kenmyhre

Nha Trang

Posted on February 3, 2016 by kenmyhre

Jan 31, Tuy Hoa 100 km

Leaving Quy Nhon was going to be a bit of adventure. It was not yet 7:00 and the road was only sparsely used and so I was a bit anxious that my chosen path would lead eventually to hwy #1. My map, which is not very detailed shows a fairly long secondary road out of Quy Nhon, I just hoped that was the road I was on. I started to climb immediately as we left town to enter a forest. About 4 km climb lead to a big drop and then immediately into a second climb. From this I could look back on the crescent Beach and high rises of the city. It was close to an hour before I got my morning Pho Bo, but it was a good one and so even though the hills were burning energy faster than normal I felt good. The hills would last all day but I eventually hit hwy #1 and the relief at knowing I would not have to reverse my way was replaced by the stress that Hwy #1 traffic brought.

Quy Nhon

The day was sunny from the start and by 9:00 it is more than my comfort level, and so my drink stops are beginning to be what I look forward to and what keeps me grinding away. One improvement that Hwy #1 brings is slightly better gradients. On the secondary roads the gradients are steeper and my slow speed puts me in a tenuous position. If I am going too slow and trucks passing are also going slow I have a hard time holding a straight line until they pass.

I pulled into Tuy Hoa about noon, quite depleted. I was going to try something different here. In the centre of town I firstly sought out a nice quiet restaurant. I found a god one. I had a beef dish with white rice and two beers. I took well over an hour to rest in the breezy open restaurant before I headed out looking for a room. It took me a couple of tries, but I found my best $10 place. I headed into the windowless room (often the norm here), showered and got the AC going at the right temperature. I slipped out late in the afternoon for a coffee in a nice place, before returning to finish watching the Aussie Open Final. Most important on days like this is to get my body temperature as low as possible. I went back to the same restaurant and had a second meal, just as good and as reasonable as the first.

Feb 1, Van Gia – 80 km

Leaving Tuy Hoa, I was again just heading south on what I supposed was the in town branch of the hwy. It was very broad, it crossed an enormous river delta and all was good except that the traffic just about disappeared. I did ask, “Ho Chi Minh?” and got a positive reaction and so I kept riding, past the airport and then two of the four lanes were not paved. I was worried now, but more so when the road became a narrow two lane passing through some villages; by now I was well over an hour out and was approaching the little mountain range that I knew would involve a good climb. The road improved as it hit the mountains and it was wonderful. Wonderful sea views, smooth nice road and no traffic. I was heading south, but my worry now was that the road would lead down onto a peninsula which would not connect to the main road.

I had about half an hour of real mountain riding with lots of up and down. At one time I actually heading north, but then over a pass and I hit the sea again. Hundreds of boats were out in the harbour but there was no town and still no Pho Bo. Finally I did hit a little town and I could see traffic way up on the mountain.

This was a little fishing village and I pulled into a noodle shop and they made me Pho Bo, even though fish was everywhere. A nice looking 59 year old lady sized me up and following all the usual questions, this time in pretty good English, she suggested that I needed to take home a nice Vietnamese wife to cook and look after me. She hesitated a little when she found out I was 74, but then she felt that wasn’t much of a problem. Over the next 24 hours I would get two more suggestions that there are lots of attractive single ladies here.

Pho Socializing

Fishing Boats

I had a 2 ½ km switchback climb up to the main highway and again, as yesterday, my worry about route was over as was the idyllic morning bike ride. Part way up the climb a motorbike pulled behind me and pushed me along until we met the highway. Not very pure, but thankfully I’m not a purist.

The highway was not as wide as usual, because of the mountains, and so I had some anxious moments on the climbing, but then I had some wonderful down hills. Pulling out of the mountains the heat really began to hit me. I had worked hard all morning and I made the decision at that point that it would be a two day ride to get to Nha Trang, rather than one. Little did I know at that time that it would take me three days.

My intermediate stop was to be at Van Gia and I was determined not to ride through town and miss the good hotels. The centre of town passed and I still had not found a spot. I was going to ride past the long row of government type buildings and then actually turn around; something I have not yet done on this trip. And then a motorcyclist pulled alongside and began asking questions in very good English. He asked if I needed help and I said I was looking for a hotel. He asked if I would come to his house for some refreshments. It sounded good to me.

We turned off and pulled into a courtyard with two small houses, lots of plants, quite a few birds in cages, some fancy chickens. There were a number of motor bikes and pedal bikes, one a pretty good looking road bike. Dam, my host, is a teacher who had begun bike riding in the mornings for conditioning purposes. His mother and father live in one house, he and his wife and two young kids in the other. After tea and lots of water the women brought out some lunch. When the ladies got me alone they thought that it was too bad for me to be alone when there are so many nice ladies around.

Cyclists

Dam and Wife

We then headed off to find a hotel, he on his road bike. We found a place close by where I could shower, a nap and a body cool down. At about 4:00 I picked up a six-pack and went back just as Dam was awakening from his nap.

By now Dam had worked out a two day itinerary for me. I would meet his teaching colleagues that evening. In the morning I would meet his bicycling group for coffee and then I would come to an important party he was hosting to honour both his daughter’s birthday and the end of the year, part of Tet Celebrations. This would involve me spending two nights, but it sounded like a good idea to me.

We went on his motorbike to the teacher dinner. It was held on the roof of the teacher dormitory. There were about 20 people there. The men sat at one table and the women and kids at another. The beer flowed, with much toasting and filling each other’s glass. Some of the men were spouses of female teachers, but still the segregation held. One female teacher did join the men for toasting when the eating abated. It did not last long and I staggered into bed by 9:00, well committed to the next day’s events. I hoped there would be a little less beer.

Feb 2, Van Gia – 20 km

Dam was supposed to come before 6:00, but as 6:30 approached I considered just heading out. I am glad I didn’t. He did arrive and we rode a few kms to where his group of about 15 men and one woman were sitting at little tables under a tree. They had all sorts of morning drinks going. I had Vietnamese coffee that I am getting very fond of. Most had their road bikes here but some had come on motor bikes and cars. They are a pretty affluent group by the looks of it. One car was a shiny black Lexus. After an hour or so Dam had to leave to begin working on his party. Before I left the group they made sure that I knew the lady in the group was single and that she was a bike rider. I didn’t get the impression that she wanted to head down the road tomorrow on her bike though.

The Cycle Bunch

On my own I found the town lovely to ride around in. I particularly enjoyed the waterfront with many good photo opportunities. This is my sort of beach town. No beach just a lot of boats and activity. There were no tourists that I could pick out, but it is certainly the most photogenic place so far.

Van Gia Harbour

Pho Eating

The party began at about 11:00 and about 20 people dribbled in over an hour. The food was incredible. The beer Heineken, which is served for special occasions. We ate for a good hour and a half and had at least six different cold and hot plates. The toasting and speeches non-stop. Some of it even made sense to me. This was a very special event and would have taken days of planning and preparation. About four of the guests could make themselves understood in English and spent considerable time with me. This was a very special event for me, one that I could not have hoped for when I came.

Dam and Family

Pretty Ladies

Odd man at the party

Birthday Girl

The Party

I spent the afternoon back in the AC room letting my body temperature come back to normal, but I had not nearly depleted my reserves like I do out on the road.

In the afternoon Dam came to pick me up again and we went and had more beer with one of his bike friends. Phoom speaks English pretty well and so we could delve into a number of topics of interest to me. We ate more at both Phoom and Dam’s places.

