Over half term the Geography department took GCSE and A level students on the trip of a lifetime to Iceland. It started with an early morning flight from London to the capital Reykjavik. After a pizza tea we visited a live lava show, where we were shown how lava moves and cools. Including seeing how Pele's hair forms (as the Hawains call it) This was fascinating to hear the tinkle of cooling lava. 

The next morning we headed to a tributary glacier of VatnaJokull, Europes largest glacier, where we put on Crampons, helmets and took Ice Axes to walk onto the glacier. Our guides led us past Crevasse's and Moulins to see what the ice looked like close up.

We also visited a number of Waterfalls and marvelled at the Icelandic landscapes with their basalt columns and black sand coastal beaches. By the time we reached our hotel that evening the snow had begun to fall, this was early in the season, but helped us all to appreciate why Iceland is named Iceland.

The next day we woke up to a landscape covered in snow, this led to us having the furthest North snowball fight any of us had ever had. After taking a look in a traditional Icelandic house we travelled to Jokasarlon where we took an amphibious boat onto a post glacial lagoon to look at Icebergs and seals. The snow on the land around the lake added to the wintry feel. 

Our penultimate day saw us travel to Geysir the site of tectonic activity outside of the capital city. We were treated to exploding Geysers, bubbling mud and steam vents. This was also the chance to see one of the only places in the world where you can see the plates pulling apart from each other. This was at Thingveller, where you can step from the North American plate to the Eurasian plate as the two move part from each other. A great spot for the geographers to see plate tectonic theory in action. 

Our final day was meant to be a relaxing one, with a visit to the Blue Lagoon, one of the worlds top tourist destinations, a Geothermal spa heated from the tectonic activity of the local area. However a blizzard arrived early while we were in the spa, which led to the strange sensation of having a warm body and an ice cream headache from the snow on your head. By the time we arrived at the airport the blizzard had grounded all of the planes for the day and our flight was cancelled. 

We then headed back to Reykjavik for another night in the snow, and managed to get an early flight out of Iceland at 3AM headed for Edinburgh. The pupils were fantastic and coped with this amended plan as if they had been training to go on 'race across the world'. We all managed to navigate some buses, trams and a long train ride back to Cheltenham by the end of the next day.

All in all it was an amazing trip and the pupils were a credit to the school, they all had a lot of geography over a short number of days.