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LANGAVATNSDALUR

Region: West Iceland
Coordinates: 64.81622° N 22.0987° W

This valley cuts into the mountains between the districts Myra- and Dalasysla. In earlier times, the main route across them went through the valley and the grazings up there. Lake Langavatn with its discharge, the renowned Salmon River Langa decorate the landscape. On the northern side of the lake, the valley is wide and the vegetation lush. During bad summers the farmers used to make hay there, the last time in 1918.

According to the legends, there was a whole community there with the parsonage Borg in the past, but it was desolated by the bubonic plague (the black death) Sagas of Iceland around 1400. In 1811, a family of five settled at Borg and one winter the fire went out. The farmer went to fetch fire and froze to death on his way. His wife and the two children almost died of famine the next winter, when one of the children managed to fetch some food. On its way back home it stole a horse and all three were brutally punished for that. In the 19th century, the valley was used to graze bulls during summer until all of them were found dead in the lake without any reasonable explanations.

The renowned Egil’s Saga mentions a wall, which Egil’s son, Thorsteinn, had constructed between River Gljufura and the lake to fence in his sheep. The road leading to the lake from the main road starts at Svignaskard.

West Iceland Saga Trail

Langavatnsdalur in Icelandic