Berserkjahraun Lava
Berserkjahraun Lava
Berserkjahraun, 'lava of the Berserks' is an impressive lava flow on the north side of Snaefellsnes. Road 54 winds through the lava but there is only one obvious place to stop if you wish to get out and look at it more closely: by the junction with road 577, where you'll see a shark pointing to the shark-curing farm at Bjarnahofn.
The 3000-4000-year-old lava erupted from the rust-red craters at either end of the flow. No one was around at the time to witness it, but this must have been an eventful eruption, judging by the chaotic surface of the lava, thrust up into troll-like formations.
The name of the lava draws from events in Eyrbyggja Saga, when haughty and bullish Styr, the farmer at Hraun was forced by his brother to employ a couple of Swedish warriors. They were known as 'berserks' because they were prone to violence and could turn exceptionally fierce and frenzied, perhaps through eating toxic fungi.
When one of them asked to marry Styr's daughter, Asdís, he was wary of upsetting them so reluctantly agreed but set them a huge task before the marriage could go ahead: they were to build a road through the lava.
Job did, Styr invited them to take a bath and then blocking the exit with rocks, poured boiling water into the bathhouse until it became unbearably hot inside. As they tried to flee, Styr killed them both. The daughter, whose opinions on the whole affair were ambiguous, was then married off to Snorri the Priest, an ambitious local chieftain.
If you drive a short way down road 577 to the junction with the road to Bjarnahöfn, you'll find the start of Berserkjagata, the path through the lava built by the unlucky beserks. The path leads through the lava to a sheltered bay in about 30 minutes. As you ponder the betrayal of the beserks, keep your eyes open for white-tailed eagles in flight over the area.
With a high-clearance four-wheel drive, you can drive road 558, a loop dirt track through Berserkjahraun that was once the main road on the north side of Snaefellsnes.