Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
HIKING FROM GRENIVÍK TO GJÖGUR
A circular four- to five-day
hike
leads from Grenivík via the Látraströnd coast to the Gjögur
headland, which guards the eastern entrance to Eyjafjörður, and then east through the coastal
Í Fjörðum region to Hvalvatnsfjörður and the beginning of Route F839, which then returns
towards Grenivík.
From Grenivík, follow the unnumbered road northwest from the village to the deserted
Svínarnes
farm, where the road ends and a track continues along the Látraströnd shoreline,
passing several more abandoned farms, including
Látur
, which has been empty since 1942.
The path then swings inland through the
Uxaskarð pass
(in order to avoid the Gjögur
headland) and drops down through Keflavíkurdalur to reach the shore at
Keflavík
, one of
Iceland's remotest locations, a deserted farm that was regularly cut off from the rest of the
country for months in the wintertime. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, people on
the farm here were taken ill and died one by one as the harsh winter weather set in - all
except for an 11-year-old girl, who remained alone here for ten weeks until people from the
nearest farmstead finally managed to dig their way through the heavy snowdrifts to rescue
her. Passing Þorgeirsfjörður, the path heads southwest for the next fjord, Hvalvatnsfjörður, and
the beginning of the mountain road back over the hills up to the Leirdalsheiði plateau and
finally down into Grenivík; there can often be snow along this route until the middle of July.
On certain dates in July it's possible to do this hike in the opposite direction as part of an
organized tour
; the trip includes transport to Hvalvatnsfjörður and back from Svínarnes,
breakfast and dinner - and most importantly horses to carry all your equipment. It's likely to
cost around 41,000kr; call
T
463 3236 or
T
861 6612 to sign up.
South of Akureyri: Eyjafjarðardalur valley
South of Akureyri, beyond the head of Eyjafjörður, the tongue-twisting
Eyjafjarðardalur,
(pronounced “ay-ya-farther-darler”) is the wide fertile floodplain surrounding the
Eyjafjarðará river, which flows down the valley from its source near Nýjarbæjarafrétt, up in
the country's Interior. The further inland the valley stretches, the wider it becomes, before
getting lost in the foothills of the vast highland plateau generally known as Hálendið that
forms the uninhabited centre of the country. It's here that the
F821 mountain road
begins,
as it heads towards the Sprengisandur area of the Interior (see p.309). If you don't have
your own transport, note that
highland tours
arranged through a travel agent in Reykjavík
(see p.29) provide the only form of transport to the Eyjafjörður valley from Akureyri.
Hrafnagil
There are few specific sights in the Eyjafjarðardalur, though it's worth making a trip
here to stay on a farm or to enjoy the open countryside around the valley's only real
settlement,
HRAFNAGIL
, a mere dot on the map some 12km along Route 821, which
runs up the western side of the valley. Home to barely 95 inhabitants, the area around
the hamlet was a chieftain's estate during the time of the Settlement and, later, the
residence of Iceland's last Catholic bishop, Jón Arason, although there's nothing today,
unfortunately, to attest to Hrafnagil's historical significance.
Grund church
Five kilometres south of Hrafnagil along Route 821, the apparently Byzantine-inspired
church in the hamlet of
GRUND
, with its onion-shaped dome and Romanesque
mini-spires, is one of the most unusual in Iceland; designed by a local farmer to serve
the entire valley, it broke with tradition by being built on a north-south (not east-
west) axis. If the church is locked, you'll find the key at the neighbouring farmhouse.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT
ICELANDIC HORSES
P.40
; EYJAFJARÐARDALUR VALLEY
ABOVE
; SALT COD DRYING IN THE WIND
P.221
;
AURORA BOREALIS
P.330
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