Wednesday, July 23
We ride 67.85 kilometers in 4:53'39 (ave 13.8kph, max 51.6kph).
guesthouse bjarg
Today, our trip takes a totally new direction --- both literally and figuratively. So far, we have followed some kind of an overall plan, what to see, where to go, and where to stay each day. Not anymore, from now on we plan on a day-by-day basis.
breeze
It is really windy already in the morning, but it does not rain. We have planned quite a long and desolate trip to Stykkisholmur for today. Therefore we stocked well last night in the local grocery store. However, we end up executing the plan for about 30 minutes before reconsidering; we struggled against the strong headwind for a couple of kilometers in lowest gears, mostly downhill, but still making it in about six kilometers in an hour. It is frustrating to say the least, but it is also freezing cold. And we have a long way to go. We turn back.
lunch
There is no other way to go, but continue the road #60 north. Now we are rolling! In a breeze we do forty kilometers and stop at a gas station in Stadarholl for lunch. This seems like a privately owned place, not a chain franchise: there are family pictures all over the walls. We order the special burgers of the house and they are served without fries, hallelujah! Excited, we check the wind for every few minutes to see if it still blows to our advantage. We still gave some 27 more kilometers to go.
stop
Alas! The wind direction has reversed while we were having lunch --- now it blows straight from North. We have quite a struggle ahead of us again, plus that we have no idea where to stay overnight. We ride and walk, ride and walk, stop, ... It is getting murky already, since the sky is covered in clouds.
shortcut
We cross Gilsfjördur on a causeway. This shortcut is quite a blessing: we save precious kilometers and time not having to ride around the fjord. However, we are a bit worried about the wind, but it turns out not to be too bad. Actually, it is quite funny that the wind seems to blow from the same relative direction, even if the road makes a major turn. We have noticed the same phenomenon earlier in our trip.
dark
already
Then there, in the middle of nowhere, is Hotel Bjarkalundur. It is still relatively early, about 4pm., but we do not feel like riding anymore.
hotel bjarkalundur
We take a double room for 8500 crowns --- other options are a sleeping bag accommodation (in a similar room) for 6000, or a cabin for 12000 crowns. For once, we are dry! There is nothing else to do in the hotel but eat and drink. We start with a soup of the day (broccoli) and pizza Margherita, continue with the buffet (210 crowns), and finish our evening in the lounge enjoying Argentinean Malbec while planning alternative routes for the following days.
Thursday, July 24
We ride 63.39 kilometers in 5:39'24 (ave 11.2kph, max 36.3kph)
As usual, we have breakfast at eight. It is cloudy and a slight breeze blows from West. We make another change to our plans and head North, and then to Holmavik, instead of following the original plan to go West.
difficult ride
The road soon turns into gravel, and after recent grading, it is extremely difficult to ride. In the intersection of the road #60 and the back road #608 we make the final decision to follow the latter over the mountains to Holmavik. We face a steep uphill. We walk the bikes up, and the climb seems endless. With frequent rest stops, it takes us an hour to get to the top.
sheep
Sheep seem not to know what to do with us, so they keep running in front, stopping every now and then.
on the top
On the top the road is ridable. We have nice rolling hills, and there is no traffic. This is awesome! The sun also comes out: we actually have to apply some sunscreen. The wind is chilly, though.
steep climb
nothing much grows up there
After a long ride, we reach a cabin, actually an emergency shelter, and plan to cook some lunch, only to find out that the gas bottle we took from the hostel is of a wrong kind. It does not fit our burner. We have to resort to snacks, crackers and cheese spread.
long ride
Even if the road does not descend much, we start to see some flowers and colors other than brown and grey in the landscape.
lunch
Eventually we hit the paved road #61. We have a terrible headwind going East. We see some lucky bicycle tourers coming up. Soon, the road starts to descend to the sea level, and we have a 4-kilometer downhill with 8% grade.
some flowers
The road turns South. By the time we reach the sea, the wind is nonexistent. We have a smooth roll following the coast line, until the road takes a hike up to the mountains again. Then the wind reappears.
