AUTUMN may usually be the season to escape for some last minute sunshine, but for pupils at the Commonweal School they opted for somewhere considerably colder.
A group of eight A-Level geography pupils embarked upon a four day visit to Iceland for the ultimate field trip.
Head of Geography Andrea Preston said: “We chose Iceland because it has a huge amount of Geography in a small area all of which is part of the A level course looking at - geothermal energy, glaciers, volcanoes, coastal erosion, plate tectonics, the Eurasian plate and North American plates which are pulling apart forming a rift valley and waterfalls to help with hydrology. It is a geographer’s delight.”
Upon the pupils arrival they visited the Blue Lagoon and stayed overnight in Reykjavik. Pupil Chris Woods said: “The Blue lagoon was a brilliant experience. The water temperature averages 30-40 degrees and the water is right blue yet extremely milky and opaque. We ate delicious burgers in square buns, a recurring theme in Iceland.”
The next day saw them taken by a guide along the N1 road south to Heveragerol to look at Geothermal energy, theSeljalndfoss waterfall, the Skogafoss waterfall and Solheimajokull (sun house) glacier. They rounded off their packed day by visiting Vik where they saw a black sand beach and basalt cliffs.
Pupil Matt Howe said: “We drove through amazing lava fields and Lena our guide tried to teach us the pronunciations of Icelandic places. She wasn’t very successful unfortunately.”
On their third day they woke up to find themselves surrounded by snow before they travelled north to Gulfoss water fall, Gysir and Thinhvellir - the original Icelandic parliament. Here they found where the North American and Eurasian plates are pulling apart forming a rift valley.
Pupil Rebecca Salter said: “We got to crawl under the ice and learn about the formation of the glacier which we are learning at A2.”
The visit was completed with a whale watching trip from Reykjavik harbour where they saw minke whales, dolphins and porpoises.
Rohan Christopherson said: “Finally we found a whale, a minke whale who was diving down and popping up, keeping an intense chase.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here