"His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free;
Yet, if men moved him, was he such a storm
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,
When winds breathe sweet, untidy though they be."
The volcanic sands of Reynisfjara, near Vík í Mýrdal in southern #Iceland.
This strand regularly features in lists of "World's Top Beaches" due to its cleanliness, water quality and sheer loveliness.
If it was rated for swimming and sunbathing, it would get 0/10 every time!
The basalt stump in the centre is Arnardrangur (Eagle Rock) and in the distance are the famous Reynisdrangar.
From the manuscript to you: How Old Norse manuscripts are read and edited
"A case-study in how a page from an Old Norse manuscript (in this case the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda) is edited for publication in a modern-day book. Manuscript images from the Árni Magnússon Institute at the University of Iceland (handrit.is)."
#Video length: Thirty minutes and fifteen seconds.
There are some lovely and quite famous valleys in southern #Iceland, this one is unusual because the entrance is blocked by a large, dome-shaped rock.
Stjórnargljúfur (𝙎𝙩𝙮𝙖𝙬𝙣-𝘢𝘳𝘳-𝘨𝘭𝘺𝘰𝘰-𝘷𝘳𝘳) gulley also contains a river and its waters cascade beautifully over this block.
Stjórnarfoss waterfall (49 ft/15 m high) in Skaftárhreppur. The guy in the shot is my partner!
Environmental historian Vicki Szabo and her team of archaeologists, historians, folklorists and geneticists are trying to figure out medieval Icelanders' attitudes to blue whales. Did they revere them as their protectors? Did they hunt them for food? Was it both? @hakaimagazine's Andrew Chapman reports on the work of this multi-disciplinary team, and what their findings might tell us about historical and modern whale populations.
November: A shot from a plane flying at 6500m between Reykjavik to Akureyri. The accumulation of snowflakes on the top of Hrútfell (1396m) eventually flows as part of a glacier - Hrútfellsjökull.
The other mountains are Innra-Sandfell and Femra-Sandfell. Bláskógabyggð in the western Central Highlands of #Iceland.
"Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats.
...
O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk"
Herðubreið (1682m/) a volcanic tuya in the northern part of Vatnajökull National Park, in the Highlands of #Iceland in the east of the Ódáðahraun desert.
February: Crossing the Tröllaskagi peninsular on a beautifully crisp day. The main ring-road, Route 1, passes between multiple 1000+ metre high mountains as it winds between Skagafjörður and Eyjafjörður in the north of #Iceland.
I particularly love this spot, dropping down into Öxnadalur from Krókárdalur, but I'd never seen the road picked out so clearly before.
Svínafellsjökull ("Pig Mountain Glacier") in the midday sunshine, farm buildings at its foot lending scale.
The dark lobe near ground level at the snout is from a landslide - the glacier shrinkage has left the side walls dangerously unsupported, and the collapse is accelerating the melt of the ice beneath.