Academic Enrichment News |

Year 11 Geography trip to Iceland

By Mr Dalton

Whilst it sounds like the weather at Barney was pretty poor over the half-term break the Year 11 GCSE Geographers had a splendid week in Iceland enjoying some lovely sunshine and the Northern Lights. Iceland is currently experiencing a swarm of earth tremors; there were 4000 recorded in the time we were there. Fortunately, although we travelled through the area of maximum tectonic activity, we did not feel any ground shaking.  

We spent six days exploring the south coast of Iceland starting near Reykjavik. Our first stop was the 2022 lava field which was still smoking and potentially active. The next day we visit the Blue Lagoon for a relaxing swim before heading off to the Golden Circle taking in Pingvellir National Park, the geyser at Geysir and Gullfoss Waterfall. More waterfalls followed the next day, including Seljalandsfoss, Skorgarfoss, and the Secret Waterfall (which obviously we can’t talk about). Kitted out with harnesses, crampons, helmets, and ice axes we spent the afternoon walking on the Solheimajokull Glacier before a trip to the stunning coastal scenery at Dyrholaey. We headed further around the south coast stopping at the stunning Fjadrargljufur Canyon. Our final stop was the Jokulsarlon Ice Lagoon and the Diamond Beach. On our long journey back to Reykjavik we stopped at the Lava Centre, the Perlan Ice Cave, and the Planetarium before experiencing the Flyover Iceland Interactive Ride. We saw the Northern Light twice on our trip just to make it even more memorable. It was an amazing journey, very busy, and exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable.