kenmyhre

Sept 20  Akureyri

My day in Akureyri was very easy.  It is not a large city.  I had a leisurly breakfast at the Backpackers during which time I posted my diary.  I then went up to the HI hostel and checked in for my second night in town.  There seemed to be no one there and yet when I tried to get in the previous night it was full.  Quite a change from the teeming Backpacker in the middle of town.

A prime effort on each of my days is to try to figure out the weather for the next day.  When I stop like this I am always worried that I am losing a good travel day.  This day seemed to be pretty nice, cool but quite a bit of sun and not too much wind in town.  I rode my bike down to the old town; basically a block of old house dating around 1800.  A walk through the Botanical Gardens, which must be pretty nice in summer.  Now it was quiet but still there were a few flowers here and there.

I went back to the Backpackers for lunch because I had a beer chit left over from checking in yesterday. I was carrying my laptop in a rucksack and so I uploaded my photos and sent a few of them off to my blog.

Back at the hotel I a few others had joined me in my dorm.  One was a very nice girl from Montreal and three others from Calgary who did not get in until well after I was asleep.  As is often the case, I meet many Canadians travelling.  I have seen quite a few Americans on this trip which is unusual.

Sept 21 Myvatn, 106 km

I had a quick breakfast and was on the road about 8:30.  I headed through town and then had a lovely few kms along Eyjafjordur, the longest in Iceland.  It is quite pastoral and the morning was so quiet.  But all too soon the climb started to take me up away from the sea over the longest continuous climb so far; probably about 10 km.  I think I then stayed fairly high, with a few up and downs for about 40 kms when I saw the mist rising from my first major waterfall.  Goafoss is right beside the ring road and I had my lunch sitting at a picnic table just out of reach of the mist.  It was very sunny and warm so my visit was pleasant.  I will miss many of the significant waterfalls as they are off of the main route.

Some more significant climbing got me onto yet one more high alpine region.  Often there is little growth, I guess because of the recent volcanic activity and harsh climate.  Dropping down I hit a small valley (dalur) and watched a man in a tractor cutting his hay.  I am not seeing much of this.  At a pond with a good variety of ducks I stopped and was hit by midges, a good indication I am coming close to Myvatn which is famous for its midges.  They don’t bite, but are very annoying as they head for all the moist areas on your face.  They were particularly bad climbing if my speed was below 11 kph.

Dropping down to the Myvatn area I was surprised to not see a large lake.  At the south end, where I came in it is more like a marshy area. I was pretty tired by this time and so I didn’t stop much, and every time I did the midges dove in.  Soon I saw a bigger lake and there were lots of ducks of a variety of species.  They were along the shore but as soon as I approached they headed off.  I tried a couple of times to get close enough to take pictures but they always saw me.  Still, it was a nice ride for about 15 km along the lake.

The main town is Reykyahilo, sitting on the NE corner of the main lake.  Myvatn was a major site for me and I planned to spend two nights.  I was hoping to get some good birding here.  That proved to be fruitless, even though I saw many birds it was not very satisfying because I couldn’t get close enough to see or photograph many species.  But it is a very attractive area, my day’s bike ride was lovely, in large part because I had no wind at all.  Probably a first for Iceland cyclists.  I wanted to spend a full day here.

I checked into the campground hoping I could find a “sleeping bag” accommodation.  I am reading about these but have not found one yet.  The owner talked me into camping and so I did.  I worry about the rain, wind and cold.  But I did bring a tent, so I put it up, had a shower and went looking for a good restaurant.  I had a choice of one restaurant, Gamli Bistro, at this time of year and it is pretty good.  I had three meals there.  The first night I had what they called char, but I think is trout, and the best dark beer I have had here.

The camp kitchen is not that nice.  It is enclosed but drafty and does not have lights.  When the sun drops it is cold and so I crawled into my bag, a downside of camping at this time of year.

Sept 22 Myvatn 30 km

I had a good night in my tent, but the condensation would take half the morning to dry off.  It is not sunny but if I stay the wind should dry it off.  I did ask at a few places but decided to camp again.  It was ok and the cooler day kept some of the midges away.  I rode around looking for birding spots but the best is the campground. I took it easy as I have a knee that is begging for the day off.

