I have spent 10 days travelling around Iceland as a way of gaining inspriation for my woven work whilst on a textile residency, funded by the Arts Council of Wales, in Blondous, in the north west of the country.
Route Taken
Reykjavick – Akranes – Mytatn – Mjoifijiordus -Smiojunes – The Golden Valley – Skafafell – Vik_ Landmannalaugar – Hekluhstar – Reykjavick.
Reflection
Iceland is a land of vivid contrasts of climate, geography and culture. Founded over 1,000 years ago during the Viking age of exploration, early settlers were Norwegian seafarers and adventurers. Today Iceland is a Scandinavian country, modern in every respect.
The Gulf Stream provides a surprisingly mild climate for what is one of the northernmost inhabited areas of the planet.
Iceland has a rugged coastline of more than 4,800km which meets the Greenland Sea on the north, the Norwegian Sea on the east, the Atlantic Ocean on the south and west and the Denmark Strait – which separates it from Greenland by about 329km, on the north west.
Iceland has the largest icecap in Europe and the glaciers are a reminder of the island’s proximity to the Arctic Circle, which just touches it on Icelands northern most island. Iceland is located on the top of the the Mid Atlantic Ridge which explains its volcanoes, which reach deep into the unstable, wild interior. Abundant hot geysers provide hot water and heating for many. The country is unpopulated in vast areas, with 63% of the land classed as unusable.
Iceland has a landscape of rugged splendour. With a geologically young mountain landscape, the country has lava flows smothered in soft mosses and lichens, powerful hot springs, waterfalls and geysers. Earthquakes are frequent.Expansive skies are often grey with fierce weather approaching. Hectares of open farmland divided by ditches and small fences. Icelandic horses roam the land. Iceland is dynamic and dramatic. A place to be inspired by the natural world; raw, beautiful, rugged, spectacular, firey, ever changing.
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