Iceland in the Winter
Short trip to Iceland
The Pilot of the Icelandair flight had a sense of humour. As
he announced our decent into Keflavik he said that the weather was nice for Iceland “raining and windy”. We landed in pouring rain and very strong gusting winds which made for an interesting approach and two wheeled landing- not the normal two.
Having seen a couple of photos of the Aurora Borealis on Wanderlust over Christmas we decided to pop over to Iceland for a few days to see them for real. This is supposed to be a good year for the Aurora although activity in the past few weeks seems to have been low. Checked the full Moon tables and booked our flights for when
the sky would be at its darkest. Unfortunately you can’t predict the weather and by any standards it was appalling.
We chose a 4x4 for the trip and I would strongly recommend four wheel drive for a winter visit. Some roads would have been impassable with two wheel drive. We were on an Icelandair Northern Lights package which comes with a pre-programmed Sat Nav.
Basically it takes you around the Golden Circle and the Reykjanes peninsula. Works well although the Sat Nav wasn’t up to date and new roads were not recognised which meant some navigation was required. All the main attractions are on the route but with “daylight” in January limited, say 10.30 to 16.00, you need to be selective as to what you try and see. As many museums and attractions aren’t open in the winter these can be ignored.
Our first night was in Reykjavik. Drove there in pouring rain, in the dark and with gale force winds. Sat Nav was a God send. Opted for an early night and a pre-dawn start on the Golden Circle route.
We were well out of the Capital by first light and as we approached Thingvellir NP there were breaks in the sky as the sun slowly eased above the horizon. Yes! We found that most of the roads away from the capital were covered in 3/5cm of ice. The four wheel drive and winter tyres coped well. They needed to as the weather steadily deteriorated and by dusk we were facing blizzard conditions.
Managed to get a few shots in before the weather closed in.
No let up overnight so no Aurora and the next day proved even worse. At times driving was almost impossible. The temperature was around -4C but with the wind chill it was painful outside of the car. At times you could not open the car door because of the wind.
I spoke to several Islanders during the trip regarding the Northern Lights. I didn’t come across anyone who had actually seen them this season. This I was told was mainly due to the poor weather. Only one of the reception staff at the three hotels we stayed in said that they knew of a guest who had seen the Aurora this season and that was a brief sighting with no photo opportunity. However despite the missing
Aurora and the tough conditions Iceland is well worth a visit at this time of the year. There are few tourists, empty roads and interesting, albeit challenging, photo opportunities. The people are friendly and despite the horror stories, food and drink prices were acceptable.
I have posted a few photos of the trip on http://peterandjillphotos.smugmug.com/Other/Iceland-2012/21170879_NbG4wB#!i=1684630400&k=XzbvKbS
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