Rod Summers Iceland 2010

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Comment by Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat) on June 15, 2010 at 10:18am

Nice little plane...flies below volcanic ash, does it?
I bet there is postal service up there...mail delivery along
with the milk and bread? Looks like a wonderful place, Rod!
Enjoy peace!

Comment by Ruud Janssen on June 15, 2010 at 5:14am

I guess they don't have a postal office there, but lucky for you internet.....

Comment by Reid Wood on June 15, 2010 at 5:10am

You are lucky you didn't have to do any more flying. The next step would have been attaching feathers to your arms and then flapping them.

Comment by Rod Summers on June 14, 2010 at 10:49pm

It was my intention to start today’s blog with the statement “I had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch my flight” but as the is no night in an Icelandic summers I had better just say I had to get up early.
A taxi took me to the domestic airport in Reykjavik and from there I had a 50 minute flight (photo1) in a Focker 50 over the central highlands up to Iceland’s second city Akureri. After only an hour’s wait in the transit lounge I boarded a real aeroplane, a Twin Otter (photo 2), and flew at low level firstly to Vopnarfjörður on the east coast and after a short stop there we flew at an even lower level on to Þórshöfn on the north coast. I still love aeroplanes and flying in an unpressurised twin propeller plane is one of the great experiences.
Mirjam and Hugbjört came in the Landrover to meet me and after a quick trip into the village to buy some supplies (digestive biscuits and cheese mainly) and check that the shop had all the ingredients I need for the cakes for my performance we drove out here to the farm of Ytra Lón which lies along the Langaness peninsula about 15 k from the village and two kilometres back from the road,.
I dropped my bags in my room, took a photo of the view outside the window (photo 3) and went in to lunch with the whole family. Wholemeal spaghetti and lamb meat. Icelandic lamb is the best I have ever tasted and the lamb of Ytra Lón is the best in Iceland, come and try it yourselves and you will know I am not exaggerating.
By the time we had finished eating Janneke had made my bed so I made myself a cup of tea and then had a nap for an hour.
The Dutch have a saying “Ik heb mijn plekje gevonden.” Which translates as I have found my favourite place and Ytra Lón is certainly one of my very favourite spots on the planet, perfect peace, splendid solitude and abounding with birds. This is my fourth visit here.
When I awoke from my nap I took the cameras for a walk up to the coast and the newly built bird observation hut (photo4) tomorrow I will give a list of the birds to be seen here.

Comment by Rod Summers on June 13, 2010 at 10:10pm

Today, being Sunday, Rod took a rest... well almost. I went for a walk down to the centre of town, bought a few postcards and then went out for a drive with Thor Elis. We visited some local ancient lava flows

Tomorrow, early, I catch a plane to the remote north eastern part of the island, the place where the closest thing to tundra in Iceland is to be found. The flight is just a couple of hours so I will be there early. When I am settled in I will take the cameras for a walk to the coast... weather permitting. Meanwhile here is another beautiful rock formation close to the volcano.

Comment by ginny lloyd on June 12, 2010 at 6:47pm

Love the landscape photos and report on the conditions. But please post more photos of the handsome men! LOL

Comment by Ruud Janssen on June 12, 2010 at 3:59pm

The photos are great Rod. Probably the chicken curry too....!

Comment by Rod Summers on June 12, 2010 at 3:47pm

The Consequences of Living on a Volcanic Island.
Ash, very fine almost invisible light grey ash that gets everywhere. I predict that in a few weeks many computers in Iceland will suffer from ash-crash.
Yesterday was a perfect day, sunny, bright, with a gentle breeze so that when we made our 8 hour round trip to the glacier I had left the windows of the apartment which is about 150 kilometres from the volcano open, so today I had to wash down all the surfaces.
Even though the breeze was barely discernable over at Saevi’s summer house which is situated right against the western slope of the volcano, an ash cloud hung in the air to our north, the great river that flow through the area is normally clear but is now fully laden with ash (photo1)
During our trip we passed the farm (photo2) which suffered the worst consequences of the eruption, the one which featured in most of the apocalyptic photos shown around the world, as I was making some photos the farmer’s wife and her dog (photo3) walked passed and talked to Helgi & Saevi, she told them they were hoping for rain to wash the ash out of the air.
This morning I took a shower (ah the pleasures of Icelandic naturally sourced hot water which smells of hydrogenated sulphur (rotten eggs)) and the amount of ash that washed off my body and ran down the drain was something of a surprise... I feel lighter now... well at least a little less grey.
Today I am scheduled to make chicken curry for Darri and his kids and the farmer’s wife wish has been fulfilled, it is raining heavily so it is a day of preparing the curry and then sitting before the TV... now what is the Icelandic for “Is there anything else than football to see?”

Comment by Jon Paton on June 12, 2010 at 9:07am

Beautiful. There you go...what was a quiet volcano shrouded in mist and cloud hears that Rod is coming with camera so the clouds clear, the sun comes out and the volcano wakes up enough to make some good photos. All is well.

Comment by Rod Summers on June 12, 2010 at 1:28am

Today was perfect.

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