A while ago back in Iceland with met up with Sandra, the trainee tattoo-artist cum earthquake expert. She was helping run the earthquake centre in Kopasker. Watch this clip for a younger person’s perspective:
01/09
Interview with Sandra Helgudottir
29/08
Interview with Villi Knudsen
Asked if he’s passionate about volcanoes Villi Knudsen tells us he’s interested in people who make shoes, he thinks being a postman would be an interesting job and that he enjoys watching his model train of an evening. Not what you’d expect from a man who’s spent his life chasing…
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24/08
Interview with Icelandic swimmers
As some of you know already, we met these lovely people on the geo-thermal beach in Reykjavik and talked to them about life on a fault line. We’ve now had the chance to turn our chat with them into a short clip, which has to be one of our favourite…
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20/08
Hard boiled or soft?
We’ve been eating like kings here in Iceland. Beautiful lamb, salmon, trout, all readily available at remote petrol stations, and then barbecued to perfection by Serena. Yummy. But breakfast has been another matter – usually consisting of a couple of biscuits and a strong coffee before we pack up Lottie…
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19/08
Interview with Soffia Sigurdardottir
Some of our more avid readers may have noticed we are a tad heavy on the geography and a little light on people. This is because we are filming all the interviews we are doing and it takes time to edit, upload and post this stuff. So please bear with…
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18/08
How do you say Eyjafjallajokull?
Out of everything we’ve been looking forward to visiting, Eyjafjallajokull was top of our list in Iceland. This is the volcano that erupted in March this year, causing complete chaos and disaster for Icelanders and Brits alike. I’m not sure what we were expecting, but it wasn’t this: The crater…
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17/08
You say tomato
So far we’ve come across geo-thermal energy being harnessed to generate electricity, bake bread, make cinder blocks, de-ice pavements and heat water for swimming pools. As we drove east of Reykjavik, we came across yet another example of the earth’s natural energy being used creatively by the Icelanders – rows…
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16/08
Getting into hot water
It’s difficult not to get blase about the way in which Icelanders harness their geo-thermal energy. Everywhere we go are steaming vents or hissing rocks that stopped us in our tracks when we initially came across them. However, a project like ours wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the…
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15/08
Moving plates
As well as talking to people wherever we go, we’ve been seeking out the most dramatic points in the landscape that demonstrate the fault line. Nowhere are the two plates that have created Iceland more obvious and the geography more tangible than at Thinvellir, which is precariously situated on the…
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13/08
Gateway to hell
One of our more nerve-racking days. The long bone-shaking drive through the interior came to an end and we reached Hekla – one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, also known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’. It has erupted over 20 times, and is surrounded by miles and miles of lava…
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10/08
Geological wonders
As soon as we get on the road we stop. There’s just so much to see here, it’s crazy. Around every bend is another hot spring or volcano. We drive for miles and miles over twisted lava fields and endless black deserts. Sometimes it feels like we are in Mongolia….
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08/08
Wonder bread
One of the areas we have always been keen to explore is whether or not there can be a positive side to living on a fault line. This is obviously a delicate area, and one that requires careful negotiation. However, today we came across three brilliant, if somewhat different examples…
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07/08
Our first seismometer reading
On our second night in Iceland as soon as we set up camp, we got out our seismometer. Iceland can experience up to 80 earthquakes a day, so there was a very good chance we might record one. Paul Denton from the British Geological Survey has loaned us two portable…
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06/08
A geological start
Geologically speaking, Fault Line Living truly began today with us visiting the dramatic ‘start’ of the fault line we are following in Iceland – the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – a massive 18,000 km rift between two of the earth’s major tectonic plates. We visited the point at which the ridge enters…
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