11.06.24 Bifröst-Reykjavik (bus)

Finally made the full round. Not all on own machine, unfortunately, but still. 

Cycled 10-12km also in fact. First to two interesting sites close to Bifröst, an old volcano crater and a waterfall. And finally 6km from the final bus stop to the camping site in Reykjavik. Nice weather, so decided to use the tent for another night after having carried it on my bike for almost 1000km.

Tried to use mostly my right leg on the bike, and that worked surprisingly well. Left knee feels better tonight than for a long time, but I don't think that means I could have cycled 80km. But I hope it means I won't have any lasting injury.

The Gråbrok crater. Lave fields around, 3000 years old. Nice walking path around

View from the top to Bifröst

Glanni waterfall

And today the bus stopped where the sign was! 

Simple camping dinner tonight

So why am I doing this? A combination of factors:

1) I have always liked to be "on my way" from place to place, on my own power. Biking or walking. My best hikes are the longest also. It gets you in a special state of mind which in the end helps a lot to reduce your stress level (although stressing situations normally occur once in a while). 

2) Cycling (and even more walking) bring you much closer to nature (even on a road), you can stop where you want, take the picture you want, rest where you want (though the latter is not necessarily always comfortable, especially in bad weather). 

3) Want to challenge myself, getting a bit out of my comfort zone. Even though I will call myself pretty experienced in this game, things happen that are not always straight forward to solve, but you need to solve them. 

4) I think I also want to proof for myself that "I am not old yet". There will be an end to that in a couple of years, but I hope for some more years (and that the knee was a one-time issue). 

Thanks for reading, and hopefully there will be a new blog next year. And feel free to comment! 

10.06.24 Blönduos-Stadarskali(-Bifröst)

In many ways this should have been a good day. Starting cloudy, but gradually clearing and blue sky from midday. Little wind to start with, then somewhat increasing, but tailwind most of the time. Still chilly in the wind, but much better than before. 

However, my left knee has been troubling me for a while, in fact already before Egilsstadir. And it did not get better with three days rest either. It does not hurt, unless I cycle 😢. It has gotten a little worse each day, and today I really hurts to cycle. So unfortunately I think I have to give up. Frustrating, knees have never bothered me before. Combination of cold and long hard stretches against the wind? Or just getting too old for this? End of my tour cycling career? The future will show. 

Almost all the way the route goes through agricultural areas. It seems to be 90% horses, and some sheep. Haven't seen a single cow on this side. Horses is big business here, they're also exporting my host told me. 

In the middle of the day, I joined a meeting with Norway's most beloved agency, ACER. 

The final part goes along the large Hruta fjord. 

Looks nice (and is nice), but pretty cold in the wind

There is not so much on offer here in Stadarskali. I called Fagrabrekka Guesthouse, it was full, but I was kindly offered a spare room in the barn. Intended to go for that, but then found out that the next stretch is a mountain pass of 400m, which will be too hard for my knee. So decided to take the bus to Bifröst, 40km further south, this evening. So now waiting for the bus in large petrol station (with food). 

Referring to my remark from yesterday: there is a Tesla charger here. And another charger also

Not fully decided, but I think the trip ends here with 950km, less than I intended, unfortunately. Probably take a bus to Reykjavik tomorrow and then try to get an earlier plane. 

Not a hard stretch, but still quite a lot up and down. Total ascent the same as yesterday with the mountain passes

Statistics:

83 km, total time 8:00, active time 4:55 which gives a moving average of 16.9km/h. Total ascent 550m.

Update: coming to Bifröst turned out to become challenging. I waited for the bus well in time, but it never came. After 1/2 hour I asked, and it appeared it departed not where the sign was, but somewhere else. How can one possibly know? And what to do at 20:45 with a hotel booked in Bifröst?

Only solution is hiking. With bike&all. One car passing every 5 minutes. But yes - one stopped and took me to Bifröst. Very kind.

09.06.24 Varmahlid-Blönduos

The wind makes or breaks you in Iceland. Yesterday I said there were no easy days here, today I reconsider. If there is little wind (exceptionally?) and what there is comes from behind, Iceland is not so different from Norway. Still quite cold for June though, 3-4 degrees maybe. 

As indicated yesterday, I went for the secondary roads, 12km longer, slightly more ascent, but more quiet and arguably more beautiful. 

The first 20 km are due North against a weak headwind, nothing serious. Many farms in this area, I saw mainly horses and also sheep. 

Passing the charming small church at Reinistad

Reinistad is a historical places with connections all the time back to the sagas. 

One more picture especially for my old aunt

Arriving in Saudarkrokur, a surprisingly large town (2600 inhabitants in 2019 according to Wikipedia). Best of all, an open gas station with coffee. Good to sit insight a warm room for a while.

Then starting up to today's first mountain pass at 230m. Not many signs of summer up there. 

So down again, and continuing to the next at 320m. Before that, lunch. 

