Strandir

Árneshreppur

Árneshreppur

There are 69 municipalities in Iceland. Of course, the most populous is Reykjavík, where a third of the population lives. The smallest population is Árneshreppur north of Ströndur, where 40 people live. Sheep farming is what the residents do and tourism in the high summer. The road to the town, number 643, 100 km / 60 mi north of Hólmavík, is not the best, a narrow gravel road from Bjarnarfjörður. However, this winter, The Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration has decided to clear the road twice a week, which is a significant change for residents and visitors, as the road has been more or less closed from the first snow until after Easter. The government invested half a million dollars in laying fibre-optic cables north of this remote settlement. A district that boasts a beautiful swimming pool, a small airport, two churches, on either side of the main road in Trékyllisvík, and two closed herring factories, in Reykjafjörður and Ingólfsfjörður. They are fun to look at.

Looking into Ingólfsfjörður, the herring factory there operated from 1944 to 1951.
An open motorboat which has seen better days by the harbour at Gjögur.
The village of Gjögur was a large fishing ground in the first half of the last century. Now the population is 0. It is beautiful to look from Gjögur over Reykjafjörður at Kamb to the right and Byrgisvíkurfjall to the left.

 

 

Strandasýsla 12/05/2021 – A7R IV & A7R III : FE 1.4/50mm ZA, FE 20mm G & FE 1.8/135mm GM 

 

Photographs and text: Páll Stefánsson