Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hrísey
No trip to the north coast of Iceland is complete without seeing the hundreds of
ptarmigan
on
HRÍSEY
, a flat, teardrop-shaped island at the mouth of Eyjafjörður,
reached by ferry from Árskógssandur, about 10km southeast of Dalvík. At 7.5km
long and 2.5km wide, it's the country's second-largest island (Heimaey in the
Westman Islands is the biggest; see p.136), but it's home to barely two hundred
people.
As you might expect, Hrísey's history is tied to fishing. Its population peaked at 340
in the mid-twentieth century, when fishing boats from across the country landed their
catches in the tiny harbour, making it the second-largest
herring port
on the north
coast, after Siglufjörður. Since then things have declined: the fish-processing factory
down at the harbour was Hrísey's main source of employment until it closed in 1999,
and over thirty people left the island to look for work in Akureyri and Reykjavík.
Today, it's the Icelandic National Quarantine Centre, established here in 1974 so that
stocks of Galloway cattle could be imported from Scotland, that keeps many islanders
in employment.
Reforestation
has also begun in a couple of areas, in an attempt to
protect the thin layer of soil atop the basalt rock of which Hrísey is formed from
further erosion.
5
Hrísey village
Hrísey's picturesque
village
is tiny, consisting of two or three parallel streets perched
on a small hill above the walled
harbour
. Brightly painted houses, unfortunately all
of them modern and block-like, look out over the fjord and the handful of small
boats that bob up and down in the tiny port. Otherwise, there's a minuscule
outdoor
swimming pool
(Mon-Fri 9am-6.30pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am-5pm) on the
main street, Norðurvegur, at the eastern end of the village; at just 12.5m in length,
it's heated by geothermal water from Hrísey's very own borehole, on the island's
west coast.
The rest of the island
There's some wonderful
walking
to be had along tracks that head around the
southeastern corner of the island; all three colour-coded paths (green 2.3km;
yellow 4.5km; and red 5km) begin just ten minutes' walk from the village near
the island's southernmost tip, beyond the couple of colourful private summer
cottages that look out over the fjord. The
green route
traces a circular route up to
the hills of Háaborð, dropping towards Beinalág and returning to the village; the
red path
heads further north along the coast, while the
yellow track
follows
essentially the same routing though further inland; both routes turn south again at
the Borgarbrík cliffs.
HRÍSEY'S BIRDLIFE
Hrísey is home to more
ptarmigan
than anywhere else in Iceland - they're protected by law
here and there are no natural predators such as mink or foxes. As a result, the birds are very
tame and roam the entire island, and you'll spot them in the village, laying their eggs in
people's gardens or, particularly in August after the breeding season, strolling down the main
street with a string of fluffy chicks in tow.
Unfortunately for visitors, Hrísey also has the largest breeding colony of
arctic tern
in
Europe, and should you come too close to the young birds, adults will readily divebomb you
from on high - which means you'll pretty much need a hard hat if you get too close to their
nesting sites. The island is also a good place to spot
golden plover
and
eider ducks
,
which have a significant breeding colony in the northern part of Hrísey which is out of
bounds to visitors.
