To the lagoon [Hofn > Skaftafell -- 83mi ]

world's smallest gas station?

Turned out from Hofn at a decent hour and aside from after the first couple hours of crosswind, had a nice tailwind for a good chunk of the day. I dispatched with 50mi before I even stopped for lunch... and what a place to take a break:

Jokulsarlon ("Glacial Lagoon")

This was the famous Glacial Lagoon between the edge of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier and the Atlantic Ocean. As ice chunks calve off the tip of the glacier (which is a toe of Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacial icecap) they are held up in the lagoon before eventually melting small enough to float out to sea. Interestingly, in terms of geologic time, this lagoon just began a second ago. In the 1950's as the glacier retreated melted, the once fast flowing river at its terminus began to fill the void left behind by the glacier, and the ice chunks now choke up at the outlet to the sea. Another interesting side effect is that the seashore is eroding by 8meters per year now, because sediment that was once deposited by the river now settles out in the lagoon and does not replenish the sea's erosion forces. So eventually they expect the shore to erode far enough inland that the 167m long suspension bridge and highway are swallowed up.

Glaciers also leave behind some pretty cool remnants aside from massive fjords and scenic valleys:

balanced rock in the evening sun

I made it to the Svenafell campground for the night. This area is part of a national park, so it's discouraged to free-camp (I've heard you can be issued a ticket, although the next day I saw some folks camped openly. Oh well, not a bad place to camp, plus they had a nice kitchen.)

Svenafell campground

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A note on drinking water: Another relatively unique perk making this trip easier is the fact that all free-flowing freshwater is considered safe to drink without filtering or treatment. Aside from geothermal springs and murky glacial rivers, you can just find a stream or river, dunk your bottle in and enjoy chilled snowmelt straight from the hills. With all the birds and grazing sheep, I would agree this sounds a little suspect... but after several weeks I've had no problems whatsoever.

And except for the arid interior regions, there is a lot of flowing water around here! I only carry a couple of full water bottles, then just fill up along the way as needed. Using the map as an indicator of rivers can be a bit of a gamble, as many marked are actually just seasonal or floodpaths, and on the southcoast you can't tell from the map which is fed by glacial melt carrying volcanic ash and sediment, and which is fresh, clear water.

An interesting example of fresh water converging with a glacial river:

Lobster Fest 2012 [Hofn]

Pedaled the last few miles into the fishing town of Hofn to check out the Lobster Festival I was told about back at the mysterious free hottub earlier in the week.

It turned out to be pretty fun, although it was an event definitely geared towards locals and not foreign tourists... so the printed schedule and all events were only in Icelandic and I couldn't understand a word of what was going on most of the time. They had some carnival rides for the kids during the day, and at night it turned into a good excuse for everyone else to drink. But the Icelanders are pretty mellow when it comes to drinking; they were clearly having fun but not getting outrageously wasted or being obnoxious. Pretty chill vibe all around.

The local restaurants had a lot of lobster specials on offer- I didn't see any whole lobsters being served but you'd probably have to go to one of the sit-down restaurants for that. Compared to a typical Maine lobster, the Icelandic variety (I'm told) are smaller and tastier. I've been pretty good about only cooking my own food from the grocery markets so far on my journey... and as this would be my first, and in all likelihood last, Icelandic lobster festival.....

....I went a little overboard:

lobster pizza

lobster pylsur

lobster soup & lobster pylsur

As they say in Icelandic, it was "Yammy"

Happy Summer Solstice! [Djupivogur > Hofn -- 65mi]

I started off lingering over coffee and mailing a few postcards in the town of Djupivogur, just a couple miles beyond last night's free campsite. The town was still decorated from Icelandic Independence Day celebrations, June 17. [I was in Myvatn for Independence Day and there were no festivities, but it's a big deal most places.] Iceland only gained its independence from Denmark in 1944, so it is still gaining its identity and foundations of a modern Parliamentary democracy.

Each of three sections of town had their own color schemed decorations (yellow, orange, and pink.... I have no idea why, as the national colors are blue, red and white) culled mostly from items they already have on hand. I was told that they hold a big town celebration with goofy antics like a running race when the men must carry theirs wives, etc... too bad I missed it!

yellow part of town- large hay bail

orange part of town, wearing fishermen's jumpsuits

Finally spotted Tom Cruise! [Although mysteriously, he had vanished when I passed by a short time later]

Tom Cruise goes fishing

When I walked out of the grocery store, I discovered I'd picked up a protege:

More scenic riding along the coastline today... most of the actual fjords are behind me now, but the cliffs are still stunning and mystical.

