Iceland Day 8 – Arctic Circle

I take the morning ferry to Grimsey Island off the north coast , the only place where the Arctic Circle intersects Iceland.

Dalvik – Grimsey Island ferry

The Circle is marked by a 17,600-pound concrete sphere “Orbis et Globus”, which has to be moved 48 feet north every year as the Earth’s axis changes. I vaguely remember the phrase precession from high school, though I never learned enough about astronomy to know how to calculate it. By 2050 the Arctic Circle will have left Grimsey Island altogether.

I reflect that I have taken a taxi to a plane to a shuttle bus to a camper van to a ferry to a bicycle to a hike to reach this point, 4,000 miles.

I put on my headphones and listen to Yes, “there’s a time, and the time is now, … there’s a word, and the word is love and it’s right for me”. I eat my lunch alone by the monument, nothing between me and the North Pole but a few seals.

Orbis et Globus