If you’re daydreaming about a beach, chances are that in your vision the sun is shining, the blue sea is twinkling and the golden yellow sand beckons for you to stretch out on it. But what if that sand isn’t gold? Could it be purple, black, pink instead? The colour of a beach’s sand tells…
Category: Geology
Three days in Skye: A love-letter
Some destinations are like postcards – picture perfect, easily discarded. But then there are those others that call out to be explored further and further, that twine around the soul and never let go, no matter the length of time spent. And in a brief three days, Skye wasted no time wrapping itself around mine….
Sink into Dune du Pilat
Golden, powdery sand as far as the eye can see. In front of me, behind, above, and below. There’s good reason why Dune du Pilat is officially Europe’s tallest sand dune. In fact, I’m going to let the dune show off a little: Dune du Pilat isn’t stationary. It’s actually moving slowly inwards, eating up…
China’s Avatar Mountains -Awesome Zhangjiajie
It’s not every day that you can step into an animated film. But Zhangjiajie was the inspiration for the floating mountains in Avatar, and David Cameron lifted them so exactly that its easy to expect my very own flying mountain banshee to be waiting at the top. Being there is kind of like being Mike…
Mývatn – No Other Place Like it on Earth
Mývatn is a place that’s like no other in the world. And that’s not my opinion – it’s a UNESCO fact. Only two locations are considered somewhat similar – oceanside Hawaii and Mars! So what makes it so special? Lake Mývatn is full of islands that formed in a very unique way. About 2000 years…
Iceland’s Best Waterfalls
‘Foss’ was the first word I learnt in Icelandic. Thanks to my waterfall-loving husband, it was dotted all over the map for our Iceland road trip before we even set foot in the country. Iceland is heaven for waterfall fans: it literally overflows with them, thanks to a happy combination of climate, geology and…
Guilin’s Reed Flute Cave
I know nature is the world’s best artist, but sometimes I need a little reminder. Guilin had reminders dripping from the sky, and nowhere was this more literal than at its Reed Flute Cave. Formed over millions of years, the stalactites and stalagmites here could make Michelangelo green with envy, as they show off…
One day in Heimaey
Heimaey is off the typical tourist track in Iceland, but well worth the detour. It’s an island that forms part of Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands), about an hour ferry ride off the mainland. The island is only 13.4km² so its main sights can be easily seen in a day, which makes it a perfect spot…
Heimaey’s volcano bombs
If these rocks resemble a pile of cannon balls, it’s with good reason. They’re actually known as volcano bombs, and they spewed out of Iceland’s volcano Eldfell in its first (and only) eruption in 1973. The rocks formed from molten lava, which cooled and solidified rapidly whilst still flying through the air. These…