Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – They return

It is pretty much unbelievable that this time last week we were boarding Easyjet flight EZY 1805. None of us really knew what to expect from this years trip. Previous years had been similar in nature and in locations we visited, using the capital, Reykjavik, as the base from where all excursions departed.

This year it was more of a road trip. None of us really knew where we were staying and where we were going!!!

All I can say is Aron Reynisson did us proud. From the location of our first meal,which in true Welshot tradition, included Chips with the most tastiest fish (in a very nice light batter) to the very final meal in Reykjavik which was just brilliant (steak done properly - Rare!!). The scenery in between theses gastronomic delights wasn't bad either!!

Joan and Ted Reece proved yet again what troopers they really are. Nothing proved too difficult for them. Eirian did a great job of rallying the troops to help out when it was necessary. Even in conditions as below.....

 

 

We worked out when Joan was going to fall over or had fallen because she gave out the most delightful giggle which was usually followed by a "Whoopsie Daisy"

 

From the outset the true Welshot spirit kicked in. We all helped each other out get the best from the experience. Kris and Eirian were brilliant as the Welshot leads. I know Lee & Eifion were quite worried about not being with us, they needn't have, we were all is safe hands. Aron also did the rounds checking up on us, making sure we didn't put ourselves in (too) much danger.

First night luck again with the Aurora, giving the newcomers Robert Cragg and Anneka Davies their first tastes of an Icelandic Aurora light show.   

Second day, the highlight was seeing Kris' photograph on display at Uriddafoss. 

 

 

the off-roading. Our mission to get to a outlet glacier.

Conditions (as previous images show) were miserable near the glacial outcrop, but we soldiered on.

 

This was also the day Eirian and myself decided to mix our vodka drinks with Skittles and created our new Welshot drink, it gives you the warmth of the vodka, but the sugar rush from hell!!!!

 

Day 3, another Glacier and another Aurora (ish)

Wow, was the word of the day. The glacier we visited the day before also caused us to use the same word but this one was double WOW!!

The above image is an outlet Glacier panorama, with our host Aron Reynisson in action.

 

We then had a quite tough-ish hike to find the "black waterfall". The pathway was mostly up hill and frequently covered in ice / frozen snow or sodden black mud. Ian did his mountain goat routine marching off up the hill at speed. We asked him how he did this, his response was a classic.....

"I stomp like a terminator that just wants a shit"

Both Eirian and myself just howled laughing.

 

 

Other highlights of the day, the Church at Hof and our first visit to Jökulsárlón.

 

 

 

Panorama of the Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon.

 

 

One of my final shots for the third day, a cloudy aurora.....

 

Fourth day highlights, the beach, the eclipse and ice caves.

We got stuck twice in the van on this day, but it added to the adventures we were having. Aron showed what a truly exceptional driver he really is and that even the best drivers can't always get away with pushing a vehicle to its limits.

 

 

The van survived though to carry us to our destinations .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final full day....

The beautiful canyon Fjaòrárgljúfur......

 

 

Vik,

 

 

 

 

Dyrholaey....

 

The return to Reykjavik...... (previous years photo's)

 

And so to the goodbye, we left pretty early the next day to get back to Keflavik where our adventures began.

A short delay, but we were amused as we thought we had met Richie Roberts' brother from another mother!!!!

 

I've since spoke to Richie and he denies all knowledge!!

...... And so to goodbye to (N)Iceland.

 

flying back to the UK

 

Thanks to all who made this trip so exceptional...... in no particular order......

Aron Reynisson - Absolutely brilliant photographer / driver /guide & a new best Icelandic friend !!!

Kris Williams & Eirian Parry - Brilliant Welshot hosts, always up for a laugh (and drink!!)

Ian Fox - Excellent person to room with, even though we did keep each other awake with the snoring!! Just make sure he gets his tea in the morning!!

Sue Emery - "The Vegetarian", or as in the restaurants "Is it you whose different?" - Great, friendly and loves a drink!!!

Joan & Ted Reece - The "Troopers" no matter what was thrown at them they gave it a go!! Simply inspirational !!

Robert Cragg - The "Twitcher", he loved his birds of the feathered kind!! Very knowledgeable and great to listen to.

Anneka Davies - The "Newbie", quiet at first but OMG, the fun & mischievous Anneka came out when the Vodka started to flow!! { Cockgate 😉 }

Dan Santillo - Great as usual, so knowledgeable in the field of Landscapes, plus loves a drink !!!!

 

 

Once back home, there was only one way I was going to relax.......

