Flatey can be reached on the Baldur ship, which makes a stop on the island on its way from Snaelfesness to the Westfjords. Baldur rarely swims, so we go to the peninsula the day before. We sleep in a tent. Although the sun is shining – all night, because it is summer – it is windy, so the perceived temperature is -2 degrees. We hide in down sleeping bags and fall asleep listening to birds singing. And the noise of the wind. Wind, wind, wind. We reach Flatey in the afternoon of the next day. The island is 2 kilometers long and 400 meters wide. Several people live on it, there is a hotel and a few summer houses. There is also a shop and a restaurant, but still closed at this time of the year. We have the impression that mainly sheep and birds live here. Lots of sounds I’ve never heard before, but there is also my favorite – hrossagaukur, eng. common snipe – the sound of Icelandic summer. When I heard it here for the first time, I thought a drone was flying overhead. If you can hear this metallic robotic sound, it means it’s summer in Iceland.
