Volcanoes 4 - Þrihnúkagigur

Þrihnúkagigur, just outside Reykjavík, is a very special volcano. It's hollow. No-one is sure why. I think the consensus is that the magma that filled it around 4000 years ago may have drained back down through some loss of pressure, rather than erupting out of the top.

Since 2012 a tour company has been taking parties of visitors down inside it. Here a group is being lowered the 200 plus metres to the bottom in a specially designed lift.

Beautiful colours inside the cone

Looking up to the mouth of the volcano

A subsidiary crater nearby

Here a party of visitors is being brought across the lava field to the volcano by their guide. Visiting is only allowed under tightly controlled conditions because of the fragility of the crater and the surrounding lava field and moss. 

When I was there in late 2014 I was impressed by the care taken by the operator to contain the impact of this tourism, with guidance and monitoring by the Environment Agency. Because groups are accompanied by guides there is very little damage to the moss caused by people wandering off the path. Even inside the volcano, pathways and steps are made only from materials loose and ready to hand on the volcano floor - which can be put back if the operation is shut down. The toilets are of the composting type and all waste is removed for disposal elsewhere. 

It's a fine example of how tourism can be sustainably managed when there is a will to do so. I only wish I could say the same more often in Iceland. 

Because running an operation like this is complex and difficult, visiting the volcano doesn't come cheap. After checking the credit card balance and gritting your teeth you can find out more at 

https://insidethevolcano.com/the-volcano/

Hólar

Iceland took up christianity at the beginning of the 11th century. By the beginning of the next it was divided into two episcopal sees, a northern and a southern one. Hólar í Hjaltadal was, from 1106, the episcopal see of northern Iceland. One of its bishops, Jón Arason was one of the, I think, very few casualties in Iceland's comparatively non-violent Reformation. He was beheaded along with his two sons in Skálholt, the see of the southern bishopric in 1550. Thenceforth Iceland adopted Lutheranism.


Though less violent than some other European Reformation conflicts, Iceland's was not without its excitements. There's a neat wiki summary here:

 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Reformation






Hólar is now a university specialising in Agriculture and Fish Biology, Equestrianism and Rural Tourism. Each year in May members of the ICV leadership team teach a short course on trail work to students on the tourism degree course.

Woodland trail building...

... and stone work on the mountain trails.

On occasion too, Hólar has been the location of ICV's Trail Team training. Here two teams enjoy an outdoor meal in the Spring sunshine.

Auðunarstofa

The bishop's office, Auðunarstofa, was built around 1315 with timber brought from Hólar's estates in Norway. It lasted until 1810 when it was demolished. The present one  is a replica, completed in 2002, using original tools and wood from Norwegian forests. Its name commmorates bishop Auðun the Red, 1313-1322. 

Nýibær

There is a beautifully preserved turf house here. Built in the mid 19th century it was named Nýibær, meaning 'new farm', to distinguish it from a pre-existing farm. It was lived in until 1945 and has belonged to The National Museum of Iceland since 1958. 



Turves are laid in a herringbone pattern. 

And just because it's a turf house doesn't mean it's crummy inside.

The current church was built in the 18th century using the beautiful reddish coloured stone from a quarry in the nearby mountainside. The tower, though built of concrete in 1950, sits very well with the church and has a timeless quality about it.

Inside the church there is a connection with my home town:





This Nottingham Alabaster from the 14th century is in Hólar church. Gypsum, the material out of which these carvings are made, is found around Nottingham and many of them are thought to have been made in the locality. The name, though, covers all of this kind of ware no matter where it was made. 

And before Hólar ...

Modern Church on the Site of Þorgeir's Church at Ljósavatn

 Around the year 1000, it  was decided at the annual AlÞing that Iceland should be christian. Actually it was not that simple. The matter was controversial: many were committed to paganism and wanted it to continue. The members gave the task of deciding to the Law Speaker, Þorgeir of Ljósavatn. Þorgeir retired from their company, covered himself in a blanket, and spent the next 24 hours in deep thought. Emerging, he announced his very diplomatic solution: Iceland would be officially christian and would abandon paganism. But old practices would be allowed to continue alongside - in private. Further serious conflict was avoided.

