meager payback: Saudarkrokur > Akureyri [82mi]

Today is when my route turned south/southeast, and for days I've been eager awaiting having the gales at my back. When I packed up 'camp' on the black sand beach, it was so calm you could drop a feather and it would land on your toe. I went into town and got coffee and a couple delicious pastries at a little local bakery. In normal life I'm not much of a pastry guy... so I can't say with certainty whether Iceland has amazing pastries or if this is just a part of life I've been missing out on all these years. But they were sure tasty.

As I made my way south on HW1 through the Blonduhlid valley, the air remained calm. Where's my stupid wind now?? Finally after about 20mi it stirred up and my next 15mi were rapid and effortless.

Blonduhlid valley on HW1

As the road turned east/northeast it began the long steady climb up along Nordura river, topping out at around 1400ft.

summit of Oxnadalsheidi pass, ~1400ft

A brief steep descent followed, then followed by false-flats into another stern headwind. At least the scenery through this section was very cool- much more of the sculpted volcanic mountains and cascading streams I'd been hoping to see. I was still cursing the wind, mind you, but you know.... 4 days of nearly continuous struggle against it was really zapping my spirit.

Eventually I made it into Akureyri around 8:30PM- an early arrival for me these days after a mere 11hrs to cover 82mi! I headed to the campground (of course uphill from town) and after getting set up, headed straight to a local stripmall pizza/movie rental place up the street. All afternoon I'd been craving hot pizza and cold Coke- I got my wish without spending much money. I devoured an entire 12" pizza pie in short order, and I gotta say it was absolutely delicious pizza, better than most that I've had in the States.

Tomorrow is a going to be a rest day here in Akureyri, time to rejuvenate and catch up on some things (the blog, bike maintenance, and hopefully a soak in the city geothermal pool. This is the largest city in Iceland outside of the Reykjavik metro area, and it boasts a population of a whopping 20,000 folks. It actually has a choice of multiple restaurants, coffeeshops and grocery stores! The campground is teeming with cycle tourists- I've only come across a handful of others along the road so far, but there are at least a half dozen singles/pairs here at the moment [the father/son I met yesterday, a couple from Alaska, an Aussie next to me and some others whose bikes I see parked next to their tents.] It's legal and perfectly acceptable to camp more-or-less wherever you want in Iceland, so most cyclists just find a spot tucked away to spend the night and only hit campgrounds on occasion to shower and whatnot. But this being a "major" city, it seems to be a popular stopover where people take a break for a few days and soak up the civilization.