Day 8 – Iceland Trip 2014

Today was a bit more of a relaxed affair. We set off pretty early to capture a sunrise, as we had not really captured one so far on our trips. Our day was described as the blue lagoon trip, as that is where we would eventually end up later in the day. We made quite a few stops on the way.

First stop was the frozen lake Kleifarvatn. The shore of the lake was thick volcanic sand (black), however the shoreline was completely frozen. Some of the ice platforms had cracked and formed various shapes and structures, that the unfrozen water either flowed underneath or moved the platforms around.

Frozen lake, Kleifarvatn

A beautiful place to stop. I normally would stick around the group in these areas however for some reason I just had the urge to go off and do my own thing. Alan Santillo would have been proud of me today, very few HDR shots taken here, they just didn't work too well so I used my Lee filters.

We moved from the shore to a little bay around the corner where it was evident just how cold the water and temperatures must have been recently. The waves on the lake had actually frozen...

Frozen waves, Kleifarvatn

We took a minute or two to take a few shots of the frozen waves and then made our next stop at Seltun, a bubbling area of hot mud pools and steam vents etc. When the steam rose from these pools the taste of sulphur was pretty foul. I was unlucky enough to yawn just at the wrong moment.

Bubbling pools at Seltun

From Seltun, we made our way around to a small fishing harbour called Grindavik. We made a quick comfort break and then proceeded to drive along a coastal road following the harbour wall defences. Here we were shown the remains of various fishing vessels that had been damaged in storms. the force of the water had driven the boats right over on to the shore.

Boat remains at Grindavik

Boat remains at Grindavik

Boat remains at Grindavik

We wandered around the coastal path looking at the wreckages and trying not to stumble over on the large rocks around the them. The walk eventually took us to the lighthouse.

Lighthouse, Grindavik

Apologies for not getting a better image of the lighthouse, but some TWONK actually parked his car right in front of the building (the large rock hides it). Given he was also a photographer and saw all the Welshot crew taking shots didn't bother him. 

After the lighthouse we drove a little more down the coastal road / path to where the remains of old houses are located. At first we didn't think it would be a place of too much interest, but we were wrong we could have spent a good few hours.

Old houses, near Grindavik

Old houses, near Grindavik

Old houses, near Grindavik

Old houses, near Grindavik

The TWONK also followed us to this location. The cheeky git even followed us around to see what shots we were getting. So I just very calmly walked in front of his shot on more than one occasion, and I just may have had my fingers in the reverse 'V' sign in one of them!!

From here we left Grindavik and headed over to the Blue Lagoon. One of Iceland's most popular tourist spots and probably one of the most expensive. I didn't relish the thought of paying to swim / bathe in the expelled water of the nearby power station. A few others also didn't, so we headed for the bar and had a few pints of Gull to finish off the trip on a happy ending.

Blue Lagoon

Gaynor, Phil, Sue, Gill, Rob, Joan and Ted did do their bit for the group. They all looked very healthy and a good few years younger after smearing the clay over their faces.

Final day tomorrow, hopefully a good chance of the Aurora as well.