 

See you next year Iceland !!!!!!!

 

 

Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – Day 5

The Final day of our trip. In the last four days we had travelled all the way from our landing point in Keflavik to the very end of the Southern coast in Stokksnes. Our hotel near Jökulsárlón was the beginning of our slow (-ish) ride back to the bright lights of Reykjavik.

First stop was labelled as a "beautiful canyon" by Aron. I think he undersold it, it was really beautiful. Kind of similar to the Fairy Glen in Wales, but a little wider but just as picturesque. It's a shame the sky was so flat as I can imagine some great lighting can hit this place.

Everybody seemed to start wandering up the hill to the top of the canyon. Erian and myself stayed at the bottom and found a great little pathway which led us down into the canyon, where the viewpoint was just spectacular.

We walked a little further up the hill and found another viewpoint where we could look down and along into the canyon.

 

I decided to carry on up the hill to get to the top. Several heart attacks later and after shedding my body weight in sweat I reached the top, where no less than three waterfalls converged forming the stream that flowed through the canyon.

 

As I had already stayed on top for too long, I made my way back down the hill at the side of the canyon. If I haven't lost weight on this trip someone is really going to suffer!!

We left the canyon and started to make our way over to the picturesque town of Vik.

This is a place we visited last year. So I only took a few shots. Mainly a view of the church and a new artistic installation commemorating the bond of sea trading between Iceland and the UK. A similar installation was created and placed in Kingston upon Hull.

It's very Gormley-esque, but it's been created by sculptress Steinnun Thorarinsdottir. It was commissioned thirty years after the ending of the last cod wars and to those whose lives have been lost to the hostile waters of the North Atlantic.

Apparently within a year, the version in Hull was ripped down and stolen!! Welcome to Great Britain, Icelanders!! I hope the people responsible have been caught and suitably punished.

From here we ventured just around the corner for some lunch at a beach restaurant at Reynisfjara.

Here a basalt outcrop shows off all it's splendour. Pity about the bloody American "glee" club that seemed to think the whole world wanted to take pictures of them sat on the basalt columns. I wished author had sent a bolt of lightening just at the right time when they started singing in the cave!!

 

Next stop was back to another old haunt, Dyrholaey.

Again we went to a slightly different area than to where we went the previous year. We went a little higher on the cliffs to the lighthouse.

Here you could get a great viewpoint of the sea arches beneath the cliffs.

Boy it was windy up there. Our cameras got battered as did we!! Even the birds struggled to reach their nesting grounds...

Just on leaving Dyrholaey, we passed a lake on the left of the road, Aron slammed on the breaks and pointed to a very rare sight indeed. A pair of Black swans were just going about their daily routine. Robert (an avid ornithologist) was so excited. We thought the spotting of a Sea Bunting at Jökulsárlón beach made his trip, but this was just the icing on the cake!!

I actually took my last photograph (with my DSLR) at Dyrholaey. I knew the next stops I'd been to, so I planned on just using my iPhone.

Final stop before Reykjavik was Skógafoss, the iconic waterfall. Whilst the rest of the togs went off to shoot images, we got the vodka out. Erian took this lovely pic whilst I tried my best at walking on water!!

We managed to grab a nice shot of the waterfall reflection though.....

It was a little too busy for me, hence the reason for the vodka and just the iPhone shots. I don't really think I could have beaten the shots I got from the last trips....

So on to Reykjavik we went. It was great being back in the capital.

I was photo'd out so on to the bar we went which led on to dinner and then back to the bar and eventually bed.

Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – Day 4

Fire and Ice, Eclipse & getting stuck!

Well it's here, the day where the Sun disappears and seemingly all hell breaks loose because the moon gobbles up the sun. It was an early start to the day as we wanted to catch the sunrise and icebergs down at Jökulsárlón beach. 

There were already a few photographers down the beach when we arrived. Aron knew the best spot for us to claim as our own. The sun had already begun to show signs of rising at about 4:30am with the sky a mixture of red and burnt orange. 

As soon as we hit the beach we went our separate ways claiming our icebergs and viewpoints. 



Just before the Sun decided to eventually wake up, the colour of the sky changed and across the other side of the road, the white mountains were transformed with the most glorious pinky / blue hue.

It wasn't until about 7:30 that the sun showed itself above the horizon. A frenzy of photography followed trying to get the ice looking as though it was on fire. I have to admit, I was left a little speechless at the whole experience, a perfect way to start a day!! I even realised how lazy of a photographer I am!! (Yep I've admitted it!)

