April 29: Day 3, Hvammstangi to Varmahlíð

First question: at the supermarket, should I get dinner things? The place I'm staying tonight has a kitchen so I'd like to make something nutritious. I decide not to, I don't have spare space and a bit of Googling shows a supermarket a few kilometers from the end. I do get two sandwiches; maybe one will be tomorrow's lunch...

It's a windy day today. The forecast showed 13m/s which is 45km/h. It's blowing north, so the first few kilometers south out of Hvammstangi were straight upwind; not too hard and nothing too worry about. Then it turned northeast which is ideal.

So for the first part of the day, it was a great tailwind. I got through nearly half the distance in 2h30 - much less than the 3.5h estimated! I think I was in top gear for most of it.

That was all very nice but then I turned south east onto the 724 and it's a headwind - not straight on, but close enough to really slow things down. Plus it’s a long, steady climb. I change down and change down again and keep changing down until I'm in the lowest gear. Be philosophical about making slow progress.

Nevertheless, this is not as bad as Patagonia. I recall getting off and pushing because it was faster than cycling. Or having to go in swoops because I couldn't hold a straight line. This is not on that level Mostly... occasionally I'd get walloped by an extra-strong gust. Once I got blown to the other side of the road; I'm sure it was an indirect thing where it pushed me left and I turned to compensate and now I'm going left and oh look wrong lane. (This was a very quiet backroad, fortunately; I would stop if there were cars and the wind was getting feisty.) But that was pretty exceptional and only happened once.

From left to right: very Icelandic house I passed on the way to the supermarket. Icelandic views. And again. I wonder if the grasses look groomed because of the wind or flooding. Some of the horses I passed.

One problem is that photos don't show how bad the wind is. Videos don't either: there's very little movement. Probably because anything that moves will be broken off...

Anyway, I was on a direct-ish backroad which cut off a section of Route 1. It zigged and zagged: mostly there was a sidewind but once or twice I needed to go due south and that was not fun.

It was raining off and on, but the droplets are going so fast they hurt when they hit. I need to keep my head up so they hit my sunglasses, and don't come over into my eyes. I thought it was hail at first but they didn't bounce; so they must have just been really fast tiny water droplets.

One odd thing is that there's regular farms along the way. At least one building will be in good repair, recently painted, no signs of damage. Often there's cars outside. So presumably people live there. But I never saw a person working outside. It was a lousy day, but I didn't think farmers got days off for bad weather...

And the only livestock I see are horses. Apparently most animals are kept inside until May, when they're released for summer grazing, and rounded up again in September.

The return to route 1 had a brief north stretch! Which meant tailwind. It was great, I went too fast for the highest gear again. Then hit the Ring Road, and the climb over the pass to Varmahlíð.

The climb up goes south-east so the wind is a problem. The shoulder is gravel, so I could pull over for a break or to avoid the occasional traffic. Not too bad.

One odd thing is that the metal fences make a whistling hum, a bit like a flute. It only happens when the wind is strong, and it's not that loud. (These are the things you hear when you're pausing on the side of the road...) I couldn't feel the wires vibrating so presumably it's caused by the cutaways on the poles.

The pass was only 300m up but much, much colder than ground level. There was a spectacular ice lake but I was getting cold and didn't want to even slow down. Passed a monument to the Icelandic poet and farmer Stephan G Stephansson; the view was great but when I stopped I realized how cold it was - so I took a few photos and got moving again.

From left to right: another small roadside house, this one is fenced off. The ice lake - I just got a quick glimpse but it did look spectacular. The Stephan G Stephansson monument, great view but it felt subzero. The view from my window tonight.

The groceries I saw on Google this morning are actually a gas station with attached supermarket - this is normal! Unfortunately there is almost nothing in single-serving sizes. I can't get a single tomato, they only come in packs of 6. Ditto for peppers. Lettuce is only available in a family-sized prepackaged thing.

I'm tempted by some wok-style frozen vegetables but the smallest packet is 1kg so that's not going to work. Meat and fish are 1kg packets.

It's a bit disappointing. I end up getting a readymade Chili Con Carne meal with rice, which is really not what I was hoping for. I also picked up some fruit which makes me happier.

Today was a bit of a slog, because of the wind. I had a good tailwind for the first half and it took 2.5 hours, the second half was only partly headwind and it took 5. I had a chat to the farmer who runs tonight's accommodation and he was pretty clear that today's wind unusually bad. The wind forecast tomorrow is 10m/s instead of 13, which isn't that much better - but the route looks like it's consistently northeast which is the same way I'm going. With any luck, it'll be an easier day.

Because it’s only day 3 and I’m ready for a break.