A prime attraction here is the Myvatn Nature Bath, about 5 km out of town.  It cost $29, but it will mean I don’t have to go to the Blue Lagoon.  This is a very active geothermal area; there are no end fissures sending out steam.  The nature bath has four or five large wading pools of different temperatures and I spent about an hour trying them all.  By the time I left there were probably 100 people in the pool, and that would likely build as the day goes on.  I was the first one in line at 12:00 when it opened.  Back in town I had a slow lunch at Gamli because two tour buses hit the nature bath restaurant as I came out.

The next jump, on my ride, is the biggest with little or no service.  The Information Centre made a connection for me at  a place about 100 km down the road.  I worry about hills, rain, wind and all sorts of things. A big issue is that things are beginning to close at this time of year.

I bought a few more groceries including an extra water bottle as there will be no places to buy things until the end of the day.

I went back to Gamli for supper and to charge my devices, and spent quite some time there.  It was dark when I came out and the rain was settled in.  I had cleaned up my camp pretty good, but now I had more worries. Will it be raining in the morning, what should I do?

I scurried about getting into my tent in the rain.  My bike was left out in the rain.  Not very happy about that.  I slept reasonable well and after my last time struggling out to have a pee it quit raining.

Sept 23 Skjoldolfstadir 117 km

At about 7:00 I crawled out of the tent and there was lots of blue sky.  I packed up, had a light breakfast and headed off.  My tent was soaked, but that was not a big issue.  My ride out past the nature baths took me onto a climb where I had to push the bike for about 200 m.  The first time on this trip. Over the ridge I dropped down to the most active geothermal area I have seen.  There were a few paths out among the steaming fumaroles with lots of warning not to fall into the boiling caldrons.

For the next 30 km, I had my fasted flat ride so far.  There was no wind and I must have been feeling the benefits of my day off.  I was also a bit hyped because I was worried about the forecast that predicted east winds.   For the rest of the day I was in the bleakest region I have seen.  No livestock, almost no vegetation, just rocks.  Still the day was ok.  The wind gradually grew but I ground on down the road.   I had my cheese sandwich at about 65 km and after that I was considerably slower.  One annoyance is the periodic rough grid pavement sections.  These are sharp walnut sized rocks imbedded in the road.  And when they are new it knocks a few kph off of my progress.  One on of these sections I heard a load snap from my bike.  I stopped and looked a bit but had no idea where it might have come from.  On I went.

The Information Centre woman told me yesterday that I would come to my nights stop after dropping down off the plateau, and so I was looking for that for at least an hour before it occurred.  But when it came it really came.  It was about 8 km down one of these rough sections and very steep.  I pulled into the guest house at about 3:45.  There was a sign on the door “Stoppat 12:00 – 16:00”.  I was very tired again.  I had no idea whether I would be camping, or what.  I walked around, dried out my tent, lay down on a picnic table, did some yoga stretches, walked some more, tried phoning a couple of times.  Finally 2 hours after I arrived a couple of ladies pulled up in a car.  They were coming to cook for me and they were able to get into the hotel and phone the owner.  I was almost shaking with cold by then.

Once in the woman started immediately and made me some stew.  The old owner turned up and fussed around and then gave me a key.  Thankfully I am not camping.  He is the first Icelander who speaks no English at all.  I started to move my bags in and then noticed that I had a broken spoke and that the rear wheel was frozen.  That was the snap that I heard about 20 km back.  The amazing thing is that I got here at all.  With a big load on the bike the wheel gets out of align almost immediately.  I am now in trouble.  Foolishly I do not have any spare spokes and the wheel is a bit special. It could also be that I have ruined the rim.

The woman who cooked talked to the owner for me.  The bus comes tomorrow at 5:00 but I have indicated I will be willing to pay someone to take me into Egilsstadir, only 30 minutes away.  The cook is now gone and so I am depending upon the old guy to help me.  I have no idea about anything here, but I could be running up a big bill, and I am hopeful I don’t have to spend another full day here without working on my bike situation.

Sept 24, Egilsstadir

I was the only one in the hotel overnight and in the morning the old guy made breakfast.  It was the usual sandwich board but included hot porridge.  The whole bill, for room, dinner, breakfast and a beer was 9600 Kr, less than $100, so I am happy about that.  The room cost was lowered a bit because I used my own sleeping bag; this is called a sleeping bag room here. The old guy talked to me in Icelandic and indicated that he was off, again leaving me wondering what was going on.