Can't be too picky to find a lunch spot

From there a steep but perfectly rideable ascent. The map indicated >10% slope, but it was not that steep. 

Summit picture

From there a long and easy descent. Gradually more farms, but the highest ones must have a pretty short summer, everything still brown. 

View up the valley where I came down

Finally stopped to take a picture of one of hese signs, you find them on each mountain pass (which doesn't need to be very high), and also some places along the fjords. Been closed a lot last week! 

Finally arriving in Blönduos where I booked a guesthouse again. Tent is not too tempting with this temperature + wind. 

Statistics:

68km, total time 5:45, active time 4:15 which gives a moving average of 16.0km/h. Total ascent 555m, net descent 55m.

An observation: there seem to be more Teslas here than any country I have been, apart from Norway. Checking this - indeed, Iceland has the second highest EV share in Europe!

08.06.24 Engimyri-Varmahlid

There seem to be no easy days in Iceland (or I'm getting old). Well, yesterday, but that was quite short. After a climb I was aware off, the remainder of the ride was against an ice cold Northern wind. Not very hard, but you still use quite some effort to keep 12-13 km/h.

If you've lost track of me, this is where I'm now

Anyway, I'm in a really nice guest house at a horse farm, 5km North of Varnahlid. 

I started around 10:30, not a long ride today so no reason to start early. And the temperature also rises. There was fresh snow again in the night. 

The first 11km were easy, with a light tailwind and slowly ascending. Then a hard climb up to 550m (the map says 577) to the Öxnadalsheidi. The climb was even warm, sun slightly shining through the clouds. 

View from the top of the pass

On the top I put on my jacket again, and then it went down-down-down. But soon the road turns more westward, and from here I got the cold Northern wind right in my face. As I also was going down I did not use much effort, I started to get quite cold. Stopped again and put on more clothes, but it remained chilly. Finally I found a place somewhat out of the wind where I could have coffee and some food and get warm again in the occasional sunny spells. 

From here it was just working hard against the cold headwind. I believe it is colder on this side, as the fresh snow was still lying much lower than on the other side of the pass. 

Here the road follows a broad glacier river which I believe is called Heradsvötn. 

Snow still lying far down the mountain sides

It seems to be a fertile valley with a lot of agriculture. 

View down the Heradsvötn valley

Finally arriving at the guesthouse - clearly it has been snowing here, and this is just above sea level! 

See the remains of the snow! 

And finally, heitur pottur, the best of Iceland

Statistics:

63km, total time 5:30, active time 3:54 which gives a moving average of 16.2km/h. Total ascent 380m, net descent 210m.

Plan for tomorrow is Blönduos. Intended to continue following road Nr 1, but as I now am 5km North of Varmahlid the alternative via Saudarkrödur looks more attractive on smaller roads, even if it is slightly longer and includes a very steep (but probably short) ascent. 

07.09.24 Akureyri-Engimyri Guesthouse

Finally on the bike again! Went for a short ride today, 36km only, quite uncertain about temperature, wind, snow, precipitation etc. But it worked out nicely.

I started the day with a coffee and something sweet in the local bakery (you know I have a weakness for that). Here I met a Swiss guy who was quite interested in cycling.

In 2017, he had cycled all the way from Switzerland to Nordkapp, in only four weeks! He did typically 150km per day. "Baas boven baas" as we say in Dutch. But, his wife was with him, so he had hardly any luggage. (Did you read that Anbjørg😀; though honestly, I don't expect it). Makes it a lot easier, but 150km per day is still a lot. The guy is 70, plans to cycle to Gibraltar next year. Keep going!

The first 10km out of Akureyri were not really easy. Headwind (though nothing like before) and uphill. However, after 10km and 125m uphill, the road turns 120 degrees, and you get a tailwind + downhill. From there it felt like a dream. Even some patches of sunshine now and then. Had to take off some clothes, got too warm even.

The snow will take some time to vanish

Riding through a beautiful broad valley, with steep, snow covered mountains on both sides. Seems to be quite some agricultur here.

Lunch behind some bushes. Great to feel the sun warming again (through some layers of clothes, but still)

Flowers on the lunch "table" even

More horses

Same story everywhere. But think about how much more expensive it is to use cables. Who is paying for that?

Statistics:

38km, total/active time 2:31 which gives a moving average of 15.2km/h. Total ascent 390m, net ascent 200m.

Total ascent is similar to what you typically have in Norway. Not "flat" anymore.

Made a short walk up behind the lodge for the views.

And finally relaxing in heite pottir. Not a bad day.

Tomorrow I plan for Varmahlid, about 60km. That is not much, but you have to climb to 577m, the main reason why I did not want to do it today.

06.96.24 Egilsstadir- Akureyri, bus

Finally the road to Akureyri was opened again. Weather forecast for the next days still such that passing the mountain area to Akureyri by bike is out of the question. So took the bus.

Bus with bike trailer

The higher we came, the more snow. The bus had winter tyres, fortunately. Even so, the driver lost control, and we ended outside the road.