colors
We are pretty exhausted when we reach Holmavik, and more than ready for a guesthouse or a comfy hotel room. We find a guesthouse, but after a weird look at Tomi, the host decides they are full. He gives a hint about another guesthouse in town. We find out it is not a guesthouse really, just a private accommodation and occupied. We have no other option but camp.
holmavik
The campground is located next to a swimming pool. We probably did not mention, (or did we?), that there is no such a small town in Iceland that does not have a swimming pool. They even advertise them. Of course, the Icelanders are kind of lucky that they do not need to use much energy to heat the pools.
some chicken
We take a quick shower and head back to the town for dinner. The options are ... one: Cafe Riis. "Restaurant-bar-pizza" says the sign outside. The place is full and the average age of patrons is around eight. We have to wait quite a while before the server comes back for our orders, and he warns us that it will take a long time. We have the house salad to start with, and Tomi orders chicken for entree and Tei puffin. All the others in the place are having pizza. We already have mentioned the cocktail sauce with fries, but another common item in Iceland is the thick balsamico dressing that is served with salads. They don't know any other kind of dressing.
cafe riis
While we wait for our entrees a Finnish woman comes to talk to us. She has just moved to Holmavik to stay. She is employed by the guesthouse in which we had no luck, and organizes horseback rides in back country.
to camp
Friday, July 25
We ride 67.85 kilometers in 6:02'00 (ave 11.2kph, max 46.7kph)
sun comes out
The morning is foggy. We try to be proactive and ask the campground host to reserve us the next night's accommodation in Stadur. The guesthouse Stadarskali is full. We change our plan again. We practically have no option but to return to the same area we were few days ago. We reserve a room at Hotel Edda in Laugur.
rocky ascent
We have a quick cold breakfast at the gas station opposite to the campground while our laundry is doing itself.
tailwind
Then we are ready for the road. We stay for a while on the flat highway #61 that follows the coastline. The sun comes out and it is very warm. Then we leave the highway and start a gradual, not too steep climb on the unpaved back road #605. The road steepens and we face a rocky ascent of 14% grade. It is a hard ride since some cars come up and we have to give them a way.
snack
When on the top, we have a nice tailwind, which gives us wings for a number of kilometers. We snack the rest of our breakfast items at a small cabin. The scenery is not as rugged as yesterday, and not even near as interesting. There is a nice lake, though, and beautiful hues of green moss.
lake
Soon we start an abrupt descent to the sea level and the road #60 again. The 16% grade is steepest we have ever made, up or down. The wind is very unpredictable and gusty in the switchbacks.
rolling
After riding a total of 45 kilometers in four hours, we are back at the gas station in Stadarholl for some burgers. There is still 20 kilometers to go, and the cross wind has grown significant.
steepest we have made
Those twenty kilometers are agonizing. The first six kilometers we walk our bikes. It is hard to stay on the road, and both of us visit the ditch a few times. Some cars passing us take all the pleasure from our pain and take photos of us or even videotape our struggle.
When a group of three guys come up riding, we try our luck on the saddle again. The road turns somewhat and the conditions improve a bit. Soon, the wind ends altogether or even turns to our favor in the uphill. The last kilometers to Hotel Edda is a fun ride rolling down a gentle grade.
switchbacks
We are in Edda 7:45pm., and we have less than an hour to get ready for dinner. Easier done than said, since the shower is just dripping water. The dinner at the restaurant does not compare with our experience at Riis last night: Tei's Seafood au Gratin has not seen seafood, if potatoes do not count, and Tomi's Greek fish is more like moussaka.
After the dinner, we are like "what next?"--- it is only 10pm. and we are not quite ready for bed yet. Our server kindly reveals the best kept secret: there is a bar in the lobby. We share a bottle of sangiovese-merlot from Tuscany, and enjoy the peace and quiet. There is no TV and not even music playing.
