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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) 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. |