away, home, away, home again

Pingvellir National Park, Iceland

The last three weeks have been very full with travelling and holidays. It has been great but now I am ready to be quietly at home for a while with little planned.

At the end of July we spent eight days in Iceland. The first five days were spent on an escorted tour. This seemed to be the best way to see lots of the Iceland sights but the downside was that we spent extended periods of time in the coach travelling long distances. The tour was based in southwest Iceland and titled Volcanoes and Glaciers. We saw both, lots of waterfalls, geysirs and beautiful scenery.

I took hundreds of photographs which I still need to sort through but I chose the one above taken in the National Park because I wanted to convey the calm, serene beauty of the country. We were struck by the flat coastal plains, miles of lava fields which we passed by in the coach and the quiet emptiness and huge skies were amazing, so very different from the crowded south east of England.

At he end of the holiday we spent three days in Reykjavik just pottering and wandering by ourselves which was a good contrast to the hectic coach tour.

Back home and youngest son had loan of some equipment to carry out field work for his final year dissertation so I had just five days to find and book a suitable cottage in the Brecon Beacons so that he could start his project. Not an easy task at short notice in the school summer holidays but I managed to find a house in Brecon and off we went for a five day break. My husband was unable to take more time of work but eldest son who hasn't had any time off yet this year did manage to take a few days at short notice so for most of the time it was the three of us. My role was to drive to suitable streams and wait/walk while measurements were taken which once the weather cleared up was very pleasant. Eldest son who has completed courses in mountain safety and navigation, took long exhausting walks in the middle of nowhere so he was happy too.



Now we are back home and I have to turn my attention to my much neglected house and garden and generally get back to normal.
As always though, being away from routine gives an opportunity to think about the things we do everyday often without a second thought. In the last three weeks, I've watched virtually no television and spent little time online, I'm not saying whether this is good or bad just that there has been a difference and its something I want to think about. For now though its good to be back and see how everyone is in my little corner of blogland.