Aldeyjarfoss Waterfall

The columns are the reason people drive the gravel. The Skjálfandafljót drops 20 metres into a gorge walled on both sides with black columnar basalt, part of Bárðardalshraun, a lava field around 9,000 years old. The columns stand tight together and almost vertical, and the water below runs turquoise against them.

The path from the car park reaches several viewpoints above the drop. Bear left at the end and it takes you down to the river, with the columns rising straight out of the water beside you.

Aldeyjarfoss stays quiet. It sits far from the ring road, the way in is hard work, and most people who make it get the place largely to themselves.

• Vehicle: the access track is an F road, potholed, rocky and loose. Come in a four-wheel drive with sound tyres.
• Gates: you pass through farmland and two gates. Open each one, drive through, and close it behind you to keep the sheep in.
• The climb back: the walk in is downhill the whole way, so the return from the falls is a steady uphill.
• Toilets and water: free toilets stand near the car park. Bring your own drinking water — there is none on site.
• Weather: it is cold and exposed here even in June. Bring a windproof jacket, not a fleece.

There is no bus. Everyone drives, and the last stretch is gravel: potholed first, then steep and winding as it climbs and drops again to the car park. A four-wheel drive with good tyres is the right vehicle for it, and drivers without one have left their cars below the climb and walked the rest. From Goðafoss the drive takes 30 to 45 minutes. On the way you pass through farmland and two gates that have to be opened and closed behind you.

From the car park it is about a 10-minute walk to the falls, downhill on an unpaved path that reaches several viewpoints. The last section bears left and drops to the river.

Better: summer, when the F road is open and it stays light late into the evening.

Avoid: the cold months. The way in is a mountain F road, not a winter route.

Crowding is not the problem here that it is at Goðafoss, so choose your day for weather and road condition rather than for the hour. Rain makes the gravel greasy and the descent to the river slippery, and the climb back up is harder on wet ground.