its conservation , as well as that of the profiles of the oldest houses , is protected as a national asset .
The warm sun invites the children of the village to play with small boats on the river dam under the guidance of the more experienced older brothers . Life goes by slowly and it was difficult for us to imagine how the locals manage to cope with the long Arctic winter . We continued at the foot of the nation ’ s highest mountain , Slættaratindur , which reaches 882 metres and after traversing the pass , the profile of the two best-known stacks appeared in front of us : the giant and the witch . It is said , in fact , that a giant and his witch wife lived in Iceland . Enraptured by the beauty of the islands , they wanted to try to take them to Iceland to make their home . The witch climbed the westernmost mountain , Eiðiskollur , trying to tie a thick rope that would allow the giant to carry the islands on his shoulders .
The feat had to be completed before the sun arrived because otherwise the two would have been transformed into rock if hit by the first rays .
Fortunately for us , the attempt was in vain and today we could admire the two sharp rocks in the sea rippled by the volcanic beach of Tjornuvik . Surfers braved the chilly and agitated waters regardless of the grey sky above them . The old wooden houses , mostly painted in black , showed off the dried cod in addition to the inevitable grass roof .
The 594 gave us a view of Fossa , the highest double-jump waterfall in the nation . We moved in the direction of the northernmost islands , Bordoy and Vanoy , connected to the rest of the archipelago by an underwater tunnel . This great engineering work has made it possible to keep alive the small villages present on the two strips of land . To brighten the long journey of 6.3 kilometres , the tunnel has been equipped with coloured light beams at its deepest point . We didn ’ t have time to catch a glimpse of the light as we immediately returned to the true darkness of the narrow and unlit Arnafjardartunniling ; 1700 metres of cold and damp on the smooth and slippery asphalt .
At the exit , a bright sun made us appreciate the small village of Arnafjordur . Here in 1875 a Norwegian merchant ship went adrift , and the shipment of timber was sold at auction , causing the prices of that rare and precious commodity to collapse . We had not encountered any trees since our departure from Denmark .
The last tunnel to be tackled would be the 2.2-kilometre Hvannasundstunniling which we managed to avoid the central part that had the most worn road surface . We were finally on the island of Vidoy , which state road 70 ran along
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