Skagafjörður

Skagafjörður

Friday, March 13th 

A short drive around Skagafjörður - the area around Skagastrond - led me to discover a stunning region whose sugar-powdered mountains surround the petrol blue coloured sea. This wild desolate landscape scattered with abandoned farms reminds visitors of how difficult life in isolated rural Iceland can be. 

Skagafjörður (Skaga means peninsula while fjörður means fjord) is renowned for its horse breeding and small herds of Icelandic horses can be seen all around. Sturdy and short - they look a bit like big poneys - they are still used on farms or more recreationally for visitors . They first arrived in Iceland with the early Norse settlers and since no other horses have been imported recently, the breeding stock has remained pure for more than a thousand years!

Dranley island

Drangey and Malmey islands

Guarding the mouth of Skagafjörður are the two uninhabitated islands of Drangey and Malmey. Havens for nesting birds, they are also linked to the Icelandic sagas, the great epics written in the 12th century. Grettir's saga recounts that Grettir an outlaw lived on the Drangley island with his brother Illugi for three years before being slain there. He supposedly swam to the shore - a good 6 or 7 kilometers away - , a feat undertaken recently by an Icelander that proves it could be done! On our way to go Grettislaug (Grettir's bath) a hot spring across the island, we eventually have to go back as the path reveals to be to deeply covered in snow. That, in spite of the super tank driven  Anna a fellow artist also part of the Icelandic rescue team. 

Sauðárkrókur

Sauðárkrókur is another fishing town of over 2,500 inhabitants (not bad by Icelandic standards) which boasts the only tanning factory specialized in sheep skins but also... fish skins! The most colourful fish skins can be bought for a few hundred kronurs. Wallets or even fancy dresses are made out of them.  

Leather made from the skin of the Nile Perch. 

Various kinds of fish skins are used: salmon, perch, wolffish or cod. 

All sorts of fur are processed here (even mink) and exported all over the world. This is also where the two polar bears that stranded in Skagafjördur last July ended after the police unsuccessfully tried to capture them.