Day 3- Selandjafoss and the great glacier walk

If the pupils could have seen Mr Dalton and Mr Alderson at midnight; scouting outside in the clear dark night with the hotel owner's dog for company, praying and hoping that the Northern Lights would show up. The plan was that if they did start, then they would wake the pupils up too. Although the night sky conditions were perfect, sadly on this night our luck was out. 

The view at breakfast somewhat made up for the elusive Northern Lights. Just a stunning barren plain with snow capped mountains and volcanoes on the horizon. Oh and did I mention the fresh delicious homemade bread we had for breakfast?!

All of the pupils were well rested and ready for the day's adventures. Firstly though, our guide Dave had to defrost the bus as the outside temperature was minus 6 degrees. Even in the sunshine, it really was bitterly cold. However, as the Icelanders say, "never bad weather, only bad clothes" and all the pupils are certainly more than well equipped and nobody grumbled at all. 

Our first stop of the day was the waterfall Seljandsfoss. This majestic curtain of water had provided a water spray to cover the public footpath and in the frozen conditions, created an ice rink effect. This obviously added to the excitement of adventure for 20 out of the 23 members of group. However, as Mr Alderson is getting ever older, he decided for personal safety to stay at the bottom. After the walk, I think a few others, Matthew Vickers and Jamie Stevens in particular may have wished they'd stayed at the bottom too(very slippery ground!).

Back on the coach we zoomed along to the site of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Opposite the farm that sits under the volcano is a little cinema that is run by the farm owners and they show a great 25 minute film of the explosion and the impact the eruption had on their lives. As the lights came on in the cinema, it was a comedy moment watching the penny drop for many of the pupils as they realised that the lady pressing the start button was also starring in the video as the farmer's wife! All pupils are now fully versed in the correct pronunciation of "that Icelandic volcano".  Mr Dalton also worked on teaching the group how to say the Welsh word Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch....

Jumping back on the bus, we drove round the coast and with such a clear day, the striking sight of the Westmaan Isles came into view and Dave, our guide gave an excellent explanation of their formation. We then arrived at our afternoon activity; glacier walking. 

Wow, wow and wow again. Part of the highlight for Mr Dalton, Mr Alderson and me was witnessing the reaction of the group as they took part in this unusual and impressive activity. Once everybody was roped up and had their crampons securely attached, the walk high up onto the glacier started in earnest. 

Dave, our tour guide, also doubles as a glacier guide too. He walked us up approximately 1km from the glacier snout and as we stood on ice about 250m thick, we unclipped ourselves from the rope and for the energy expending exercise of the day, the pupils used their ice picks to try and hack down to running water! It's the simple things that keep them entertained and after twenty minutes, they could have still carried on ice picking. As we turned around to come back down, the sun started setting in the distance.  Just two slips on the ice, but Dan Milne claimed it was Miss Jackon's fault for not walking in a straight line on the ropes...

An entire chapter of geography could have been taught to them this afternoon, and the entire group listened brilliantly throughout and asked plenty of questions. I know from my own experience of walking on the glacier before, that most of the pupils will not realise just what an immense force of nature they interacted with today. This experience will be one that sticks in their minds forever and later on, they will really appreciate and savour what today was like. 

Back on the bus to our next hotel, Laki. Sprits were high and Abba songs really do seem to be the group favourite. 

The pupils will be writing their own entries tonight,  but in the meantime, here are some photos of today. 

I am positive the group will sleep very well again tonight and as they do, their teachers will once again be on the hunt for those Northern Lights........

AGJ