Feb 3, Nha Trang – 70 km

Away at 6:30 for what promised to be an easy day. It was heavily overcast and so the heat never did hit. I had Pho Bo on the road as usual, hit one small clilmb and then took a back way into Nha Trang. It added about 8 km to my trip, but was a lovely quiet rollilng ride along the shore of a peninsula. I stopped for coffee in Nha Trang about 9:30.

Nha Trang is considered Vietnam’s premier beach location and is one of the places I had planned on spending a couple of days. These sort of tourist places are a break from the road style food, as good as it is. I will also need to replenish my cash supplies as only a few banks ATMs work for me.

I am in a backpacker style hostel with lots of young kids, but I have my own room.

Sitting out on the beach in a high end restaurant I met Dam who had come in by bus to conduct some business.

Now I will kick back for a couple of days and plan the rest of my ride into HCMC.

Posted in Vietnam | 1 Comment

Hue, Hoi An, My Son and South

Posted on January 30, 2016 by kenmyhre

Jan 24,25 Hue

After riding all day in the rain to get here, and then having all of my clothes washed I was not looking forward to getting out more in the rain. But that is what I had to do. It rained, creating a cold wet two days for me here. On the first day I headed out on foot dodging unsuccessfully the blowing rain that made my umbrella pretty useless. I was heading towards the Citadel to get a

Covered Walkways

Courtyard

in the Citadel

Hue Citadel – Ngo Mon Gate

feeling for the Nguyen Dynasty. Gia Long, with the help of the French created a unified Vietnam Kingdom with the capital at Hue in 1802. The Nguyen Emperors, some seven of them lasted in power until 1945 when then Emperor Bao Dai abdicated. In truth they were mostly titular emperors anyway. The French mostly pulled the strings of power during that time.

But the Citadel, and the inner Imperial City, which housed the emperors and their extended families is pretty impressive. It is being slowly restored after the deterioration of the years, in particular that inflicted by the heavy bombardment during the American War. Thankfully some kms of covered walkways are part of the restoration and so I was able to get some cover from the perpetual rain. There are also some temples and other buildings that have been rebuilt. There is a pretty good hint of the gardens and walkways that must have existed. At least one of the emperors had over 100 wives and numereous concubines and so there was the need for significant living quarters. On display, hung in the long covered walkways are hundreds of grainy photographs illustrating the clothing that the women, children and temple mandarins wore during these years. There are not a lot of artifacts on display, no doubt these have been destroyed or on display at museums around the world. I spent the better part of the day here and then made my way out and back across the Perfume River to my hotel, the Hue Nino.

I did not wander around the city nor head out on my bike during my two days here. It was more comfortable to hang out close to my nice warm hotel room and the restaurants and bars in the vicinity. I did get to watch a bit of tennis including our man Milos. I did not visit any of the emperor mausoleums that are spotted around the city. They are park like settings and it was not park visiting weather, at least for me.

On my second day in Hue I decided that I would take the bus the 100 plus kms down the road to Hoi An, my next spot that I wanted to spend a bit of time visiting.

Jan 26,27 Hoi An

I really am glad not to be travelling backpacker style. I was ready at 7:00, as instructed. At 7:30 I rode my bike to the bus area and left my bike to be loaded onto the bus in advance of departure. I rode back to the hotel on a motor bike with one of the Hue Nino guys. Had more coffee and then was back out on the street at 8:15 waiting for a mini-bus, which then took us to a spot where we waited for the big bus. At 9:00 it came around the corner and it looked like the bus my bike had been loaded onto, but it was too hurried for me to ensure it was the right bus. I was ushered on and climbed up into a top bunk. The bus had three rows of up/down reclining seats. Naturally my crypt was not quite long enough for me to stretch out, and the cavity for my feet did not allow me to ride with my feet pointing up; I had to lie pigeon toed. We seemed to be all on, but then we had to wait another half hour for a few late comers. Finally we were underway. Thankfully there was a pee stop and then another stop at Da Nang to let some off. We arrived in Hoi An at about 1:00.

As I ride down the road on my bike I often think that a ride on a bus now and then would be a nice break. Unfortunately this one didn’t really meet that need. As it turned out it never did rain on this day and I am quite sure that if I had left my hotel at 7:30 like I would normally have done I would have made into Hoi An at about the same time, and I would have had a nicer time of it. The day was just as grey as all my days have been and it got warmer as the day progressed. It was so cold in Hue that I was not looking forward to riding in a cold rainy day, as was forecast.

At the bus depot I was picked up and sold a “home-stay”. I quite liked the fellow who owns the place and so I followed his motor bike to my place. Hoi An is a tiny tourist town compared to anything I have seen here so far. After dropping my bags off at my room I rode the 6 or 7 blocks into the heart of the town, had some snacks and beer and then rode a few of the streets. I was trying to determine if I would spend one or two nights. I am anxious to hit the road again, but there are some attractions here, and it is supposed to be the best place in Vie

My place in Hoi An

Hoi An Street

Waterfront Hoi An

Japanese Covered Bridge – Hoi An

Bus to Hoi An

tnam to try different foods.

I had two new for me hot snacks and was leaning towards staying, if for no other reason to try more food. Back at my room my host recommended a tour to My Son in the morning. This is another place that I wanted to see, but felt it was too far out of my way. So it looks like I will stay two nights.

My tour to My Son began at about 8:00 with an hour drive around Hoi An, as the large bus gradually filled every seat. We must have stopped at 20 places to get the 40 people. At least I saw parts of the town I wouldn’t have seen other wise.

Our guide, with a raspy interesting voice had a pretty good sense of humour and was entertaining as well as informative. Had I known the tour was of this sort I probably would not have bit, but I am kind of glad I went. I had wanted to see some of Vietnam’s history that wasn’t wrapped up with the French or the Americans. My Son (Beautiful Mountain) was discovered by French Archaeologists early in their period here. It is probably the most significant Cham site and has a lot of similar features to those at Ankor. Many if the carvings show that Hindu Influence and it dates from around a thousand years ago.

It is set part way up into the highlands in deep jungle and so the setting is lovely. Unfortunately the French and American Influence is significant. The French archaeologists, as was the rule in those days, did a fair amount of robbing. Many of the remaining figures are missing their heads which have found their way to the Louvre. The Americans also had their affect. Prior to a couple of days bombing sixties there were about 70 buildings in fairly good condition, now there are 20, and what is left is pretty beat up with heaps of rubble spread out around the bomb craters. Restoration has had a boost with the World Heritage Site declaration.

My Son – Cham civilization

Headless Figures

Bombing Result – My Son

I had another ride around town at night. It will be a few days before I get back into tourist towns again.

Jan 28 Quang Ngai – 125 km

It was a bit drizzly as I headed off out of Hoi An. It felt to get back on my bike again. I had 10 km of back country riding before I would hit Hwy # 1, and I was never really sure I was headed in the right way. Soon I was rocketing along with the teeming motorbikes, buses and trucks. The road did not seem as good, often only two lanes and no shoulder, but that didn’t change the way people drove. Still lots of motor bikes particularly coming at me the wrong way and lots of honking as drivers wanted some room to come through. The drizzle meant that I was getting covered in grit again, but luckily the drizzle stopped about mid-day and the sun actually came out, and now it was hot.

I am now in rolling country side and so the effort to get down the road is quite a bit more. Most of these hills are not much more than a km and possible 6-7% at maximum, but it is still taxing.

I am thinking about heading into the highlands and looking for a spot to head in. It is quite a way in (100+ km) and so I have to choose my spot carefully because I don’t know what the roads or the accommodation will be like. I had to pass up one route because I don’t have enough cash. None of the ATMs in Hoi An worked for me. I rode all day and finally saw an ATM that I knew worked, but this was just before I stopped for the day. Now I am flush and so I might try in the next couple of days.

