Path to Dunkery Hill beacon

In May I spent a weekend walking around Exmoor National Park with my dad. I hadn’t spent too much time in that part of the country previously and it was a good chance to spend a bit of quality time with the old man too. The scenery is simply stunning and there are numerous good walks to be had. We covered a pretty reasonable distance each day, around 13 miles with a lot of up and downs and with a fair few good ales added in to keep the energy levels up

Exmoor Highland Cattle

Mossy path

Foal on the moor

Mother and foal from afar on the moor

We stayed in a small village called Wheddon Cross for the two nights we were there, setting off early on the Sunday morning to catch the mist rising on the moor revealing the locals; a foal and her mother in the mist.

My dad walks towards Horner water

Exmoor Ponies on the decent to Horner water

The East Lyn River

A view of the valley

Walking back up from the Horner tea rooms

The view above really captured my attention as a classical English view of the countryside as we have come to know it.

A water storage pond

A view out to sea and Lynton

The coastal path

The weather on my final day in Iceland was a mixture of light rain, heavy rain, sideways rain, sleet, snow and everything in-between. A typical day in Iceland of course, which made short work of my basic ‘waterproof’ clothing… Lesson learned, next time I brought more suitable clothing with me! My faithful friend Albert was once again showing me around. We were going around a slightly altered version of the Golden Circle tourist lap.

Steam rises from a hot stream near to a geo-thermal power plant

Throughout Iceland you come across areas where there are streams have steam rising from the nearly boiling, sulphuric water running through them.

Gullfoss waterfalls

Rainbow over Gullfoss waterfalls

Gullfoss waterfalls

A Rock ptarmigan

A drove of Icelandanic horses

Icelandic horse trots

Closeup of an Icelandic horse’s eye

Icelandanic ‘Lobster’

Derlict building

Sun sets over the sea

If you get the chance to go to Iceland, go!

I had read a lot of good reports about taking a super jeep to explore some of the more extreme sections of Iceland. This trip was back in April so there was still a lot of snow and ice about. A super jeep is an imported jeep that has been raised and had 40 inch plus tyres put on it which can glide over the top of snowy plains with easy. To start off with there was a long drive along roads to get to the start of the off roading.

View driving towards Landmannalaugar

Our first stop off was at these waterfalls

Waterfall runoff with a hydro electricity plant in the distance

A simple pulley style bridge over a river

After another hour or so we started to head off road and into the frozen landscape. At this point the tyres on the jeeps were deflated so they could better tackle the drive over the snow and ice.

The super jeep makes light work of the snow plains on Landmannalaugar

Ice strarts to break away from the Landmannalaugar riverside

Snow mobile rider tackles the river crossing

Helping a snowmobile rider who got stuck…

A super jeep attempts to tackle the riverbank. This route wasn’t successful in the end….

After a long day of driving we spent some time in the natural hot spring before heading back to Reykjavík. The water is so hot that it would scald you, so it is mixed with melt water and pooled to create a hot bath.

Me swimming in the hot spring

Bridge leading to the natural hot springs

Landmannalaugar

Super jeep drive off the river bank into the water

Super jeep driving accross Landmannalaugar

Trying to find a route around the steeper terrain

I would highly recommend doing the super jeep tour in the winter time when it is the only real way to reach certain parts of the island. Seeing the jeeps tackle seemingly impossible banks out of rivers and driving through the water was amazing. I booked my trip through http://discover.is/

Looking back after finding out the road was closed

As ever the weather in Iceland looked uncertain for my first full day in the country not in the office. My friend Albert suggested we drive around some of the less well known parts of the southern part of the island, not quite following the standard Golden Circle route.

Drainage channels

Albert waits in the car as I photograph the scenery

The scenery in the area was very strange, lavafields itermixed with lakes and ice

The frozen shore of a lake with a mountain range in the background

I had a great day walking and driving around these strange landscapes, it was an interesting time of year to be there too as some of ice melted away and the sun interspersed between the clouds and rain.