Not a nice experience, but everything went well, noone was hurt. I guess the driver held slightly too high speed.

So we had to wait two hours for another bus. But the engine worked, so we kept warm. Time to read more of Jon Kalmar Stefansson.

June?

Finally arriving in Akureyri. Snowing.

But looks slightly better tomorrow. Plan to move on 20km. By bike that is 🙂

04.06.24 Stuck in Egilsstadir

 Nothing new from the western front

Right now it looks pretty uncertain if the Ringroad will open for traffic tomorrow, so it looks I'll have to stay here at least until Thursday. 

03. 06.24 Faskrudsfjordir-Reydayrfjordur-Egilstadir

Stuck in bad weather

Started 06:25 hoping on some "clement" weather, but not today. Strong (and increasingly cold) headwind. Moving forward at a pace of <10 km/h, but still - forward. Then 6km tunnel, a relief under these circumstances. And so down to Reydarfjordur. 

From here you have to cross a mountain pass at 350m. I started, in doubt, but soon there was a sign with live information: 0 degrees and 20m/s wind. That's not for me! Maybe for my friend Jonathan Labarre, who cycled from us to Tromsø in November some years ago, see his website: https://m.facebook.com/pihoqahiakas/, he does nice stuff and also offers guiding and presentations. 

I found a place to sit at a petrol station, waiting for a bus to Egilstadir at 14:35. Remember I started early, so quite some hours waiting. But Egilstadir has slightly more to offer than Reydarfjordur. 

Waiting for the bus

Suddenly the bus arrived, I didn't see it, looked like a large van without any signs. But fortunately he saw me 😊. And fortunately, he took the bike. 

Over the mountain you could feel the wind harassing the bus, temperature was zero and fresh snow at the side of the road. The funny thing is how technology (the bus) isolates you from reality (the weather). You have to think about it to realize it. It helps to have tried it just before though. 

Driver takes the bike off the bus

Reading a book of Jon Kalmar Stefansson (advised by Brit Arnhild) about postman Jens struggling through the winter storm in Iceland. I feel a bit a sissy compared to these guys 😀. 

And finally, this seems to be pretty special, even in Iceland. So I can always say: I was there. 

The drop in the profile is caused by the tunnel

Statistics:

18km, total/active time 1:40 which gives a moving average of 10. 6km/h. Total ascent 105m. 

I'll stay in Egilstadir at least until Wednesday, then try to take a bus to Akureyri (if the road is open, it closes tonight), and then hopefully continue cycling to Reykjavik from around the weekend. The earliest opportunity looking at the weather forecast. 

Not an ideal situation, but increasing your capacity to solve challenges and make the right decisions (which is easier when it only involves yourself, no negotiating). 

02.06. 24 Djupivogur-Faskruddfjördur

Started 06:45 because I had the (correct) feeling this might become a long day. And there is less wind (W) early in the morning, making the first 20km along the Berufjord potentially much easier. Which it did. 

On this stretch I saw reindeer, so now I have seen with my own eyes that they are in Iceland. 

And fish farming

The plan was to follow a gravel mountain road providing a short alternative to Egilstadir, as well as beautiful views. The map showed >10% ascent, but what is that? I can testify that it was not 11%. There were VERY steep parts with loose gravel and stones, which made it hard to push up the bike 40kg with luggage. At about 150m the beginning of a sandstorm developed, and there I gave up. If the wind is so strong at 150m, what at the pass above 500? In any case I was hardly able to push up the bike. 

Seldom occasion along the Berufjord: no wind

So back again, adding 10km and 5 quarters to today's trip. Now I wondered how far to push today. The weather forecast for tomorrow afternoon/evening is VERY bad, making cycling more or less impossible. But I'd like to come to Egilstadir, which is a better alternative for an involuntary stay. So the further today, the less tomorrow and the easier to make it to Egilstadir. So it was Faskruddfjördur, 118km, including the extra 10. Worked pretty well in spite of three fjord stretches right against the NW wind, see map. 

A lot of last year's grass left on many farms, strange when a new spring is starting and the animals are outside

Iceland is also horses of course

And waterfalls

Coming to Stödvarfjördur, there was coffee! And calories, I really need them

Not many of those along the road, use them while you can

Under normal circumstances I would have stopped in Stödvarfjördur, but under the circumstances I took another 28km. Which was hard, because almost 20 of them were right against the wind. But I think I have learned to cope with it to some extent, just don't go too fast and accept that it takes more time. On top of this, the road is much more hilly here, like Norway. Which is no problem, but a short, steep ascent, say 30m, with a strong headwind takes quite some time, speed 5-6km/h!

Approaching Faskruddfjördir

Staying in a guesthouse in a family home, quiet, cheap and comfortable. 

Statistics:

118km, total time 9:45 active time 7:25 which gives a moving average of 15,.9km/h. Total ascent 1015m (trip's highest)

Now let's see what tomorrow brings, hope I end up in Egilstadir without trouble.