Sadly clichés are often right: the Snaefell Peninsula is Iceland in a small package. Fabulous coastal scenery ✅ . Volcanos and wild mountains ✅ . Charming fishing villages and Arctic foxes, ✅. We loved it!

They say one door closing is another door opening. We were sad to be leaving the fabulous West Fjords but a sense of anticipation was building. As we drove around the vast Breiðafjördur bay, the snow and ice capped heights of Snaefellsjökull rose serenely above it all, floating in an iridescent sea (OK, the sun was shining for once!)

Finally we left Route 60 for the 59 to Stykkishólmur, the mountains slightly lower and more spaced out. The road is gravel but being upgraded.

We bumbled, seeing where the road and maps.me took us. The bay was a delight with hundreds of little islands. A viewpoint gave an overview just before Stykkishólmur and shortly afterwards we found a scenic shipwreck. The boat was on a little island so we could only admire it from afar.

In Stykkishólmur we climbed up Súgandisey, a tall volcanic plug, once an island but now linked to the harbour to provide better protection.

A low orange lighthouse sat on the top and a short circuit gave us fabulous views over the little harbour and the colourful old houses. To the other side, the islands; once farmers would transport their cows or their sheep between them in rowing boats to access the grazing.

Afterwards, we continued westwards and checked out Beserkjahraun on a loop road which leaves the 54 just west of the 56 junction, driving through a vast lava field of billowing moss and spikey extrusions. There are many hued craters to climb and great viewpoints; it would be easy to spend time here.

Later we launched our canoe and did a little circuit in Seljafjörður, the black rocks standing starkly along the edges, before driving on to Grundarfjörður to camp.

Grundarfjördur is fresh and modern and is apparently home to the most photographed mountain in Iceland. Kirkjufell is indeed a strikingly sheer sided outcrop, beautifully framed with twin waterfalls in the foreground, but the fact that it was the mountain shaped like a arrow in Games of Thrones can only have helped.

TIP: The carpark at the top charges for parking: park at the bottom on the fjords and walk up on the gravel bridleway.

Another day of bumbling and we started with another waterfall: Svöðufoss. Easily reached by a short walk, the cascade is beautifully framed by basalt columns. Behind lie the heights of Snaefell and the glacier.

Ingjaldskólskirkja wasn’t of much interest in its smart red and white livery (it was locked like nearly all Icelandic churches), but there was a nice photo op on the approach with it framed by the glacier.

There is even less to Hellissandur apart from some rather dodgy art work – though I did quite like the sheep. Some of the local sagas are depicted on the walls. The cafe on the corner of the main road is a jolly stop.

Soon after a high metal column came into view. If someone asked me which is the highest building in western Europe, I don’t think I would have come up with a radio mast in Iceland, but apparently at 412 m, it is. It has an extremely delicate base that doesn’t look capable of supporting its great height, although it is firmly anchored by numerous wires. Apparently it can still sway by up to 7 m on a windy day.

At Skarðsvik there is a beautiful dinky little beach which would be very popular in a normal part of the world where one could hang out on a beach for the day. Surprisingly, a notice warns against swimming due to dangerous currents – I would have thought exposure a greater risk. The golden sand, flecked with black, makes a pleasing contrast to the inky black tumbled lava which encircles it and there is a well sited picnic table.

The road becomes rather bumpy after Skarðsvik, although still 2WD accessible. After 3.2 km a T-junction is reached. Go left for 800 m to find a tall lighthouse and steep bird cliffs.

Here we were lucky to have an Arctic fox sighting but it was rather a sad one. The mousy brown animal was obviously a cub and looked half starved. He trotted into the car park at the lighthouse so I suspect he had been fed in the past or was looking for scraps.

The foxes are omnivorous, eating carrion, birds and berries, but I would imagine they have a hard time in this country. A warden later told me that a study revealed the foxes in western Iceland have very bad teeth, most likely due to eating frozen food in winter.

Just under 2 km in the other direction, on the point, there is another, more squat, lighthouse and a rather interesting old well. It is made from lava boulders with a long walk in corridor and a walled in end where water still sits.

Wandering around the peninsula there were many traces of past occupation as lava boulders had been used to build the huts and the foundations were still quite visible. The whole foreshore is made up of huge boulders and pebbles, an ideal building material to hand.

We walked up to a large cairn on the skyline and noticed we were walking on an old road as we returned, neatly lined and filled in with boulders. There were quite a lot of field walls and on the shore some of the stones bore traces where boats had been dragged over them – all in all, an evocative place to wander.

Back on the road, we diverted to Saxhóll. This is crater-light: a mere 100 m high and accessed by a shallow iron staircase it is very easy to get to the top. However, it still has the classic crater formation to admire once there and superb views in all directions, largely flat but punctuated by scattered volcanic pimples.

We had one more stop that day, reached by a lovely path through jagged lava formations: Djúpalónssandur and Dritvík beaches, the latter reached by crossing a headland between the two which takes about 15 minutes.

It is well worth the effort: it was once the hub of the local fishing industry when as many as sixty boats hauled up there, protected by the black lava outcrops that extend into the sea.

Little remains of the huts that sat behind the beach, but there is a jaunty orange sailors refuge, sadly neglected inside and bare other than a couple of bed frames.

We followed the edge of the headland as we headed back to Djúpalónssandur. The views over both beaches were superb and we also passed a grassy labyrinth, thought to have been made by fishermen in their spare time.

Djúpalónssandur is notable for its many sea stacks, and although black sand may not be my colour of choice, this is a stunning beach. It is enhanced by the charming black pearls or pebbles which come in every size from miniscule to massive, sea-smoothed into attractive shapes.

Rusted metal is scattered high up on the beach: the pieces belong to a Grimsby trawler called the Epine which sank in March 1948. Only 5 of the 19 crew were rescued.

We spent the night at Arnarstapi which has a huge campsite with great views and sparkling new facilities. The chic black and white restaurant where one checks in has good pizzas.

I actually found Arnarstapi quite a buzzy place, considering it is not very big. However it has some good hotels in the area (Foss at Hellnar seems to be the best) and quite a few food options. Stapinn does beefburgers or fish and chips and the popular kiosk by the main road has fish and chips, tortillas and soups.

There is a tiny harbour built around several stacks which we explored more fully the following day when we walked from Arnarstapi to Hellnar, passing the Gatklettur viewpoint with its dramatic rock windows and more rugged coastal scenery.

The trail emerged at an old ruined harbour where a little cafe does waffles. We continued our walk along the coast to the lighthouse at Malarrif, passing the huge basalt outcrops of the Lóndrangar cliffs. Other than a necessary inland detour at Hellnar, it was a spectacular walk.

Of course above it all looms Snaefellsjökull at 1,446 m. The combined glacier mountain did not play fair, being largely hidden in the clouds on our visit, so although it is relatively accessible via a gravel 4 x 4 road, we never actually went close to it.

There are tours which ascend the glacier (it is possible to just follow the snow mobile tracks to the summit alone if feeling brave) but these had already stopped as there were too many crevasses by this late stage of the season.

Leaving the peninsula, we detoured briefly to see the wooden black and white church at Búðir, which is popular solely because of its colour as otherwise it resembles every other church in Iceland.

We dodged the tour bus and Insta crowds as best we could and escaped to Landbrotalaug, an enchanting hot pot built for two in the middle of an undulating scrub and hill area. Another area 200 m away had more room. At both the water was a delicious 40° – it was a fitting end to our trip to the peninsula.