I sat around drinking coffee and wandered a bit, always with an eye on the front door, until 12:30, when another old guy turned up with a truck and drove me the 50 km into Eglisstaddir.  This is the largest town in East Iceland and so I had some hopes I could get my wheel fixed.  In town I was dropped off at a Sports shop and my driver would accept no money.  I left my bike and went for lunch and to arrange accommodation.  The accommodation was almost 800 Kr.

Back at the bike shop, they confirmed that could not replace the spoke and so had put on another wheel.  I am worried, like in Norway 4 years ago, I am replacing a high end wheel with one of lesser quality.  This time it cost me $300.  I am very angry that I didn’t cover that base by bringing spare spokes which I most often do, and I am not back to Reykjavik yet.  In Europe, 2011, I ended up buying three wheels before I got one where the spokes wouldn’t keep breaking.  Mind you that was a longer trip.

I did get a chance to finish Hrafnel’s Saga which is set in this area.  It is a short saga showing again that might is right.  Hrafnel kills a boy for riding his horse,  which is dedicated to Freyja, loses his property and position over it, but then through might gets it back and lives happily ever after,  but now as a Christian.  I’m not sure the for morale in this tale.  What a rich collection of stories, it is no wonder the Icelanders are so literate.   My saga seems pretty tame compared to those of a thousand years ago, but they also suffered the extremes of weather.

At any rate, I think I am ready to roll on in the morning.  I am half a day behind and a few hundred dollars poorer than I would have been if the broken spoke hadn’t occurred.  But tomorrow should get me down to the eastern fjords where I hope to go a little slower, still stopping for the odd day.

Sept 16 Borgarnes

Yesterday I left Reykjavik hostel at about 8:30.  It was sunny and chilly.  My ride along the bike paths, often separated from the roads, was enjoyable as I joined the commuting cyclists.  I made a wrong turn after about half an hour and had to seek directions at a bus depot.  By now I decided I would not effectively find my way to the last bus stop before the tunnel under Hvalfjordur that I was not allowed to cycle through.  So I headed towards a bus station where I was told I could get the bus.  I had to wait an hour and a half for the bus and then another hour through the tunnel took me to Akranes.  By now the white caps on the bay were getting significant indicating the fun I would be in for when out on my bike.

Back on my bike, the 40 km to Borgarnes followed the coast into and out of two Fjords.  I found later that the wind was around 30 kph, gusting to 45.  One of these guts dropped me from 16 kph to 0 immediately.  I probably averaged about 12 kph.  I stopped about 4 times to gather myself but during one stop I saw my first Icelandic Horses.  These are similar to Norwegian Fjord Horses but are now a separate breed.  No outside horses are allowed on Iceland to protect their purity.  Riding in conditions like these certainly shakes the confidence.  I have not allowed enough time to do my ride at this rate.  There is a bus, I think once a day, that runs along the Ring Road and so that is now a high probability.  My first day’s 54 km ride almost did me in.

Once in Borgarnes I went first to the Settlement Museum.  An excellent Audio tour took me through the History of the Settlement and then the Egil’s Saga, of which I will add more later.  I was so tired that I was weak-kneed at I walked through the exhibit and continually had to lean against wall.

I had initially thought I would camp as the day was sunny, but by now I was so cold and shaken the spectre of sitting out by my tent trying to keep it from blowing into the Atlantic was out of the question.  I checked into the hostel, had a hot shower and was very happy to be out of the wind.

Outside of a Mars bar I had not had lunch and so went back to the Settlement Museum which also housed the best restaurant in town. I splurged on a full strength beer and a wonderful Ling Cod meal.  Back at the hostel on the internet revealed that today’s wind was going to continue, still out of the NNE, which is the direction I am heading.  Thursday it will continue again, but slightly less intense.

This morning as I awoke and checked the weather again I could see things were no better, but now it was grey and colder.  After fussing a bit, I decided I needed to do better job of visiting Borgarnes and that my gimpy knee needed an easy day.  I could find lots of other reasons to stay off my bike, but perhaps I need to save some for later.

