Day Six - Námaskarð

I thought it was cold yesterday. Today, we woke to snow and a wind that sounded like an 80's BBC sound effect whistling round the house. We were in no particular rush to go and get wet, so we stayed in, and I even got Graham breakfast in bed. I hope he doesn't get used to it, as it won't last!

Eventually the snow stopped falling, so we donned gear and off we went. It was BITTER. The temperature was about 2 degrees C, but the wind made it feel much much colder. However, we didn't come on holiday here to sit in the house all day, so we went to Dimmuborgir, a lava field about 12 kms away along the main, snow covered highway . Glad I wasn't driving! Dimmuborgir looked good yesterday when we scouted it out, but today, with 2 inches of snow on everything, it was transformed. I ran around like a big kid, oohing and ahhing at everything, even the fact that we were walking on virgin snow. It was amazing - the twisted, weird shapes, with snow giving a modelling effect. We stayed about an hour, doing the "medium" walk. It would have taken a normal person about 20 minutes to do the same walk, but you know what photographers are like - "I'll just have a look down here", and "hang on, I want to work this scene....".

We then nipped to Kaffi Borgir for a welcome cuppa, before heading off to Námaskarð.

We had thought, that as it was a place where steam was venting away, that Námaskarð would be distinctly warmer than Dimmuborgir. How wrong were we! Dimmuborgir is sheltered, all that lava in walls around us gave us protection from the wind, at Námaskarð there was no protection at all, and the wind cuts you in half. Within seconds our eyes were streaming with the cold, but at the same time you're thinking "Wow!". The scene before us was quite surreal, steam venting from several places while surrounded by snow.

It also stunk. Stomach churningly so. Graham apparently has a stronger stomach than me, as he wandered off on to the mud flats taking snaps of bubbling mud, apparently unaffected by the smell, but I couldn't handle it and stayed "topside". I also couldn't handle the cold as well as he did, being as the lining in my coat seems to be falling out, and even with 2 jumpers and a fleece under my coat, I was still frozen. However cold this picture looks, believe me it was colder!

Both locations were fabulous, but tricky for me to photograph. I managed to get the exposure right, but then editing them later was tricky, as the original images were very contrasty - obviously, with all that snow and black rock.. Still, I am pleased with what I have, even if they are no competition winners.

Sadly, tomorrow is our last day in Myvatn - with the weather closing in and the distance back to Reykjavik, we have decided to make Monday a day of travel, so we can get to the airport in plenty of time for Tuesday morning, and also get a chance to photograph some of the fantastic scenery we passed on the way up here.

We haven't actually decided what to do tomorrow. The Icelandic weather forecast says it will be sunny tomorrow, and although they were spot on with the weather today, I am not entirely convinced they are right about tomorrow!