Taylorian 2020

71 O n the first day we drove to a tectonic rift on the Reykjanes peninsula, then on to nearby lava tubes. Smoothed rock faces of solidified magma still looked liquid-like and some of the rock on the ceiling shone a stunning silver. That evening, we went for a walk into the city centre of Reykjavik, taking in the concert hall, the sun voyager boat statue, and the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church. The next day we went on a whale watching tour. As well as the whales, we saw puffins and (everyone’s favourite) a pod of white- beaked dolphins. That afternoon we left Reykjavik for the breathtaking landscape of Thingveillir National Park, the constructive plate boundary of the Eurasian and North American plates. We walked down into the fault line where we saw deep rifts filled with crystal clear water. The weather was unnaturally warm, and we were yet to see why Iceland had gained its name. Next was the Strokkur geyser, which we waited for with cameras poised ready to get a perfect shot of the water bubbling to the surface. On we went to visit Gulfoss (the golden falls), an immense waterfall. The next day we headed to the lava centre, an exhibition on the geothermal activity in the area which informed us of the likelihood of imminent massive eruptions of several nearby volcanoes. We then went to the colossal Skógafoss waterfall, where the contrast between the newly formed flat coastal planes and the mountainous former coastline was evident, and to the Sólheimajökull glacier, sometimes nicknamed the ‘shrinking glacier’ as it is melting rapidly, no doubt accelerated by the effects of global warming. We were each issued crampons, a helmet, and ice axes, and we scrambled our way up the ash- covered ice, wary of the large crevasses and deep moulins, to what our guides called the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the glacier. We abseiled down into the crater of ice and took in our surroundings before starting to ice climb up the vertical 30m wall of ice. On the penultimate day we visited the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. The contrast between the black volcanic sand and blue and silver shine of the ice was stunning, and it was made evenmore exciting by the many seals that lounged on the beach amongst the blocks of ice. On the final day we set off on a monster coach (a lorry chassis with a coach body on the back and tyres the size of a person, which required a step ladder to get in) into the wilderness of Thórsmörk. During the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull the areawas covered in a thick layer of ash. We forded rivers and traversed the outwash plains of giant glaciers which sat on the surrounding volcanoes. Our last stop on the trip was the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik, where we each had a mud facemask. Thank you very much to Mr Simmonds, Mr Hutchings, Mrs Lemoine, and our guide Nick for making our trip so informative and enjoyable. Eben Terry (5ths) Trips Trips Geography trip to Iceland