The white threads
Water emerging from lava.
Christian Bickel fingalo — CC BY-SA 2.0 de · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christian Bickel fingalo — CC BY-SA 2.0 de · Jakub Hałun — CC BY 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY 4.0
Hraunfossar is a series of small waterfalls streaming out of a lava field over about 900 metres and pouring into the Hvítá river in west Iceland. The name means lava falls, and they differ from most of the country's waterfalls because water seeps through the rock itself, emerging as many white threads from beneath moss. The lava came from an eruption of one of the volcanoes under the Langjökull glacier, forming the Hallmundarhraun field. Water emerges from less porous layers within it. A few steps upstream is Barnafoss, the waterfall of the children, where the tale says two children from a nearby farm fell from a natural bridge, after which their grieving mother had it destroyed. From short paths and wooden platforms you see dozens of white threads falling over black rock into a blue-green river. Green plants cover the edges in summer, turning red and brown in autumn. At Barnafoss water races between narrow rocks beneath a footbridge. The site is fairly quiet. The falls are 77.3 km in a straight line north-east of Reykjavík, near Húsafell and Reykholt, with the Víðgelmir lava tube close by. Keep to the paths, as rocks are slippery, and do not cross the barriers, since the current at Barnafoss is strong. It makes a good short stop on a Borgarfjörður drive, and check the road in winter.
Water emerging from lava.
A fast current under a bridge.
A blue-green colour.
Hvítá river, Borgarfjörður, west Iceland
Yes, usually combined with a drive around Borgarfjörður.
It tells of two children falling from a natural bridge, a local story.