I am at a low level place again tonight. I had two hotel beers and washed some clothes. To dry I hung them on my bike in the covered lot. I knew they would be damp in the morning but that would feel good to start the day on. I had a very poor dinner in the bus/truck stop across the hwy. It confirms my decision to use the small much more basic roadside places as I go. Interestingly there was a high-end coffee place on the way back where I had an excellent Vietnamese coffee. In spite of my very basic room I did get some of the Australian Open on TV.

Jan 29, Near Bong Son – 120 km

It was sunny, as I got away a bit after7:00 and it was already hot. I had not slept much during the night. First cats had a Donny-brook around midnight and then a very ambitious rooster began his screeching well before any sun began to appear. So I wasn’t that spry today. I had a mediocre breakfast about 45 minutes into the day. I am not doing near as well as I was doing in the north. I am really missing the Pho Bo that was so good to start the day.

I have two short days, about 100km each ahead of me and so I tried to ride slowly and stop often. Each time I stop it was obvious how draining the ride is, even though the traffic is not as bad as yesterday. Unfortunately, I rode right through the town I was to stop at and as I don’t like to turn back I kept riding. I finally came to a strip of buildings where I often see the Nha Nghi signs that designate little guest houses. As I went under-budget last night I looked a little more carefully and have a nicer place. Alas, for the first time the TV coverage, about 90 channels does not include the Aussie Open, and I had hoped to see Milos and Murray. Before and after my dinner break I did get some herky-jerky streaming so I could unsuccessfully cheer Milos on.

Dinner was pretty interesting. I had about a km walk along the hwy to a little roadside place offering food. There seem to be less open that during the day. I had a Bun Bo, noodles and beef, with a lot of greens that are added as you eat. I had lots of company and provided a fair amount of entertainment. There was not a word of English understood here.

Jan 30, Quy Nhon, 85 km

It was thankfully a bit overcast as I started today. In spite of the excellent sleep I had last night I was still not that spry again today. But I did ride along at a reasonable pace. It has been my habit of late to ride for 30-60 minutes before stopping for breakfast. The advantage is that gives a good reason to have a long stop early; the disadvantage is that I am thinking about the stop the whole time. I look at all of tHhe little food places advertising Com, Bun, Pho, Ga, and other things.

One break that got me through the morning was about a 30 minute shower. It is now hot enough that I don’t bother about my rain coat. It is pleasant riding along in a light drizzle, so much cooler than normal. I have been touching the sea at the odd occasion but it is still mostly rice fields, mountains, and villages

I had been out there close to an hour, still without food, and had just climbed a hill when I saw a nice spot with a couple of people sitting in a covered courtyard. I stopped, asked and signed that I needed some food. They waved me in and soon gave me a Vietnamese coffee and tea, both hot. I would not be eating yet. I did enjoy the stop and it gave me another excuse to stop again soon. And that happened a few kms later. This time and old guy stepped out and waved me in. I sat with him and his buddy while his wife made be a better Pho Bo that I have had for a few days. My meal mates were 72 and 66 and had all sorts of questions, some of which I was able to interpret. These little sustenance stops are becoming my favourite things during the day.

A while later, on one of the two lane town bypasses I ran into about 5 kms of roadside flowered bonsai trees in ceramic pots. They were being grown in the fields and were on display along the road. There must have been hundreds of cars, buses and trucks stopped along the way for people to look or to purchase. It caused a few near accidents that I saw, but that is just the way that road-side business is conducted.

Quy Nhon is a beach town that is about 10 km off of my hwy #1 route. The drive in had me very confused as all I saw was industrial development followed by a dirty look harbour area. When I got into town, up against more ocean it didn’t seem much like a beach area. I got into a housing district that was leading nowhere. I found an area with a lot of low level guest houses and looked at 3 or 4 before I chose one that was quite nice at a good rate. In my room the manager showed me a map where 10 minutes’ walk got me to beach. I was in my room by noon, still a bit tired from the ride. I washed some clothes had a nice shower and walked down to and along the beach. I had beer and snacks sitting beside the deserted beach and enjoyed the light breeze coming off the water.

This beach town was recommended in my book as being quite nice but very much off the tourist track. I have only seen two white kids so far. I am having a nice rest this afternoon and may try to find some western food in the backpacker area tonight.

Beach at Quy Nhon

Bonzai

Lunch Friends

More Grey Day Riding

Posted in Vietnam | 1 Comment

Cycle to Hue

Posted on January 24, 2016 by kenmyhre

Jan 18 Ninh Binh – 95 km

At breakfast in Hanoi I decided at the last minute to change my moving on plans. I would follow Hwy # 1 south towards Ninh Binh, rather than head inland along the potentially harder route that would have more climbing and some poor roads. In part I wanted to see the Karst formations around Ninh Binh and in part I was still a bit worried about my knee.

I left my hotel at 7:30, pushed my bike into the river of motor bikes and quickly got up to motor bike speed. I made each turn correctly and about 2 km had me joining a big stream of bikes passing in front of the railway station on the main drag that would become Hwy 1. It was one-way at this point and the four-lane road probably held twelve lanes of bikes, with the odd car merging in where they could. For 20 km the density of commuters never eased. When we stopped for a red light a thousand bikes and a few cars and pedal bikes formed in ready formation. The countdown timer on the red light would get close to 0 and the whole phalanx would accelerate en-mass. By now the highway had formed and the in-coming traffic, at least as thick, was separated by a concrete abutment. I was keeping roughly up with the speed, passing some and being passed by those in a real rush as I tried to keep within a metre of the bike in front of me. The whole thing was exhilarating.

As we left Hanoi the commercial outlets along the road never really stopped but the density of traffic lightened considerably. I could now relax a bit keeping my own speed and space on the road. It was essentially two lanes each way with a two metre shoulder where the slow traffic could amble along. I had lots of bikes and the odd slow moving motor bike to pass. I let my speed drop from about 28-30 kph to around 24-26. At 40 km out I stopped and had drink and admired crafts people working on heavy highly carved furniture. I had also seen granite figures being carved, Karst rocks on display, among other specialties. As I was nearing Ninh Binh the Karst formations began to arising out of the grey mist. I had one more drink stop and rolled into Ninh Binh just after noon.

Karst Mountains near Vinh Binh

It took me a while to pick out a hotel from the many. I had a bowl of soup and a beer before staggering up to my room. It took a while to shower up and have a bit of a rest. There was a point during the day that I considered riding out to Tam Coc to do the boat tour, but it would have been a lost effort. I had ridden too hard for my physical condition. I spent much of the afternoon sleeping and stretching.

Jan 19 Thanh Hoa – 80 km

Off again at 7:30, I had a seven km ride to get to Tam Coc, billed as Halong Bay without the sea. Just before I got there I realized I had forgot my passport at the hotel. The practice here is to give the hotel your passport when you check in and get it back in the morning when you pay your bill. My hotel people had not seemed to have dealt with foreigners before and my habits were not yet formed and so we both missed that important step. I finished my ride to Tam Coc, where the boat tours begin, took two pictures and turned around to go back to the hotel. I now had a decision to make. Do I return to Tam Coc or head on down the road. Tam Coc would take at least 3 hours and I did want to keep on going down the road. In the end I decided that this was one of the few things along the way that I had wanted to see. So, it took 21 km of riding to get to Tam Coc, 7 km away from where I spent the night.

