Day 257: - Posing

This was actually the very last photo I took on an eventful day touring the South Shore of Iceland

We were picked up by our wonderful guide Gerda (short for something long and unpronounceable); she began by saying the weather forecast for the evening was awful so she would probably bring us back to Reykjavik in good time, maybe around 4pm. That was fine by us. As we drove out of Reykjavik , we drove into a blizzard but Gerda was happily chatting away and totally unconcerned by the lack of visibility. As we dropped down to the southern lowlands the weather improved and first we visited Seljalandfoss, the waterfall you can walk behind in the summer (but not at the moment because of falling icicles); the first extra shows the various photographers in action (I was very strict with myself and didn't take a tripod). As was the way with the whole day, we left in a blizzard but Gerda was not one to be put off.

We stopped to see the farm made famous in the 2010 eruption when the farmer took a photo of the ash cloud over his farm, and it was used by the world's press. I was here during the early part of the eruption and we climbed to the crater of Eyjafjallajokull so it has a special place in my heart (I wasn't inconvenienced by it in any way though!).

Gerda then asked us if we wanted to go somewhere not on the official tour, the headland that overlooks the black beaches, above the 
Dyrholaey Arch. Of course we all said yes and as we set off up a precipitous cliff road with patches of ice on all the corners I thought "she must know what she's doing, she's Icelandic and a tour guide, she must drive to places like this all the time". Then we got stuck (second extra). The view was splendid but we had a lot of weather while we were there - sun, wind, hail, snow, and for the hour or so it took the rescue jeep to pull the bus out we had to stand on the cliffs (which she had told us were very crumbly) with our fingers crossed. Finally a super jeep tour arrived and the passengers gleefully dug the bus out enough for the rescue truck to pull it out. We all decided to walk down and meet Gerda at the bottom of the hill after we watched the bus and the rescue truck start to slip and slide down the road towards the edge. 

Gerda was mortified and so she treated us all lamb soup at the black beach you can see in the background, Reynisfjara. As usual for the day we arrived in a blizzard and could not even see the sea but we could hear it crashing against the basalt cliffs (extras 3 and 4). As we finished our soup the snow stopped and the most incredible light appeared. The sound of the waves, the black sand with the backdrop of cliffs, mountains, rocky formations and the moody sky made for an almost hypnotic combination. I could've stayed there forever. We were not however allowed onto the sand as a tourist was swept out and drowned a couple of days ago by a "killer wave". 

By this time it was about 4pm and we were 2 hours from Reykjavik so I thought we would head back - especially as Gerda kept telling us that the weather was going to get "really bad". But no, on we went to see the glacier
Solheimajokull - last extra. We arrived in the sunshine, but this is Iceland and the weather changes every five minutes so the last people back to the bus were like snowmen when they got back. 

As we battled through yet another blizzard I thought for sure we would be heading for home. But we made one last stop at 
Skogafoss - my main photo. The foreground you can see was like a skating rink so I was glad of my ice chains - even with them it was pretty hairy, and of course the weather changed pretty rapidly so we then really did head home.

That's was where the fun really began! Now it was dark and the road was covered in snow. As we climbed the mountain road visibility dropped to basically zero. I have no idea how she kept going. The only time she could see was when a car came the other way or we passed a car stopped at the side (in Iceland the minibuses are not allowed to stop to assist other drivers), the wind was buffeting the bus, we were driving over snow drifts and we were all acutely aware of the sheer drop just feet away to our right. 

At one point she said she might have to stop but she didn't elaborate on what we would do next. This morning the concierge at the hotel said they did shut the road and that they usually send rescue vehicles up and down to collect passengers, and they sleep in a roadside coffee house! We had a flight at 8am this morning so I would have been pretty stressed about that if not for our survival. 

When you feel 10 feet of visibility is something to be grateful for, you know you're in Iceland, but we did eventually get about that amount of visibility on the last stretch. We got back to the hotel with no fingernails left at 9pm. As we got off the bus Gerda confessed they were the worst conditions she had driven in. It was a day I don't think any of us will forget. She did ask us not to write a review on Tripadvisor....

I was very worried for our 5am departure to the airport, but despite the thick snow and the necessity to de-ice the plane a couple of times we are now home. Coming from the UK we are used to a half inch of snow signalling chaos so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that folk in other countries just carry on as normal. 

Well that was a bit of an Icelandic Saga. As we drove back from Manchester in the rain with spray affecting visibility I thought of Gerda with the lives of 15 tourists in her hands and smiled to myself. Easy with hindsight.

Back home with a very excited girl who will be 18 tomorrow!

(If you read all that you must be very bored!)