April 28: Day 2, Veiðifoss to Hvammstangi
Since I'm starting in a fairly remote spot, and travelling through a pretty remote area, lunch is a problem. But: the place I was staying serves bread, cheese slices, salami, tomato slices, and cucumber at the breakfast buffet. It's like they meant me to make a lunch sandwich. So, I did.
The weather this morning was pretty grim. It had been a wind and rainstorm last night, now it quieter, just wind-blasted drizzle. Not a great day to be outside. But it's a tailwind and I have a good raincoat so I set off after only about 15 minutes of procrastination.
I'd done all my training with earbuds but I'm a bit worried about them falling out, so I'm not using them right now. I'm not using the wired earphones either, I was just relying on the phone speaker. And I guess I should have turned it up because I missed my turnoff and was 3km up the road before I realized my mistake.
The ride back was into a mild headwind, so I could understand how much the tailwind was helping. For now: not much.
From left to right: breakfast. Breakfast view. Unambiguously Iceland. Selfie. I have no idea what this small box is for! Map-signs like this were regular, and if you don’t have Internet access, would be very helpful. Check out the wool on these sheep - it is early summer!
The road after this was a 4WD track, so marginal that Google Maps doesn't even show it. I did take a photo before getting on it, which I know is a sign that it’s going to be a bad idea. And it was...
It was quite steep and the gravel was loose so I started walking the bike almost immediately. Actually, “pushing the bike” is better; the road was soggy and I need one hand on the seat to pull and the other on the handlebar to steer. And regular stops. The ridge was not a simple shape but a lot of bulges and so the route would go down as well as up ... and had many false summits.
I did notice that the tyre treads seemed to be big diagonal lines, made by big offroad tyres like on big 4x4s. No regular tyre marks to be seen. It was not a road you could take a regular car through.
The road got squelchier and muddier as it went on. Puddles which looked clear would hide deep soft mud. Gravel which looked solid gave way when I put a foot on it. Once, I put my foot on gravel and it was like I stepped into a bog; I sank so far mud went halfway to my knee. Not nice. (No photo, I was too busy extricating myself and not dropping the bike and finding safe ground to think of such things.)
The most reliable choice is the tyre ruts, because they've been compressed, but they also are filled with muddy water which sprays everywhere.
The bike is going to need a serious wash tonight.
It was a 200m climb, and didn't feel any colder at the top but there were regular piles of (nasty) snow and a few sheets of rough ice.
The downhill was much easier; the ground was solid - unlike the way I came up. So I carefully freewheeled down, and was very happy to hit an actual gravel road.
From left to right: start of the treacherous route. Note how far the back wheel has sunk. Diagonal tyre tracks - not a good sign. Ice! Passed this bridge on the way down.
By now my cellphone was at 25% so I thought I'd plug it in. It gave a big popup complaining that there was liquid in the Lightning port and was not going to charge.
This is not good. I don't really need the phone for directions; from here the route rejoins Route 1 and like most days, following Route 1 is all you need to do. I try putting the phone in my pocket to warm up, and a few other things, and it simply did not want to charge.
I was a bit surprised that the phone is wet - it hadn’t ever actually rained, it had only been drizzling all day and I didn't think that much water had hit the phone. Lesson learned! I do have a waterproof phone case with me: so next time it rains, even if it’s drizzle, I'm using it.
On Route 1 now. The traffic is so light that people passing me can use the incoming lane, which is how I like it. Past the white line is a dubious inch or two of asphalt, then a sharp asphalt dropoff and a steep wild-grass slope and a deep turbulent river. So I don't get too close.
The tailwind is very nice. I stop once or twice and it's strong, and blowing in a helpful direction. Going clockwise around the ring is definitely paying off.
Around the peak there's big flows of half-melted ice, streams that are half ice, and a big pool of ice with a pool of clear water in the center. Worth a photo, but I was trying to preserve the battery so you'll have to take my word for it.
Then it tips over into a gradual downhill, turns left so there's a bit of sidewind, and I find I'm in top gear, spinning as fast as I can. Think technique: core solid, upper body still, shoulders loose, no movement in the saddle. I know what 100rpm feels like from training; there were times when that wasn’t enough to keep up. It was quick! This is probably the fastest I’ve been on the bike.
I should put my trust in gyroscopic force and get a bit closer to the roadside, but I don't trust the sidewind to stay predictable so I'm in the middle of the lane, tight grip on the handlebars so there's no surprises. I'm probably doing 40 so if things go sideways, it's going to be messy.
Also, it's really raining now. An occasional car goes past and water sprays out like snow flurries. My raincoat hood has blown off but I'm not driving one-handed to fix it.
Still downhill. I didn't think the climb up was this big! But I'm still in the topmost gear, with a variable but useful tailwind, and it keeps going. There's a rainbow and a patch of blue sky in the distance; first blue sky I can remember seeing in Iceland. Still no photos, for two reasons this time. This is a great stretch.
Eventually it's the bottom, but the tailwind is still strong so I can stay in a high gear. A gas station/cafe/foodhall comes along, and I pull in: remember the cellphone? I need to dry it out and get it charging again.
From the top to here was about 20km in half an hour, so that was a very good time.
I get a coffee and a sunny table and I'm going to stay here until my cellphone can charge again. It gets a few minutes under the hand dryer to start. There's no visible water at all... but leaving everything in the sun for ten minutes doesn't fix it. I pull it out of its case and it's wet, so I have a bit more understanding about why it was complaining now. Dry it all off with paper napkins, angle it up to catch the sun, and eventually starts charging. It's been 1% or 2% for the last few hours, and I was expecting it to die at any moment - but it survived.
I'm not so happy about getting moving, because despite being inside I'm starting to shiver from cold. The gloves didn't dry much, and I think my warm layer got wet somewhere along the way. The wind is strong and I'm getting even colder while getting the bike ready.
From left to right: waterfalls and ice. Big icepack at the top of the pass. Just after my cellphone started charging. The rest of the trip was like this, which is great. Hvammstangi house. Everything in the shower to dry after being washed.
But when I'm back on the road, and warmed up a bit, it's all good. The sun is properly out now, the wind is a reliable tailwind and the last 40km is actually quite nice.
One nice benefit of the rainy sidewind and wet road when going over the pass, is that all the mud got washed off my bike! The rims and tyres were covered in mud from that treacherous gravel track, but they're clean and shiny now.
The only disappointment is that after washing and hanging up all the cycling gear, getting showered and changed, it was 1810 and the only supermarket in town closes at 1800 on weekdays. The place I'm staying has a nice kitchen so I was hoping to cook something wholesome.
Tomorrow I'm staying in a small room with a shared kitchen. I'll do a supermarket trip on the way out of town tomorrow morning, and get some things! I’m starting to crave some fresh vegetables.
