GLACIERS, waterfalls, geysers and volcanic islands were just some of the natural wonders visited by a group of lucky teenagers on a school trip to Iceland.

More than 30 youngsters from Forest School in Snaresbrook enjoyed a three day tour of the island during a trip which featured dips in a natural hot spa and lunch in the crater of a dormant volcano.

Geography teacher, Emr Wyn Morris, who led the trip, said one of the highlights of the tour was a visit to a town which had nearly been destroyed by lava following a volcanic eruption.

He said: "We flew - nine at a time – in an alarmingly small aircraft over to the Westmann Islands to see how the town of Heimaey was affected by the enormous eruption of Eldfell in 1973.

"We all tramped up the slopes of Eldfell for views of the town and heard how its only harbour was saved from lava flows by spraying seawater directly onto the lava before the inlet was cut-off from the Atlantic, which would have devastated the island’s main source of income.

"This was the first time in human history that lava flows have been stopped by this rather simple method.

"We had lunch on the collapsed crater at the summit with many pupils sitting on spots of rock that are still warm after the eruption over thirty years ago."

The group enjoyed another memorable moment when they took a closer look at some Iceland's magnificent landscape.

Mr Morris said: "With the sun rising through thinning cloud we headed out to see several glacier-fed waterfalls, stunning volcanic landscapes and coastal arches and stacks many of which are world famous and have appeared in films and TV adverts.

"We stopped to see Icelandic horses by the roadside -famous for their ability to move in five motions rather than the usual four - and then onwards to the Solheimajokull glacier where we were able to walk a little way onto the ice and get a sense of the size and power of moving ice."