Saturday, July 26
We ride 84.87 kilometers in 7:23'02 (ave 11.4kph, max 40.0kph)
countryside
flat
Today we receive a lot of head and crosswind, but abundant sunshine. We return to Budardalur and continue on the road #60 about ten kilometers before turning to an unpaved road #586 to Eiriksstadir and then to Bru and Stadur. The road continues flat and nice for about 15 kilometers through a beautiful countryside, then it starts to climb.
nice
Before the climb we have stream to cross. A 4WD comes up from where we are heading, and people inside are horrified about the rocky ride they just had but say it is perfectly ok for bikes! From their impression we have no way of telling if they are blatantly underestimating or mildly overestimating the difficulty for bicyclists: the road could be very nasty or just a piece of cake. It's both.
first stream
The ascent is very steep and rocky. It is not much fun to push the bikes uphill --- just in case you wonder why there are no pictures of this part of the trip. Luckily we both are able to push our own bikes instead of both working on a single bike, and then going back down for the other. We have done that too.
chain breaks
which one is the stream, which one the road
We meet another stream, and then another, and another. Finally, we are sick of counting. We can ride through some of them, some of them we have to walk. Sometimes we have to find a detour. Sometimes it is hard to tell which of the rocky trails is the river bed and which is the road (PIC).
and then another stream
After a dangerous downhill we are back on the highway #1. The last 12 kilometers on the east bank of Hrutafjordur to Saeberg are chilly. We are so tired, too.
and another
When about to reach our destination (the HI Hostel Saeberg), we hear someone shout "Odottakaa, odottakaa!" ("Wait, wait!" in English) somewhere, and we see a woman running towards us from the paddock in a riding outfit. She is a Finn from Northern Finland, and a student at the Sibelius Academy. She has been here for five weeks working as a volunteer at the hostel and taking care of the hostel managers' horses at her free time. She is so happy to hear Finnish spoken after so many weeks.
gorge
She says she'll meet us for breakfast the next morning. We actually see her once more later in our trip.
We are at the hostel at 9:15pm. This is our longest day so far, both in kilometers and the riding time. After showering, we prepare some camping food, paella, and dine at sunset. Tomi eats most of the food.
Sunday, July 27
We ride 25.90 kilometers in 1:58'01 (ave 13.1kph, max 33.0kph)
This is our shortest riding day. We wake up to a very grey morning. We walk over to the hostel manager's house to have breakfast at their home. We again meet the Finn we saw last night and share some more thoughts with her.
grey morning
Once the hostel laundry is done, we wash ours. Then we are ready to the road.
hostel
It is a chilly ride. We stop for cafe lattes at Laugarbakki's Olis. Six more kilometers to go and we will be in Hvammstangi. There is no particular reason to go to Hvammstangi, other than to make the next day's ride a little shorter. We also need to do some research on if the next day's ride is doable.
welcome to hvammstangi
The people at the gas station get us somewhat convinced that the ride is doable by bikes. One of them has been out there on ATV, but that was like last year. However, it seems that people who drive, and especially people who drive humongous 4WD's like here in Iceland, do not really comprehend what are the obstacles for bicyclists.
hvammstangi
We find an accommodation at the Guesthouse Hanna Sigga for 6800 crowns plus breakfast for 950 per person. Our room is on the bottom floor of a spacious one family house. Very nice! So far we are the only guests, and we have the whole downstairs for us.
hvammstangi
We shop for groceries for the next two-days long back country ride. Then there is not much to do. We have a short hike around, and then we head out for an early dinner.
short hike
Cafe Sirop is the only eating establishment in the town, and thus busy. Tomi has pasta carbonara and Tei a pan-fried trout with red wine --- they don't have any white.
fog
We walk to the gas station that lies on the outskirts of the town, and find out their cafe has a better beer and wine selection than Sirop. We taste for instance Thule (5% ABV) and Viking PaskuBjör (4.8% ABV) by Vifilfelli hf. from Akureyri. We finish the night at Sirop. The place has slowed down, it is nice and quiet. The fog has landed over the town.
Monday, July 28
We ride 78.02 kilometers in 6:37'58 (ave 11.7kph, max 38.2kph)
This is the toughest day of our whole trip. We pedal almost 80 kilometers, but end up about 47 kilometers from where we start and nowhere near where we planned to go.
