All of a sudden this little spot filled with stone cairns all over appears by the Ring Road in Iceland. PIC South.is
Y ou know how after you have been driving in similar and unchanging landscape for a good while you tend to lose focus? That is the reason many visitors drive right by a small but very unusual spot called Laufskalavarda in the South of Iceland.
Which is not just a shame for the sight itself but also because this place is believed to bring good luck on your travels.
This place may look quite huge in pictures but in reality it is quite small and if driving hard it is rather easy to miss. It is found right by the Ring Road, Road no.1, and most certainly calls for a stop.
You´ll be faced with a small ridge of lava jutting up from nowhere and all around are hundreds of tiny cairns or stone mounds in all directions. The sigh is eerily fascinating. Not least because most visitors come upon this place after having driven through the vast desert of sand known as Myrdalssandur with little to see but sand and more sand for quite a while.
Admittedly, these are not real cairns but rather small mounds of stone made by various peoples throughout. It was a common thing in the past for locals driving past here for the very first time to build one and this was supposed to guarantee a safe journey. While there is no scientific consensus on that point, or research for that matter, it never hurts to take all possible precautions. In any case, when your kids check you into a nursing home in the future, you can think back to that tiny cairn you made while driving in Iceland. And smile.
Take care out there.
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