Dverghamrar

Dverghamrar is a short line of basalt cliffs beside the ring road, with regular hexagonal columns below and broken rosette-shaped ones above, the two structures having cooled at different rates. The columns were shaped by surf at the end of the last glaciation, when sea level here was much higher and the waves reached this line; the coast is now several kilometres to the south, so the cliffs stand in farmland with no water near them. The name means dwarf rocks, from folklore that placed hidden people in them. A wooden stair and short path run up beside the formation, and the stop takes ten minutes.

Highlights

• Two column structures - regular hexagons below, broken rosettes above.
• Cut by a vanished sea - surf at the end of the glaciation, when the water was higher.
• Cliffs stranded in farmland - the coast is now kilometres away.
• Folklore in the name - the dwarf rocks and their hidden people.

When to go

May to September; the layby is on the ring road and usable year round. Half an hour.

Good to know

It is a roadside stop of ten minutes, not a destination. The steps are slippery in rain and there is no railing at the top. Facilities are a layby. Traffic noise from route 1 is constant.

Nearby

Foss a Sidu is minutes north-west; Kirkjubaejarklaustur is west.

Key facts