Iceland's Hringvegur (Ring Road) - Vík í Mýrdal and Reynisfjara beach

October 18, 2016

The village of Vík í Mýrdal  (aka Vík) is the southernmost village in Iceland, located on Along Þjóðvegur 1 or Hringvegur (Route 1 or the Ring Road ).  Despite its small size (291 inhabitants as of January 2011) it is the largest settlement for some 43 miles around. It is an important service center for the inhabitants of and visitors to the coastal strip between Skógar and the west edge of the Mýrdalssandur glacial out wash plain 

From the village, you can see a small outcropping of basalt rock, remnants of a once more extensive cliff line Reynisfjall.  There is no landmass between here and Antarctica so the Atlantic waves attack with full force.  They are named Skessudrangur, Langhamar and Landdrangur.  Legend says that the stacks originated when two giant trolls had tried to tow a three-sailed ship to land, but before they could reach the safety of the mountain, both the trols and the ship turned to stone.

On our way to the beach, we had to wait for some Icelandic Ram to be herded across the street.  They use ATVs to herd the rams…along with a couple of sheep dog for good measure!

In 1991, the US journal Islands Magazine named Reynisfjara beach as one of the ten most beautiful beaches on Earth. Its stretch of black basalt sand is one of the wettest places in Iceland. 

View of the basalt rock cropping from Reynisfjara  beach.

The sea around here is rather wild and stormy and so it isn't surprising that there a monument to the memory of drowned seamen on the beach.  Forgot to take a picture of the monument but managed to capture the waves.

The cliffs are home to many seabirds, most notably puffins which burrow into the shallow soils during the nesting season.  They had already migrated when we had arrived - as we were told, "they are not as brave as us to fare the Icelandic winter." 

Hálsanefshellir cave, made of columnar basalt, was used as a filming location for the movie Noah.

View from Reynisfjara Beach looking East

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place!