After the Icebergs were well and truly "in the bag", we returned to the hotel to pick up those who wanted a lie in and took in some breakfast. Well, we tried to return, Aron unfortunately managed to get the van marooned on the soft black volcanic sand. We tried to get the vehicle released, but the more we tried the further it dug itself into the sand. We had to wait until a friend of his brought a suitable vehicle to get us out.

We returned out to the beach soon after breakfast. The eclipse had just started when we left the hotel. We wanted to be on the beach again, so that's where we headed.

None of knew what to expect, true the light started to dip. The sun started looked like pac-man. We set up our cameras, with the knowledge that it was possible our cameras might get damaged if we exposed them too long to the sun light. I changed my battery as the camera indicated it needed changing and promptly put a fresh one in. What could go wrong? 

Just as the eclipse got to about the expected 95%, my camera just switched itself off. I was also aware of another photographer walking past me.The battery was fine for all of two seconds, even though the camera said it had full charge. I took the battery out, put it back in and it worked - I grabbed a few images, but in the meantime, the photographer who walked past had walked right into my shot, you can imagine the names I called him! 

I quickly changed lenses so I could at least get a sun in eclipse.

On the final image of the eclipse, the camera died again. It was so strange, could it really be the end of the world approaching?? I began to pack up my stuff. Just as I was zipping up my bag,  I heard someone question "Finished?", I looked up and was the ignorant fecker of a tog almost insisting he has my space on the beach, I just slowly zipped up my bag, looked at him firmly and retorted "I'm finished when I've walked away pal, and while we're at it, have some respect for your fellow photographers, you ignorant f*@£wit". I told him what he had done. He was clearly shocked someone dared to have a go. He beggared off quite swiftly. I really wanted to hit him with my three legged thing (tripod) but I refrained.

From the beach we went back to the Jökulsárlón lagoon, but a slightly different location from that of the day before. My mission here was to get a shot of the seals that frequent the ice. Unfortunately time was tight here and the seals had retreated to the far side of the lagoon. 

As time was tight, I decided to abandon the seal hunt and return to the bus.

The next stop on the agenda was Breidermerkurjökel. Another outlet glacier but with the added bonus of Ice Caves. It's something I'd always wanted to do, just to experience the Ice from within it's mass.

We couldn't get the bus all the way to the glacier, so we went as far as we could and started to hike the rest of the way. 



I know we said to Lee before we left, that we wouldn't put ourselves in any danger, but.......

Aron did say the caves were closed a couple of days before as they couldn't guarantee the stability. Aron checked it out and said if we went in one by one, but not hang around, it would be fine. So some of us did, and OMG we weren't disappointed. 

Here's a short clip Aron shot.....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205638546870618&pnref=story



Once finished at the caves we began our hike back to the bus. Everything was great until we started our journey back on the bus. It's fair to say we did go a little off road, but at one point the bus just couldn't make it back up the hill track where a small stream was running down it. The wheels just churned up the ground until only three wheels of the bus were actually on the ground but well bedded into the track, the fourth was just suspended in mid air.

Aron had to call for help, the second time in one day!! It all added to the adventure and gave us chance for coffee and vodka!!! 

After all of the fun of the off-roading and getting stuck, we made our way over to the furthest point on our South Coast trip. The destination was Stokksnes,  somewhere Kris Williams always wanted to visit. It was clear why. Whisky Black Sand Dunes leading to a spectacular mountain view. 



From here we had more vodka ( well it was cold ), made a few friends on the road back from the beach.....



Sue had said earlier she hoped she had the chance to photograph the Icelandic horses. So that was another tick in a wish list done!! 

Then made our way back to our hotel (we did stop for dinner first). By the time we got back to the hotel, we were so tired we all just went to bed!! 

Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – Day 3

Today was all about glaciers and icebergs and possible ice caves. So the first stop today was Svinafellsjökel an outlet glacier.

Just the sheer size of this huge ice flow took your breath away. I always remember from our previous trips to Iceland, our guide told us how there was something quite spiritual about glaciers and this place just proved him right. From the blue colour of the ice, to the silence that swept over the glacier. You could literally hear the ice cracking or moaning under the strain of pressure.

 

Once we had recovered from our delight at the glacier, we carried on just around the corner to Skaftafell home of the Svartifoss or the "Black" waterfall.

Getting to the waterfall was no mean feat. The short hike up the valley wasn't without its fair share of climbs and obstacles. Part of the pathway was thick in sheet ice / frozen snow. I very gingerley walked over over the slippery stuff with Eirian keeping a watchful eye on where I was placing my feet. It was pretty scary for me not being an avid hiker or snow lover!

