Gerðuberg Cliffs

The wall runs for close to half a kilometre across open grassland. The columns are dolerite, a coarse-grained basalt, and they stand 7 to 14 metres high and 1 to 1.5 metres wide, packed side by side. Many are hexagonal in section; some lean out of line. What sets the stop apart is that you can get on top of the formation. The rock face can be climbed directly, and there is also a grassy slope at the side. From above you look down the row of column tops instead of up at the wall.

• No facilities: there are no toilets at the cliffs and no services of any kind.
• Fragile moss: the moss on the grassy slope tears underfoot and grows back slowly. Keep to bare rock and worn ground.
• A stop, not a destination: it fits into a drive round Snæfellsnes and does not repay a long detour on its own.
• With children: the ground at the base is easy, but the way to the top is a scramble on rock.

The last stretch of road is dirt and bumpy. Ordinary 2WD cars get through, but take it slowly. The car park sits in front of the cliffs, and the base of the wall is reached on foot from there. Getting to the top is a climb rather than a walk on a path: either straight up the rock face, or up the grassy slope at the side, which is the better choice when the rock is wet.

Better: a clear day. The view from the top is the point of the climb, and in low cloud there is little to look at.

Avoid: poor weather for the direct climb up the face — use the grassy slope instead.

Even in summer the cliffs stay quiet. People come and go in small groups rather than in crowds, and the top is rarely shared with more than a handful of others.