Appendix 4 - Gulfoss

I took a lot of photographs at Gulfoss so it's taken a while to reduce the number for the post down to six examples.  I've tried to use different ones to the original post but I have reprocessed all the pictures so even where I have duplicated the choice they should look a bit different.  This first photo was taken from high above and is of the top falls then looking up river across the countryside.

Again from high up here are both parts of the falls and into the distance.

Taken from a little further right and using a wider angle you may be able to make out the path down to the falls on the left side and also a couple of people at the top viewing area also on the left.

The path had been closed for safety reasons but everyone was ignoring that and going down the path anyway. It was a bit slippy but easily navigable. This shot was taken from the path and looking down into the canyon below the lower falls.

This next shot is a close up from the top falls where there is a small pool below a minor part of the falls.

Below the pool from the previous picture there is this area of rapids before the water makes the first big drop of the falls.

 There is a viewing platform above the path down to the falls where I took the wide shot of the top falls and most of the bottom falls. Looking down at the people below gives a better idea about the size of the falls. It's very impressive and very loud.  

It's a pity it was so overcast and dull wile we were there but we had a great time there anyway.

Day 7 - A last look around

Our last full day in Iceland and following the wet and windy evening it had snowed overnight.  Here's a shot from the rear door of our apartment towards the other two apartment blocks.

We decided to revisit Thingvellir to see how it looked with a covering of snow and also stop a few places on the way there and back to have a look around.  Just outside Laugarvatn there is a picnic area which we have driven past a few times so we decided to stop here first.  In one direction is a view over the lake at Laugarvatn and the other way is this view towards the national park.

A little further there is a turn off onto the original road from Thingvellir to Laugarvatn which is much more windy and heads more into the mountains to the North.  The road was full of potholes and had quite a rough surface but it did mean there was plenty of grip for Vinnys' stud covered tyres.  Here's a view along the towards the mountains with Vinnys' tracks through the ice filled puddle.

Here's another shot showing the cloud covering the higher parts of the mountain.

Further along we had a good view of the mountains in the national park with the yellow sun lighting up the clouds above the mountains.

Near the end of the old road it turned into a very rough track which was full of deep holes and a thick layer of snow.  Poor Vinny bumped his underside on the ground a couple of times but easily managed to get us back onto the new road where we continued towards Thingvellir. When we reached the edge of the national park there was a parking place at the edge of the road where I took this photo across Thingvellir lake to the mountains in the distance.

From the same place this is the main road towards Reykjavik which is quite narrow and winding and was covered in snow and ice.

When we reached the car park we walked up the path towards to upper waterfall and passed this little patch of conifers which looked lovely with the sprinkling of snow on them.

Soon after we reached the waterfall the sun broke through the clouds to light up the waterfall and the rock face around it.  Some of the water had a layer of ice on it an the rope fence next to the waterfall had a line of little icicles shining in the sun.

Here's a shot looking down the canyon with the water rushing passed the snow covered rocks.

Here's a fisheye view of the waterfall from the edge of the decking. I love the reflection of the snow and rocks in the water between us and the waterfall.  The sky looked really nice and blue in this direction but there was still quite a lot of thick black cloud behind us which kept giving us snow showers as we walked about. This patch of sun went after a few minutes so I took as many shots as I could in the time it was here.

Here's a shot of the wooden decking with a fresh layer of snow on it.   It looks so different to when we were here the other day.

We were going to head back towards the church to get some new shots of it with snow on and around it.  On the way I stopped to take this shot across to the mountains where you can see low cloud drifting around and obscuring some of the lower hills.

As we headed towards the church some big black clouds came over and from a distance I just managed to get this shot with the orange sky behind the church before it went almost completely dark and started to snow hard.

We decided against walking all the way to the church because it looked like it was going to snow for a while so we headed back to the car park instead.  We set off to go back to the apartment an we took the lakeside road which joins up with the main road towards Laugarvatn.  On the way we stopped near the lake and I took a few shots including this one.

When we got back to the apartment we popped down to the Fontana Spa for a late lunch and a dip in the hot pools and steam rooms.  Around the pools there was snow on the ground and the rocks so it did feel strange sitting in the hot water and it was very cold when moving from place to place.  At one point it started to snow quite hard and we both had a layer of very white snow on our hair.

