Volcano day

Today I am off into school to give my annual talk about my great volcano adventure.

Just about the only really adventurous thing I've ever done, my sister-in-law and I went up Eyjafjallajökull whilst it was erupting scenically and relatively safely, and just managed to get home before it blew its top and grounded all the air traffic in Europe.

Iceland is the most beautiful place I have ever been, I would love to go back and explore some of the north of the island. As we drove across a glacier at 2am, with a volcano erupting behind us, the northern lights put on a show - this was totally unexpected as it was supposedly the wrong time of year, and it was a very emotional moment. We went to Lapland earlier this year, specifically to see the Aurora, and we did see it but nothing as spectacular as that night in Iceland.

If you're interested, there are some of my photos here (also some from a lovely Norwegian chap who was with us, and who had a much better camera than me).

I find the kids are usually most interested in the fact I couldn't go to the loo for 13 hours as it was minus 25 degrees and there were no big enough boulders to hide behind!