Every so often, seemingly in the middle nowhere are trash collection sites that have dumpsters for recyclables, trash, lumber... and "dead animals" ??? Guess they gotta go somewhere. And no, I did not check inside:

Into the night I passed through another (much shorter) tunnel and popped out to my perfect Solstice campsite- on the edge of the Atlantic ocean, towering black volcanic cliffs behind me and a distant view of Flaajokull glacier, a toe of Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacial icecap. A happy Solstice indeed!

And guess what? It stayed light all night... again. [From some parts on the north and west of Iceland you can see the sun actually stay up all night... but not down on the southeast coast.]

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A note on coffee: Clearly I mention spending a lot of time drinking coffee... there is coffee everywhere, and it's always delicious! I suppose a country where daylight is a seasonal thing lends itself to developing a serious caffeine addiction. Even tiny villages have a cafe or coffeeshop with tasty, strong, fresh brew. It usually costs 300-400 Krona ($2.25-3.00) for a cup and almost universally includes free refills. Most places are self serve and they don't care how much you drink or how long you stay. It's a great way to whittle away your day and write blog posts [most cafes have free WiFi too] instead of riding a bike. Oh right, is that why I'm here?

I have not seen a single mention of decaf anywhere! Nor have I seen a single can of powdered creamer- it's always actual liquid milk or cream, no individual creamer packs. Even gas stations have good coffee... no watery burnt swill to be found. And-- GASP!!-- I'm even adding sugar to my java occasionally these days, after swearing off that practice a decade ago. Partly to counter the shear volume I'm consuming, and partly because I consistently need quick calories with all the energy I burn on the road.

I'll be forever spoiled by the coffee culture here, but it's probably a good thing for my stomach lining that I'm leaving soon.

The zig and the zag [Faskrudsfjordur > Djupivogur -- 71mi]

I'd read about a geology museum two towns down the coast in Breiddalsvik; there was a free town campsite there as well, so I planned an easy 35mi ride today. Planning easy days leads to laziness, and I spent a good chunk of my morning at a little French cafe in Faskrudsfjodur. Then I stopped off in the next town, Stodvarfjordur, for another round of coffee and WiFi.

Stodvarfjordur (village on the right)

patiently waiting outside the cafe

dead Icelanders

 After spending a good part of my day sipping coffee instead of riding my bike, the geology museum was closed by the time I arrived in Breiddalsvik and wouldn't re-open until 11am the next day. It didn't look to extensive anyway. The free campground was in fact free, but it was just a tiny lot behind the hotel and didn't have showers or a kitchen (it did, however, have a neighbor hammering away on his house.) It seemed pointless to stop here for the night since I didn't want to wait 16hrs for the museum to open, so I took advantage of calm winds and endless daylight to get a jump on tomorrow.

The coastal cliffs are particularly amazing- towering basalt rock ledges teeming with birds and moss and usually misty clouds. I feel like at any moment a fire-breathing dragon is going to swoop down and pluck me off the bike in its sharp talons. It's a very surreal, engrossing surroundings to pedal through and sadly photos can't do it justice. The gentle waves from the ocean, the constant squawk of thousands of birds darting about, the cool damp air... no camera is good enough!

I had no real agenda for the next few days aside from making it to the town of Hofn by Friday afternoon to check out Lobster Fest that the guy in the hot tub had told me about. It was getting late by the time I reached the beginning of Berufjordur fjord, but the air was calm and this was going to be the longest inland diversion I'd face during my trek along the fjords. Although the fjords are relatively narrow, the roads wind all the way in, and then all the way out... the prevailing winds off the sea make the first half of these zig-zags a snap, but when you get to the end you have to about-face right back into it. So taking advantage of the calm wind I went ahead and pedaled the 25mi around this fjord, and stopped to camp just before its outlet.

My 35mi day turned into 71... but you gotta strike while the iron's hot, so they say. Another gorgeous place to pitch a tent:

Berufjordur

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A note on traffic: I've had nothing but good experiences with the traffic in Iceland. Granted, there's relatively little of it anyway, but drivers (locals and tourists alike) are very courteous and almost everyone merges completely into the oncoming lane when passing a bike. If there are cars from opposite directions converging on a bike, the vehicle behind has always slowed and waited patiently until it's safe to pass. In the towns, they drive like I wish everyone would drive! That is, if they can pull out and/or pass you, they just do it and get on with their day. No stupid, timid Colorado drivers who sit at an intersection for an extra 30 seconds in order for you to ride by and then immediately pull out and creep along behind you. Here that, Boulder-ites???

