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

rest day: Akureyri

Just milling around the picturesque city of Akureyri today, drinking lots of coffee while using the internet, stocking up on food at the discount chain grocery store and in general taking it easy. It feels like a vacation! Currently sipping a beer ("Egils Gull") and a shot of something called Opal (which tastes just like kids' cough syrup) at the Backpacker Bar inside the city's youth hostel.

My campground neighbor- a very charismatic Aussie named Craig- is in the midst of a 1.5yr bike journey that's so far brought him through Asia, the Middle East, a good chunk of Europe and now Iceland. Next on his agenda is Greenland (sans bike, as there are no real roads there) then back through Europe (he's only visited 30 of the 50 countries and intends to hit them all) and eventually into Africa. Yikes, that's a plan. But we're heading the same general direction and are going to ride together for the next few days. Perfect!!! I would really appreciate having some good company on the road, and it will especially nice to have a partner to trade pulls into the winds tomorrow as we head north to Husavik to check out the Icelandic Phallus Museum (yes, that's right, they have a museum with the largest collection of 'specimens' in the world... and how can you pass that up when it's only 62mi away?? It's animal specimens, not human... but you never know.)

From there it's a short jaunt down to Lake Myvatn where I'm planning to spend several days hiking up into the geologic/volcanic features in the national park surrounding the lake.

"Knit-Bombing" Akureyri style

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.

more wind: Hvammstangi > Saudarkrokur [81mi]

Not the way you want to see flags blowing when you're about to roll out, knowing that 40 of your next 45mi are in exactly that direction....

Hvammstangi campground

First few miles today were pleasantly with the wind, but I knew that would change soon enough when the road turned northeast-north up towards the town of Blonduos, 40mi away. It really wasn't anything exciting today, mostly more of the same rolling meadowlands surrounded by snowcapped volcanic mountains. Not to sound trite, but Colorado's Rocky Mountains are far more majestic, the roads better, the weather warmer and the wind (usually) not so extreme and unrelenting. I had a lot of time to stew about the wind, curse it, and think about how eventually it should end up helping me out when I turn southeast tomorrow. If you ever see a lone cyclist in Iceland cursing into thin air, remember that it is the air that he's cursing.

I got Blonduos in the later afternoon, picked up some groceries for the night/morning and had a coffee break at a little cafe, where an older gentleman suggested I go northeast to Saudarkrokur instead of southeast to the tiny village of Varmahlid. It's beautiful with black sand beaches and lots of birds, he said, plus it would be a break from HW1 with less traffic and a change of pace. Fair enough, I thought, so I decided I'd check out his recommendations.

a major perk of touring is eating crap I normally won't touch

Also in town I met a father/son duo who had just ridden the Westfjords region like I'd planned on until my navigation blunder. They reported that it snowed on them, it was terribly windy the whole time, the grades were steep and that crews were working on the many miles of gravel roads- which meant dumping water and churning up the packed gravel. At one point they had to have the road crew drive their gear to the top of a pass because they simply couldn't get traction in the man-made mud. Sooo... maybe I'm not so bummed about missing that turn after all.

As I turned east into Norourardalur canyon, I was greated with a vicious wind right into my face... even though it had been blowing from the opposite direction earlier in the day. The terrain here is so varied and interwoven that the ocean winds find their way through various canyons and fjords, so there's no real telling what might happen. After climbing a decently sized pass to cross into the eastern side of the Skagaheidi peninsula I got a pretty good downhill stretch and eventually a tailwind in my favor.

Rolling into Saudarkrokur around 11PM, I found the campground to offer nothing special- not even a free hot shower. So I made my dinner using their sink area as a windbreak, then headed over to the black sand beach and threw out my sleeping bag in a little nook. It was chilly but the wind had relented; I watched a gorgeous sunrise over the Skagafjordur bay and got about 3 hours of sleep listening to the gentle waves lap the beach.

"I had a plan..." Reykjavic > Hvammstangi [155mi in 25hrs]

"I had a plan..." is typically not an indication of a smooth day, and well, it wasn't.

The plan was simple: leave Reykjavik on Sunday for a quick ~40mi ride up HW 1, through the tunnel and into Borganes by mid afternoon. Have a soak in the town geothermal pool, do a little bike maintenance and turn in early. I wanted to make it another 60mi north to Stykkisholmur the next day no later than 3pm so I could catch the afternoon ferry up to the Westfjords region. Easy enough....

leaving Reykjavik behind via HW 1

get the coffins ready... ominous and not too far off base

Aside from a head/crosswind things were going fine, until I got to the 3km tunnel under Hvalfjordur bay and found out bikes (as well as pedestrians... and.. horses?) are prohibited through the tunnel. [I'd read accounts of cyclists passing through without mention of it being a problem; it hadn't dawned on me to look into the rules.] Weighing my options (guerrilla riding through, hitch-hiking with a truck) I opted to take the long way around to the east end of the bay... an extra 30mi tacked onto the day. Not a huge deal, but the driving westerly wind pushed me east quickly and I had to fight it all the way back out to the coast.

