Snæfellsnes Peninsula - South Side

Today we move on to Snæfellsnes Peninsula – We are starting on the South Side.  This is a beautiful Peninsula that really features everything on Iceland that you can easily cover with one night stay, many people just do it in one day but we are splitting the South and North sides up.  If you only have a short stay in Iceland this is the place that many people go to visit, because you can see most all of the highlights of things to see/do in Iceland in a pretty short time, and quite close to the Airport and Reykjavik.

First fun of the day is escaping those crazy arctic turns leaving the campsite.  We actually drove our car to the bathroom today, didn’t want to walk through the nesting area again.  Breakfast at the camp, wash up and we are off.  Only a couple of attacks on the car as we drive out.

Our first stop is at Ytri Tunga Beach.  It is a golden sand beach with seal watching.  Well not really sure why we did this, but it wasn’t a big hit.  You really needed binoculars to see any seals.  They charge you to park at the beach, I really wanted to tell people to not bother, but once you pass the cameras at the entrance you are really stuck.  Maybe if the tide would have been higher we would have seen more seals, but no luck for us today. Maybe we saw 5 seals all lounging, sleeping.

On our drives we have bird signs to slow down.  Lots of this is for the crazy arctic terns, today was also for Whooper Swans.  We saw hundreds of them on the drive this morning.  We stopped and parked for a bit to watch them.  They are a migratory bird that spend most of the winter in the British Iles. Whooper swans are the only swan on Iceland.  They are the same size as the white swans we are used to seeing, but they have a bright yellow bill.

Time for another waterfall, this time Bjarnarfoss.  Another pretty waterfall with a path to climb up to the middle section.  Steep climb is an understatement.  A young couple were coming down from the climb and told us to make a pass.  What looked like a pool of water in the middle is actually a continuation of the waterfall.  We were fine with the very nice views from the bridge lookout for the waterfall.  We did see some people making the steep climb up, no, not for me.

We stopped off to take pictures of an Old Black Church called Búðakirkja from the side of the road.  Again very pretty. 

We also stopped at a lookout that had a sign about Axlar-Bjorn.  This was the man that may have started the AIRBNB for travelers in the late 1500’s.  Problem was he was a serial killer, and very few escaped alive.  He was arrested and confessed to 9 murders, but more bodies were found.  Anyway more folklore and stories can be found about his life.  So far we have not had these issues with AIRBNB’s thank goodness.

Our next stop is Arnarstapi, a very beautiful spot.  There is an information center here with a Big Bardur rock sculpture.  I think this is the only place that we paid $3.00 to use a washroom.  We did a fantastic walk here that takes you from Arnarstapi to the next town of Hellnar.  It is a very scenic walk with the best side being Arnarstapi.  We started in Arnarstapi and walked towards Hellnar until we could see the views were not improving so we turned around.  It was about 2.5 km each way, mostly over lava which was not my favourite, but so glad I did it with those views.  Hellnar has a year round population of less than 10 residents, but at one time it was one of the Peninsulas largest fishing towns.  We drove to Hellnar when we left Arnarstapi, really not much there except a wooden Icelandic Church.

Next stop is at Lava Pillar where we see lots and lots of seagulls on the cliffs, with babies.  You also have some nice views of Mallariff Lighthouse from here.  We then drove to Mallariff lighthouse and walked out to the lighthouse.  Lots of hiking trails starting from here, but we just walked out to the lighthouse.  There were lots of puzzles and games set up for kids in the lighthouse.

Djúpalónssandur beach is next on the list.  The bay was once home to sixty fishing boats, but today Djúpalónssandur is uninhabited.  At one time fishermen's salaries were based on strength, and this was measured by weight stones, which you can still test yourself at the beginning of the beach.  There were 4 stones starting at 50 pounds that you could test to see if you could pick them up, and what salary you would make.  Andre would not have been paid much.  From this beach there is a walk to visit Drityik cove to see the remnants of fishing huts when this was one of the busiest areas for fishing.  Well, I heard coloured houses for some reason.  I could definitely have passed on this walk, it was not a very nice path, again thankfully we had more nice views.

Saxhóll Crater, yes another crater.  Andre told me to wait in the car and he would check it out to see if there was anything special.  This was the first place we really saw the strong wind that we have heard so much about.  It was crazy, borderline not safe.   425 steps to walk to the top, I so wish I had waited in the car.  I made it to the top and then just turned around.  Andre walked out to the lookout, I did not even do that.  I am so glad that we didn’t have these winds every day.

