The edge of the Earth

One the best aspects of having a flexible schedule and striking out on your own is that you get to discover places completely unexpectedly. Take a drive, keep an eye open, and enjoy the freedom of the road. You might come across astounding sites you want to visit, and you'll have the time to do so. Be sure to budget in that flexibility!

The Lóndrangar

11:11am

Heading out from Laugarbrekka, that strange and enormous structure I spotted in the distant haze on the horizon was a pair of columns, stacks of lava, eroded away from remains of a larger crater on the mainland. It's a very strange sight - vast flat ground, and sitting just at the edge of the ocean, jagged rock columns jutting up out the earth. It looks so unnatural.

The name is plural for lóndrangur/drangi ('inlet/lagoon column'). The two stacks are 75m and 61m high, and indeed have been scaled, the taller first in 1735 and the shorter in 1938.

Hrunting and I pulled into the nearby parking area, seeing that some of the viewing area was under minor construction. I headed up the hill to the lookout area, Svalþúfa ('high mound/knoll'), which ended at a cliff named Þúfubjarg ('tussock cliffs') with a beautiful view of the Lóndrangar. Þúfubjarg is part of another crater remains being eroded away by the ocean waves.

Just out from the base of the cliff where the center of the crater would be is a little island, a central stone. On it, it's said that Kolbeinn jöklaskáld (the 'glacier poet') had an encounter with the Devil and beat him in a verse–making contest. The two competed all night, each composing two lines to which the other had to respond with a rhyme, or be thrown over the cliff. Finally Kolbeinn recited:
"Horfðu í þessa egg egg; undir þetta tungl, tungl"
to which the devil could not rhyme, claiming it was no longer poetry. Kolbeinn continued though, reciting:
"Ég steypi þér þá með legg legg / lið sem hrærir ungl- ungl-"
-- and devil was cast over the cliff.

The best translation I could determine seems to read something along the lines of: “Look into this blade, blade / Beneath this moon, moon"..."I throw you to that place, place / With a flick of my {wrist, wrist}” - and the devil was cast over the cliff. Though the last lines don't seem to translate well by any source - 'wrist' is a different word, úlnliður, although the first part of the word rhymed leaving the phrase to be finalized by action - I like the idea that Kolbeinn was making the act of beating the devil part of the poetry itself - tricking the devil who stuck only to words, outwitted by the brilliant Kolbeinn. That was the story at Þúfubjarg, of Kolbeinn jöklaskáld, with the Lóndrangar in sight.

The region here is Drangsvogur ('column inlet/cove'), a coastal area that used to be a natural harbour for fishing vessels, but is now quite dangerous with the sharp, sheer cliffs and chaotic waves below. There is a trail that leads to the Lóndrangar for a closer exploration, but I didn't have time to make the 1km trek there and back, especially with the amount of time I was using taking photographs!

Skarðsvík Beach

12:43pm

At far north-west of Snæfellsnes peninsula, where old, dry lava fields are giving way to the pounding of the ocean, a beach of oddly golden sand unlike most other Icelandic beaches sits calmly, washed by gentle waves, and crowned by shadowy stone. Long ago in Viking times around the 10th century, a grave was set here for a pagan man, buried with his belongings including a sword, spearhead, bone pin, knife, shield boss and pieces of iron. The grave was discovered in 1962 and excavated by Thorkell Grimsson, and now all the items discovered are preserved in the National Museum of Iceland.

There remains an information plaque where the grave once existed, looking out over Skarðsvík ('cleft inlet') beach. The pile may be referred to as a haugfé - a pile of belongings, property. It was custom at the time to bury men with weapons, and women with jewellery.

Skarðsvík Beach is a beautiful secluded natural site, and worth a visit on a warm summer day!
[View larger panorama in a new tab]

While here enjoying the breeze with Hrunting, I decided to stop for lunch since the weather was amazing and my stomach was tugging at my hunger pangs.

Also hidden at this location is a special geocache, one not listed on geocaching.com, the biggest most widely-used listing site, but on another older, now defunct website. In searching out locations to visit in Iceland, I discovered that this was the only geocache listed on navicache.com that exists in Iceland. However, though it was first placed in 2004, its last logged find was back in 2005. On a curious whim, I decided I would visit the coordinates and determine if the cache container was still available to be found -- after 11 years. I wasn't expecting to find what I did. You can read about that mission next.

After topping up, Hrunting and I continued farther west, as far as the land would take us, to the edge of the earth, and some amazing cliffs.

Saxhólsbjarg

1:30pm

Extended around the peninsula's coastline farther to the north from Lóndrangar, these cliffs seems unending. Centuries of erosion from the pounding waves have eaten away at the sheer rock faces, so that as you inch closer, it's as if the earth has simply disappeared, and you're standing on the edge of the world. "Amazing" is a word often used to describe a sight like this, and it should be the first one that crosses your mind should you decide to pay a visit.

No photo can do the scene justice. Some liken the sight to the Cliffs of Insanity from the film The Princess Bride - however those cliffs, though taller and located in Ireland, seem much less ominous, dark, ghostly.

Gracing the lookout to watery eternity is the lighthouse that is known by two names: From land, it is known as Skálasnagaviti. From the sea, it is called Svörtuloftaviti. Svörtuloft means 'black ceiling', and refers to the dangerous region of the cliffs that have taken the lives of many boats which don't stand a chance here, and scavengers collecting eggs along its face. Locals have come to respect and fear dangerous areas throughout history, and the namesake is fitting.

Rock formations farther out are created by variations in the geological makeup of the stone and the chaotic erosion caused by the waves. Long ago there was a stone arch extending from the mainland called Skálasnagi. That arch eventually collapsed in 1973 leaving the lone pillar that remains today. Farther south is another arch that is sure to meet a similar fate at some point in the future.

 The endurance of history in Snæfellsnes

 An unexpected discovery