I've only had one angry honk- and that was when Aussie Craig and I were riding two abreast up a hill (and the dumb driver blew his chance to pass when he had it...)

People don't drive unreasonably fast here either, which is surprising because there's essentially no police enforcing speed limits. Drivers tend to be very observant, but I imagine that may be because there's a constant likelihood that there's errant free range sheep in the middle of the road. So it's been a very pleasant ride. 

In Reykjavik it's a bit different, as there is a lot more traffic in the metro area, narrow streets and more 'urban' type aggressiveness on the road. Still didn't have any problems there, but it wasn't the comfortable meandering I've come to love in the countryside.

Out to sea - the Eastern Fjords [Jokuldalur > Egilsstadir > Faskrudsfjordur-- 64mi

Began the day with an uneventful 30mi into Egilsstadir- a bigger town of over 2000 people and two grocery stores, and one of the only towns on the interior of Iceland. It also had a pharmacy where I was able to procure some relief for my ailing right Achilles tendon- with all the struggle against fierce winds those first few days and an improperly aligned cleat on my bike shoe, it had become inflamed and painful and wasn't getting any better in spite of easier riding conditions. An elastic ankle brace for added support, a tube of Ben Gay type cream and some ibuprofin would provide welcome aid.

Some drizzle began falling but I rolled out of town to climb 10mi up the Fagridalur Pass via HW92 out to the eastern sea coast. As usual, spending a few minutes donning rain gear is the surest way to will the rain to stop and this evening was luckily no different. The pass was just beautiful- hours of pedaling up a meandering canyon flanked on both sides by steep hillsides spotted with innumerable stair-step waterfalls cascading down from snowy peaks cloaked in whispy clouds. The sounds of gushing water was hypnotic and I finally descended to the seaside town of Reydarfjordur, quaintly tucked into the inside shore of the gorgeous fjord of the same name. 

Reydarfjordur harbor

Just outside town was my first tunnel ride (where bikes are fortunately permitted) and saved 28mi of pedaling along the coast. Well lit and warm inside, the tunnel was a fun shortcut. Being almost 1:00am, I only encountered a single car through the 7km tube... and it was headed the opposite direction no less.

tunnel on HW92

Riding at night has proven very inviting on this trip. It never gets dark, so visibility is not an issue, and for a nocturnal, sleep deprived loner like myself Iceland is like crack cocaine. Although it's never very busy on the roads, riding late into the night really lets you have the place all to yourself. And so I've gotten on a schedule of sleeping from ~3-4am until 9-10am, the only difficulty being that many of the towns I pass through are buttoned up for the night.

I set up my tent for free at the end of Faskrudsfjordur fjord, next to the aptly named village. The village was originally settled by the French, a bit of an anomaly here, and hence has a French theme that persists to this day including street names, flags flying and a French festival every summer.

Faskrudsfjordur

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Notes on camping in Iceland: Camping here is a different experience than I've had in the US. Most towns & villages have camping areas right in town for a fee of 1000-1200 Krona ($8-9) per person. They are usually just big grass fields with no assigned spots, so you pitch your tent wherever you please, plus there's normally electric hookups for RVs. Many but not all have free showers and a communal kitchen area that offers electric hotplates, tables and sometimes cookware to use. These are a great place to pick up freebie supplies left behind by fellow campers about to depart the island (especially at campsites near transportation hubs... not so much in the rural areas.)

Free camping is exceptionally easy and essentially legal in all but a few protected areas (ie national parks, 'geoparks' and wildlife protection zones.) As I understand it, you're allowed to camp wherever you please, even on private property, so long as you aren't disturbing livestock, trampling crops or encroaching on a residence. It's been great so far, just find a scenic and comfortable spot and settle in for the night. The only attention I've gotten is a friendly wave; the people here are extremely inclined to mind their own business so they couldn't care less what I'm doing.

