Geirsstaðakirkja Turf Church

The building is a reconstruction, not a survival. It was raised with turf and timber by the old methods, on the spot where the remains of a turf chapel from around the year 1000 were excavated. Grass covers the walls and the roof, so from the road the church reads as a green mound with wooden gables at each end. It is small, and it was meant to be: a farm chapel of the settlement age was a one-room building with a low door. Local tradition ties the site to one of the first settlers in the district. It stands alone in open country, with nothing built around it.

• Easy to drive past — the church is low, unassuming and not well marked, and places to turn round on this road are scarce.
• Not always unlocked — the turf building is sometimes found closed, and the visit becomes an outside one.
• Ice traps cars — the ground off the road in front of the church freezes hard, and a car that slides off it has to be towed out.
• Dress warmer than you expect — April here can still be bitterly cold.

The church stands beside the road in the Litli Bakki area, in the Egilsstaðir district, and you reach it by car. The last stretch of road is bumpy, but not difficult. The building is low and not well marked, so it is easy to shoot past before you register it. Slow down when you think you are close: turning places on Icelandic side roads are hard to come by, and a missed turn costs more than the stop does.

Best: a bright, dry day — the turf walls and the wooden gables photograph well in direct sun.

Avoid: icy weather, when the ground beside the road is treacherous for a car.

Weather decides more here than season. April can still be bitterly cold, and the stop is largely an outdoor one.