It cost me just under $20 to pay the entry fee into the park and the 1 ½ hour ride in the flat bottom boat into the Karst formations. My paddler was a 65 year old woman. She babbled away much of the time. Some seemed to be directed at me and I tried to respond but most of the talking was with the other paddlers. There were other boats with one, two, or three clients coming and going. The paddlers were mostly women but quite a few were men; they ranged in age from the teens to possibly 80 years old. They were so adept at paddling they could even text away on the cells while paddling. About half the time they paddled with their legs. The Karst formations and setting was incredible but the paddlers may have been equally of interest to me. We went through three tunnels going out and then turned around and returned the same way. I saw some birds and one goat way up on the cliff faces. Apparently there are kingfishers here but I was not so lucky. It was well worth the stop.

In a Tunnel

Leg Paddling

My Paddler

Tam Coc

I had left my bike with my panniers at a restaurant near the boat launch and had a nice lunch when I returned. I considered checking into a hotel and spending the afternoon in the region on my bike, but I decided to get a few kms down the road instead. I rode on another 2 ½ hours to get to Thanh Hoa, where the hotel I checked into was down a notch or two. It still had an ensuite bath with towel, shampoo and things but only cost $10.

For dinner at this place all they had seemed to have was eel soup. I had it for dinner and for breakfast.

Jan 20 Vinh – 140 km

Not much on this day, just grinding away down the road. It has been very grey and overcast since I left Hanoi. This makes the temperature great, around 20 C, but the landscapes are uninspiring. My speed along the road continues in the 23-27 range depending upon wind direction. When passing through towns the number of motor bikes increases and the big trucks and buses seem to find a by-pass that I don’t always notice. The riding is pretty easy and not stressful very often. I need to watch for people shooting out from a side street. I have a theory that when they see a bike coming along they think they can beat me but since I am moving faster than most bikes that doesn’t hold and I don’t usually give way. I also need to watch for people coming towards me in the shoulder lane. Any of the vehicles I share the road with may decide to fire down the shoulder the wrong way. When I tire and my head drops a bit in fatigue these characters can appear awfully quickly. But mostly, other than my poor physical conditioning, I am quite enjoying the whole thing.

I have been riding through the towns I am stopping in, getting to the far side before I pick a hotel, often up to ten kms. There are many hotels to choose from; the western text makes it easy for me to pick places to eat and sleep. I am learning to read Vietnamese much faster than speaking. The six tones are killing me. There is almost nothing that I say that anyone understands. My Vinh hotel looked a bit up grade, but I couldn’t get the hot water working and I could only get dinner in my room, which I don’t like.

Jan 21 Ky Anh – 110 km

I wanted an easier day today and so I stopped for drinks more frequently and tried to ride a little slower. Still, when I picked out a hotel 10 km past Ky Anh it was only 1:30.

At my second drink stop I joined four young people who were waiting for an event to begin. They were dressed quite nicely and seemed more like city kids, possibly from Vinh. We had the normal questions. How old, how tall, where from and so on. One of the gorgeous young women had to have a picture of us snuggling. Possibly she has a beauty and the beast interest. I am sure she had to rush right home to wash my sweat off her impeccable outfit.

At my mid-day Pho Bo, just down the road from where I am now, the whole family running the restaurant got into the act. They tried my bike, took pictures with my camera, read my guide book and map. One guy even came over with the Brooks web site to show me a picture of my Brooks saddle. Two delightful interludes on this still grey drab day.

Lunch Stop Family

Beauty and the Beast

I wanted to get about twenty kms past Ky Anh before stopping, but I came upon this strip of hotels where normally I wouldn’t see so many. I had been worried a bit as the next major town is too long off. So I checked into one of them. It is fairly low keyed and so I didn’t expect much. When I asked about food the woman took me out and pointed to the back of the parking lot. I entered a lovely restaurant hanging out over a peaceful lake. Away from the noise of the highway I had a couple of beers in the most peacefully place I have found. And now I have just had a high end dinner. I love the pho bo and bun bo and even the eel soup, but something a little different is nice. And the day has ended without me falling into bed in deep fatigue. A great day.

Road Side Respite

Jan 22 – 116 km

I was now just riding along, enjoying the road side activity. The views were basically always the same. Towns stretched along the highway and the grey skies rising on all sides. I pushed relatively hard, keeping an eye on my distance or the time. I had to be careful to stop often enough that I did not create fatigue that took so long to over- come. I would stop to have a cool drink. Most places did not use refrigerators but would give you a glass with ice. Initially I would not use this as ice in many eastern countries would be created from un-treated water. After a while, as I gained some confidence in the practices along the road I started to use the ice. I also eat the greens that at one time was also a problem. I have not suffered yet.

I have begun to enjoy the Vietnamese coffee. It is brewed very strong and often served with a thick condensed milk. Usually it is cold, but sometimes served in a tin, filled with coffee grounds and a small amount of water that drips into a glass. I stopped on this day at a nice looking roadside coffee house with wood furniture and plants creeping into the trellises overhead. This was the best of the coffees that I have had so far. The coffee was served in a little pottery cup sitting on a pottery stand over a candle. I waited until the coffee was warmed and then stirred in the cream. As I was leaving the wife of the owner appeared on her motor bike with her eleven year old son. She was a teacher and his favourite school subject was English. So we had a good conversation exhausting his vocabulary. He wants to come to Canada. I gave him a card. Who knows.

On this days I was just trying to split the distance remaining to Hue. I had gone about 15 km without seeing a guest house and so I was getting a bit worried. But finally a few appeared and I chose one that was quite good. I had a nice rest before going down the two flights to visit with the man of the house while his wife made me a very nice dinner. She served it in the foyer as there was no dining area.

Jan 23 Hue – 135 km

This would be my sixth day of pretty hard riding and I was so looking forward to getting to Hue, where I would take some time off. In the morning I woke to pounding rain. I suited up and headed off into it. Once away from the guest house it didn’t seem as bad. My rain coat is pretty good and I was able to ride without feeling cold, usually the worst part of a hard rain. It also helped that a pretty good wind was driving me along 3-4 kph faster than normal. I had a breakfast Pho Bo at 27 km, a not very good cold coffee at 67 km, a second meal at 100 km. I was covered in road grit. The rain flushes mud onto the road and so the front of my tights, all the way up to my jacket and the back of my reflective vest was brown rather than yellow. Even my helmet was covered in grit. Naturally my panniers and bike were possibly worse.

I had calculated that 123 km would get me to Hue, where I had a reservation in a guest house recommended in my Rough Guide. But suddenly the road signs seemed to add 10 km to the distances. I guess the signs that had occurred for the last number of days were to the Hue Township or something. Now they were indicating the city. Thankfully the wind had kept up all day and so I sailed along consuming less effort than normal. Once into Hue, in the tourist area the guest house did not appear easily. Hue Nino, is a small guesthouse down a little alley that I found only with directions from locals. The rain was if anything even worse than during the day, and so I imagine I was quite a picture pulling up covered in grit. A young guy came out to help me. He took my panniers over to a tap and washed them down and then took command of my bike saying that he would wash that down as well. A young girl took my dripping bags into the bathroom of my room and I followed, where I stripped all my clothes off and threw them in the tub. Some time later I came out of my room and was given a hot coffee and a dish of mangoes. This is a lovely place to tour Hue from. Now if only it would stop raining. I am anguishing about what I should do as it is expected to rain hard for quite a few days.