Dead seagull

More of the lake

Frozen ice cracks and moves on the surface of the lake

Strange rock formations partly covered in moss

As we drove onwards the landscape changed revealing the lava fields covered in moss which can take decades to grow and larger rock formations rearing up in the background. The palette of colours which coloured the landscape was incredible, the patchy snow adding additional interest. The landscapes around Iceland can change on a pretty regular basis as it is such a volcanically active island.

Road leading through the mossy flats

Gravel track leading to Herdisarvik

Herdisarvik

Bleak beach

Remains of traditional Icelandic houses

Herdisarvik, home of poet Einar Benediktsson

Child’s swing sits empty

This un-expected house find in the middle of nowhere was very dramatic, the poet Einar Benediktsson lived here with his wife in relative isolation for much of the year as the land, especially before the modern roads were put through. The winters must have been brutal to endure here, the desolate but beautiful sea views could only have be a great inspiration.

View out to sea

Albert reverses down the track to avoid getting stuck in the mud…

View from Reykjavík accross the bay

Fish drying on top of Thufa, an art installation at the end of the harbour

The Sun Voyager – Reykjavík

This is probably the most photographed scene in Iceland, but I couldn’t help myself. The recent addition of several high rise flat blocks unfortunately obscures the sun from the sculpture for a lot of the day. One of main excitements for the trip was to see the Northern Lights.

Downtown Reykjavík and the Hallgrimskirkja church

Iceland is one of those mythical places which is hard to imagine really exists until you have been there, as the tourist brochures proudly proclaim; “The Land of Fire and Ice”. Over the Easter break I spent nearly a week there staying with my friend Albert whom I used to work with in London who has now headed back to his home country and lives in central Reykjavík.

A woman returns from a swim in the freezing sea. In the foreground steam rises from a hot pool

On the afternoon of my first day there Albert took me to the sea near the university where people go swimming in the sea, which is apparently a relatively modern craze… The women seen above looked to be in their 60’s and completely unfazed by the frigid water temperatures.

As dusk fell I headed home to wrap up warm ahead of a night hunting the Northern Lights. The solar wind predictions weren’t amazing, but I was hopeful of seeing something.

Long exposure of Reykjavík from a nearby hill top at night

At around 9pm I was picked up in a jeep in the centre of Reykjavik and headed out to a hilltop nearby to scope out the the chances of seeing some lights. The other people in the jeep had spent a long cold night previously hoping to see the lights without success. As I shot the view of the town with the last of the sun disappearing into the horizon some colours started appearing in over the mountains in the opposite direction.

First sighting of the Aurora

At this point the Northern Lights were quite faint, just a light colouring in the sky, but wow it was pretty impressive none the less. The decision was made to head into the national park to try and get a better view away from the light pollution of the city.

Aurora over Hvalfjörður

Aurora over Hvalfjörður with trees in the foreground

By this point it was pretty cold outside, -8°C degrees so operating the camera and trying to get focus was pretty tricky with a large thick set of gloves on, taking your hands out of the gloves was really not an option as your hands almost instantly start to hurt from the cold. But the Aurora overhead was pretty strong at points, and by using a tripod and a long exposure I was able to capture it. My feet were the bit of me that really got cold.

A car’s tail-lights disappears into the night

I was amazed how bright the moon was behind us through the clear Icelandic night, creating long ghostly shadows in front of us. It was amazing how much you could see without any kind of external illumination.

Jeeps with the moon overhead

For a nominal fee in Iceland you can get virtually any number plate you like, every jeep had it’s own quirky name.

Long night time exposure as Clouds pass overhead

By this point I had been standing in the cold for several hours watching the Northern Lights dance across the sky and had pretty much lost the feeling in my feet despite thick wool socks and hiking boots, but it was definitely worth it to see these strange, beautiful other worldly lights. It was time for a hot chocolate and to head back to Reykjavík.

I hope to head back to Iceland to photography the Aurora further in different locations as it is truly a photographers paradise! I have several more posts to put up from Iceland in the coming days.