my name is roma wells. i'm a writer who loves to travel. words have always been my compass for navigating my travel adventures. so, i'm here to capture the wild wonders of this wintry world. over seven times more tourists visit iceland than people who live here. and most of them base their trip in the capital city, reykjavik. but on this trip, i'm heading off the beaten track to explore the far north of the island. these borderlands of the arctic circle get far less tourists but are no less spectacular and offer an insight into a wilder and perhaps more authentic side of iceland.

join me as i try to capture the land of fire and ice in both words and pictures. nature brings us things that we could never have imagined, and i love capturing those. meet the extraordinary marine life that call these icy waters home. it's such a humbling feeling to cross paths with these giants. and find out why, historically, knitting is so much more than a cosy pastime here in the north. honestly, i mean, icelandic people just survive here because of the sheep. so, join me here in northern iceland as i set out to discover what life is like at the edge of the arctic.

my adventure begins in the town of husavik in the north of iceland. it's famed for its colourful buildings and quaint harbour. but don't let this quiet demeanour fool you. this is a gateway to some breathtaking experiences, and it's earned the nickname as the whale—watching capital of europe. iceland is one of only three countries that allow commercial whale hunting, but there are strict controls on numbers and types of whales that can be caught here each year... ..though tourist demand for whale watching is strong and, over the past few decades, companies like north sailing here in husavik have been converting fishing boats into those that can take tourists out to sea. captain husky, hey! hello! nice to meet you. great to see you. i mean, here in skjalfandi bay,

we have a lot of humpback whales and they are fantastic. i've been told there's a 97% chance of seeing a whale on any trip you take here. depending on what time of year you visit, you can see all sorts of different species. i just think whales are such magnificent creatures. they combine so much size and power with so much elegance and grace. they have one of the longest migrations on the planet. and their tails are as unique as a fingerprint. what i'm finding different about this whale—watching trip is this. silence. you can hear the breathing of the whale as it goes down and comes up and takes in the air. you can actually hear it. whereas, you know, with an engine, you hear less. exactly. ten years ago, opal was converted from a diesel to an electric hybrid engine, which it relies on, along with the wind in her sails.

see what you mean about it gets tougher! yep. that's a good workout. you can stop and take a breath if you need. no! no! let's keep going. i'm committed now. let's keep going. i'm committed now. roma laughs roma laughs after a few hours on the after a few hours on the water and no sighting water and no sighting of any whales, i'm starting of any whales, i'm starting to think i might bejoining to think i might bejoining the unlucky few who don't see the unlucky few who don't see any whales on their trip any whales on their trip to husavik. but was my luck to husavik. but was my luck about to change? about to change? so, the captain has heard that so, the captain has heard that there's a couple of humpbacks there's a couple of humpbacks possibly across the bay. possibly across the bay. now, i really hope now, i really hope we get to see them. we get to see them. it is freezing cold it is freezing cold and the water is starting and the water is starting to get a little bit to get a little bit rougher here. rougher here. on the surface, ten o'clock. on the surface, ten o'clock. whale snorts whale snorts roma gasps roma gasps

humpbacks can grow up to 60ft long and weigh up to a0 tonnes. males sing unique songs to attract a mate, and these can be heard up to 20 miles away and can last for hours.

# bittersweet photograph # in fading light i made you laugh # i know...# driving here, it's very dynamic, it's changing all the time, so i never get tired of driving. every turn you go, something is changing. it's always new. with my feet firmly back on dry land, i'm teaming up with photographer and adventurer gunnar gunnarsson for the next part of my trip through northern iceland. we're travelling in his 4x4, aptly nicknamed the lava jeep. i love the crazy weather, the mountains. i love the perspective that you get when you can see something out there and itjust makes your mind wonder, what volcano is it there? how does it look like? we're heading to lake myvatn, created by a volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago that

dramatically changed the landscape of this area. # i don't need a reason # take me away # i don't need a reason...# gunnar, what on earth is this? so, we are in one of the most geothermally active areas of iceland here. here, all you have to do is stick a pipe in the ground... mm—hm. ..you have a natural hot...hot shower. imean... call this the never—ending shower. icelanders have found a way to utilise the power of nature. they use nearly 100% of renewable energy, and sometimes that has quirky results, especially here in the north. so, today we're going to try something that's very unique to iceland... 0k. ..and that is very local. you see, we're walking here through the steam and we're actually going to be seeing food made here in this area. here? yes. we are meeting thorhallur, who has an interesting method to cook bread for her guests at the nearby vogafjos farm

