Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ducks and arctic terns, as well as whimbrel and the rare
grey phalarope
, as well as other
shore birds (roadsides are dotted with orange warning signs marked
Fuglar á vegi
, “Birds
on road”). To cap all this, Melrakkaslétta is a pit-stop for barnacle geese, arctic redpoll
and knot (red breasted sandpiper) in transit between Europe and Greenland or Canada
- they pass through in late April and early May, and return with young in September.
Melrakkaslétta has two tiny settlements,
Kópasker
and
Raufarhöfn
, both much reduced
in circumstance from former glory days of fishing. The main road across Melrakkaslétta,
Route 85
, manages to skip both while providing fantastic views of the tussocky tundra
inland, but SBA
buses
cover the good gravel road that circuits the coastline between them.
6
Kópasker
Part-way up Melrakkaslétta's west coast, the port of
KÓPASKER
(Seal-pup Skerry) looks
small at a distance, but is actually tiny once you arrive, with an outlying church marking
a short side road of the highway into a simple square of streets beside the harbour. The
church is next to a Settlement-era
assembly site
, giving Kópasker a surprisingly
venerable historical anchor, but otherwise the town is best known for suffering a severe
force-eight
earthquake
in January 1976, thanks to activity at Krafla (see p.256).
ARRIVAL AND INORMATION
KÓPASKER
Buses
The SBA bus stop (
W
sba.is) is at the harbour.
Destinations
Akureyri (3 weekly; 3hr 25min); Ásbyrgi
(3 weekly; 30min); Húsavík (3 weekly; 1hr 15min);
Þórshöfn (3 weekly; 1hr 55min); Raufarhöfn (on demand
only, 3 weekly; 50min).
Services
Kópasker's bank with ATM, post o
ce, supermarket
(Mon-Fri 9.30am-noon and 1-6pm, Sat noon-5pm) and
fuel station are clustered together at the harbour.
ACCOMMODATION
Campsite
On the left just as you enter town, this free
campsite is moderately sheltered, with picnic tables,
washing-up area, toilets and showers.
Youth Hostel
Akurgerði 7
T
861 2314,
W
hostel.is.
A warm, homely place with a helpful owner who can advise
on hiking and generally exploring the area. There's a good
kitchen, shared bathrooms, a library and large CD collection
to browse through. Despite Kó
pasker's
relative i
isolation,
, it
can get busy in season. Dorms
3500kr
; doubles
8000kr
Hraunhafnartangi and the Arctic Circle
From Kópasker, Route 870 cuts between a string of early nineteenth-century cinder
cones before heading 40km up to mainland Iceland's northernmost extremity at
Hraunhafnartangi
- a mere 2.5km outside the
Arctic Circle
. It's marked by the
square-sided
Þórgeirsdys lighthouse
; to reach it, leave the road and take the rocky path
that follows the bay's shoreline, heading for the “No Entry” vehicle sign ahead of you.
The anchorage here, beside the lighthouse, was first used during the Middle Ages when
pack ice regularly closed the harbour in nearby Raufarhöfn; climb the loosely piled
stone sea wall to see the grey-blue Arctic Ocean pounding the far side.
According to
Frostbræðingasaga
, the
cairn
beside the lighthouse is the final resting
place of the warrior after whom the lighthouse is named, one Þorgeir Hávarsson; he
once slew fourteen men in defence of this place.
Raufarhöfn
Iceland's northernmost town,
RAUFARHÖFN
sits on the Melrakkaslétta's eastern coast some
54km from Kópasker and 10km beyond Hraunhafnartangi. In the 1960s, Raufarhöfn was
at the core of Iceland's herring industry and the town's salting plant provided seasonal work
that attracted a floating population of thousands. Times have changed, however: the 1990s
saw Raufarhöfn's prosperity ebb away as demand for herring dried up, and today the plant
limps on by freezing fish for export. Ongoing construction of the
Arctic Henge
- a
contrived Nordic version of a megalithic stone circle - is an attempt to lure back visitors,
but the writing might be on the wall for Raufarhöfn; the short main street is lifeless and
even the thrice-weekly Akureyri-Þórshöfn bus only comes here on demand.
