Magma - the power and the stink

With two days left in Iceland I had one final stab at getting a decent picture of a Gyr Falcon. I took all the gear including tripod and extender lens and, for the second time took the long route round the lava crags of Dimmuborgir, where my Dutch birder friends had seen one, and the spectacular pale morph at that. Last time it was cold and wet, this time I arrived well before anyone else and it was warm and dry. If you've ever walked in Scottish or Welsh forests in June you'll know what to expect. I was prepared - I had extra strong insect repellent - so strong it melted the plastic on my hearing aid!

The equivalent to our midges here are little flies. They don't bite but they do everything they can to get in hair, eyes, mouth, ears and nose. I could keep them at bay as long as I was walking, but stopping was inadvisable.

The only birds I saw were the omnipresent redwings, but I'd bought the tripod so I set it up for a self-portrait. I just about managed it before being overcome with flies:

So, that was it. I'd got plenty of bird, landscape and animal pictures I was well pleased with even if the big ones were missing. I decided to do some touristy things, and there are several tourist hot-spots round Myvatn. I went for the site of the last irruptions in the eighties.

It's a grim landscape with everywhere plumes of steam and the stink of sulphur. I realise now that whenever I'd worried about a fleeting smell of gas, or held my nose in the shower because of the drain smell, it was the gas from the hot vents I was smelling.

The most interesting thing here was the geothermal power station, but the crater was pretty good.

I find it astonishing that for so many people the idea of a holiday in a place like this is driving round a pre-determined circuit stopping everywhere flagged up as a "sight". You see the sight, take a few pictures, get back in the car or camper and then drive on to the next one. Half a day of it was enough for me and it felt great coming over a high mountain pass and down into the steep fjord where the ship dock - Seidisfjordur.