Iceland 5

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sat 27 Aug 2016 04:04
The population of Iceland lives on the coastal plain, with about half of the total 320 000 living in the capital. Much of the interior is mountainous, or a raised plateau, all of it volcanic in origin and extremely rugged and harsh. A lot has very little vegetation due to both altitude and latitude. Here are some views of some of the lusher (yes really) parts of the interior:

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The vivid greens in the next two photos are mosses; almost nothing else is growing here:

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Looking down an old lava flow from the site of the eruption. Note the ripples of lava in the lake to the left:

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A geothermal area:

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Fording a stream in our very expensive but absolutely essential hired 4x4. There were seventeen fords on this section of road, each one an adventure. Luckily there was no rain but even so it's a bit of a risk. It's not the exhaust you have to worry about, but rather investing water into the engine air intake which is usually catastrophic - and a sign on the dashboard helpfully tells you that no-one will insure you for river crossings!

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Sent from my iPad