April 30: Day 4, Varmahlíð to Akureyki
Today's route goes over a 500m pass. Yesterday's pass was 300m and it had a frozen lake, so I'm bringing out the cold weather gear today.
Gloves and balaclava go into the backpack; I can put them on in a minute. Not the overshoes: these need to be put on before my cycling shoes, then they stretch over the toe and heel, and then there's a velcro strap to secure it underneath. It's all neoprene and fits snugly and is a bit of a struggle to get them on even while in a chair in the warm... definitely not to be done while barefoot in the middle of a blizzard. So I put them on before leaving.
Today's forecast was for "light sleet" and 36km/h winds which is not very enticing, even with the warm gear on. While eating breakfast I could see it hitting the window and leaving a horizontal streak, it was blowing so hard. I did not hurry.
Happily when did I get moving it had stopped and the wind had calmed down a bit. 6km straight upwind to start, then on a diagonal following a river, then a big turn and the climb, which should have a bit of tailwind.
There's not much on the roads. I've been looking out for tour buses, because I figure they'll indicate how many tourists there are around, and I don't see any in the open road. There's a handful of vans from "Indie Camper". Most of the traffic is cars, there's a lot of trucks.
When the climb starts Komoot tells me to get off the Ring Road and get on a parallel gravel road. But the traffic was so light I didn't bother.
The climb is very mild. It's 20km at under 4%; basically flat road by NZ standards. The road had a good surface, a bit of space on the shoulder (which I probably needed once or twice) and it was really not bad. The views were spectacular but I've already seen my fill of spectacular Icelandic views and I struggle to tell the photos apart...
From left to right: overshoe on, and normal cycling shoe. Causeway over the river. Clouds and mountains. But it’s not too cold. This small house was halfway up the climb. I guess this is warning about wild sheep, but I didn’t see any, and it was snowing so hard any sensible sheep would be down the mountain. The road up.
Things got more exciting higher up. The wind picked up and it started to snow. I was keeping warm, and had my raincoat and warm layer unzipped. My toes were cold despite the overshoes, but they'd been cold all day. Hands were cold but not cold enough to put on the gloves. And definitely no need for the balaclava. But I'm not going to stop to take photos unless the view is really exceptional.
The parallel gravel road is still there, and has its own bridges - maybe it is the old road? It looks a bit rough and I'm quite happy I'm on Route 1.
The environment gets progressively more snow-covered, the snowfall picks up. It's now a sidewind, but it still blows into my face somehow. At the peak all the ground is covered and it's snowing continuously. I try to get some pictures, but it's not worth stopping for so I'm clicking one-handed while riding and can't find any excitement in these snowy Icelandic mountains so the results aren't great.
Winding road to the peak. At the peak; note the antenna in the distance. Selfie while in the snow. The road down, into foreboding cloud. Lunch break when lower and warmer. Some rather excellent street art. In Akureyki the stoplights are heart shaped.
Then the road shifts to downhill. It's a lot steeper than the climb - there's a sign warning drivers that it's 8%. I don't need to pedal, which means I need to stop and zip all the layers up. Unfortunately there's a guardrail on the right, with no space and I'd prefer not to stop there. I'm fairly sure there's no ice on the road, but they are wet. So I'm keeping the speed down. I spin the pedals, just to keep my legs warm. The guardrail ends but the roadside is two inches of asphalt and then a steep dropoff; I'd rather not stop there either. Eventually a lookout comes along: it's on the other side of the road but there's a bit of flat area on my side so I can pull over and get the fleece closed and raincoat zipped together and get my hood up - more sleet is starting.
The rest of the downhill is gradual which is what I like; it gives a bit of assistance so I can get up into a high gear, and doesn't run out too quickly. The tailwind is helping. I'm not too cold, but I am looking forward to descending into the warm.
Traffic gets busier; sometimes cars can't pass me because there's incoming traffic, and they have to slow down and wait. A few people don’t wait and pass closer than I'd like. When I'm close to Akureyki a parallel gravel track appears; perhaps a new road under construction? But I'm happy to take it and get off the main road. That takes me most of the way into town to where an actual asphalt bikepath appears! And there's a bikepath all the rest of the way to my accommodation.
It ended up being a quick day; Komoot thinks I was moving for 5h and averaged 20km/h which is quite quick given that there was 800m of climbing.
I'm staying here in Akureyki for two nights. It's a good moment to do my laundry. I'd like to do some sightseeing but it seems that the standard tourist activity is whalewatching, and I'm not sure I can do both.
Another option is to go see the two-storey high beer can ...
