Today I am writing on an Icelandic keyboard, sat in FIT hostel in Keflavik, Iceland. We are stuck. Mother Nature has grounded all flights to London and all we can do is wait until she calms down. The airport was like an eerie scene from one of those end of the world horror movies this morning as I made my way inside to find some help. I was greeted by a lovely Iceland Air member of staff and told that the earliest flight we could get on is tomorrow, if not a 5 hour journey north and a stop over in Glasgow. In all of our travelling, we have never been grounded by a volcano, pretty epic adventure.
In fact, the whole of Iceland yesterday was like a eerie movie. We drove towards the south east of the country hoping the road would be open for us to pass as we were on our way to the majestic Skatefell National Park. As we drove closer to the Ejfjallajokull glacier volcano, we were unsure of what we would find. Some say that the whole of the nearest town to it, Vik, was covered in Ash and inpassable, with similar scenes to hiroshima after the nuclear bomb. With the blue sky and sunshine above our heads we drove closer and closer until we noticed an ash cloud ahead. We parked along the route to take photographs and drove around the side of a mountain to witness the volcano is full bloom. We were literally so close to the volcano we could see it erupting, plumes of black ash coming from its crater. Black cloud, after back cloud, we all could not beleive our eyes. By this time, our hearts were racing, wondering what the best thing to do was. Many people were turning around and heading back to the capital, but with our adventurous spirit heightened we decided, of course, to drive on and witness more of mother natures power.
With views of Katla and Hekla Volcanoes behind us, we could feel the rumbles beneath our feet and the sound of the power as the volcano was erupting, we stopped the car a few kilometres into the ash cloud just to get out of the car and witness what it is like to be in such an environment. The sky was dark, with patches of blue where the cloud hadn´t covered, the earth was covered in grey ash as was the car and us. We watched cars drive by us with masks on their faces, like a disease was present and we were coming to the end of the world. It was that dramatic, believe me. We collected some ash and jumped back into the car to drive another 80kms out of the ash cloud. It was literally that long. It was truly amazing to witness, to smell and to feel.
However, the day did not end there. We drove on to the national park, along the route huge glacier fields and snow capped mountains were next to the road, every second was intensely beauitful. Our aim was to drive to Jökulsárlón. Jökulsárlón is where the mountains and the glacier reach the ocean so huge icebergs fall from the glacier out to sea. I cannot even describe the view, only believable by the naked eye. The water was turquiose from the sun, the sky true blue, the glaciers slowly melting , moving towards the ocean, with seals popping their heads up and down to see who is around. The mountains majestically sitting around the glacier, whilst in the background the volcano still erupts.
Our drive heading back to the capital took us to Skatafell National Park where we spent a few hours trekking to the famous waterfall there, Svartifoss, named the black falls for all of the black rock surrounding it. The views from the falls was spectacular, glaciers, snow capped mountains and the ocean.
We decided not to camp over night and carry on driving the 5 hour journey back to town, just in case the volcanic cloud closed the road. As the police car approached us, we thought we would be forced to camp. However, it wasn´t about the ash at all, rather Terry getting a speeding ticket for 37,000isk! He was driving along the road, no other cars for miles, one every 30 minutes, driving 119kms in a 90km zone and bam, 200 pounds lighter or he was given the option of 4 days in Jail! We were very annoyed, our friend had just recently been beaten badly in an attack in Reykavik and the guys who did it got let out the very next day with no charges but Terry was to go to jail for 4 days for a speeding ticket on the most open road you could get!
The cloud covered the road so badly that visability was poor on the way back. The car was covered in ash when we finally could breathe again and the sunset gave us an impressive evening view at 11pm. We slept in the car overnight and drove the car back to the rental company this morning to find out about our flight.
Here´s hoping we get to come home tomorrow!
In fact, the whole of Iceland yesterday was like a eerie movie. We drove towards the south east of the country hoping the road would be open for us to pass as we were on our way to the majestic Skatefell National Park. As we drove closer to the Ejfjallajokull glacier volcano, we were unsure of what we would find. Some say that the whole of the nearest town to it, Vik, was covered in Ash and inpassable, with similar scenes to hiroshima after the nuclear bomb. With the blue sky and sunshine above our heads we drove closer and closer until we noticed an ash cloud ahead. We parked along the route to take photographs and drove around the side of a mountain to witness the volcano is full bloom. We were literally so close to the volcano we could see it erupting, plumes of black ash coming from its crater. Black cloud, after back cloud, we all could not beleive our eyes. By this time, our hearts were racing, wondering what the best thing to do was. Many people were turning around and heading back to the capital, but with our adventurous spirit heightened we decided, of course, to drive on and witness more of mother natures power.
With views of Katla and Hekla Volcanoes behind us, we could feel the rumbles beneath our feet and the sound of the power as the volcano was erupting, we stopped the car a few kilometres into the ash cloud just to get out of the car and witness what it is like to be in such an environment. The sky was dark, with patches of blue where the cloud hadn´t covered, the earth was covered in grey ash as was the car and us. We watched cars drive by us with masks on their faces, like a disease was present and we were coming to the end of the world. It was that dramatic, believe me. We collected some ash and jumped back into the car to drive another 80kms out of the ash cloud. It was literally that long. It was truly amazing to witness, to smell and to feel.
However, the day did not end there. We drove on to the national park, along the route huge glacier fields and snow capped mountains were next to the road, every second was intensely beauitful. Our aim was to drive to Jökulsárlón. Jökulsárlón is where the mountains and the glacier reach the ocean so huge icebergs fall from the glacier out to sea. I cannot even describe the view, only believable by the naked eye. The water was turquiose from the sun, the sky true blue, the glaciers slowly melting , moving towards the ocean, with seals popping their heads up and down to see who is around. The mountains majestically sitting around the glacier, whilst in the background the volcano still erupts.
Our drive heading back to the capital took us to Skatafell National Park where we spent a few hours trekking to the famous waterfall there, Svartifoss, named the black falls for all of the black rock surrounding it. The views from the falls was spectacular, glaciers, snow capped mountains and the ocean.
We decided not to camp over night and carry on driving the 5 hour journey back to town, just in case the volcanic cloud closed the road. As the police car approached us, we thought we would be forced to camp. However, it wasn´t about the ash at all, rather Terry getting a speeding ticket for 37,000isk! He was driving along the road, no other cars for miles, one every 30 minutes, driving 119kms in a 90km zone and bam, 200 pounds lighter or he was given the option of 4 days in Jail! We were very annoyed, our friend had just recently been beaten badly in an attack in Reykavik and the guys who did it got let out the very next day with no charges but Terry was to go to jail for 4 days for a speeding ticket on the most open road you could get!
The cloud covered the road so badly that visability was poor on the way back. The car was covered in ash when we finally could breathe again and the sunset gave us an impressive evening view at 11pm. We slept in the car overnight and drove the car back to the rental company this morning to find out about our flight.
Here´s hoping we get to come home tomorrow!
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