We didn’t dangle about on our journey to Iceland. Once we landed within the afternoon at Keflavik Airport, obtained via safety, collected our luggage and picked up our rent automotive, the straightforward possibility would have been to go straight to our lodge, however as an alternative we opted for immersing ourselves into the nation right away with a tour of Grindavak volcano.
One of many beauties of visiting Iceland within the Summer time months is that the times are lengthy – actually lengthy – and there’s a wealth of experiences to get pleasure from. In July, the solar rises at round 3am and doesn’t set till midnight – that’s 21 hours of daylight to play with! And so, as an alternative of driving straight to our lodge after accumulating our luggage on the airport, we as an alternative headed for the small fishing city of Gindavik, simply to the south of The Blue Lagoon, to satisfy Haffi, a educated native information for 2Go Iceland Journey. This was in order that we might discover the Fagradalsfjall volcano web site. And from Gindavik, it’s a fair shorter drive alongside street 427 to a small automotive park the place our hike commenced.
This can be a absolutely personal expertise you can get pleasure from with your loved ones. Though dormant on the time of our go to, the same tour from 2Go Iceland Journey featured on the BBC Journey Present when considered one of Iceland’s hottest new points of interest burst onto the scene – fairly actually – and the volcano was nonetheless lively.
Located within the Geldingadalir Valley on the south of the Reykjanes Peninsula, roughly 40 kilometres from Reykjavik, Fagradalsfjall – though lively for round a million years – lay dormant for six,000 years, till final yr when it erupted from nineteenth March to 18th September 2021, making it the longest-lasting eruption in Iceland for greater than 50 years.
Haffi, a Manchester United supporter, advised us how he occurred to be watching a soccer match at his house in Grindavik on the night of nineteenth March 2021 when his companion known as to him and mentioned “There’s a volcano outdoors the kitchen window”.
He obtained up to have a look and, while they couldn’t see the eruption from the window, positive sufficient the sky was fully orange. Haffi defined that the positioning of the eruption would have come as an enormous reduction to many Icelanders. It was initially thought that an eruption would possibly happen 7 kilometres to the north-east of the place it had occurred, which might have positioned it a lot nearer to civilisation, however fissures can open anyplace and this web site was a lot safer from a human perspective. Funnily sufficient, solely two hours earlier geologists at this web site had concluded that an eruption was not imminent.
As we neared the lava fields from the eruption, Haffi advised us that this could have been a web site hardly ever frequented by folks – possibly just some locals. There was no automotive park and no mountain climbing paths, but comparatively quick access from Reykjavik, which created an issue of chaos on the roads, and folks mountain climbing however with out following any pre-defined routes. The street was closed and guests have been made to stroll from The Blue Lagoon space or one other aspect, however both method it was a stroll of round 10 kilometres every method.
This resulted in folks having to be picked up as they have been exhausted alongside the best way, or they obtained misplaced within the lava fields, creating a brand new drawback for the rangers. They needed to both shut off the world fully or make it extra accessible – and fortunately for everybody desirous to see this superb phenomenon and panorama, they opted for the latter.
While a reside volcano is doubtless an unbelievable sight, so too is the panorama that it leaves behind and, as we gained extra altitude, we have been in a position to look in marvel on the extent of the lava fields from the eruption. By April of 2021, a 300-metre fissure had developed and, after 6 months, lava flows coated a number of sq. kilometres.
By the way, the landowners can’t cease folks from visiting the positioning as there’s a ‘proper to roam’ coverage in Iceland, except it’s fenced off from public entry. So on this case, it was the landowners who created the paths and the parking. They make their income from the parking – they will’t cost an admission payment so it’s actually the one method they will get one thing again from the bizarre scenario they discover themselves in.
Having climbed additional nonetheless, we deviated from the trail to traverse a part of the lava area with the intention to be somewhat nearer to the crater. Unbeknown to us, Haffi had somewhat shock for us, because of a discovery he made just some days earlier – one thing that, to the most effective of his information – no person else knew about.