I've only paid for camping about half the time, primarily when I'm in a city or protected area, and use those days to shower, cook up a fancier than normal dinner and mingle with other campers. It's been a pleasure to free-camp in plain view, unconcerned about being hassled by the police, land owners or thieves!

a rendezvuos w/ Tom Cruise [Myvatn > Skjoldolfsstadir - 79mi]

After saying goodbye to my little group of friends, I climbed over the hill heading east from Myvatn. One last stop in the area to check out the Hverir geothermal fields- lots of steamy vents and bubbling mud pots similar to Yellowstone Natl Park in Wyoming.

Hverir geothermal area

Had a very pleasant (and well deserved) cross/tailwind today, which would make easier work of crossing this arid desert region. Back near the lake, I'd seen multiple signs pointing the way to "Base Camp" although the teenage cashiers at the market had no idea what they were for; there was also a flurry of cargo trucks passing by which seemed out of place. After about 25mi I discovered all the hoolaboo- the set of a Tom Cruise movie being filmed here! It was a mile off Highway 1 along a dirt road; the area was restricted to vehicle traffic but I parked the bike and wandered over on foot. It was a substantial temporary outcropping of large tents, trucks, tractors, props and stage hands. And a fancy helicopter, presumably to whisk Mr. Cruise in from his Reykjavik penthouse suite. They said he was actually there, but must've been too busy to come say hello. I was eventually told "no photos" and it was politely suggested that I leave, so I did. As I got back to my bike, a van zoomed up and a cute sassy security girl demanded that I delete all the photos I'd taken. Attempts to placate her failed, and she resorted to physically taking my camera and deleting the photos herself! My career as a paparazzi went down in flames like the villain in this movie surely will.

But I snuck one from long range upon my departure:

film set of Oblivion, the newest Tom Cruise dud-to-be

There's a short article from the Grapevine (Reykjavik's english language bi-monthly culture/arts rag) here. Who'da guessed I'd have my brush with fame (or Scientological infamy?) in the middle of the Icelandic desert??

After recovering from my starstruck giddiness, I crossed the Jokulsafjollum River and ran into some Icelandic cycle tourers. I'd yet to see a single Icelander cycling other than on beater bikes around town, so it was perhaps more surprising to find locals on tour than Tom Cruise on a volcano. [I suppose if I lived where it's dark half the year, and cold and windy the other half... I may not have gotten into cycling either.]

in fact there are two Icelandic cyclists on this island (the 3rd guy is Belgian)

At their suggestion I opted for a diversion from HW1 and took a gravel road through Modrudalur and the desolate moonscape of Modrudalsfjallgardar. Though 18km shorter than taking the paved highway, it turned into a lengthy shortcut with several brutally steep climbs on dirt. But the vast surroundings were impressive:

It was getting late and cold, but I pressed on towards a mysterious sounding guesthouse in the middle of nowhere with a free hot tub that 2 other cyclists, separately, had told me of. They had not lead me astray and around 11:30pm I came up the warmth of an inviting soak. To make things sweeter yet, the other folks there were some locals and perhaps the most stunningly gorgeous girl I've seen on this trip- a Swiss who'd quit her job to come work on a rural sheep farm for the summer. Delightful. She was quite enchanted with my trek, and was pretty darn enchanting herself. Sadly she had early morning farm chores to tend to, but I lingered with two other locals- one of whom worked at the guesthouse and eagerly apprised me of Lobster Fest this coming weekend in Hofn on the southeast coast.

My core temperature returned to a healthy warmth, I pedaled a few more miles down the road and set up a free camp right along the empty highway, between a waterfall cascading down the hillside and the Jokulsa A Dal river. Soft grass and moss made for a cozy night listening to the water rush by:

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A note on "SuperJeeps":
Quite common in Iceland are the "SuperJeeps" (although I've yet to see an actual Jeep-brand vehicle used in this application.) They're typically Japanese SUVs or pickups retrofitted with huge balloon tires, wide fenders and usually some offroad accessories. Many are used by tourguide services to take customers into the highlands and glaciers, but often they appear to be driven by normal folks who need a serious 4x4 to get around the remote and difficult interior roads. Those roads are often steep, gnarly, snowy, muddy and require hairy river crossings; these are the right tool for the job apparently. And a little showoff-y taboot.

one of the more beastly "SuperJeeps"

2 days exploring Myvatn on foot

Ended up spending three nights at the lakeside campground in Myvatn; it's a fascinating place bustling with volcanic and goethermal activity. I easily could've spent an entire week or more and still not had time to hike to everything to see around here. Myvatn is also one of the biggest bird sanctuaries in the world and I think I read that there are somewhere around 2000 different species of birds living around the lake.

