April 27: Day 1, Reykjavik to Veiðifoss
I was hoping to avoid headwinds today, but absolutely did not get my wish. The weather forecast showed a nice simple set of arrows, mainly pointing north which is basically the direction I'm going. The reality was that I had far too many headwinds, plenty of sidewinds, and a nice tailwind for the two climbs I had to do (which is very nice, and so unusual I need to mention it).
It was forecast to gust up to 65km/h and I'm pretty sure I felt that a few times, coming from the ... east? I was passing Skorhagafoss waterfall and the sidewind was so strong I had to go in swoops, Patagonia style, for the first time. I pulled over to take some photos (in hindsight, was this really worth doing?) and struggled to keep the camera straight. The wind was pushing the bike to twist and fall over, even though I was in the lee of a guardrail.
A few minutes up the road, I passed under some big high-tension wires, and they were making noise in the wind. It was a low and dangerous note. I haven't heard that before, and didn't feel comfortable sticking around to appreciate the moment.
From left to right: sun sculpture, where I started. Looks like this bikepath may have been added to an existing bridge. These are the route markers I’m following. Statue garden. Cloud-covered mountains.
Besides the wind, I spent a lot of time trying to not be on Route 1. That's the ring road, which I am roughly following; and while this probably sounds frivolous it really isn't. Because near Reykjavik it's quite busy, and there isn't space for bikes. I got directed onto it, double-checked that it was correct, and cruised uncomfortably along on the far edge of the road until a side road appeared. (To be honest: nobody passed close enough to make me worried. This is all me, I guess.)
The suggested route continued along Route 1 but on my phone I could see an alternate route that would rejoin a few kilometers up the road, so I tried it. This started with a light-industrial area which had a truck park and smelled of oil.
Then through a carpark for hikers, with big warnings that you can't climb if you haven't made a booking. The route switches to a two-rut gravel track. A little more adventurous ... until the gravel petered out, then the ruts faded, and I needed to improvise a way forward. I passed by a quarry, down a steep grass bank, then out past a lot of derelict equipment. (Later I found that I was pretty close to the route on the map. Who knows where that data came from.)
To balance that out, the next section seemed to be a new road, still under construction, but the sidewalk was complete, pristine, and wide! I got up nearly into the top gear. Construction ended and it turned into a gravel road, merged into an asphalt access road with trespassing warnings (I kept going), down a side path for pedestrians, under the highway and skirted a village. Back on Route 1, and I remember why I don't want to be here, but the gravel foundations for the new road reappear so I get onto those, and they take me to my turnoff with only a few delays, including a path leading into the middle of nowhere and then disappearing - again.
So I managed to almost completely avoid Route 1 today. But I think the offroad parts really did slow me down, because it took 3h and I'd barely gone a quarter of the way.
The reason my route diverges from Route 1, is because Route 1 takes a long tunnel under the sea, which means it can avoid all sorts of mountains and complication and get up north more efficiently.
From left to right: the end of the nice sidewalk. Lunch. Iceland photos always seem to look the same… note the turnoff to Asgard though!
So I think my route was mostly the old pre-tunnel route. It skirted around the Hvalfjörður inlet, with more or less headwind. In comparison with Patagonia it was mild stuff; I could make actual forward progress without too much work.
The final stage was a gravel road which led up over the pass, while the standard road goes around. I was not feeling good, maybe not eating or drinking properly? I stopped and had a banana and a mini snickers and then another and ended up having four. But I did feel a bit better. The road was a climb, which I was not excited about, but changed down into a low gear. I tried zigzagging but nearly dropped the bike, all the weight is at the back and the front wheel would come off the road far too easily. I'm not bringing a handlebar bag this time which will be part of the reason.
But the wind was a noticeable tailwind now, which I was quite grateful about. Doing the climbs with a headwind would have slowed things down a lot... The pass isn't that high and the temperature is surely above zero, but there's a lot of old snow around; unappetizing stuff that looks like half-melted icecream, all rounded and lumpy with a dirty brown crust.
The wind is fierce but it's a tailwind, and I couldn't ask for a better direction. I pass a waterfall, but the wind is blowing the spray backwards and up, and it covers my screen in covered in water droplets.
Onwards. Downhill, and the sun comes out for a minute. The last-minute Hema jersey I got has been rained on, then half-dried by the wind, and the sun is finishing the job.
Then the sun goes away, and the rain comes and it's raincoat time.
From left to right: Skorhagafoss waterfall, where the wind was intense. More landscapes. This was outside the place I’m staying tonight. I’ve been drinking these and they’re recommended. High wind tonight.
But the end is not far. I don't have much energy; maybe it's because I didn't eat properly, or maybe I'm not quite fit enough? I'll try to do better tomorrow. At least I was warm the whole day, thanks to the new gloves and leggings.
Now it's time to warm up, clean all my gear, get all the wet stuff hung up, get all the electronics recharging, and sort out route and accommodation for tomorrow.