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Hanoi

Posted on January 17, 2016 by kenmyhre

Jan 17, 2016 – Hanoi

The streets in the labyrinthine old quarter are no less confusing than I found them to be in 1995. At least I have a decent map this time, but as the names change every couple of blocks it is often hard to find where you are. Thankfully one of the benefits of the French occupation was a conversion, over a hundred years ago to Western script or I would have little chance of finding my way around. The streets are much busier than the last time I was here, mostly because of the change from pedal bikes to motor bikes as the predominant transportation mode. Walking about is a challenge because the sidewalks are basically useless for walking. Sidewalk use, in order of usage: parking for motor bikes, hot food outlets, display space for vendors of every conceivable item of interest. The food outlets consist of a coal or propane stove surrounded almost always by half a dozen men and women sitting on tiny stools seeminly six inches high. Walking involves picking your way through the congestion, often out in the street where dodging the motor bikes is a 360 degree job as they may come at you from any direction. It is all wonderful.

Hanoi – Motor bikes rule

My plans have consolidated. I will leave tomorrow by bike for Saigon. I have given myself four weeks to get there. Tam, my hotel host, one of a wonderful bunch of men and women working here at the Rendezvous Hotel advised postponing touring in this region until I come back. She also booked my return train ticket.

I have kind of got used to being a multi-millionaire. I have already spent over 4 million Dong. I have a good idea of the kind of food I will be eating. I have had pho bo, bun bo and bun ga. My drink of choice is bia. I have been eating mostly at the second step up the food ladder. There are countless eateries open to and spilling out on the streets. Their stools are almost normal chair height, the big draw for me.

Street Food

Today I rode my bike around, mostly to get used to the traffic rhythms but also to scout the road out of this city of 2.5 million and to visit a few of the attractions somewhat removed from my hotel. Yesterday on about five hours sleep after being awake for 40 hours I was in no condition to brave the streets on my bike. Today it was fine.

Sadly, but to be expected, the Ao Dai has been relegated to special dress status for the women. In 1995 I did see the odd woman cycling serenely along the road in her Ao Dai. It remains one of my lasting memories from that short trip. I have seen a few in Ao Dai thanks to couples posing for what might be wedding photos and then a whole group of high school girls on a photo outing.

Ao Dai

I have visited a bit of the town, but will have a couple more chances when I return. I have enjoyed walking Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of town, visited the Temple of Literature, a 1000 year old Confucian Temple and Hanoi’s first institute of higher learning. I have had a brief visit to their History museum.

Hoan Kiem Lake

My first day it was drizzly all day and I worried about my equipment. Today it was nice, not too hot and not too cold and so I feel good about heading out tomorrow.

All for now.

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Vietnam

Posted on January 10, 2016 by kenmyhre

Vietnam – 93 million people. Besieged and occupied for a 1000 years by China, France, Japan and the US. Often spurned and isolated by the rest of the world. Still practicing communism in a world immersed in capitalism. Although I’m not sure that these isms mean much anymore. What is Vietnam like today and how was it able to withstand these adversities?

I will head off Jan 14 for a seven week visit. I made that decision about a month ago following some weeks of research into the dwindling but still compelling trip ideas percolating away in my imagination. Even though there are vast resources in book, video and electronic media to aid me in my research 90% of those resources relate to what the Vietnamese call the American War and most of that is from the American point of view. But still, my researches were fun as always.

In my library there are some good books on the Vietnam War (our term). Graham Green’s “Quiet American” is great but perhaps the most interesting is “The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh. I heard about this book and found an English version while in Hanoi in 1995. Bao Ninh fought for Ho Chi Minh for ten years without relief. He went to fight in a brigade of 500 and was one of ten who lived through the ordeal. His story, in similar ways to the WWII book “All Quiet on the Western Front”, strikes again at the nightmare that soldiers live through without really every understanding what they are doing or why. There is no politic in this kind of story, just the senselessness of it all. I understand that it is in the human genome to hate others to the extent that we need to kill them, but surely we should choose leaders who work to deflate these kind of conflicts? Is war ever an apt solution? We are told it has been and we are thankful to those who we have sacrificed in those wars, but I for one question war’s inevitability. Certainly the American/Vietnam War, which really began in the political aftermath of WWII, was senseless and should have been avoided.

Vietnam came to be a single nation wrested from Chinese control in about 1800 when Gia Long joined the Viet Thong in the south to the Annam in the north resulting in Vietnam. But the French soon began to make inroads initially with traders and priests followed by settlers, bureaucrats and the military. One colonizer was replaced by another. WWII and the expulsion of the Japanese was the opportunity for the world to let Vietnam be, but the WWII winners let the French back in spite of significant efforts by the Vietnamese to obtain independence. And then the American Communist paranoia took hold.

The Vietnamese had been occupied or at war or under world sanctions for the better part of a thousand years until about 1995.

I will not be going to Vietnam, as many visitors do, to visit war attractions. And there are many, from the underground Vietcong tunnels to the various battlefields and atrocity locations. I will cycle roughly from Hanoi to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I hope to tour the two major deltas (The Red and Mekong Rivers) where much of the food is grown. Along the way I will visit some of the old cities to see the old colonial architecture and the remains of ancient dynasties. I will climb into the Central Highlands possibly encountering some of the 60 minority groups that make up 15% of the populace. I plan on side trips into the Karst formations at Ha Long bay and the rice paddies near the Red river Delta. I will take the train back from Saigon back to Hanoi (I do love train travel). If time allows, and I will try hard to make it so, I will head into the mountains north of Hanoi, likely leaving my bike behind. And I will eat lots of food and take the odd picture.

I do hope to make blog posts as time and media permits. So, I invite you to join me.

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Iceland – Finale

Posted on October 10, 2015 by kenmyhre

Oct 4 Borganes

After a great tourist and photography day yesterday today stunk. Unfortunately my battery died yesterday and as I was heading back over some of the same ground I was hoping to hit the high country with the wonderful fall colours again. But this morning, and all day it poured and the high country colour was muted beyond recognition. I would have tried anyway but the heavy rain was accompanied by wind that made an umbrella worthless. I guess I am just a fair weather guy.

I was kind of heading towards the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, but as I was going to go slow through the Thingvellir area I was planning on sleeping at Borganes. So Instead of being out in the maelstrom trying to find images I spent a couple of hours in the Thingvellir visitor centre going through the film strips and researching history stuff in the excellent supply of books. I bought one on “Things” around Scandinavia from the time that they began to appear.

I dropped down out of the highlands to Hvalfjordur (Whale Fjord). I had ridden the bus through the 6 km tunnel that goes under the mouth of the fjord rather that bike the 80 km around the fjord when I first left Reykjavik. This time I hit the fjord near the mouth and so I drove most of the 80 km around it on my way to Borganes. The wind was howling so bad as I did this part that it was picking water out of the fjord and spraying it across the road. My little car handles well but it was still pretty spooky getting gusted around on the narrow road, one side of which is the fjord.

I managed to get to Borganes for the tail end of the Settlement Centre’s excellent lunch buffet. Very good value, or at least for Iceland. The hostel people were happy to see me again; I had spent two nights there waiting out heavy winds as I started out on my bike trip.

I was now really struggling with how to use my lasts couple of car days. The bad weather had continued all day and if it was similar in the morning I was not sure that driving another day in the rain made much sense. Oh well, it is still not as bad as on the bike when the options are so much less and the discomfort of bad weather so much worse.