resort. so, we have done this for years... yeah? ..baking bread, and all farmers around myvatn have been baking bread in the ground, underground. oh, my goodness. so, nature is the oven? this is amazing. exactly. it's like a chest of treasure coming out. it is! delicious treasure. so, we should maybejust open and see how it is. oh, wow! pretty good. that looks good, thorhallur. well done. i don't know, do you smell...? i smell it. yeah. oh, i do, yeah. so, this is the bread that we just collected at the farm earlier. we have icelandic butter. mm. it's delicious. and it's got a real kind of ca key, earthy texture. you can sort of taste the fact that it's been in the earth, this bread. and you can see what i mean

that it's almost like bread and cake. like, the bread is so soft, it's sojuicy. moist. it has a little sweetness to it. so, this is icelandic trout from lake myvatn and it's smoked in a... so, this is very sustainable. people use everything. so, it's smoked in icelandic sheep tongue. is it now?! it's actually a very traditional way of doing it, so... nice, huh? there's a real smoky texture to that. mm. what is this surreal place that we're in? so, this area is called hverir. it means hot springs. it does feel like another planet. yeah, definitely. it really does. yeah, it really does. so, i think we should take some photos of that, maybe try to get some detail shots, think about the colours here. if you go up to the hot spring now, it's going to be super nice. yeah. that was nice. roma laughs and then walk towards me now, yeah. really nice. here we go. see some of the details. beautiful.

look at that. and i think these isolation shots can be really good of the colours. and then we'll get to the... that's a nice portrait of you here. ha—ha, the cheesy grin! and then i'll show you... i like this a lot. i think this is really nice. leaning in. mother nature is volatile and these landscapes are full of risks. accidents have been on the rise as tourists search for the perfect picture, which has led authorities to establish a set of guidelines to keep people safe whilst travelling here. so, in iceland, we have something called the icelandic pledge. so, respectful in the way that you take your photos. for example, you take pictures worth dying for, but you don't die for them. ah—ha. sound logic! yeah, exactly. one very good way not to die for your photos is to use your drone. there is research to do before flying your drone in iceland, but stick to the rules and you can get some amazing results. so, we have the volcanic crater here. snow stripes! it's crazy. it almost looks like a black

and white photograph, honestly. really does. this is actually a photo that i kind of wanted to get for a really long time. if you want to go a bit higher... go straight up? so, there's a shutter button here for the camera. so, take a picture. nice. it's incredible. just everywhere you look... yes. ..is astounding, isn't it? i mean, you can see the pictures on social media, but it's just not the same. you can't smell the bread baking in the earth, or hear the bubbling mud pots, or experience the mist drifting like dragon's breath. it truly is a place that has to be felt and immersed in with all of your senses. the story of iceland has been recorded in sagas — oral histories that were written down in medieval times, which icelanders have used to connect with their past. they feature tales of politics,

heroism and adventure, all with a healthy dose of norse mythology. this is skagafjordur. it may look stunning and serene, but the sagas tell us this was the location of a brutal battle between warring viking families that would herald the beginning of the end for iceland's independence. the battle of 1238 is the battle of orlygsstadir which we can see behind us here. these are the battlefields? these are the battlefields. how pivotal was it? the period, the 1200s, from maybe 1238 to 1260, is the bloodiest and the most brutal time in icelandic history. it's the story of how we lost the independence. so, we lost the independence to the norwegian king. and we didn't gain it back until 1944. which is quite... a very long time. it's a very long time. so, every generation has the responsibility to preserve the history and to mediate it in a way that it can be

understood... mm—hm. ..appreciated. and i think we've come to the next step. we need to use the technology to kind of make it more interesting. new frontiers. yes. yeah. freyja rut is behind the history project 1238 — the battle for iceland. carrying on the storytelling tradition, she's taken the tale of this momentous fight from the pages of the saga and turned it into a virtual reality experience. wow. so... this is the spear of grasida, the spear of your chieftain. and this will be something you meet in the battle. right. so, you take these real—world details and you programme them into the experience. yes. so, it's completely accurate. are you ready? i'm ready. i was born ready! let's go.

