Wednesday - 30 August - Day 3 of V & G

Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon

We go on this lagoon in an amphibious vehicle

These rivers,  from the glaciers,  are everywhere

This is the view from the road nearly all the way along the coast

Bloody cyclists!!!!!!!!!!!

More lava and glaciers,  side by side

More isolated farms,  but is stunning surrounds

Eldhraun Lava Fields;  moss on the lava flow takes 100 years to grow

Different looking farmhouse.   Don't think it's a church!

Busy airspace over Southern Iceland

After a lovely breakfast at the hotel, we set off on the bus to cross Eldhraun, the largest mass of lava ever to flow on the face of the earth.  This was from the eruption of 1783, which caused many deaths not just in Iceland but also in England and France.  The ash went so far up into the atmosphere that it caused a very severe winter and many crops failed.  23 000 people died in England in 1783/4 from famine and cold related illnesses.  The French Revolution began in 1789 and one of the causes was the terrible famine and the starving people who had had enough of the aristocracy living high on the hob while the common man was starving to death.
One of the people on our bus - an elderly and lame American man - fell walking through the lave fields which were very uneven and hard to walk on for the fittest of us.  He had a bad cut on his head but fortunately we had a doctor on the bus, a young Brazilian girl, so all was good.  We took him to a clinic where he had stitches.  That put us about an hour behind schedule.  The poor old bloke was very apologetic but no one minded.
We had a very quick visit to Skaftafell National Park, one of Iceland's most outstanding areas of natural beauty followed by a rather longer visit to Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon.  This was by far the most fabulous part of the trip so far.  The lagoon has been caused by the glacier retreating - about 80m a year, apparently - and the icebergs break off the glacier, float about in the lagoon for a while before washing out to sea, to the North Atlantic Ocean.  Lots of photos of that experience.  It was incredible.
As we travelled on the bus, we could see Vatnajokull Glacier, the largest one in Europe, covering 8% of the entire island.
We then drove onto Vik for our second night there.  By this time, I realised I was going to need proper walking shoes so made that my mission, though how I was going to achieve it without breaking the bank was altogether another story.
Iceland is incredibly expensive and the locals don't miss an opportunity to milk the tourists for all they've got.  Winter has come early this year, according to one of the Icelanders, so the tourism will slow considerably from now on.

More waterfalls

More glaciers

Volcano from a distance

Same volcano from further away

Farmland below the volcanoes

Have I mentioned the waterfalls????

No?   Well,  here's one,  not as high as some

This one must be really old,  it's dried up!

Looks like Ayers Rock,  but is really a volcanic plug

Another glacier (or the same one from a different angle)

Same glacier,  closer up!!

Definitely another glavier

Lonely farmhouse at the foot of the cliffs

Mound of lava

Glacier/volcano - Skaftafell National Park

Skaftafell National Park - waterfall

Guess who?   Same National Park

Climbing to the Skaf...Falls - our car park!

The walk to & from the falls

Volcano under the glacier in Skaftafell National Park

Sign at the Glacier Lagoon

The amphibious boat that took us onto the lagoon

The icebergs we manouvred our way round

Landscape of contrasts

More icebergs

Looking back at the shore from our boat

This is what we looked like on board

Seal in the freezing water - if you can see him

Weird shapes and sizes of the icebergs

More weird shapes

Beautiful blue ice

The Titanic sinking

Floating toy

Mt Something

Fresh blue ice

Ducks in the freezing water

Ice tower

Holding some iceberg

The Titanic from the other side

Eating a piece of iceberg

Ice duckie & rubber duckie that followed our boat all around the lagoon

Icebergs escaping the lagoon

This is the crater of the volcano that erupted in 2010,  spreading ash all over the Northern Hemisphere

How serene and beautiful is this?

Lovers kissing,  according to one of the Sagas

Another view of the offending volcano.   How could you tell it's potential destruction?

Another glacier

Another farmhouse

Another glacier

Me resting,  on a 45 minute climb to a waterfall

The said waterfall!!

Another weird lava formation

Bit of a waterfall!

How cold is it up there??