After a night staying in a huge old farmhouse where Alex had his first ever kitchen-sink bath (surely a rite of passage), we set off in the driving rain excited to be heading north. Our destination was Tröllaskagi, better known as the Tröllaskagi Peninsula (although this translates as the Troll Peninsula Peninsula, nearly but not quite RAS syndrome!). We’d read that this was an absolutely spectacular and worthwhile 186 km detour from the ring road.
On the way, Alex outdid himself and required a full outfit change (I’ll spare you the details) so we made an unscheduled stop in a service station. This was a pretty lucky find since it’s still the only one I’ve seen – despite being the country’s main trunk road, most of the ring road is seriously remote. Anyway, this pitstop gave us the perfect excuse to try a gas station hot dog, which we’d read was an Icelandic snack with cult status. We had ours topped with a mix of fresh and crunchy fried onions and as Oli said, they tasted way better than they had any right to taste. I’m already planning my next one!
Now way behind schedule (a running theme) we continued our journey north onto the peninsula. Our first stop was Grafarkirkja, a tiny turf-covered church built in the late 17th century that is in the running for the oldest church in Iceland. However, the plot twist upon arriving was that it had actually been rebuilt in 1953! Either way, it was good to see one of Iceland’s iconic turf roofs up close, and the setting would have been gorgeous had we been able to see the surrounding mountains through the rain and cloud…
We continued round to Siglufjörður, a small town at the northern tip of the peninsula and our stop for the night. We knew that the only way in and out of town (other than by sea) were a set of tunnels, but we were still taken by surprise when we entered a tiny single track tunnel on what had previously been a fairly fast road. It made for a very nervewracking couple of kilometres, unsure if we were going to meet anyone in the dark!
Even in the rain, we liked Siglufjörður straight away. It had an atmospheric, end-of-the-road feel, but just enough services not to make me panic that I might run out of coffee.
The next morning dawned beautifully clear and bright (and we heard that we’d missed the Aurora AGAIN!). We decided to backtrack a little way to see some of the scenery we’d missed the previous afternoon, which was a great decision for two reasons:
- It really was as spectacular as billed
- We solved the tunnel mystery! (It turned out the other direction was very clearly instructed to give way into small passing spaces. This still seemed a bit mad but thankfully there really wasn’t much traffic)
Once back in town, we took some time to wander around the harbour and enjoyed the brightly coloured buildings, bobbing fishing boats and snowcapped mountains in the clear Nordic light.
Then it was time for the main event: fish and chips! Surrounded by the sea as it is, it’s no surprise that this is a key comfort food in Iceland. We had two beautifully fresh pieces of cod each, served on some crunchy french fries (which seemed wrong at first because we’re so used to thick-cut chips, but they definitely worked). I had mine with remoulade, an Icelandic take on the French sauce that I’ve since read is often served on hot dogs here. Oli had his with sweet and sour sauce (the less said about that the better – you can’t reason with some people). It might have been a more relaxed experience if it weren’t for Alex squawking loudly throughout, but thankfully the friendly owner assured us that he had four boys at home and totally understood. Phew!
Our penultimate stop for the day was the Herring Era Museum, which had come highly recommended and was definitely worth a visit, despite us never having spared a thought for herring beforehand. The museum was set across three harbourfront warehouses and told the story of fishing, processing and salting the herring that used to be the town’s main livelihood – that was, until the herring ‘disappeared’ in the 1960s. There wasn’t much acknowledgement of why this had happened, but we assume over-fishing.
To be honest, my favourite part was probably the exhibition of Troll and Yule Lads illustrations that appeared without context on the upper floor of one of the warehouses. I have no idea what this had to do with herring (very little, I assume) but I knew that folklore was important in Icelandic culture. It was pretty fascinating to see these illustrations by the artist Brian Pilkington, who hails from Liverpool but whose work is apparently recognisable to all Icelanders and has helped shape what these characters look like in the collective imagination.
We rounded off the day with a quick drink at Segull 67 Brewery, where Alex spent his time desperately trying to grab our beers from us, I sulked that they’d run out of stout, and Oli just tried to enjoy his beer in peace.
Then it was time to skip town, via some more tunnels and gorgeous scenery. We counted ourselves incredibly lucky with our timing – September is firmly shoulder season here (and counts as winter for most shop, restaurant and museum opening times), but we managed to get the best of both worlds with some beautiful weather but also the first snow on the mountains.
We ended our exploration of Tröllaskagi in Akureyri, Iceland’s second city. Ever heard of it? I wouldn’t blame you if not – its population is less than 20,000! From here, it was time to see what else northern Iceland had in store for us.
