Click Photos to Enlarge
I started this blog in 2011 to chronicle the journey as part
of the Scottish Harp Society of America Travel Scholarship to Scotland. It
picked up again in 2015 with the North Carolina Regional Artist Grant to
Ireland. All of the pictures, stories, and videos from those adventures are
still here in previous posts (in reverse chronological order). As the 2017
journey begins, my lovely wife Jo Ellen and I are off to Iceland, Cornwall and
Oxford England, and the west coast of Ireland for the Willie Clancy Festival
and some time in Dingle and the Ring of Kerry. I plan to do lots of jamming, making and
posting videos in beautiful and historic locations, connecting with old friends
and mentors, making new friends, and collecting lots of tunes. I hope you enjoy
the ride…I know that we will!
Ziggy thinks this is about him.
This is the first time I’ve ever flown with a harp. In the
past we’ve only flown round trip; Glasgow in 2011 and Dublin in 2015. Both
times I rented or borrowed instruments. We are taking a total of 6 different
planes on this trip, and trying to fly with the Fisher (my main axe) checked in
baggage so many times seems a bit risky and definitely scary. So this time my
rig is a 33 string electric grandsicle, which is smaller and not nearly as
expensive. I have a small incognito bose speaker that I can use in sessions,
and might see if I can pick up a battery-powered amp along the way to do a
little busking. I also have a whistle, a low whistle, and my Uilleann pipes, so
I’ve got everything I need to make some eardrums bleed!
My neighbor Mark helped me build the shell for a flight case
out of wood scraps that he had laying around. I padded it, put a cardboard
shell around it, and we added hinge and buckle hardware, and lots and lots of
duct tape. I got a couple sets of wheels and industrial strength Velcro to
attach them. I can peel the wheels off the bottom and toss them right inside
the case. With the harp and wheels it weighs in at 49 pounds, one pound under
the limit.
Marley wanted in on the action too.
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If anyone told me the seat in front of me would be showing
monkeys racing on dogs…wait…what? Its gonna be a long flight.
We landed in Keflavik Iceland around midnight. It was still light out. The harp flight case
was wet, filthy, had holes in the outer padded cardboard layer (good thing we
made it out of plywood), it was open, 2 hinges were torn off, and the wheels
were missing. But the harp was okay.
As I was grumbling about having no wheels, Jo Ellen
suggested I look around for them and sure enough they were sitting in the
corner of the baggage area. I slapped them on and we were off. The shuttle took
us to a nearby B&B. The guy at the hotel was wonderful. He said I could
store it in their workroom for the duration of our visit, and use their tools
to repair it.
We didn’t get the room for ambiance, just a place to crash
for a few hours before getting the car in the morning and setting out to see
Reykjavik, geysers, waterfalls, volcanoes, and other Icelandic stuff. We didn’t
have to worry about getting everything in before dark. It doesn’t get dark here
in the summer. This was what it looked like out our window at 3:00 in the
morning.
The first day was cool and rainy most of the time-but that
wouldn’t stop us from seeing the sights. This place really is like another
planet. Here are some pictures from our first day:
Click Photos to Enlarge
Gulfoss
Haunting history on this path.
Need a lot of these in Iceland-everything is really expensive. Soup and coffee for two costs 40 bucks!
I'll just leave this right here.
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| Steaming geyser |
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| Harpa Theater Reykjavik |
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| More of a commitment to get here, but Gulfoss Falls is definitely even cooler and more magnificent than Niagara. I thought about going over in a barrel, but it would have been too easy. |
We woke up in a town called Selfoss, on Iceland’s National
Day. There were flags and parades. I needed some hardware to repair my harp
flight case, but the stores were closed due to the holiday. Good thing I brought some duct tape. Anything
can be fixed with duct tape, right?
We decided to head to the south coast to see the village of Vik with its black sand beaches and amazing volcanic formations, stopping at a waterfall to make a harp video along the way.
A little clip from the parade
We decided to head to the south coast to see the village of Vik with its black sand beaches and amazing volcanic formations, stopping at a waterfall to make a harp video along the way.
Here's the Video!
Vik Pics:
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| Glacier |
Since we needed to go to the airport at 5:00 am to catch an
early flight to London, we had made plans to stay the same B&B where we
started. We didn’t get back until midnight. I had left my flight case in the
workroom at the hotel. Good thing, it would not have fit in the car, so I
returned the car and took the shuttle back to the hotel. The nice man working
at the hotel let me use his tool kit and screws to patch up the flight case. I
gave him my CD and he seemed really happy.
By the time I finished repairing the case and getting all
packed up for the next flight I had totally pulled an all-nighter. But since it
never gets dark this time of year it didn’t seem so bad, although I would
definitely pay for it later through utter exhaustion. Lots of lovely blonde haired Icelandic folks
helped us get things squared away with check in & getting the big ‘ole ugly
harp flight case safely where it needed to be.
Iceland is a place like no other I’ve ever seen. Two days is
too short of a visit. If you are ever
doing a trans-continental flight that routes thru Iceland and can manage a
layover, by all means go for it.
Next up: England. See you soon!
