The clifftop walk to Hellnar

The path between Arnarstapi and Hellnar runs along the top of the lava coast through a protected natural monument: mossy lava on one side, black cliffs and sea stacks on the other, and behind it all the white cone of Snæfellsjökull. It is flat, well used and about two and a half kilometres one way, which makes it one of the few genuinely walkable stretches of Icelandic coast for a session in decent clothes.

Used as a photo route rather than a hike, it gives a run of different frames in half an hour: the couple small on the path with the lava field opening out, tight portraits against the cracked black rock, the sea stacks off the cliff edge with surf behind, and — at the Hellnar end — the little bay and the cave of Baðstofa, where light off the water throws colour up the walls. Evening is the hour: the coast faces south-west and the sun runs straight down the path.

Hellnar itself is worth the walk. There is a tiny harbour, a handful of houses and a small church on the slope, and the whole hamlet reads as a quiet counterweight to the drama of the cliffs. Many photographers work the path one way and arrange a car at the far end, which is easier on shoes and light than doubling back.

The practical notes: the ground is uneven lava and grass, easy in flat shoes and unpleasant in heels; there is no shelter for the whole distance, so wind and rain hit you the entire way. Nesting seabirds use these cliffs in summer — stay on the path, keep back from the unfenced edges, and watch for arctic terns from roughly May to August. This is a protected area: no walking on the moss, no cutting new lines across the lava, and check the current rules before flying anything.