The day started cloudy, but gradually the clouds dissapeared, and from the middle of the day there was bkue sky and sunshine. Wonderful views of Vatnajøkulen, Iceland's largest glacier. It takes me two days to pass it.
For the cycling, it was the longest distance so far, 109km. The wind forecast sounded god, so I thought it would be doable. There are not many places to stay here, and if I took the previous one, I would need another day to Höfn. For the time being I want to save my spare days, who knows what comes up later.
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| Another day on the job |
The first part, neutral wind, a bit from behind, a bit against, not very strong. Very long strait stretches across the Skeidarår sands, below the glacier of the same name, part of Vatnajökul. Brain on zero, eyes on the white line.
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From here to eternity
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| Coffee break. Approaching Vatnajökul |
Coming to Skaftafell, there was a small shop. The only one between Kirkjubeirarklauster and Höfn, about 200km, according to the lady in the shop. It's only 1 1/2 hour to Höfn she said - yes with a car 😀. So I bougt a little food, intended to tent tonight.
Then I got a strong tailwind for 30km. You do like 30km/h without much effort. Feels very good. But Adam's stay in paradise was not very long this time either. When there was about 40km left, the road turned, and agsin lots of headwind. Which was strange, as the weather forecast said SW, which would have been right behind!
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| Vatnajökul in the background |
The wind stayed a bit variable, until there was 10km left, shortly after Jökuls Årlon, the glacier lake.
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| The glacier lake |
After this lake, I got a very strong wind from the side and against, say 10 o'clock. I was struggling to keep the bike on the road and using lots of efforts to keep going at all. But what could I do, walking was not really an alternative. Pretty exhausted when I came to Gerdi, am I getting too old for this?
Lesson learnt: don't plan too long stretches if the wind forecast is against you. Problem is it is not very reliable. Maybe especially here south of this enormous glacier?
Gerdi is not really a camping, but the Guesthouse kindly provides a spot for the tent, right below Vatnajökul.
Tomorrow only 66km to Höfn, SW wind according to the forecast. It they are right, it should be an easy day!
Statistics:
111km, total time 8:45 active time 6:30, which gives a moving average of 17.1km/h. Total ascent 425m.
And especially for my aunt Nanny, a few flower pictures! The first are quite common in Norway (in the mountains!), the second I don't know.
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