It snowed quite a bit all through the night and we had to set off to the airport about 8am the next day to go to the airport.  It was a long dark drive in the snow and ice but we made it home safely.  Over the next few days I will be processing more of my photos and will probably post some more different ones.

Day 3 - Vik and More Waterfalls

We set off quite early hoping to get to Vik for around dawn and then visit the waterfalls on the way back.  Some of the roads were quite slippy after the overnight freeze but Vinny (the car) was happier about it than we were.  Our first stop was Dyrhólaey which is just before Vik and we saw the waterfalls on the way because they were just off the main road.

The first car park at Dyrhólaey was at a small headland above the beach.  This first shot is West, towards the larger headland where the second car park is situated.

It was very windy and quick difficult to keep upright and although Vinny told us it was 5 degrees the wind chill factor made it feel about minus 10.

To the East was a long black sand beach with a big rock sticking up out of it.  In the distance is the headland with the three trolls of reynisdrangar, the beach of Vik.

The track to the second car park was very rough, very narrow and very steep in places.  It was even windier up here but looking inland we saw the  Mýrdalsjökull icecap and the Katla volcano.  In front of them is a big lump of rock which we drove past but I couldn't find the name.

At the end of the headland is a cute little lighthouse and this view of the sea arch.  Unfortunately the tide was in so we couldn't get down to the beach and get some closer shots of the arch.  There is a path where you can walk across the top of the arch but because it was so windy we didn't think it would be safe to go that way.

We then went to Vik and down to the beach where there was a German Memorial which is to remember 1,000 German fishermen who lost their lives in Icelandic waters between 1898 and 1952.

We walked along the black sand beach towards the jetty.  It looked really weird with the black sand and the very white surf from the incoming waves.  From here I took this long shot of the famous Vik church on the hill above the town with the mountains behind.

At the jetty I took this shot of the three trolls with the jetty wall and black sand in the foreground.

Then we went to the restaurant at the edge of town where we had a Magistrates Burgers (just because Ginny is a barrister) which contained, a burger, bacon and cheese with a fried egg on top served with chips and some Mediterranean vegetable stuff.  We were pretty stuffed after that but we needed the energy for later.  On the way back to the car we passed this sculpture on top of a big column which had been erected by Hull Council where there is a second sculpture which faces this one.  Fancy coming all the way to Iceland to find something from Yorkshire.

We left Vik and went to see the water fall at Skogarfoss which looks very impressive even from the road on the way passed earlier.  We decided to climb the 400 ish steps to the top of the waterfall where we had this view.

Back at the bottom of the fall Ginny wanted to make sure I got a picture of the little seagull towards the bottom right of the frame.  The falls are about 60m high and 25m across, so very big.

Here at the bottom of the waterfall we, and the camera, were getting very wet from the spray but Ginny insisted on getting an action shot.

We left Skogarfoss for our last stop at Seljalandsfoss and went for another action shot.  Unfortunately the battery on my radio remote was flat, so after several attempts using the timer we ended up asking a passing photographer to take the shot for us.

We climbed the stairs at the side of the waterfall and soon started to get wet again.

The path goes around the back of the waterfall and here we are looking out through the waterfall (still getting quite wet).

Out the other side of the waterfall we can see into where we had been.

There was a signpost  on a path to Gljúfrabúi which said 600m so we headed off to find it and as you approach it you can see the top of the waterfall but is disappears into the rock.  When you reach the noticeboard there is a stream coming out of a little cave where you have to go inside to get to the bottom of the waterfall.  Inside it was very dark, wet and very very loud.  For this picture we had to stand very still for almost 30 seconds getting completely soaked all the time.

Back down to the main waterfall and one last shot from the bridge over the stream.  It was starting to get a little dark by now so we headed off back to the apartment for a light tea and a rest.

The driving in the dark was very tiring with the road conditions very variable on both long journeys.  We have decided not to travel to the Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon from the apartment because it twice as far as the journey to Vik.  Had we considered this earlier we should have done the waterfalls on the way to Vik then carried on to near Jokulsarlon for an overnight stop, got up early to look around the  lagoons and then headed back the following day. Next time maybe.

