Langanes

Geographical location

Langanes is a peninsula in northeast Iceland.

Geography

The shape of the peninsula resembles a bird's head.

The most important place of the peninsula, which is located in the municipality named after her Langanesbyggð, is located in the southwest Þórshöfn. 15 km north-east of Þórshöfn is the Farm and Hostel Ytra - Lón.

The road 869, the Langanesvegur begins on the road 85, the Norðausturvegur, leads through the village Þórshöfn, on to Þórshöfn airport, the former airport of Þórshöfn up in the abandoned place Skálar.

The area at the tip of the peninsula, especially at bird rock Skoruvíkurbjarg, there are many birds, including terns and gannets; at the Cape itself, called knitting head is the first time in 1910 built lighthouse Langanesviti.

History

The peninsula is largely abandoned today, you will find some desolate fallen farms in the area. The area is now known for the possibilities of bird watching.

The place Skálar in which there is now an emergency hut, in the 1920s was a fishing village and had more than 100 inhabitants. Since 1955, the place is deserted. Here operated Americans in World War II one of ten radar station.

In the mountain Heiðarfjall NATO maintained from 1954 to 1968 a radar station. The short film Misty Mountain of Óskar Thór Axelsson tells a fictional story about it. Another radar station built in 1989 in the NATO Gunnólfsvíkurfjall, the highest mountain with 719 meters on the peninsula.