Skateboarding around Iceland
"This country shows no mercy" says skateboarder Marco Baldissera Photo: Lalalong
Marco Baldissera, a 27 year old Italian decided to brave the elements and to skateboard his way around the circle road. "People thought that the idea came from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but a mysterious jumper led me to Iceland." Baldissera explains that on his last skateboarding journey from Valencia in Spain to Lissabon in Portugal, he borrowed a jumper with the word Iceland written across it. "That's when this Iceland trip became a dream."
Baldissera only began skateboarding at age 21 and he stresses that he's no skateboarding pro, just a guy with big dreams. According to Baldissera the circle road journey took him two weeks and went really well. "I met so many fantastic people along the way. And the support from my family and friends back home was incredible." The journey was not, however, all smooth sailing, or skating for that matter. "When you challenge yourself, things are never easy. Parts of the trip were incredibly hard and I asked myself a number of times what on earth I was doing. But every time things got hard you have to find a reason to continue and find positive energy within yourself. It's the only way to find out if your heart is really set on doing something or not."
Baldisserra's trip began on June 21st at Keflavik International Airport and ended at the Sólfar statue on Sæbraut, central Reykjavik last Sunday. "When I got back all I wanted to do was to have a hot shower, to eat and to sleep."
He explains that respecting the elements is an important part of a journey like this. "You have to respect nature, otherwise you get into troube. I also found out that Icelandic landscapes are not beneficial to one's mental wellbeing. You can't get off the ring road and you don't travel fast on a skateboard. "All you see is fields, sheep, hills and ocean. And the constant daylight, day and night, has an influence. I felt like I was stuck in the same place for centuries. Like a maze where you don't get anywhere. And the Icelandic tarmac is so rough that skateboarding gets painful. I don't think I'm the first person to say that this country shows no mercy. But it's all or nothing as they say."