Oct 5, Akranes

At least is wasn’t raining when I started out. I had decided to go ahead and drive out onto the peninsula. The weather wasn’t friendly but at least there were a few pictures I got. Snaefellsnes is a pretty popular seaside type destination; not in the beach sense, but you are in touch with the sea more or less continuously. It drove out the south side and back the north side of the peninsula. There was a pretty nice crossing going both ways that took me into the mountains and so it was a pretty day. I didn’t get a lot of photos and it was too cold and windy to walk around at all. I had lunch (more money and about 20% as good as yesterday) at Grundarfjordur. I was able to get some acceptable photos of the iconic volcanic cone, Kirkjufell. At Stykkisholmur, the biggest town, I walked around a bit and decided I didn’t want to sit around and wait for a couple of hours to check into a guesthouse.

So on I went, now headed for a hostel at Akranes. In the rain I tried for a quick side trip to visit Snorri Sturluson but things were shut up tight by the time I got there. In Akranes I drove around a bit and had to ask instructions to find the hostel. I was the only one there that night. Akranes is a pretty good sized town, but not much of a tourist draw, and possibly too close to Reykyavik.

I had a pretty good restaurant dinner at a place recommended by the hostel gal.

Oct 7-10, Reykjavik

Still not nice enough to head off into the back country on my last day before Reykjavik. I drove the Hvalfjordur tunnel for1000 Kr, which is about what I would have paid in gas to drive around the fjord, and I had just done that the other way. I stopped near Reykjavik and found a high-end knife-maker. His prices were in line with a knife I had mistakenly bought in South Africa a couple of years ago. A fancy knife is upwards of $300 for a very small one.

The hostel I am booked into in Reykjavik is booked for this night but they helped me find a guesthouse close by. I will need to drop my bags off at the hostel in the morning and then drive to the AVIS drop-off point and ride my bike back. All before 11:00.

The next morning went pretty well. I had breakfast at the hostel when I dropped of my bags and then found AVIS with only a little flailing around. My bike went together well and it felt so good to be back on it, even though there was light and then heavier rain. I stopped at the bike shop that helped me when I arrived looking for a bike rain cover, to no avail – too late in the season here. The bike will be outside here at the hostel and I don’t seem to be able to find a rain cover in Calgary. I also spent a couple more hours in the big book store. I am thinking about picking up a couple of Icelandic authors that we don’t get in Calgary.

These logistic days get fiddled away, but I will have two days to visit Reykjavik with the only task being to pack my bike in its suitcase as late as possible.

In the morning I rode around downtown Reykjavik in the rain. The temperature is around +3 but the rain is not real heavy. I found a place to park my bike and covered it with a tarp I found in the “leave behind” bin at the hostel. I would get good use out of the tarp for the two days here. I spent most of the mid-part of the day at the National Museum. I think it is pretty good on the historical aspects of Iceland and I was able to fill in a few gaps in my understanding.

I came back to the hostel and then walked over to the big swimming pool to have a hot pool dip. I happened to ask if they had a senior’s rate (normally about $7.50) and the girl sheepishly said that she didn’t want to embarrass me by asking if I qualified. I said she didn’t have to worry about offending me with that questions. She recovered nicely by saying I didn’t look over 60, I think seniors are over 67. At any rate it is free for seniors. I went both of my last two days; the second I had a nice conversation with five your people (40s) from Norway, Sweden and Finland.

I spent a part of each of my two days here having a light lunch and coffee in book stores. Mostly I peruse the Icelandic literature and then try to find the authors electronically. I have read a lot of electronic books while here; some from the library but I have also bought a couple.

On my second last night I finally saw some Northern lights and got a few photos, none very good. I was not prepared given that the hostel is in the middle of town. It was quite neat otherwise, as I walked into the middle of a big parking lot. The lights seemed to flash all around and lasted for about 15 minutes. I wish I had been better prepared.

My first night I heated grocery store fast meals. The second night, my last in town, I went to the restaurant I visited my very first night in Iceland. It is just across the street from the hostel and I remembered it as being very good. Last night I had a mink whale steak, which had the colour and texture of beef tenderloin, but its own excellent taste. While in the restaurant I kicked myself for not coming here each night I was in Reykkjavik. It is the best restaurant I have found and I think, as Icelandic prices go, good value.

My last full day here I came back to the hostel around 2:00 and started to pack up. I am having a bit of trouble getting my bike into its suitcase and so I decided not to leave it until the morning, even though I don’t leave the hostel for the airport until 1:00.

I struggled again, until I took one more part of the bike apart and then it worked out well. Trying to leave as much of the bike together as possible is part laziness and part worry about getting it back together effectively.

This morning, leaving day, for the first time in many days, it was bright and relatively cloudless. After a leisurely hostel breakfast I am finally able to wander in the vast series of parks in Laugurdalur. Besides the swimming complex there are playing fields, walking parks, botanical gardens and possibly a zoo. The geothermal fields are congregated here. It is about 3 km from the centre of town and in the old days people came out to use the hot pools for bathing but a big part was for people to carry their washing out here to do the clothes washing. The women would often cook fish and potatoes in the hot pools while they were washing.

Well, that was Iceland. In 15 minutes I will get on the bus for the airport. It has been a good trip. The biking I got in was great, unfortunately it had to be cut short, but the 7 days in a car did give me the chance to see some things I would not have been able to do had I kept riding. I think I got the most out of the history and the literature. But the scenery is so different that it has to be the big draw. The weather and being on the bike prevented me from getting out to areas of the country I now would like to see more completely. But then all trips leave me wanting to come back.

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South Iceland Photos

Posted on October 3, 2015 by kenmyhre

Vatnajokull Panorama from Hofn

Jokulsarion

Fall Colour

Svartifoss

Just another Foss

skogafoss

Seljalandsfoss

Gullfoss

At Geysir

Stokkur

Snowy Morning going to Thingvellir

Tectonic Gap at Thingvellir

Dreamy Day

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South Iceland – by car

Posted on October 3, 2015 by kenmyhre

Sept 30, Vik

I have booked my car as of 11:00 today for seven days. But the guy preparing the car was keen to get me the car yesterday. He delivered it to me at 2:00 pm and then we did a drive about so he could tell me about Hofn and district. He showed me his farm with its horses and guest house that he is expanding. He is obviously the maintenance man for Avis/Budget and who knows what else.

The point is, I had my car almost a day early. That way I had my bike loaded in the car yesterday and was away from the hostel this morning at 8:00. The day was partially sunny but the wind was wild.

My first stop was 65 km away at Jokulsarion, a lake at the foot of one of the massive glaciers that come down off of Vaatnakjokull. From Hofn, which is on a peninsula sticking out into the sea a bit, Vatnajokull fills the westward field of vision, fronted by the tallest mountains in Iceland and a number of exit glaciers that tumble down to sea level. The one that empties into the glacial lagoon, Jokulsarion, has created a tourist industry. The icebergs that calve from the glacier might float in the lagoon for years before finding their way out to the sea. A number of outfitters take tourists out among the icebergs to view the dramatic ice forms. On my visit no one was out; the wind was too bad. It was almost too bad to walk around; my walk was about 1/3 the time and length I would normally have been out there. At any rate, been there – done that.

My next stop was the Park Office for Skaftafell National Park. This is really the main Office for the whole of the Vatnajokull Wilderness area. The glacier covers 13% of Iceland, but the wilderness area is considerably larger. I would drive under the icefields all day, crossing over a huge river about every 10 km that often plunges over a dramatic waterfall on its way to the sea. The other aspect of this region east of the big glaciers are what is called Sandar. Flat plains of grey-black sand and gravel extend for most of the way along the face of the mountains holding back the icefields. These occur for about 200 km and are up to 40 km wide. The sandar are created from the runoff of these glacial rivers. In varying degrees the sandar are touched with lichen or other greenery, I imagine depending upon the time since the last flood.

