Iceland Circular Route September 2015
After retirement we moved to Liverpool and my interest in photography increased through doing wedding photography with Paul Poynter of White Dove Photography. Come 2015 I was keen to go to Iceland and try some photography in the remarkable landscapes there.
On the 6th September 2015 we flew from Manchester airport to Keflavík International Airport in Iceland to begin a tour of the island following the ring road in a clockwise direction. We had allowed 15 days for this iconic tour. We were keen to explore the island having heard of its magnificent scenery and wanting to develop our landscape photography skills. Helen was armed with her excellent Sony a6000 CSC and me with my Nikon D810 and D750 and feeling like beginners when it comes to landscape photography. We took a pair of Sirui tripods, neutral density filters and for my Nikons the Tamron 24-70 F2.8 and Nikon 70-200 F2.8 lenses.
Having picked up a rented 4WD Jeep Cherokee we set off for our first destination – Grundarfjörður, a small town, situated in the north of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in the west of Iceland. We had just about a day and a half to explore the peninsula with its mountain, glacier, waterfalls and beaches. The most notable features of the peninsula while we were there were WIND and RAIN. So we saw very little! We were staying at the Old Post office and a feature of this small town is the very striking Kirkjufell (church mountain) which was almost invisible during our stay due to the rain.
On day 2 we intended to explore the Snæfellsnes peninsula national park and I was hoping we would climb the Snæfellsjökull volcano with the glacier at its peak. No such luck! The wind and torrential rain continued and we were largely confined to the jeep. This was a day for dispelling the idea that Iceland would easily give up its scenic and photographic wonders! I was beginning to learn my small insignificance in this wild and energetic place! Still, this didn’t stop us getting around and deciding it was definitely a place to visit at a future date to explore in more clement weather. Meanwhile, a day in the wild wind and rain but not requiring as much resilience as Gudridur Thorbjarnardóttir. Almost five centuries before Columbus, Viking women sailed the perilous to North America. Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir was the first documented European woman to have a child in North America. Her story is told in first-person point of view in the historical novel God's Daughter by Heather Day Gilbert. It is said she transitioned from being a pagan seeress to embrace Christian faith.
Without detailing every day we continued on our trip with typically very variable weather – wind, rain and sun! We visited Akureyri, Lake Myvatn, Hverjall volcanic crater, Krafla and Leirhnjukar lava fields. Then on to Husavik with the possibility of a whale trip. Heading north on route 85 to waterfalls at Hafragilsfoss, Dettifoss and Selfoss and the Jokulsargljufur canyon.
Next destination was Seyðisfjörður via Modrudalue – the highest inhabited place in Iceland at 469m. The drive down to Seyðisfjörður was spectacular the rain was heavy, the car broke down and we enjoyed a very wet climb up the side of a waterfall and then taking in Berlin artist Lukas Kühne's bulbous sculpture known as Tvísöngur, mixing concrete, nature, and sound to create an interactive tribute to Iceland's unique tradition of five-tone harmony. Wonderful!
Next on to Hofn and then Hof and a visit to the remarkable Jokulsarlen Ice Lagoon.
We then travelled on to the Hveraverdi geothermal area and on to Reykjavic.
It was a fantastic trip and these photo’s a some of the thousands I took.