but i'm picking up weapons and i'm inspecting them and learning about the history of the blades. i'm meeting the chieftain. he had a treasured spear he used in battle, but it's lost. so, when i head through this gate, i'm entering battle and i'm going to find his spear. someone�*s coming. i see an ominous raven and someone arriving on a horse. the battle cry. and they're coming! right. they want me to use rocks. this technology may let you experience history, but it will never change its outcome, as the chieftain meets his untimely demise. so, i'm handing the spear back to the chief... ..at last. let me help you back. there we go. my gosh.

how are you feeling? that was absolutely brilliant. i wasn't ready for the, like... the immersive nature of it. itjust brought history to life. it's incredible. ifeel, like, ready to go for the rest of the day. you really channelled your inner viking. yeah. # take yourtime #with me...# today i visited both a real battlefield and a virtual one, and it was quite the epic experience. but if there's one thing that it really hammered home, it's just how much there is to learn from these fascinating sagas and just how powerful it can be when storytelling is updated for our technological world. in the north, as the icelandic autumn turns into winter, farmers round up their sheep, bringing them back to their farms so they have a warm barn to stay in during the colder months. their wool�*s particular qualities make it sought after for knitters

like helene magnusson. hello, lovelies. the good stuff, huh? the good stuff. sheep in iceland, theyjust go freely in the mountain all summer. yeah. just roaming. roaming through the wilds. freely. yeah. and then in september, usually, we have to round up, so they are herded back from the mountains. but then they belong to all the farmers in the area, so you have to sort them. but getting the sheep is the big thing because they've been wild. all the sheep in iceland are direct descendants of those brought here by the viking settlers in the 9th and 10th century. in bygone times, they would have had to endure iceland's erratic climate all year long. this has led the sheep to develop two types of wool. creamy, buttercream colours.

yeah, yeah. the water—resistant outer fleece called tog... ..and the thel layer, which keeps the sheep snug and warm whatever the weather. this is the wool, the best wool you get, because it's all clean. cos they've been outside. yeah, because they've been outside all summer. whereas the one that is from the shearing in march... mm—hm. ..it will be... they will have like, you know... rub off. rubbing against each other and then it will be full of poo and hay. and this wool, usually, it will go into insulation or carpeting. and here we go. i have to ask though, your passion for knitting, where did it begin? was it here in iceland? well, i worked as a lawyer, like, for three years in paris and then after i went to iceland, i wasjust like, "ok, this is my home." and so ijust quit myjob, resigned from the bar and moved to iceland. just like that.

everybody thought i was completely crazy. helene wants to keep traditional icelandic knitting alive. she runs knitting tours, taking tourists across glaciers and over rugged terrains or historical sites in search of inspiration for their next design. wow. so, these are what houses are like... yeah, so this is... ..on the edge of the arctic? exactly. so, this is grenjadarstadur... grenjadarstadur? ..and this is one of the few turf farms that we have left in iceland. right. like, in the 1930s, you would have maybe 100,000 turf houses. and when you would go through the countryside, there would only be, like, houses of this type. but then they got all turned on, destroyed. and they come from the old viking house. they are made with whatever was available on the terrain. so, usually, it's a blend of rocks and turf, and obviously this one has lots of stones.

yeah. are they getting this from out here? yeah, they come from the lava field over there. so, yeah, in these intense conditions, you really need to keep warm here. yes, you do. so, lots of wool, lots of sheep. we're ready. yeah, i mean, honestly, i mean, icelandic people just survive here because of the sheep. yeah, imagine what it is like in the middle of the winter... so dark. ..when there's absolutely no light. yeah. careful. it's steep. so, in wintertime, we would have maybe 15 people here. yeah. so, this is the heart of... yeah. ..the house? it's all a matter of tension and how to hold the yarns. so, i'm just going to cast on. mm—hm. so, i'm basically making a loop.

it's almost like a dance with your hands. yeah, yeah, yeah. can i try it the other way? as in, like, just folding it around yourfinger? yeah, yeah. you can also do that. i also meant to ask, like, when people would traditionally be in this room knitting, was it quite a kind of communal activity to be sitting next to each other and chatting, or were you kind of...? yeah. so, you didn't have any radio or tv. so, there was usually someone, like, reading orsinging, then knitting, knitting, knitting. as they go. a little bit quicker. you're doing great. # they're holding strong...# so, if people are visiting the north, how would they be able to tell, like, a traditional real icelandic sweater as opposed to one of these imitations? there are some standards today that have been set by law, so if you want a real lopi sweater, then you will get one. you will have the name of the knitters on it. mm—hm. if you don't, it's not, and it cannot be called icelandic lopi sweater either. what do i do next here?

