Year 11, 12, and 13 students from The Marches School, The Grove School, and Sir John Talbot’s School have recently returned from an epic adventure in Iceland – our first (of hopefully many) cross-Trust trips to the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’. They had an action-packed tour of the beautiful country with Travelbound – here’s some of the trip highlights:
- The Blue Lagoon: Our travelers soaked up the serenity of the Blue Lagoon, complete with silica face masks and refreshing drinks amidst the aqua-blue geothermal waters.
- Reykjanes Peninsula: Witnessing tectonic plates stirring beneath their feet, causing countless small earthquakes.
- Geothermal Insights: A visit to a geothermal power plant, where they learnt how 90% of Iceland’s homes are powered by geothermal energy and how the Hellisheiði ON Power plant captures carbon.
- Leif Eriksson Bridge: Standing between two continents, experiencing the gap between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
- The Golden Circle: Visiting the site of the original Icelandic Parliament Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, the continental rift valley, Kerið volcanic crater lake (‘The Blue Gem’), Gullfoss waterfall and Strokkur geyser.
- Northern Lights: Staying at Hótel Hvolsvöllur, the group were treated to a spectacular display of the Northern Lights.
- Lava Centre: An interactive exhibition where students delved into local volcanoes, even mastering the pronunciation of Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano they study in GCSE and A Level.
- Majestic Waterfalls: Walking behind Seljalandsfoss and getting drenched by the 60-meter drop of Skógafoss, while learning about waterfall formation.
- Reynisfjara Adventure: Battling fierce winds at Vik’s black volcanic sand beach, marveling at basalt columns, stacks, caves, and the Dyrhólaey arch.
- Glacier Expedition: Climbing the Sólheimajökull glacier with Arctic Adventures, equipped with harnesses, hard hats, crampons, and expert glaciologist guide. The group mastered walking in crampons, leaped over glacial meltwater meanders, navigated crevasses, and even sipped glacial meltwater like true Vikings. Mr Duffill even brewed a cuppa with glacier water!
- Evening Delights: Evenings were filled with card games, hot tub relaxation, and Miss Catmur-Oxtoby’s entertaining quizzes.
Our team of Dr Renwick, Miss Catmur-Oxtoby, Mr Duffill, Mr Greenfield, and Miss Jennings all absolutely loved spending time with the students who were impeccably behaved and threw themselves into the activities and challenges. Tour guide Rosa and driver Daniel commented that they were the best group ever!
Iceland 2023 – an adventure to cherish forever!
