Gardar BA 64

Gardar BA 64 was built in Norway in 1912 as a whaler and worked for decades under different owners and names before ending up in Iceland, where it is counted as the oldest steel ship in the country. By 1981 it was finished, and rather than scrap it the owners ran it up onto the shore at Skapadalur, where it has stayed since - upright, holed, rusting through, with the sea working on it from below and the weather from above. It sits directly beside the road on the way to Latrabjarg and Raudisandur, which is why almost everyone driving that route stops. The hull is unsafe to enter and gets less safe every year.

Highlights

• Iceland's oldest steel ship - built in Norway in 1912.
• Beached deliberately in 1981 - run ashore rather than scrapped.
• Rusting through - holed and thinning year by year.
• Right beside the road - on the way to Latrabjarg and Raudisandur.

When to go

May to September, when the roads west are open. An hour.

Things to know

Climbing inside is genuinely dangerous - the plating is rotten and edges are sharp. There is no barrier and no supervision. Parking is a roadside pull-off. The site is nothing more than the ship.

Nearby

Patreksfjordur is east; Latrabjarg and Raudisandur are west.

Key facts