While you possibly can discover the volcano by yourself, I’d extremely advocate you are taking a guided tour to get essentially the most from the expertise. Not solely will get you a extra personalised perception into the area, however an knowledgeable that frequents the volcano will be capable of rapidly assess the talents of your get together and know the most effective routes to take you on.
There have been no accidents sustained by the eruption itself, however hikers have damaged legs and arms many instances (and proceed to take action!). As we crossed the considerably fragile lava, that generally crumbled underfoot, you might see how this would possibly occur.
The lava was stunning brittle and light-weight. Because the lava was quick flowing, there would have been a speedy warmth loss on the time of the eruption, which may enhance the viscosity and trigger differential flows, explaining the number of formations that we noticed earlier than us.
As we obtained nearer to the crater, we additionally noticed extra proof of sulphur deposits (sulphur being a typical chemical factor discovered within the earth’s crust), in addition to indicators of warmth nonetheless emanating from the earth in locations.
However then got here the shock… at one explicit sulphurous-looking location, Haffi advised us to face again a second while he went to test on the invention he made just some days earlier.
He returned, explaining to us that – if you happen to obtained the angle good – it was doable to see lava down the cracks beneath. This from a volcano that was declared to have stopped being lively some 10 months in the past! Fairly rightly, Haffi mentioned that we have been welcome to have a look ourselves however that it was after all at our personal danger, and to train care. So, one after the other, we every determined to have a look.
It wasn’t straightforward to see – and much more troublesome to {photograph} – however positive sufficient, there was lava beneath. Seeing lava was a primary for all of us, so this was a very thrilling second, even when we weren’t handled to the total spectacle of an lively volcano, particularly because it was completely surprising.
Haffi had come armed with a pan, some water and eggs, that he deliberate to boil to display the warmth coming from beneath, however sadly there was not likely a method of reliably balancing the pan over the most well liked areas due to the uneven floor so we abadoned that concept. Had we not been in a position to see the lava with our personal eyes, nevertheless, merely pouring water on the cracks and seeing it rapidly flip to steam was ample affirmation that there was nonetheless numerous warmth beneath our ft.
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The climate had been sort to us, however the clouds have been coming in somewhat and it was now time to re-trace our steps again to the automotive park.
By now, it was night however nonetheless fully mild. And as we wandered again, we thought how fortunate we have been that, regardless of having solely been in Iceland for a couple of hours, we had already seen lava within the land of ‘Fireplace and Ice’ (regardless of there being no lively volcano within the nation on the time).
If you happen to get the prospect to do that journey, we’d extremely advocate it! It’s a implausible tour to do as a household, with some fabulous panoramic views.
It also needs to be famous that, though the eruption had completed by the point of our go to in July 2022, and recorded seismic exercise had been diminishing, on third August 2022, the volcano erupted once more when a 300-metre-long fissure opened up within the Meradalir valley space, only one kilometre from away from the 2021 eruption web site that we visited and doc on this article. This eruption is presently nonetheless ongoing with visits to it additionally after all obtainable with 2Go Iceland Journey.
These volcanic occasions have drawn vacationers from all all over the world, giving Iceland a extra instant post-COVID tourism restoration than many different international locations. And while present vacationers will little question be drawn to the positioning of the current eruption, the positioning of the primary eruption remains to be nicely value a go to to admire the gorgeous new lava fields which were left in its wake. And, if you happen to’re actually fortunate like us… possibly you’ll see lava too!
To your comfort, the situation of the volcano is marked on this Google Map…
…and the precise route of our hike may be seen right here:
However do please go to with an skilled information for the most secure doable expertise.
Planning a visit to Iceland your self? You may watch a video from our journey to Iceland right here. The opening 25 seconds are from our tour of Fagradalsfjall volcano web site with Haffi and 2Go Iceland Journey.
Disclosure: This submit is sponsored by 2Go Iceland Journey. Our journey to Iceland was additionally sponsored by Helly Hansen.
