Hvítserkur
Interesting facts
- Although the stack stands about 15 metres tall and nearly as wide, it is only one to two metres thick, an eroded volcanic dyke left standing on its edge.
- A magnitude-7 earthquake shook the Skagafjörður area of north Iceland in 1963, and the stack is thought to have survived it only thanks to the concrete poured around its base.
- Local people started a collection in the 1950s to pay for shoring up the rock, worried that the sea was undermining the legs it stands on.
- According to legend, the troll had come over from the Strandir coast of the Westfjords, enraged by the ringing bells of the convent at Þingeyrar.
- Iceland's postal service put Hvítserkur on a postage stamp in 1990.
- The same name, meaning 'white shirt', is borne in the old Norse sagas by one of the sons of the Viking hero Ragnar Loðbrók.
Why it is worth it
Hvítserkur is a 15-metre basalt sea stack standing in the shallows off the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula in north-west Iceland. Seen from the shore it looks uncannily like a beast bending to drink — two arches pierce its base, so that it seems to stand on legs with its head lowered to the water, and people have compared it to a dragon or a rhinoceros. The name means "white shirt", after the pale coat of droppings that nesting seabirds, gulls and fulmars among them, leave on its seaward face in summer, while the back of the rock remains dark basalt.
Local tradition holds that Hvítserkur is a troll who set out to destroy the monastery at Þingeyrar across the bay and was caught by the rising sun and turned to stone. The story has a curious modern sequel: in the middle of the 20th century, worried that the sea would bring the "troll" down, local farmers shored up its base with concrete, so that the troll still stands.
The setting is part of the appeal. Vatnsnes is home to one of the largest seal colonies in Iceland, and seals haul out on the gravel banks close to the rock. Hvítserkur now draws large numbers of visitors, and because there are few marked paths, walkers are asked to keep away from nesting birds and resting seals.
Getting there
Hvítserkur lies just off road 711, which circles the Vatnsnes peninsula, about 30 km from Hvammstangi, the peninsula's main village, and about 30 km from the Ring Road. Reykjavík is about 175 km away by straight line, and Reykjavík's domestic airport (RKV) is the nearest airport; international flights use Keflavík. A car is the only practical way to reach it.
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From the encyclopaedia
Hvítserkur is a 15 m high basalt stack along the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula, in northwest Iceland.
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