I put on my pedestrian clothes and headed off to have a leisurely coffee and sandwich in a bakery. I did some grocery shopping and had a walk around town.  I cooked lunch and did some computer work. In the afternoon I walked more and then went to the local swimming pool which has 37, 39 and 42C hot pools.  Given the cold north wind whistling through the streets I was drawn to the 42C pool and spent half an hour stretching my limbs.  Dinner was hot dogs with potato salad and a beer.

Iceland’s Early History:

Possibly the most interesting part of Iceland’s history is that almost uniquely until the Vikings began settlement in the eighth century no people had occupied the island.  When the first settlers came the wildlife, small mammals and birds, had no fear of people and were eatable.  This proved a boon, as they could then keep and breed the livestock they had brought.

Much of what we know about Iceland’s history came through what are now called the Icelandic Sagas, of which there are many.  The Sagas were written in a short period, about 1100-1350.  The written sagas came from years of word of mouth stories and probably are a mix of myth and fact.  The gods and mythical creatures figure in many of them. The ones I am reading involve the men and women that came to settle.  They were largely from the west coast of Norway, often coming through Britain, Ireland and the Faeroe Islands, which were all part of the Nordic world at that time.

The Viking age, about 780-1050 resulted in part from the development of the Viking ships, which were capable of open sea travel and allowed the Norsemen to dominate much of Europe at that time.  The first ship to hit Iceland, likely by mistake, was about 870, the start of what is now called the Settlement Age.  By 930, when the first Parliament or Althing was formed, the estimate is that about 32,000 had settled here.  Many of the settlers had come to Iceland to escape domination of King Harald Fair-Hair, the first king to control all of Norway. He figures in many of the sagas, usually as a bad man.  Snorri Sturlusson, 1179-1241, is probably the most prolific of the saga writers and is credited with the writing of Egil’s Saga, which was situated primarily in Borgarnes.

Egil’s Saga

There are about four of the sagas that are considered the most important in their representation of the beginnings of Iceland.  Egil’s Saga is one of them.  Egil is a strange character to occupy such a leading role in a country’s history.  He was a fierce warrior and one of the best poets at the time, two characteristics considered important in this Viking Age.  But he was also considered quite ugly and had a terrible even psychopathic temper.  He killed his first person at six years of age over a game.  His father who was similar to Egil had to be dragged off of him when Egil was twelve or there would have been no Egil to create a saga about.  At about the same time Egil went raiding in Norway and Britain killing many along the way.  Egil’s family was forever at odds with Norway’s Kings.  Even so, both Egil and his father lived until old age and both buried chests of silver in the marshes on their farm near Borgarnes rather than pass it on to others.  People still look for these treasures without luck.  Interestingly, Egil’s brother and uncles who were considered more attractive and even-tempered than Egil and his father all died violent deaths.

It seems to me that the sagas that I have perused paint a bloody picture of this time in history.  They all seem to involve killings for a host of reasons; honour, revenge, greed, … and women seemed to be very much into it as well.  At any rate, thanks to the Icelandic Saga writers of the 12^th and 13^th centuries we have a very rich picture of that time.  It was a mediaeval time, with a few land-owners and many serfs and slaves

Sept 17, Saeberg

When I second guess the weather I feel it is always a gamble.  Looking out the window as the light touched the street, the trees were not moving much.  I quickly dressed, finished packing and had the breakfast that I had planned.  I was on the road at 7:30.  It was cold, about 4C, but the wind was minor.  I knew it would build to around 20, but for now it was maybe about 6 or 7 KPH, still out of the north.  Soon I was out of town and the treeless but restful landscape settled in around me.  The skies were grey but the ceiling fairly high and so I could see the mountains.  My run north was to follow a valley for about 40 km, and then climb up over a pass before dropping back to the sea and the north side of Iceland, that is if the wind allowed me to do this today.

A pleasant hour and a half ride at 31 kms on my odometer got me to a nice hotel where I was welcomed in for a cup of coffee.  I find a few things cheaper here than at home and coffee is one of them.  There was a sign near the coffee urn that coffee was 100 kr.  A few days ago I had a rude awakening.  Rich King lent me his Iceland Guide book that he bought last year.  He had written near the front 1$=127Kr. I went on the internet and found that 1CDN$ =98Kr.  Oh well, the coffee was a dollar.

