Djúpalónssandur

West

Four basalt boulders on a black pebble cove on the Snæfellsnes peninsula once decided who made the crew. The lifting stones of Djúpalónssandur tested aspiring fishermen: Amlóði (Useless) at 23 kg, Hálfdrættingur (Weakling) at 54 kg, Hálfsterkur (Half-Strong) at 100 kg, and Fullsterkur (Full-Strong) at around 154 kg. Only those who could raise Hálfsterkur were considered fit for the boats. The stones still sit on the beach. The cove is dramatic: dark basalt pebbles, lava formations sculpted into arches and fins, and scattered iron from the British trawler Epine GY7, which ran aground in a blizzard on 13 March 1948 with fourteen of her nineteen crew lost. The wreck is left as a memorial. A short path north leads to Dritvík cove, the site of a former fishing station. The car park is a well-marked turn off Route 574 inside Snæfellsjökull National Park; the walk down takes about ten minutes. Sturdy footwear matters on the uneven pebbles. Budget around an hour for the beach and Dritvík; on clear days, the glacier-topped Snæfellsjökull frames the view inland.

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