well, i mean, you just break the yarn and then you just... ..you just drag it through. pull it through? ah—ha! look at that! you've made your first swatch. ifeel so proud. gosh, it really is one of those things, the more you do it, the better you get, right? yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. take a long time to get to your speed. so, how do you... enjoy the experience? yeah. i mean, i think it's very therapeutic. ifelt very, like, kind of... it's mindful. i've always thought of knitting as this cosy, intimate pastime with a hot chocolate and a roaring fire. but being here in northern iceland, i've seen it's so much more extreme. you know, this need to survive, this necessity of it. it adds a whole other dimension. northern iceland is a place that's hard to put into words. being here on the edge of the arctic has really

pushed me to the limit of all of my senses. from the breathtaking landscapes carved by fire and ice, to the rich history and folklore, to the incredible creatures that glide its waters, it really is this tapestry of extreme wonders woven together as vibrantly as the iconic icelandicjumper. there are just so many secrets here waiting to be unearthed. but there is one thing that i haven't seen — the sometimes elusive northern lights. hello there! it's looking pretty chilly

as we head into this weekend. we're importing some colder air to the south of the uk from the near continent around this large area of high pressure, which has brought pretty benign weather for the past week or so. a lot of dry weather continues into this weekend. like i mentioned, it will be turning colder and there will be some morning mist and fog, some dense fog around which could linger through the day for england and wales. this big area of high pressure is bringing the fine, unsettled weather but we've got this plume of colder air to the south of us being drawn up on a very gentle southerly breeze. so, for saturday then, it's a cloudy start for many. some sunshine from the word go for northern scotland. more of a breeze around northern and western areas through the irish sea, so that will help break up the cloud here. so we should see some sunshine for parts of wales, northern england, northern ireland, northern scotland but i think for large parts of central, southern and eastern england, it will stay rather grey and gloomy with some murkiness and only 11—5 degrees. it will feel quite cold. but a little less cold across the northwest of scotland. but with that colder air in place, saturday night will be a cold one. we'll see, ithink, a bit more of a widespread frost and some

dense mist and fog patches across england and wales. very little change to the pressure pattern as we head through sunday but this weather front will try to edge into northwestern areas but it won't get far because it's bumping up against high pressure. so, a cold, frosty start with some fog around, which could be slow to clear for england, certainly central and eastern parts. the best of the sunshine, again, across northern and western areas. this weather front will bring some rain to western scotland and northern ireland into the afternoon. temperatures here 10 degrees, where we have some less cold air, but for most, it's a chilly day — 3—8 celsius. sunday night much the same — rather cloudy, a few gaps in the cloud allowing temperatures to fall where we see the gaps. this is where we're going to see frost down to —2, —3 degrees but less cold for western scotland and northern ireland as that weather front moves in. the weather front moves away. we stay in a benign pressure pattern, though, through monday and tuesday. but from midweek, we start to see high pressure retreating, and that will allow lower pressure to begin to move

in off the atlantic. so, there are some changes to the weather as we push towards the end of the new week. so, the short term — it remains quite cloudy and cool with limited sunshine and then, it's more unsettled and a little less cold by the end of the week.

live from london, this is bbc news. after hours of debate, israel's cabinet has ratified the ceasefire and hostage release deal with hamas in gaza. tiktok says it will "go dark" in america on sunday unless the government acts to stop a legal ban coming into effect. president—elect donald trump's inauguration on monday is to be moved indoors to the capitol

rotunda due to cold weather. south korea's impeached president, yoon suk yeol, is expected to attend court. britain's emma raducanu is out of the australian open — beaten in straight sets by the second seed. hello and welcome, i'm catherine byaruhanga. after hours of discussion that continued late into the night, the israeli cabinet has given final approval to the ceasefire and hostage deal with hamas. it's the first phase of a deal which, if implemented in full, will end the 15—month war in gaza. their meeting lasted more than six hours, with some ministers who threatened to resign arguing the agreement "rewards hamas". the first hostages are due to be released as early as sunday.

in return, israel says it will release 737 palestinian