The first day Craig, Karolyn and I set off to hike up to a volcanic "psuedo-crater" [they are called psuedo-craters, because they look like craters but that term implies creation by impact (meteorites) rather than by volcanic activity. There are many of varying sizes in this area.) Along the way we turned up an amazing little natural hotspring cave along the trail.

At this point it was raining pretty steadily and looked like dark clouds would be bringing more for the foreseeable future. So instead of hiking up to the pseudo-crater in the wet, we took the other fork in the trail to the Myvatn Nature Baths, a "luxury" hotspring resort said to rival the world famous Blue Lagoon rear Reykjavik. It cost a pretty penny to get in (2800 Krona... ~$21) but seemed worth the splurge. It was. Of course by the time we hiked to the springs, the rain had stopped but the idea of a lazy afternoon soaking in hot mineral water sure sounded splendid.

Myvatn Nature Baths

At the cafe there, I got to try Bjarnarflagsbraud ("Geyser Bread") a local specialty that is baked underground for 24hrs using the natural geothermal heat nearby. It's an interesting bread and quite tasty actually- it's extremely dense but soft and sticky and very savory.... like the heaviest gingerbread ever, minus the ginger and sugar.

A few hours in the hot pools did the body good (and the skin too, according to advertisements) so we started back to camp and checked out some crazy features along the way.

geothermal power plant & cooling pond

Day 2: On Sunday I set off solo to do some more exploring. First I rode around the west shore of the lake to hike the summit of Vindbelgarfall volcano for a nice view of the surrounding area and many pseudo-craters around the lake.
 

After a mountaintop lunch, I pedaled back around to the east shore and hike to the rim of Hverfjal volcanic rim. It's hard to tell from the photo but the rim ridge runs in a complete circle that you can easily walk all the way around.

Hverfjal

We'd also made friends with a couple of British ex-pats now hailing from Canada who are traveling counter-clockwise around the island via public bus. They've been spending a few days at the Myvatn campground as well and we've had many lingering breakfast & dinner conversations in the communal kitchen area; this last night here was no different.

good company: Karolyn, Graham and Jane

One year ago today... [Akureyri > Myvatn, 66mi]

[edit: I forgot to mention that the evening before setting out from Akureyri, Craig learned that the Phallus Museum has moved to Reykjavik... with no cocks envy, it seemed pointless to divert to Husavik and we instead rode straight to Myvatn]

Today is the one year anniversary of my elbow surgery to put me back together after a careless bike crash last summer. Not a bad way to spend a birthday! Thanks again to my bicycle enthusiast surgeon, Dr. Gladu, for getting me all fixed up.

My new Australian buddy Craig and I pushed off from the bustling "city" of Akureyri, heading for Lake Myvatn volcanic area. Calm air greeted us as we climbed out of the fjord and into the highlands... the bay was glassy with stillness.

leaving Akureyri behind

topping out the ascent out of the fjord

We made good time along the way, rolling up and down into the highlands and gradually gaining altitude as we trended into the interior. It was a real pleasure to have a riding companion, and a blessing that it was someone as charismatic and interesting as Craig. He's a worldy guy- next week he'll head to Greenland ("Figured if I was so close, I may as well go!") and rack up his 100th country visited as he turns just 44. We chatted the whole ride and had a helpful breeze at our backs for a majority of the day. Finally!!

About halfway we passed Godifoss ("Waterfall of the Gods") and had a beautiful place to eat lunch on the cliffs overlooking the falls while busloads of shore-excursioners from the cruise ship docked at Akureyri got their 3min photo-ops.

Godifoss

Craig and me at Godifoss

After mingling with the pretty ladies (one of whom Craig deemed Miss Iceland 2012) staffing the coffeeshop nearby, we got back on the road and meandered towards Myvatn. Once there we took the southern/eastern route around the lake, through the relatively fresh (2800yrs old) Dimmuborgir lava fields along the easter shore.

Dimmuborgir Lava Fields and Lake Myvatn

My earliest arrival to camp so far on this trip- just 6:30pm! There are several campgrounds in the area but we opted for the one right on the lakeshore (and conveniently across the street from the grocery market.) We were later joined by Karolyn, a German girl who Craig had befriended at the Akureyri campground. She's traveling solo as well for a 3 week tour around the island using the once-daily inter-village bus system (this is a common mode of travel here; you can buy an all access pass and get completely around at your leisure.)

international tent compound: Australia, USA, Germany