Hvammstangi to Blönduós..
The road between Hvammstangi, where we stayed in a small cabin, to Blönduós took us over a mountain pass (the first of many) that presented interesting driving challenges and beautiful views. Snow was an ever-present threat but I just loved the bleak winter landscape, the cool blues, greys and golden tones of the grasses, visible through the snow.
Making way for one of the many snow ploughs that work constantly to keep the roads clear, we stopped for a break; soup, sandwhiches and photographs.
We were heading for Akureyri and given the forecast, we didn’t want to waste any time in getting over the mountains but, I take photographs therefore stopping every few miles is obligatory.
Here’s a selection of photographs from this leg of our journey around Iceland. It still amazes me that I can stand in the middle of the Hringvegur (Route 1 Ring Road), the main road around Iceland, and take pictures without fear of being run down. :-)
24mm f/11 1/100 sec. ISO-50
24mm f/11 1/60 sec. ISO-50
24mm f/11 1/100 sec. ISO-50
24mm f/11 1/80 sec. ISO-50
58mm f/11 1/100 sec. ISO-50
Cornwall Photographic 
ugh . . . I see a person; I was all set to come visit, but I don’t like crowds.
March 14, 2015 at 7:28 pm
I’m with you on that one Emilio! :-D
March 14, 2015 at 7:31 pm
Wow!
March 14, 2015 at 7:38 pm
:-)
March 14, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Very brave of you to drive, our tour bus driver really struggled in the snow on the golden circle route.
March 14, 2015 at 7:56 pm
I really enjoyed the driving. It was very strange to be driving on compacted snow and ice but I very quickly got used to it. We had a Jeep Grand Cherokee with winter tyres and it did amazingly well in the conditions.
March 14, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Good place to make your head empty but also dangerous with the snow on the roads
March 14, 2015 at 8:40 pm
A great place to clear your head Lou. I felt quite safe driving with good winter tyres. :-)
March 14, 2015 at 10:28 pm
A beautiful serie. excellent shots.
March 14, 2015 at 9:42 pm
Thank you so much Isabel! :-)
March 14, 2015 at 10:24 pm
Lovely desolation. Great seeing it through your camera, but I’m spoiled, not liking either extreme in the weather.
March 14, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Thank you Gunta! I can handle the cold as I can wrap up warm. The heat on the other hand, you can only take so much off! :-)
March 14, 2015 at 10:25 pm
You don’t see sights like these in Cornwall ;-)
March 14, 2015 at 11:37 pm
That’s for sure Jude! :-)
March 15, 2015 at 9:27 am
These are so powerful. The second to last one jumps at me with that angry sky and deserted road, like you are the last one left.
March 15, 2015 at 2:12 am
Thank you Carrie! Really appreciate your comment!
March 15, 2015 at 9:27 am
Amazing images. What a place to visit. Your shots truly capture the harshness and barrenness of the place. Very beautiful
March 15, 2015 at 3:41 am
Thank you very much Wendy! It was so starkly beautiful!
March 15, 2015 at 9:29 am
Your first and last images capture the feeling, and appeal to me, of vast open spaces and mother nature at her finest.
March 15, 2015 at 10:24 am
Thanks Noeline! It’s the vast open spaces that appeal to me too and in winter, looking so bleak and desolate, they appeal even more somehow. :-)
March 15, 2015 at 10:55 am
Some people might think we’re a little odd :D
March 15, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Odd is good! I can live with that..! :-D
March 15, 2015 at 12:01 pm
You make such amazing images
I enjoy it every time again, thanks!
March 15, 2015 at 11:23 am
Thank you so much! :-)
March 15, 2015 at 12:01 pm
Spectacular landscapes, Adrian. It does look rather deserted. Is the lone person, one of your party or a local? Are there any shops there? :lol:
March 15, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Thank you Sylvia! The lone person is Chris who you may recall, I call upon to scale my landscapes on occasion. There are some very nice shops in Reykjavik and we visited a mall in Akureyri. Many villages just have the one small shop that sells everything just like here. :-)
March 15, 2015 at 6:09 pm
Beautiful ! Weren’t those empty roads quite something ChillB …..oft times I pondered and panicked why, especially the ones with only your tracks visible as pathfinder … Oh how we laughed :-D
March 15, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Ahh but I did manage to find the path.. somehow! :-D It was a great deal of fun and yes, laughter is a lovely memory to have of the trip! :-)
March 15, 2015 at 6:58 pm
Utterly beautiful…
March 15, 2015 at 8:03 pm
Thank you Patsy! It really is.. :-)
March 15, 2015 at 9:02 pm
Great skies and bleak landscapes……beautiful
March 15, 2015 at 10:29 pm
Thank you Mark! I can’t begin to describe the feelings I get looking at this landscape but hope in some small way, my photos allow you to feel something like it. :-)
March 15, 2015 at 10:37 pm
Shot 3 for me with the focal point of the individual being key
March 16, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Thank you again Scott! Much appreciated!
March 17, 2015 at 7:49 am
Stunning bleak landscapes, Adrian.
March 17, 2015 at 9:59 am
Thank you Andy! It was such a pleasure, having the opportunity to photograph landscapes like this.
March 17, 2015 at 11:38 am
I love the third image here – very bleak!
March 19, 2015 at 11:03 am
Thank you Mark!
March 19, 2015 at 11:49 am
What a heavy sky in the fourth image and I like the snaking road in the last one. I think the wintery landscape would be too bleak for me to enjoy a holiday, I feel the cold just looking at your photographs! I wouldn’t mind a summer break in Iceland though, to see some of the geysers and hot springs.
March 20, 2015 at 6:06 pm
I have to say I really enjoyed the winter landscape. It was quite different in the sunshine Sonja, the snow was very beautiful. If you don’t like the cold however, I’d recommend either the spring or autumn. You wouldn’t enjoy the midges in the summer! :-)
March 20, 2015 at 6:31 pm
Midges in Iceland? Who would have thought….
March 20, 2015 at 6:34 pm
Very like Scotland in that respect. :-)
March 20, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Very like Scotland in that respect. :-)
March 20, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Dreamily otherworldly, and completely fabulous.
March 23, 2015 at 9:49 pm
Thank you Elena, it really is an amazing landscape! :-)
March 24, 2015 at 7:54 am