Last day in Iceland: Interactive History.
Hello it’s me.
It has been a while huh?
Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit.- Banksy
We were delayed.
We had to drive 225 kilometers to get to Djúpalónssandur beach. Which had the stones I wanted to lift.
That drive would take us across the western side of the island, and scenic landscapes would stretch to our right side. It was our last day in Iceland and this was a nice way to see a lot of the island.
Exploring seeing new things, we entered a tunnel that would take us four and half minutes of traveling 100 kilometers an hour which had a toll at the end of it.
On one road trip from my youth, my parents told me that if I made a wish and held my breath the entire distance of a tunnel your dream would come true. This Icelandic tunnel bested me. I held my breath as long as I could and we still had 5 kilometers to go.
The fluorescent orange bulbs streamed across the Nissan’s windscreen. Till finally the light at the end of the tunnel. It was still bright even though there were clouds in the sky. We arrived at the toll station and I rummaged through my passport holder and gave the nice lady the Icelandic Kronur, and away we went. We weren’t even half way there.
I do feel a strong urge to go back to Iceland, for a tour of their churches. It seems in every little town or village each had it’s own beautifully painted church. They were painted in two tone colors schemes. Which peaked my curiosity from the passenger seat of the micra.
Unfortunately time was not on our side and we had some distance to drive.
The rain came and went and thankfully the windshield wipers worked just fine. We stopped twice to stretch our legs and relieve ourselves. During one of those times I took a photo of one of Iceland’s famous sheep.
The scenery was so massive that it often took many minutes to drive along. What that meant was it allowed us to soak it in so much that we got bored. We were pretty much the only car on the road, besides the occasional truck (Lorry, if you are a brit. ;).
We pretended that we were British and drove on the other side of the road and tried our best impressions of English soccer hooligans.
We may or may not of been bored.
Now this excursion was not on any tours, just something that if you did your research you could find. Similar to the plane crash, we were expecting a walk to the iconic location.
However, when we got there we were disappointed. We exited the car, and went down these well cut steps down in between a fissure towards the pebble beach. Me and Tyler were not the only ones there but the place is large enough not to feel crowded by Russian tourists who like to smoke.
We walked passed them and there they were. The stones.
In the old days the fishermen would have to be strong enough to row passed the strong surf. So to qualify, there were these stones you could lift to prove your worth. There was a mandatory one that if you could not lift, you could not work. Then they progressively got heavier until Full Sterkur (154 Kilograms). Full Sterkur means full strength, only few have lifted it. I could not. However I did lift Halfsterkur(100 Kilograms).
It was nice to be able to take part in such a tradition. To me this is interactive history. You can feel the men before you lifting the stones. Once you complete the lift you join a fraternity of people who have done the same thing you just did, until the next fellow makes the lift.
Which brings me to today. I am only half strong. Should I settle at that? Or should I get on a training routine and go back to that pebbly beach and lift Full Sterkur? As of right now, I am to far away to say yes. However, one day I will make that stone rise from the earth.
The other cool thing about Djúpalónssandur beach, is there was a ship wreck which smashed rusted pieces of the hull across the beach. It helps you understand that this isolated island with spectacular views is a harsh place to live year round. I was thankful to be where I was at the time I was given. Because due to our delay we got to catch the sunset across this beach.
We got back to our car and drove back to Reykjavik one last time.
