Kalfshamarsvik

Kalfshamarsvik is a small bay on the north-western tip of the Skagi peninsula ringed with basalt columns that fan and curve rather than standing straight, laid open by the sea. A settlement grew here around fishing in the late nineteenth century and had something over a hundred people at its height in the 1930s, with a school and a shop; it was abandoned within a couple of decades as boats and markets changed, and only foundations and a memorial remain. The orange lighthouse of 1939 stands on the point. It is a long way off the ring road up a quiet peninsula and there is nothing at the site but the rocks, the ruins and the sea.

What you actually see

• Fanned and curving columns - basalt laid open around the cove.
• A village that vanished - over a hundred people in the 1930s, gone within decades.
• Foundations and a memorial - what is left of the settlement.
• A lighthouse from 1939 - orange on the headland.

When to go

May to September. Two hours.

Honest expectations

It is an hour of driving off the ring road for a small site, which is the trade. Cliff edges are unfenced and the rock is slippery. There are no facilities. Wind on the point is relentless.

Nearby

Skagastrond is south; Blonduos and route 1 are beyond it.