land of no roads
POSTED IN Travels 24.07.2008
We went to the Hornstrandir area of the westfjords for a hike from Aðalvík to Hesteyri.
During World War II the farms were abandoned because of social changes and in 1975 the Hornstrandir reserve was established.
To get there we went on a boat, the weather looked pretty dire as we carried our gear from the car and onto the pier in Ísafjörður. Once the boat was outside the harbour the sea stopped looking all nice and nearly-tourist-friendly and quickly resembled a mad man’s foodmixer slushie. The boat jumped around like a small pebble being thrown about, hitting the sea hard each time it jumped over the waves.
We kept trying to convince ourselves this was just like riding a horse……a very bad old horse.
Once we landed in Aðalvík, the weather had just turned worse; lashing rain, storm. -the el cheapo ponchos we grabbed with us at the Bonus store did come in handy.
Reaching the Fannadalslægðir mountainpass the sun started breaking through the clouds, bringing smiles to every hiker and providing us with a magnificent view of Jökulfirðir fjords.
Wading the icy cold river of Sléttuá (thanking the almighty for having remembered to bring our Crocs and Teva’s for the wading part) brought a wonderful fresh feel to our feet.
We sat down at the banks of the river and had a bite to eat; flat rye bread with smoked lamb, oranges and avocados. All washed down with water from the river.
The old abandoned village (now a summer cottage area) of Hesteyri greeted us in the sunshine, after walking over the mountains we came down to a beautiful sandy beach and walked towards the village where we got coffee and pancakes in the old physician’s house. Hesteyri was the seat of a physician, the assembly place of the county and the centre for telecommunications during the last few years of its existence.
After recharging our batteries and having a look around the place for a little while we walked through the never-ending forest of Angelica that covers most of Hesteyri village.
A fantastic trip from start to finish, a wonderful adventure we will not forget. All of us dressed in our broadest and best smiles on the boat trip back as we watched the puffin stare at us in amazement while we all dreamed about hot showers and comfy beds promising ourselves that we would go back some day.
There once was a small village on Hesteyri,between 1920-1940 lived about 80 people with a school , shop, postoffice, telephones, doctor and a clinic. The Norwegians ran a whale station at Stekkeyri from 1894 until 1915 when a 10 year whale hunting ban was put in force in 1915 around Iceland. In 1927 a company from Reykjavík called Kveldúlfur hf. bought the whaling station from the Norwegians and changed it into a herring fishmeal factory.
Then the herring disappeared so in 1940 the factory closed down which was devastating for Hesteyri as it was the main employer.So with no work people started to leave and by 1952 Hesteyri was finished. There is still 10 houses which are used as summer houses by their old inhabitants and their relations.
from Sjóferðir’s page on Hesteyri
Click for our gallery page with photos from the trip.
Já greinilega frábærferð hjá ykkur vestur. Flottar þær myndir sem ég hef séð “opinberar” og hlakka til að sjá fleiri.
Komið sem fyrst aftur:)
Gaman að geta fyglst með ykkur hér – kvittikvitt…
I feel I have now been there! I never managed to visit this area last year when I came to Iceland – but hoping to make it next April.
mikið er völundur glaður á þessari mynd