A bit of a crazy drive to Skarðsvík Beach.  Hardly a one lane road, never mind 2 lanes.  Thank goodness it wasn’t too long of a drive.  There were little pullouts in case you met traffic.  It is claimed that  Skarðsvík resembles a Mediterranean shoreline, enforced by its aquamarine, turquoise water and the surrounding dark, volcanic landscape. Another spot that we could have skipped, although this is really the only spot we saw a nice white sand beach and green water.  Again thankful for nice views, really anything that wasn’t fantastic from our list always had scenery that made it incredible.

We had planned on camping in Hellissandur Camping, but it was way too busy & windy, only 10 minutes to the next town of  Osalfsvik.  We really liked this campground, it was actually run by the same man as Hellissandur.  The man collecting our camp fees came around at 8:30PM to collect was wearing a Montreal Canadians Hat and hand made sweater.  We asked if we could get a discount on our camp fees.  First time we were given a senior rate, senior rates in Iceland start at 67.  We camped beside a beautiful camper that a young couple had fixed up themselves.  They were a young couple from the Netherlands who had taken the ferry over from Denmark.  Lots of fun talking to them and hearing about their travel plans for the next 5 months.  We walked into town and were wondering what all the different colored decorations were about.  We spoke to someone in their yard and every 2 years there is a competition between streets in town to see which street has the best decorations.  Green, yellow, orange, red, pink and blue streets competing.  It was fun to see.  Caught the very end of a soccer game, then walked around the wharf before heading back to the campground for the night.  We did not want to move our camper and lose our spot so walked into town, we were certainly done for the day when we got back

Day summary:

9:45 AM leaving Campground

9 Sightseeing spots

5:30PM at Campground

190 KMS of driving

18 KMS of walking

Not very busy, wish I could have done a round. No protection from the wind here in Iceland

Our campground last night

Being a good Artic Tern

At Ytri-Tunga beach to see the seal

Ytri-Tunga beach and Snaefellsjokull glacier in the background

Just a few seal

Swans and their babies

Never get tired of these views while driving

Bjarnarfoss Waterfall

We did pick up a few bugs along the way

Búðakirkja black church

At a roadside lookout

At the lookout, the story of the mass murderer

Drive by waterfall

A sod roof restaurant in Arnarstapi

Big Bardur rock sculpture

Views along the sea walk from Arnarstapi towards almost Hellnar and back 

At Hellnar 

Old church in Hellnar

At Londrangar view point

Londrangar view point

Seagulls with chicks on the sea cliffs

Unknow bird

At Mallariff Lighthouse

Londrangar from the Mallariff Lighthouse area

Mallariff Lighthouse

At Djúpalónssandur beach

The way down

The Lifting Stones

In Djúpalónssandur you can find the famous lifting stones. The stones were used as a test 

of strength for prospective sailors and salaries. 

The stones are named based on the weight of the stone 

and the strength required to lift it. 

Holtasteinn (The Easy Stone) – This stone weighs 23-33 kg (50-73 lbs) 

and was used to test the strength of young sailors.

Grýlukollur (The Grýlu Stone) – This stone weighs 33-43 kg (73-95 lbs) 

It was used to test the strength of more experienced sailors.

Bjarnastein (The Bear Stone) – This stone weighs 43-53 kg (95-117 lbs) 

Considered a difficult test for sailors. It was used to test the strength of the strongest sailors.

Amlóði (The Useless Stone) – This stone weighs over 53 kg (117 lbs) 

Is considered impossible to lift. It is said that only one sailor was able to lift it.

* Another internet says The stones range in weight from 23 kg (Amlóði – Weakling) 

to 154 kg (Fullsterkur – Fully Strong) which probably make more sense

Nowadays, visitors to the beach can test their own strength and see how 

they measure up against these historic lifting stones.

I did the first 2 but was told not to even try #3 as the hospital was too far away

Remains of a shipwreck on the Djúpalónssandur beach

Djúpalónssandur beach at the start of our hike to Drityik cove

Remains of old home from way back

Drityik cove where we turned around and back to Djúpalónssandur beach

Views along our walk

A bit of a rough trail

At Saxhóll crater

You can see the 425 steps going to the top

Very windy

View of the crater and glacier at the top

Skarðsvík beach that resembles Mediterranean shoreline

Our campground for the night in Osalfsvik

Our walk into town where each street has 1 colour and competes to see who will be the most decorated

, we are on pink street here

Gas and Diesel prices. Ranges from 300 to 330 ISK which is $3.35 to $3,65 Canadian per liter

Modern church in Osalfsvik

Harbour in Osalfsvik