Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The West Fjords
Attached to the mainland by a narrow isthmus of land barely 10km wide, the
West Fjords are one of the most breathtakingly beautiful and least-visited
corners of Iceland - only three percent of all foreign tourists make it out here.
This peninsula of 8600 square kilometres, stretching out into the icy waters
of the Denmark Strait, with its dramatic fjords cutting deep into its heart, is
the result of intense glaciation. Everything here is extreme - from the table
mountains that dominate the landscape, plunging precipitously into the
Atlantic, to the ferocious storms that have gnawed the coastline into
countless craggy inlets. Life up here, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, is tough
- even in summer, temperatures seldom rise above 10°C, and drifting pack
ice is never far from the north coast.
Since flat land is at a premium in this rugged part of the country, towns and villages
have grown up on the narrow strip of lowland that separates the mountains from the
fjords. Geologically all but cut of from the outside world, the inhabitants of the West
Fjords have historically turned to the sea for their livelihood, and today the majority of
the seven thousand people who still live here are financially dependent on
fishing
and
its related industries. However, the traditional way of life is changing, and the effects of
rural depopulation are being felt in every village as outlying farms are abandoned and
dozens of young people choose the bright lights of Reykjavík over a precarious and
uncertain future on the very edge of Europe.
The unforgiving geography of the West Fjords makes travel here difficult and
convoluted. Many roads are surfaced with gravel, and they're always potholed and often
circuitous.
Route 61
, for example, wiggles its way exasperatingly round no fewer than
seven deeply indented fjords en route to the regional capital,
Ísajörður
. Benefiting from
a spectacular setting on a narrow spit of land jutting out into
Ísajarðardjúp
, the town
makes an excellent base from which to explore this 75km-long arm of the Denmark
Strait at the heart of the West Fjords, plus
Drangajökull
, the only glacier in the region,
and the outstanding natural beauty of the uninhabited
Hornstrandir
peninsula, which
offers some of the wildest and most rewarding hiking in Iceland. From Ísafjörður,
Route 60 weaves its way over mountain tops, round several fjords and past a handful of
tiny fishing villages on its way to the ferry port of
Brjánslækur
, from where a ferry
leaves the West Fjords for Flatey and Stykkishólmur. A brooding, lonely peninsula
reaches out into the Atlantic from this point, terminating at
Látrabjarg
, Europe's most
westerly point and one of the world's greatest bird cliffs, with large numbers of puffins,
razorbills and other seabirds; and
Breiðavík
, one of Iceland's most stunning beaches,
with mile upon mile of deserted golden sand. Nearby
Patreksjörður
, the second town
of the West Fjords, is the only place in the west of the region with a population big
enough for life to go on independently of Ísafjörður.
4
Vigur island
p.186
Skálavík
p.189
The Súðavík avalanche
p.190
Hornstrandir hiking practicalities
p.192
Hiking between Hesteyri and Aðalvík
p.194
Flateyri's avalanches
p.195
Activities in Þingeyri
p.196
Jón Sigurðsson
p.198
The Fossheiði trail
p.200
Látrabjarg's birds
p.203
The Látrabjarg rescue
p.204
The trolls of Grímsey
p.207