In the evening we went on an aurora hunt but it was too cloudy.  We thought we saw some greenish patches in the sky but nothing spectacular.  Tomorrow we're going to Thingvellir National park where there is the rift valley then on to Reykjavik.  We might stop on the way back to look for the aurora again but the weather forecast is too good for tonight so maybe not.

Day 2 - Geysir and Gulfoss

It had snowed overnight so in the morning Vinny (the car) was covered with frozen snow.  After clearing the windows we set off to our first destination of Geysir.  The roads were covered with a layer of snow and ice so we took it slow and steady until we get more used to the driving conditions here.

There weren't many cars about when we arrived at Geysir so we parked up, crossed the road and headed through the gate into the site.  The first noticeboard was very scary.  Especially the bit about the nearest hospital being 62 km away.

There were lots of small bubbling holes in the ground and a strange hutlike thing which was blowing steam out of the top and one end.  But then we reached the main attraction, the Strokkur Geysir.  Behind us was a snow covered hill and we thought it would make a better backdrop to the erupting geysir than the grey sky in this shot and decided to go around to the other side later.

Up the hill a little was this very blue pool next to another one which looked to go down a deep fissure in the rocks.  It seems that people insisted on throwing coins into the pool even though there were signs asking visitors not to do that.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a decent shot of the second pool but maybe we will go back later in the week for another try.

We walked further up the hill to a viewpoint over the site and I took this shot of lots of people watching an eruption.  Where had they all come from, we were practically on our own a few minutes ago?

This is the view up the hill that I took as we were heading back down to the main geysir site.  We went to have a look at the original geysir which is no longer erupting an is not just a large hot pool of water, so I haven't posted a picture.

As we were walking around we noticed that on the horizon there was a very vivid band of blue below the clouds.  It wasn't the blue of the sky but much more of a green blue, very strange.

I wanted to take some pictures of the geysir erupting using my fisheye lens so that I could get the whole scene in from close up.  We first tried from around the other side but couldn't get close enough so went back around to where I took the first set of shots.  I managed to get a series of 29 shots so I converted them to a gif to show the geysir in action.

In this next shot from Geysir there was our first glimpse of the sun peeking through the clouds and it was reflecting onto the hot water running away from the geysir.

Back near the car park was the Hotel Geysir all decked out for Christmas, very cute.

While we were at Geysir several coach tours had come and gone and the car park was much busier.  We had a quick coffee at the cafe and looked around the gift shop before moving on to Gulfoss.  The road to Geysir had started to clear of snow a bit but the road onto Gulfoss was still pretty slippery, but Vinny was in his element.

When we arrived at the Gulfoss car park we weren't completely sure where we were because all the signposts had been coated white by the overnight snow. We had just parked up where there were a few cars and a couple of coaches to have a look at why they had stopped here and then realised we had arrived.  We walked around the gift shop and headed down the steps to another car park which is the one which can be seen on the webcam at the Live from Iceland website (unfortunately the site doesn't appear to be functioning properly at the time of writing).  This first shot is from a viewing point at the edge of the car park showing the view up the river with the two part of the falls in the foreground.

The path down from the car park to the place where the people are standing on the left of the first picture had a chain across it because of the bad weather in the winter.  But like most other people we climbed over it and headed down the very slippery snow covered path.  This photo is from the top of the second fall and down the canyon below.

Here's a little snowman that someone had made near the upper falls, cute.

Here's Ginny looking at the upper falls.

We made our way back up to the second car park and asked a young man if he would take a shot for us and then we took a shot of him and his partner.

Then we made our way to the viewing platform high above the falls and looked down at the view and the people below.  From here, back to the cafe at the visitors centre for a bowl of soup and bread.

We drove up the road past Gulfoss to look for some lakes but the road conditions were getting worse so we decided to turn back and return to the apartment.  Then we spent an hour or so in the spa pools at the bottom of the road and it was so relaxing at the end of the day.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to Vik, stopping off at Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss and Dyrhólaey weather permitting (it's fine at the moment).