Selfoss, Iceland

Some 15km east of Hverageri, the Ringroad passes the junction of routes north towards ingvellir and the Geysir--Gullfoss area, before crossing a suspension bridge over the fast-flowing fuls and running into the unassuming town of SELFOSS. Caught between the looming bulk of Inglfsfjall to the north and flat grasslands running to the horizon in all other directions, it's been the centre of Iceland's dairy industry since the 1930s and with a population of four thousand is easily the southwest's largest settlement. Although Selfoss has no specific attractions, good facilities and a crossroads position on the southwest's main roads combine to make the town a useful base, and one that you'll almost certainly pass through on your way around Iceland.

The original English-engineered suspension bridge, built in 1891, is the reason Selfoss came into existence. Before then, roads through the region ran to a point further south, on the fuls estuary, where traffic was ferried across. Rough waters made these ferry crossings hazardous however, and when the bridge was opened it became an immediate success, a focus for the new stores and homes that gradually coalesced into the country's first inland town, drawing trade away from the older coastal settlements. The bridge also gave Selfoss the distinction of hosting the country's first strike, sparked not over wages but the fact that its builders were supplied with only salmon to eat. The current bridge -- which is one of the few two-lane spans in the whole of southern Iceland -- dates from 1945, built after the original collapsed when two milk trucks crossed it simultaneously. Equally distinctive is Selfoss's modern riverside church, just south of the bridge on the same side as the town, whose standard black-tiles-and-whitewash exterior complements an elongated bell tower and steeply peaked roof. Inside, exposed wooden rafters and murals based on decorative medieval designs are handsome touches.

For a look at the countryside around Selfoss, cross back over the bridge and head north up Route 35, which squeezes between fuls and Inglfsfjall's eastern side. This flat-topped mountain is a sandwich of lava and assorted detritus formed by sub-glacial volcanic activity, and a trail ascends to the 551m summit (two strenuous hours) from Alvira farm, 5km north of Selfoss. Inglfsfjall is named after Iceland's first official settler, Inglfur, who wintered here in the early 870s before moving on to settle at Reykjavk. Today, a scattering of summer houses are planted alarmingly on Inglfsfjall's unstable, boulder-strewn lower slopes.

The view further along Route 35 takes in the sharp-lined confluence of the clear, glacier-fed Hvt river system and the darker Sog river, which drains ingvallavatn lake to the north, to form the fuls -- which, in its turn, flows the final 10km to the sea. The two-kilometre-broad wedge of land immediately north of their confluence is a private reserve known as rastaskgur, the Thrush Forest, which covers a six-thousand-year-old lava field in a low stand of birch and pine woodland. There are several good, easy walking tracks around the reserve from the entrance on Route 35, just by the bridge on the north bank of the Sog, around 9km from Selfoss; and you can also camp here.