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Valleys
Verdalir comprise Yztidalur, Middalur and Cove Sandvik.
During the historic times to the end of the 19th
century they were teeming with fishermen operating open six
row-boats
from their primitive outfits. The
maintenance of those boats was an important part of the fishing seasons.
They were coated with raw tar inside and out and the sails were
repaired. When the weather
was good enough to start the seasons, the fishermen transported their
belongings, clothing, linens, beds, fishing gear, firewood, trunks etc.
in the boats to the outfits.
Upon
arrival there, the first thing to do was to clean the dwellings (sod
houses) and organize everything indoors.
Then boulders collected during winter storms were removed from
the landings.
One of the young men who
participated in those activities and the fishing in the
early 19th century was Jon Sigurdsson, born at
the farm Hrafnseyri on the Arnarfiord Bay.
He later became the national hero of Iceland, its “Sword and
Shield” in the struggle for independence. |