Mt KAMBUR Strandir

Region: Strandir
Coordinates: 65.90° N 21.28° W
Hiking time:
Difficulty:
Length: km
Elevation: m
Highest Point: m

Walking distance 13-14 km. Time 6-7 hours. A relatively easy walk.

Mt Kambur is a prominent mountain on the peninsula between the bays Reykjarfjordur and Veidileysufjordur. Its row of precipitous peaks is sometimes referred to as “The Ogress’ Comb”. The route around the mountain is not passable by car, but it is easy to park the car on top of the Veidileysa Ridge and continue on foot down to the sea on the southern side. The hikers then follow the coastline to the east, past an area of strange looking sandstone sculptures until they reach the abandoned farm Kambur (1954). The dwelling houses there are still standing and close by is an old burial mound called Spaenskadys. Down by the sea is an old pen, where it is nice to pitch ones tent if you want to take it easy.

According to a legend, an ogre and her two sons occupied a cave in Mt Kambur in the past. The sons were lost at sea fishing and in her grief, the ogre cast a spell on the bay, which has remained fishless since. After leaving farm Kambur you arrive at Latrar (Seal Rookery), where the farmers of Kambur made hay, operated a fishing outfit and collected driftwood in the past.

After Latrar the view over the Reykjarfiord Bay opens up gradually. On the left stands a precipitous and cracked cliff teeming with birds and the track obviously has been improved by hand in the most difficult places to cross, where the coastline is indented with coves. Soon still another abandoned farm, Halldorsstadir, meets the eye. There are no reliable sources about the time it was abandoned.

Around the turn of the 16th century a trading post was established on the property and called Kuvikur. Soon a hamlet developed there and the trading continued until Bordeyri on the Hruta Bay took over in 1846. For a time, two merchants traded in Kuvikur and a boarding school was operated there on winter in 1916.

Kambur is on nat.is Saga Trail Strandit

Kambur in Icelandic