Iceland Day 18

Today we explored Snæfellsnes peninsula and Snæfellsjökull National Park.

Look very close at the Saxholsbjarg bird cliffs for razorbills and common guillemots, both members of the auk family. Note the harvesting techniques.

The Svörtuloft Lighthouse at Saxholsbjarg.

Everything in Iceland has a name, this lighthouse must have one too even if we don’t know what it is:

We hiked up Saxholl, a 3000-4000 year-old crater, 109 meters in elevation. An “easy”, but slippery, climb.

Djúpalónssandur is a pebbled beach with a series of rocks of mysterious form emerging from the ocean, with the remains of a shipwreck can be seen on the beach. On the beach there are also big stones which people tried to lift and test their strength in the days of the fishing stations: Fully Strong 154 kg, Half-Strong 100 kg, Weakling 54 kg and Bungler 23 kg. Weakling marked the frontier of wimphood, any man who couldn’t lift it was deemed unsuitable for a life as a fisherman.

The Lóndrangar basalt pinnacles, remnants of a larger crater that has mostly eroded away, and further east along the coast:

Always, just over our shoulder, lurks the wonderful Snæfellsjökull. We lucked out with a gorgeous day. The first image is Deborah’s top pick from the whole trip.