothermal water source has an accompanying power station, but its far enough away to forget about when you're in the water, which by the way really is that rich blue colour!