The view at the end of the hike was worth it though...

 

Bare in mind the walk down to the above view so it was fare to say I was bricking myself walking back up, but I did it and felt so much better for it.

We stopped for a quick tea break (vodka break) at the Skaftafell visitors centre, after which we made our way to our next stop, the Glacial lagoon at Jökulsárlón.

We did manage a small unscheduled stop. Joan wanted to see the Church at Hof (Hofskirkja).

 

 

On to Jökulsárlón. Aron took us to a part of the lagoon that not many people go to. As with most attractions in Iceland, they get very busy and this was one of the more popular stop offs for photographers. So Aron's knowledge of the area served us well, we got a part of the lagoon to ourselves.

Here icebergs that were once part of the glacier start making their way down to the ocean front.

We left the lagoon to go to the beach front to see where the broken off icebergs eventually end up...

..... and that was it for our activities for the day, we made our way to the hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights.

After dinner we did get an aurora show, but it was pretty muted by clouds (well until 4:30am - but I didn't stay up, I was drunk!!)

Due to the nature of Internet connections, there may not be another update until we get home. This days post took the best part of two days to post. Apologies.

Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – Day 2

Well, after day 1 (a very long day!!) we started off at 9:30am. The sun had already risen when we set off, so no sun rise pictures today. To be honest we were glad of the sleep in after the previous night (aurora frenzy!!)

First stop was a waterfall / glacier river we stopped off at last year, Uriddafoss.

We were actually really surprised that the area had been made health and safety friendly, we couldn't get down to the central island this time. Kris was made up though, the Icelandic authorities had used one of his images from last year to publicise the area. A sign had been erected, with his image and his name for all the world to see!!

Next stop was near Seljalandsfoss (one of the most iconic waterfalls). We didn't stay here today (well not at this time), we swapped vehicles and left all of our worldly goods behind us (in the trailer) and swapped to a proper off road vehicle. No mardy 4x4 for us, this was a proper ford big begger that stopped at nothing. Our destination was a glacier near Þórsmörk (Gigjokull). Getting there was more fun than a ride at Alton Towers. Aron, drove us quite capably across the lava field / Ice field / frozen rivers / non frozen rivers. It was scary at times but so much fun.

Our destination was the Gigjokull glacier. We all had some fun river hopping to get to it, but we all did it and in true Welshot spirit we helped all to get there.

The weather wasn't that great and we were stuck to shoot things so Joan very graciously agreed to model for us, we were going to do off camera flash - but I forgot the flashes!!

We did a bit more off roading ...

Lunch was at the Volcano Huts, around the Þórsmörk area.

We then made our way back to the off road vehicle pick up point near Seljalandsfoss. We walked the full wall of waterfalls.

Then it was back to the hotel. The weather today, to be fair, was very poor. We got hit with everything, hence the lack of images. On the way to the hotel, myself and Eirian decided to experiment with Icelandic Vodka and skittles!! The result...........

Hmmmmm!

Welshot Do Iceland Again – 2015 – Day 1

Well the North Welshot team touched down around 10:15 am, soon followed by the Southern team (Dan & Anneka) who landed about 10 mins after us. It was nicely timed as we met each other in the arrivals bit of the airport.

Aron met us at the airport and directed us to our mode of transportation. From there it was a quick trip into Keflavik town for a well deserved Welshot Fish and Chip lunch.

After lunch we headed to our first photographic adventure, the lighthouses at Gardsskaga. It was a quaint little place full of coastal charm and millions of blinking insects, whilst they didn't bite they certainly put you off setting up your tripod!! We managed to get a few shots!!

From here we ventured to the Krisuvik geothermal area. The force of nature here was immense, as was the smell of sulphur. Mother Nature at her finest!

From here, we thought we were on our holidays as Aron said lets go to the beach!! Hmmm, it ain't no Tenerife beach, but it was refreshing!! A great place to settle down for a few hours of photography. Unfortunately the weather closed in and it started to Snow / Hail / Rain, call it what you will but eventually we got some images. Even if it was a rainbow over a lighthouse!!

We came for different colours in the sky though. So after the beach stop, we made our way over to our hotel in Selfoss. On the way, we knew the solar activity had given us a good chance of an aurora. It didn't disappoint.

And so to the end of Day 1!!!

Apologies for the lateness, blame the Vodka on Day 1!!!

Day 2 coming soon (-ish)