Whilst in Iceland earlier this month my time on the Snæfellsnes peninsula was frustrated by some decidedly wet and windy weather, so windy that on some days the water of the waterfalls was being blown straight back up the cliff face back to where it had just come from. When it wasn’t raining or blowing so hard that it defied gravity, the sky was usually a rather dull and featureless white due to the clouds gathering around the high mountain peaks.  So, when the cloud cover broke and some level of detail returned to the sky it was a bit of a mad dash around the peninsula to visit some of the more interesting sites.

Once such place is Gatklettur, a rock arch walking distance from the village of Arnarstapi on the southern coast of the peninsula. There is a gentle hike along the coast between Arnarstapi and Hellnar that has some wonderful rock formations, but Gatklettur is perhaps the most visually interesting with its horseshoe arch and near perfectly circular ‘window’. It is frequently photographed and it is really tempting to photograph it as an incoming wave crashes against its seaward side and water erupts from the circular hole. So I did.

But I favour this, the aftermath where the white foam of the water cascades down the basalt rock, picking out a path over the jagged steps.