Hvalfjordur bay

So now 4hrs behind my anticipated schedule, I fought my way (against the wind again) north to Borganes and rolled in around 9pm. But miraculously the wind had died, the sun was high in the sky and I still felt good... so why not get a head start on tomorrow?

By the time I ran into town and gathered some foodstuffs, the wind was howling again. I know, I know- everything I'd read about cycling in Iceland mentions the wind... it came as no surprise, but damn it's tough mentally and physically to battle it for hours on end. Anyway, the idea of pulling an epic day into the late night daylight was appealing and I fought the wind for another 4hrs, which got me a whopping 25mi up the road.

my first Icelandic sunset, around 11:30PM

Finally I reached what I thought was my intersection to head towards the ferry and checked my map for good measure. You can imagine my combination of disbelief, disappointment and genuine "DOH!!!" moment when I realized, alone on the side of the road at 2:30AM, that I'd failed to take a left turn way back at Borganes. Daaammn.... either backtrack the 25mi (now the wind had stopped again; it seems to be very intuitive about only blowing when I don't want it to) or head northwest and eventually travel 40mi of gravel roads to get to the ferry. Or, more rationally, skip the Westfjords altogether and just continue northeast on HW1. I decided the last option was the most reasonable and, somewhat dejectedly, pushed onward leaving any hope of seeing the Westfjords for another visit.

finally realized I had missed a turn, 25mi ago....

So at that point I decided to just keep going and going, to pull an all-nighter on the bike without ever needing a headlight. When else was I ever going to have that chance?!? I'd just pulled two all-nighters in as many weeks while working on sorting, packing and cleaning my apartment, and cycling through Iceland was far superior to those chores. The wind blew into my face, I made a snail's pace forward and the temp kept dropping. I kept adding layers until I ran out of clothes and donned my rain gear for their windproof warmth.

at around 2:30AM I saw my first Icelandic sunrise

breakfast creekside circa 5:30AM. It was still cold and windy

Eventually HW1 climbed up into the clouds through a crazy barren lunar landscape to the top of a 'mountain' somewhere around 1400ft above sea level. Not much for views from the middle of a cloud, but at least it wasn't raining!

The descent back down was, well, cold... but it was downhill at least. I finally made it to Stadur (a town that as far as I could tell amounted to a gas station and a few houses in the hillside) around 8:15AM and eagerly bought coffee and freshly deepfried pastries. Gas stations here are interesting: they are either pay-at-the-pump with no attendant, or more often, have a fast food type restaurant inside along with the usual convenience store items we expect in the US. (One chain has Quiznos inside) Aiming for the fishing village (w/ campground) of Hvammstangi, I'm almost there, so I thought. The brutal wind was still relentless and between it and my fatigue, it took another 4hrs to cover the final 25mi to town.

I rolled in at 12:30PM... 25hrs after I left Reykjavik expecting a 3-4hr day. 155mi in one gigantic, slow, often times miserable and delirious push. But I'd made it for better or worse!

a new personal record of both distance and duration!!! (and suffer-factor??)

After getting lunch and groceries, it was off to the town's swimming pool and geothermal "hot pot" (what we call a hot tub) to soak my destroyed body. With no sleep and massive physical exertion, I was literally dozing off in the tub.

Hvammstangi town pool, a sweet reward

Reykjavik

Spent today milling about the hipster/cultural hub of Reykjavik. Of the ~330,000 people who inhabit Iceland, almost 2/3rds of them live the in the greater Reykjavik metro area. Legendary for its late night locals party scene and such creatives as Bjork and Sigur Ros, I was very curious to see what it was all about. Turns out it's actually pretty cool, albeit the tourist hub as well. Kind of a mix of San Francisco, Austin, and some old-world charm with narrow cobbled streets mingling with mod architecture and sprawling 'burbs. It has the highest concentration of coffeeshops that I've ever witnessed, and I lived in Boulder for 4 years! [And not a single Starbucks]

"Knit-bombing" Reykjavik style

best hotdog ever- topped with beer mustard, tartar aoili and crunchy fried onion bits

hipster bar having a street party, complete w/ accordion player

at the apparently defunct bicycle collective

someone left me a surprise gift... it was tasty!