We have lovely breakfast at the guesthouse. By nine we are on the road, and at ten we are back at the Olis in Laugarbakki for cafe latte. We have had headwind all way.
The plan is to take the back roads #704 and #578 to Husafell, and then continue to on #550 to Thingvellir. The first part of the route to Husafell is supposed to be literally off the beaten path, and we don't expect to see much life there. But we do expect to cross a ford that may even be uncrossable by a car.
tangahus
We ride 27 kilometers on #704 to a strong headwind. It takes us more than two and a half hours. We are exhausted and frustrated. Plus we are not quite confident about the continuation (basically the road and river conditions), we turn back. The return is a flight.
renovated
Once on the highway #1, we face the wind again, since we are heading South. And once again we knock at the door at the guesthouse in Stadarskali. There is not a person there, not a single car on the parking lot, but the place is "full." We are kindly informed about a campground in Bordeyri, a town some 13 kilometers away. We do not really feel like camping, but even less we feel like riding any more. But there is no other option. We mumble that hopefully something good turns out from today's struggle.
serene
We are also kindly advised about the shortcut to Bordeyri, via a road section still under constructions and not open for traffic yet. It saves us five precious kilometers. Bordeyri is not a large place, but still it is not trivial to find the campground. We actually never end up that far, since we bump into something no one has told us about. Right there, in the edge of this tiny town, standing by itself at the sea front is a guesthouse Tangahus. The door is open, but not a soul inside. The place is very neat inside, looks like recently fully renovated. The phone number is posted on the door.
And it answers. We are asked to have a large room upstairs for 2000 crowns per person (sleeping bag accommodation), use the showers, and the laundry facilities downstairs. And the kitchen is all for us (the campground would not have had a shower nor hot water). An elderly couple arrives as we are cooking dinner. The night falls cool and serene. At that time we have no idea that a first ever heat wave in the Icelandic history will sweep the country in the next few days.
Tuesday, July 29
We ride 63.78 kilometers in 3:53'17 (ave 16.4kph, max 49.6kph)
bordeyri
We go to bed early and wake up early. Some rain has fallen during the night, and it is cloudy. When enjoying a minimal breakfast (a banana, some crackers, juice and coffee) in the kitchen we see a glimpse of the seal in the bay.
up
The sun comes out. After ten kilometers we are in Bru, knocking at the door of a gas station for a heftier breakfast. We have 40 minutes to wait until the place open at 10am. The alternative is to ride 60 kilometers without any snacks. However, we have a strong tailwind.
photo opportunities
plains
At 2pm. we are at the Hraunsnef Country Hotel. We take a cabin for 8000 crowns plus breakfasts for 1000 crowns each.
summit
By 4pm. we have had a light lunch at the hotel, settled in and ready for a quick hike in the neighborhood. There is a marked trail nearby that we follow up to the top. Nice view from there.
italo western
Around 6pm. we are back from the hike, and the sun is still shining from the clear blue sky. The wind is still favorable to the direction we are planning to go in the morning. We give it thumbs-up, and see a bicycle tourer heading to the opposite direction. Poor guy.
cabin
For dinner we share a seven-course meal consisting of traditional Islandic dishes. It is quite an interesting adventure, but not very delicious one: we only nibble some of the dishes. The courses are:
- Shark and brännvin, dried fish and butter. (Islanders must have exceptional teeth to chew this)
- Fish hash with rye bread. (rye bread with a lot of brown sugar in it)
- Liver sausage, lamb face jam and sour testicles with sweet mashed potatoes and rutabaga smash. (lamb face jam is like aladobi, or meat jelly)
- Islandic lamb soup. (strange sour taste in this soup comes from milk)
hike
- Stuffed sheep stomach and rice pudding with cinnamon sugar. (the stomach is similar to blood pudding we have in Finland)
- Smoked ham with "everything" (warm potato salad, peas, and red cabbage)
- Stirred skyr with cream. (sour cream with more cream)
up
view
The whole meal is served on Ikea dishes and consumed with Ikea utensils.