Just before I got to the Skaftafell Park a cyclist on a recumbent who I had met after my first day’s riding in Borganes stepped out in the road as I was going by. At this point the wind was horrendous as it had been all morning. I noticed that he had waved down a large RV behind me. I stopped for a half an hour a bit later to take some photos and when I pulled into the Park there was his bike in front of the visitor centre. Somehow he had managed to talk the RV driver into taking him to the park, which sits in a bit of a wind shadow. I headed into the VC but he was gone when I came out.

I had a nice walk up to Svartifoss (Black Waterfall), which tumbles over black hexagonal basalt columns. I am worried that with the weather I will be unable to keep any of the fitness I gained cycling and so this walk with a pretty good climb, no wind and no rain was welcome.

Once on the highway I soon caught up to the recumbent rider who was making good headway. Unfortunately, within a few kms the rain and wind were back and I worry that he will have a tough final run in. I now wonder if he has been able to get others to ferry him through the bad sections. The way he stepped out to stop the RV driver indicates he had done it before.

There was not much more I could see or do on the way to Vik, as the rain settled in. There is a nice hostel in Vik that was quite filled with people. A lot of people who have been camping are now using hostels.

Oct 1, Selfoss

Very heavy rain. I had a hostel provided breakfast, and hung around a bit longer than usual. Finally I headed off in the rain. At Vik I was past Vatnajokull, but now I was passing under Myrdalsyokull and then Eyafjallajokull and so there was still lots of water coming down to the sea and falling over cliffs enroute.

My first stop was at one of the famous waterfalls, Skogafoss. There was no let-up in the rain and so photography was tough. It was fun trying to hold an umbrella while getting a slow motion type shot, which is sort of possible because of the low-light. Still it was nice to see, even in the rain.

A few kms down and off the ring road is Seljalandsfoss, made famous because there is a trail that takes you behind the falls. It was rainy enough for me, those walking behind the falls came out thoroughly soaked.

My next stop, still in the rain was in Hvolsvollur for a visit to their Saga Museum. This one is dedicated to Njals Saga, the longest and many consider the best of all of the Sagas. Njals is the first one I read, or I should say partially read. In the first part two strong women are responsible for having people killed. Finally one of them Hallgerdur, considered one of the real beauties at that time, is responsible for her husband Gunnar’s death when she refuses to let him braid a bow string from her hair. It is the third husband she is responsible for killing. In the second part the feuds continue until the hero Njal, one of the good guys is burned to death with his family and servants. The final part has Njal’s son chasing the culprit around Europe, but finally they resolve their differences. Interesting for me, in this tale, is the degree to which the Althing (Parliament) is drawn into these feuds. There are no jails but judgements may involve paying restitution and often involve exile. But mostly they just seem to exact their own revenge.

Oct 2, Laugrvatn

It was raining as I drove North. I headed onto what they call here the Golden Circle. My first stop along the way was at Gullfoss, possibly Iceland’s most famous waterfall. Gullfoss at one time was scheduled to be damned but activists in the 1920s put a stop to that. It rained most of the time I was walking about and so the falling mist from the falls didn’t contribute much to my discomfort.

The next stop was at Geysir, where there is a fairly large tourist service, with a big hotel, restaurants, mult-media centre and a great many things to purchase. There are steam fumaroles everywhere a few hot pools and on spouting geyser, not the original which has taken a break after many years of spouting frequently each day. The word geyser, an Icelandic word, has been passed on to the rest of the world from this original “Geysir”. The one spouting these days, about every 10 minutes, is called Stokkur. This thermal field sits right on the strip of activity that runs diagonally through Iceland and whenever something happens down in that inferno there is a possibility of change in the geyser action.

The multi-media show on Iceland’s volcanoes was very informative. There are something like 127 active volcanoes here and there is a fairly major eruption about once every five years. The last, Eyhaafallajokull, in 2010. The most devastating was Laki in 1783 which lasted for eight months and killed 8000 people and much of the animal life. A major migration of people resulted and there was discussion that perhaps the island should be deserted. Given that many of the volcanoes are under the glaciers the major issue that can happen is the dramatic mud and water slides that result when one of these goes off.

Oct 3, Laugarvatn

I am staying two nights at the hostel here as my visit today, Thingvellir, is not far away. Climbing away from Lake Laugarvatn I entered a plateau covered with a skiff of snow. It was still misty and so lovely in the soft light.

I imagined that I was one of the Godi coming from a far off place, a trip that had taken two weeks on horse and finally we were dropping down out of the mist to Thingvellir for the Althing that was held every year in June. There would be 47 other Godi and with our assistants and the bishops the Althing was officially 150 people. But with each Godi a representation of farmers from his district was also required to attend. And of course there were all sorts of others who came to provide support and food, to make representations on matters of law and claims against others. It was Iceland’s major happening and one of the first truly democratic forums. The Althing (parliament) at Thingvellir was entirely an outdoor venue. It began in 930 AD and lasted for three hundred years. Squabbles resulted in passing government over to Norway and then Denmark for the next 500 years.

Thingvellir is a world heritage site, and today it was breath-taking as I dropped down from above. The white snow highlighted the orange, yellow and red bushes in their fall colours that carpeted the hills. I walked the extensive grounds for a couple of hours drinking the history and the beauty. It is supposed to be past tourist season but the 1000 and some people I encountered must not have got the message.

Strikingly, Thingvellir sits on the crack separating the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. A long cliff band seems to have had a 5 m slice cleaved off creating a gap about 10 m wide. A river runs along part of it and a wide tourist path fills in another part of it. Apparently the plates are moving apart some 2 cm a year, but here at the join it may make big slips every so often.

As I walked around I found the Logberg (Law Speakers Rock), where the Logsogumadur (Law Speaker) would recite his proclamations for all to hear. The Law Speaker, elected for a three year term, by the 48 Godar recited 1/3 of the laws each year and would act as the prime minister of the Althing. For 50 weeks of the year there was no government in effect. The Althing had no activities except during their two week meeting every year and that is when new laws were voiced and claims were adjudicated.

The yearly Althing is one of those events that would have been fascinating to go back in time to experience.

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East Fjords – Iceland

Posted on September 29, 2015 by kenmyhre

Sept 25 Reydarfjordur 40 km

Heading along the East and South Coasts back to Reykjavik should be less intense that the West and North segments. There are more towns and most if not all of the time I will down at sea level, and so possibly it will not be as cold. I have lots of time but I really do not want to camp unless I have to and so my jumps will be firstly to those towns with hostels and secondly where I can find a moderately priced guest house.

My first jump, leaving the Ring Road for a few days, is over a mountain range down to Reydarfjordur, which has a hostel that is open and expecting me. It is a short jump, but as I said, I am in no hurry. It was very cold, possibly 3C, as I left the hostel and began the steep climb out of town. It is tough to balance my clothes with cold and the heat generated when I have a long climb. Once the steep out of town was behind me I settled into a long 6% climb that I can grind away. It continued with some flat segments for 17 km. But the wind was negligible and there was some warming sun. I quite enjoyed the steady cadence of the climb.

Heading down it was steeper and I chilled right away, and did not put on enough clothes. I stopped to shoot a small waterfall and noticed mist rising up from below. I headed into the mist which was brightly back lit by the sun. I couldn’t see more than 10 m and got spooked right away, and it seemed to get colder. I was creeping down at about 15 kph and the lack of visual cues started to give me vertigo. I could use the whole road because if a car came along I would get lots of audio notice and I decided I would stop and let them go by. But, and maybe the cold contributed, I was really spooked.

