Where Iceland come to die

Iceland is a geologically very volatile area. the location right at the Mid-Atlantic ridge with many active volcanos mean the islands is constantly growing in the middle as the two tectonic plates drift slowly apart with a speed of a couple of centimeters a year. Hence the oldest part of the islands is the areas furthest away from the Mid-Atlantic ridge in the North West and South East corners of the island.

In these areas the old basalt rock meets the rough North Atlantic Ocean and erosion takes place. This mean the landscape of the south east of Iceland actually has some very interesting rocks along the shore and fortunately the Ring Road drives right along the shore – hence it is easy to go here and explore the scenic landscape along the coast.

We drive out along a peninsula and then turn into a fjord – the road goes to the bottom of the fjord and then it turns around driving back along the other side of the fjord making the drive considerably longer than it would be in a straight line – but much more scenic at the same time.

We continue along a couple of more peninsulas and fjords while we enjoy the view of the beaten down basalt rock which at some places have gotten some interesting shapes and forms.

Occasionally there is a single rock which seems to have been left behind when the rest of the island disintegrated so now they just form a single small island off the shore of Iceland itself. There are also what looks like the remains of a small crater – but I guess it could just be a coincidence the rocks has been eroded away to leave behind this perfect ring shape of rocks.

The dark rock is complimented by the usual purple colour of the Icelandic summer. There just seem to be these purple colour flowers all over the island giving a contrast to the basalt colours which dominates much of the rest of the island.

We spot a lot of birds along the drive – but at one spot there is a collection of eider ducks swimming of the shore. I have no idea how many there are – they are just way too many to count and it is difficult even to get the whole flock of swimming ducks to fit in a photo without them become too tiny white dots.