Mosfell
Description
Mosfell in Mosfellsdalur is a low and unpretentious mountain that is excellent for hiking. There are some marked hiking trails on the mountain but here we will focus on a ring route that starts and ends by Mosfellskirkja church (GPS N.64.11.132 W. 21.37.210).
There is a marked trail from the church to a peculiarly shaped top called Diskur (e. dish). Continue upwards along slowly ascending hills to the eastern side of Mosfell. From there you hike on a mostly flat surface along the top until you reach the highest point (GPS N. 64.11.741 W. 21.38.185).
From there is a great view of Esja and its many tops as well as to the east over Mosfellsheiði heath and Mosfellsdal. If you have a map with you it might be fun to try to name all the mountains you can see. It is possible to go the same way back again, but this route takes you to the south and down a marked trail towards the farm Hrísbrú, neighbouring the farm Mosfell. The trail continues along the fields of Hrísbrú until it meets the trail just above the church again.
Egils silver
Egilssaga, one of the Icelandic sagas, tells that Egill Skallagrímsson spent his old age living at Mosfell with his nice Þórdís and her husband Grímur. It is said that Egill had two chests of silver from England given to him by Athelstan, the king of England. One time Egill told Þórdís that he wanted to ride to Althing at Þingvellir with the silver in the coming summer. He intended to open the chests on Lögberg cliff and spread the silver over the members of Althing and amuse himself by looking at the scuffle it caused. Þórdís and Grímur would not allow him to do this. When they had left for Althing, Egill had two servants help him to mount a horse with the chests and took off to the mountains. In the morning Egill was found alone and said that he had berried the silver with the help of his servants. Afterwards, he had killed the servants so nobody except him would know where the silver was buried. Egill died the following fall and the search for the silver is still ongoing. In Egilssaga there is a tail of an Engish coin being found in a ravine in the east for the fields of Mosfell after a great thaw.
