Ring Road Iceland - Höfn

I chose Höfn, a town slightly south of the Ring Road, because I wanted to visit Vatnajökull National Park. What I didn't expect was a thriving community with excellent modern services, a strong fishing and agricultural industry and rapid growth in tourism.

Historically speaking Höfn is a relatively new town unlike the others I've travelled through that can trace back their history for centuries. It has a harbour surrounded by sea on three sides that is usually difficult to navigate due to shifting patterns of shoals. Regular dredging is needed to remove excess sand from the harbour so ships may safely moor.

Across Skarðsfjörður Bay is Stokksness Peninsula and the dramatic Vestrahorn mountain. At the tip of the peninsula is a radar station used by Iceland's Air Defence System to monitor their airspace. Vestrahorn is a 454m (1,489ft) tall scree mountain largely made up of subvolcanic rock. The scree formation is a result of water flowing into rock walls and freezing due to temperature fluctuations. The frozen water then splits and splinters the bedrock which then tumbles to the base of the steep slope accumulating as loose rock.

Between the peninsula and the mountain is a beach with black sand and green tufts of grass sprouting from it. The beach got very dark at night making it a great spot to see the Northern Lights. The black sand is a result of volcanic activity. It is formed by rapid cooling of lava when in contact with the sea. The lava then shatters and breaks down into small particles until it looks like sand. Unlike normal sand that is hardier and more resistant to weathering, black sand continues to break down. A by-product of this breakdown is that shores become deep very quickly making waves behave differently to what we may be typically accustomed to elsewhere. Common advice I hear is to keep a substantial distance of at least 30m (100ft) from the shore in case a rogue wave that is much larger and reaches much further up the shore sneaks up on the unsuspecting visitor.

Finally let me tell you about Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. Covering an area of 8,100 square km (3,127sq mi) in some areas the thickness of the ice cap is anywhere from 400 to 1100m (1,312-3,280ft). Beneath the ice is a landscape of valleys, canyons and gorges. Highly active volcanoes also hide beneath with Grímsvötn being the most active. Its last eruption in 2011, caused multiple earthquakes and an ash cloud rising to 20km (12mi). Vatnajökull has 30 glacier tongues which are huge sections of the glacier falling from the top of the ice cap, down a long slope, at a very slow pace and as it reaches the bottom the glacier tongue starts breaking and forming deep cracks with enormously loud noise eventually ending in a lake or the ocean.



PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events