The lessening grade of the road was the only clue that I had possibly reached the bottom. I still couldn’t see anything. Finally a traffic circle with some signs indicated that I was near the town. I still hadn’t seen the fjord. The first houses that emerged from the mist gladdened me, I needed a coffee shop in the worst way. It was a bakery, I had four cups and a cookie, it still wasn’t even noon. I gradually got warm.

I had a little map for the town. A map for a town of about 400. But with the mist I still had no references for where I was. The map indicated the hostel and I found my way there. This hostel is in a number of houses that could possibly hold 100 people. I will only be joined by one other on this day. Quite a difference a month makes in the tourist business here.

I made lunch in the hostel and then rode around town a bit. There is a WWII museum here, but it was closed. So I spent some time in the grocery store figuring out what I would cook for dinner. The hostel house is so attractive and I have become used to bringing up a Youtube documentary when I have internet access. This evening, after posting some photos from the north, l I watched Julia Bradford’s hike on the Laugaveurinn Trail, Iceland’s most famous hike. This hour long show was excellent as all of her shows are. Even though the mist prevented me from seeing much of the fjord or surrounding areas I did enjoy my stop here.

Sept 26, Berunes, 90 km

My jump today follows the shore line of three fjords as I begin my slow way south. Berunes is a farm hostel and they are expecting me. The clouds were a little higher today so I could see across the fjord. I would not see any sun though.

To start with I headed back up towards Egilsstadir for about 6 kms and then climbed about 100 m to the entry of a 6 km long tunnel. It was very cold again and so I had over-dressed for the climb. I was slightly sweating by the time I reached the entry where I stopped to fix my lights. The tunnel was lovely. The road was just as wide as normal, it was fully
lit and the gentle grade up to the apex and down again meant I had an easy ride. And it was warm. Once a few hundred metres away from the entrance the temperature must have risen 10C. Now, in all of my clothes, I was really sweating. I took a little off but the damage was done.

Once out in the open I chilled immediately. So I just kept riding for a couple of hours until I hit Stodvarfjordur. I pulled into a little coffee shop and had my four cups of coffee and a full eggs and bacon breakfast. In the hour there my things dried a bit, but it was now raining off and on and so I was going to be wet. I also visited Petra’s Steinsafn. Petra began collecting as a young woman about fifty year ago and now has, probably 100,000 wonderful rocks from around East Iceland. It cost me 1000Kr to visit and I think it was worth it. This took another hour.

When I headed west, inland, on each of the fjords I had a pretty good wind, but when I turned around the bottom and headed back east toward the sea the wind was steadily against me. And as the day progressed the rain segments lasted longer. I still stopped the odd time for photo attempts so I felt I was kind of taking it easy. But when the wind and rain were hitting me hard I ground away and as I got closer to my destination it seemed to get worse.

Finally I saw the Berunes Hostel sign and I rode up a rough 300 m road until out of the rain a big farm appeared. I was met by an elderly woman who helped me get my dripping bags into the house and showed me where I could get my bike inside as well. I seem to have the run of this hostel, alone again. I arrived at 3:30, a little early but for a while I luxuriated in spreading out, getting warm, hanging all my wet things hung up, showering and getting dry things on. I sat and watched the horizontal rain, had coffee and felt how good it feels to be in out of that. I think unless you have been out in rough weather you cannot appreciate how good it is to have comforts like this. If the forecast is correct, it will rain all night and then clear up tomorrow.

I was eventually joined by four American girls and then by a German man. About 6:00 the woman of the hostel came out and asked if I wanted to eat. When I told them on the phone I was travelling by bike that made an exception and agreed to make food for me. It was a lovely Salmon meal.

Sept 27, Statafell, 113 km

My breakfast was brought out at 8:00 and so it was close to 9:00 before I got away into a bright sunny day. My first challenge was to ride into Berufyordur and back out again passing by village of Djupivogur, which you can see across the way from the hostel. It can’t be more than 1 ½ km across the fjord, but need to follow the road. The wind was already gusty and so it was hurting before long. I was also juggling clothes trying to get the right mix. I hit gravel after about 10 km, and that lasted for 20 km. Back on pavement, which is too often as rough as the gravel, I finally got to Djupivogur after 40 km. I had expended a lot of energy as the road is quite hilly, rough and the wind was bad.

I turned south winding around the peninsula and then into a second and then a third fjord. Neither as long as the first, but the wind seems now to be at me both going in and out. And of course on the south peninsula points it is the worst, because it is a south wind and the land ends stick right out into the North Atlantic.

My final southern leg was the worst. It was about 15 km long and the wind gusts often stopped me, and once almost knocked me over sideways. When I turned into the final fjord for the day I finally got a little respite. My final 20 km to my hostel was not too bad. I pulled in at 4:30, never having stopped for long all day. It was not fun.

Again, it is a farm hostel, and I have just been joined by a Chinese couple. It looked like I was going to be alone. I made do with food out of my bag, of which there is precious little. Tomorrow I hope for a short day to Hofn which has a hostel, and it looks like I will have to spend a couple of nights there. The wind in predicted to be in the 50 to 80 kph level. We’ll see.

Sept 28, Hofn 35 km

It was drizzly right from the start but not much wind yet. I had a pretty fast opening hour as I was trying to get to Hofn before the heavy rain hit. The hostel manager said he would let me in early. Once again I had a climb up to a tunnel, this one 1.5 km long. It was mostly downhill and I blasted out into full rain near the sea. I then had about 10 km into Hofn, which is about 2 km off of the ring road. In town I followed signs into a residential neighbourhood to the hostel. I arrived at 10:00, just as the office was closing. But I was let into my room and I began to settle in for a two night stay.

After getting my bags in and some things hung up I set off on my bike for the information centre and grocery store. It was still raining heavily, but I needed to get these things done. The visit to the information centre confirmed my worst fears. The weather forecasts I have been getting on my phone have been spot on the whole trip, but you can always hope. The information centre people confirmed that we would have winds in excess of my limits for the next 4 or so days. It would be nice tomorrow, Tuesday, but rain beginning again as I go south.

In the Nesto grocery store I had bottomless coffee and pastry while I fretted about what to do. I bought some groceries and scurried back to the hostel. Not much point in even trying to look around. Tomorrow in the sun I could walk around even if it was too windy to ride.

I had two maybe three days grace to get on bike back to Reykjavik, now only about 450 km away. But the forecasts seem to consume all of those and I sure didn’t want to sit in Hofn for three days. I could take the bus in jumps down the coast and try to see some of the things on my list. I could also take a bus all the way to Reykjavik, rent a car, and travel back up here a bit. Sometime around 1:00 in the morning, as I lay struggling with my choices I decided to look into renting a car from here.

Sept 29, Hofn

At 7:00 I was wide awake. I walked outside and sure enough the trees were bent double and it was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. The forecast still seems to be right on. My on-line reports indicated the same heavy wind back on down the south-east coast.

A bit after 8:00 I was on the phone to the budget rental in Hofn, the only place with a rental agency on the whole SE coast. To rent a car for a week, returning it in Reykjavik would cost me about US$ 1000. The girl was very helpful and after few conversations and checking to see if they had a car at all, she suggested I try on-line. It may be cheaper. The Budget system wouldn’t come up with a car. Back on to my girl and she suggested the Avis system. This one worked and came back with a Cdn$ 520. I grabbed it. I am scheduled to pick up my car at 11:00 tomorrow and return it a week later in Reykjavik, three days before I return home. This seems like a great solution to my weather problem. The end of my ride, but that was part of the gamble in coming at this time of year. We’ll see if it pans out.

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