Þorgeir was a chieftain-priest from Ljósavatn in the north, not far from Hólar. In a further act of wise diplomacy, he took his pagan idols to a great waterfall nearby and threw them in. The waterfall  has since been known as Goðafoss, 'Waterfall of the Gods'.

Goðafoss

Looking out across the lake, Ljósavatn, from  Þorgeir's church

ICV (Iceland Conservation Volunteers) is the volunteer arm of Umhverfisstofnun, the Icelandic environment agency. The website is:

http://www.ust.is/the-environment-agency-of-iceland/volunteers/

You can find out more about the university at:

http://holar.is

There's a very nice piece about the turf house and other aspects of
Hólar here:

https://guidetoiceland.is/connect-with-locals/regina/holar-in-hjaltadalur-in-north-iceland

November North East

Towards the end of last year I enjoyed the hospitality of friends in the North East and had a very nice time indeed.



Even though the days may be short, there can be a long and atmospheric twilight after sunset. On clear nights the stars and moon give light and the snow reflects it. The house on the left is where I wrote the first post in this blog a year or so ago. The house on the right is its predecessor, an attractive (but now derelict) early 20th Century tin house.

The Neighbours. In the distance can be seen the town of Kópasker.

A daytime view of the same row, viewed from the back door

Spray rising from dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall, in afternoon sunshine... 











...seen as we travel down the east side of jökulsárgljúfur.

And ahead, to the south, is the iconic mountain herðubreið, with its highly distinctive outline, caught here in the last rays of the afternoon sun.

jökulsá á Fjöllum, a powerful glacial river, emerges from beneath the vatnajökull icecap and flows 206 km north to the Greenland Sea, with three great waterfalls on the way, dettifoss being the biggest. jökulsárgljúfur is the gorge through which it flows. On the west side of jökulsárgljúfur is vesturdalur.  In the area around vesturdalur can be seen the results of spectacular events in the not too distant past. Up until about 8000 years ago violent glacier bursts (jökulhlaup) exploded out from the icecap at regular intervals, sending irresistible surges of water and ice downstream, tearing up the landscape. 

Vesturdalur

The camp site at vesturdalur is a good centre for exploring the spectacular scenery of the area. In the right of the picture is the Ranger's hut at the campsite, closed now for the winter. 

In case you are getting a bit chilled by all these winter images, here's a picture of the gorge in July.

Here the farm's horses feed on the hay we have brought out to them. They stay outside through the winter, growing thick coats to protect them from the weather. 

Melrakkaslétta

Melrakkaslétta, shown in purple

The sheep from the farm graze across the area known as Melrakkaslétta, a moorland at the far north eastern tip of Iceland, reaching to within a kilometre or so of the arctic circle. Its name means the fox's plain. 

Maybe not to everyone's taste, but I love it.

At the northern tip of  Melrakkaslétta is the hraunhafnartangi lighthouse, the most northerly one in Iceland.

Not far to west of there is rauðinupur cape with its two great stacks rearing up out of the sea, another lighthouse and an old volcano. 

Even here the birds are not entirely alone. There is a farm whose gate is the access point to the area, which is protected as a nature reserve. By the gate is a guest book for visitors to sign. 

It's a beautiful and atmospheric place. This link is well worth looking at to find out more.

 https://guidetoiceland.is/connect-with-locals/regina/raudinupur-cape-and-the-two-sea-stacks



In winter the sheep are brought inside and fed on hay which has been harvested during the previous summer.

Here's Whyswhys pretending to be a farmer.

After which, a dip ...

... in the Nature Baths hot pool near Mývatn.