The ascent to Herðubreið, queen of the Icelandic mountains

When one arrives at Möðrudalur, one gets the vivid impression of being in a heathland landscape that is more British than Icelandic. Not only because of the little peat houses that form this village known as a religious mission at an altitude of 469 metres, thus the highest altitude on the island for an inhabited place, where the little white church pierces the clouds with its steeple. After waking up and having eaten for breakfast at its hotel-restaurant Fjalladýrð, goat cheese, herring with butter and fish soup, you can join the managers of this refuge on the hike they organise every morning to Herðubreið, nicknamed the queen of the Icelandic mountains. In fact, you make the journey by jeep to the western slopes of this peak (1682 metres) from where a three-and-a-half-hour ascent begins. Once you have reached the summit, you will be able to enjoy an extraordinary panorama of the coastline and volcanoes of practically the whole country, while at the end of the descent, you will go on a tour of the nature reserve that opens up like a fan to the east of Herðubreið,