Soon after my coffee break I began to climb and as I went up the mist came down.  Before long my visibility was about 30 m and dew was dripping from my helmet.  And I kept going up, as did the headwind, which now approached that 20 kph predicted.  I knew the climb couldn’t be a lot, and there were lots of level stretches but the kms klicked away and I kept going up.  Each little up-hill dropped my speed to the wobbly level and the trucks, when on-going traffic dictated, left me little room on the shoulder-less road. I had one particularly scary incident as a very long truck passed as my speed was very slow.  I almost had to hit the ditch to avoid his big wheels.

It was also particularly stressful that I couldn’t see anything.  I usually don’t mind climbing passes because you can often see where the top may be.  This climb took almost two hours and I was always thinking that I must be there soon.  When over the top, finally, I had to stop to put on more clothes for the run down.

Not far from the bottom of the pass I hit the sea.  I was now in North Iceland and I pulled into the expected N1 service station and ordered 25$ of hot food.   A phone call to the hostel indicated that I had 10 km left, which turned out to be 15.  After a tough day those extra 5 kms creats lots of angst let me tell you.  At any rate the 106 km, tough as they were for this out-of-shape 74 year old, were infinitely easier than they would have been if I had tried them yesterday.  I felt vindicated in taking the day off.

The hostel at Saeberg sits connected to a big farm overlooking the fjord.  There is no food service nor did I have any desire to ride back 15 km to find more.  I kind of suspected this and so I made do quite nicely with what I had left over from my purchases in Borgarnes.  I had to wait an hour to check in and then the first thing I did was hit the outside hot pool (39C) looking out over the fjord.  I am fully convinced that these mineral springs are the reason that Icelanders live productively to 150.  I, at least, felt 25 years better after an hour in the pool.  Everywhere I have been so far the hot water coming out of the taps have a slight sulphur smell, while the cold water is lovely, fresh and odourless.  I think that all hot water comes from the earth.

Sept 18, Blonduos

Blonduos, 70 km away, would be my destination for the day.  To cap this, the wind was now predicted to be down in the 6-7 kph level and from the SW.  Wow, a tail wind. So I expected an easy day.

The day was still heavily overcast and chilly to start, but it was so pleasant riding along without the wind whistling in my ears.  I could even hear the cars coming from each direction. I had a very light breakfast at the hostel and was looking forward to finding a coffee stop asap.  Coincidentally, it happened at 31 km, just like yesterday.  The fellow running the hotel/restaurant/Service station was about my age.  He had gone to school in Sweden, been married to a Norwegian for 17 years, and had worked in Denmark. We spoke a little Norwegian, I imagine he could speak anything I wanted.  He was running this remote business as a semi-retirement venture that his new wife had motivated.  We had a long visit, there were no other customers.  He gave me a full Scandinavian breakfast, which included all the coffee I could drink for 500 Kr, not much more than I have paid for coffee many places.

When I left the mist had lifted and I had some nice views of the surrounding mountains and farms with their animals.  I love the little Icelandic Horses.  They are one of the few breeds that can be trained to run almost completely level.  You can drink beer while they are running along.  I guess this is one motivation for the gait.

I entered Blonduos and had to cough up 8000 Kr for a guest room, no hostels for a while.  I still don’t relish sitting out in a tent.  The rains have held off but the mist is so wet and it hasn’t got above 11 or 12, and so I pamper myself.   I made the deal in the campground, but my room was in a strip mall back in town.  This was better situated for me anyway. I bought some beer in the Vinbudin, the government booze shop, and had a 25$ hamburger for dinner.  I should have gone another 10$ for a good Icelandic meal, but I need to save some money for my old age.

Sept 19, Akureyri

I had breakfast in my room and stepped out of my south facing room into a high wind.  The problem is that the direction I needed to go today was south at times, east at times.  I can now tell about how hard the wind is as soon as I am in it.  Less than 20 kph is doable.  This wind proved quite a bit more.  There is about 1.5 km to climb getting out of Blonduos and so I chugged away.  Once over the top the road heads more directly south and I was being buffeted beyond what I like.  I stopped behind a burm looked at my maps and tried for a while to will some different reality into the facts that were all too simple.

I turned and rode back down hill and down wind to the N1 station and found the bus would come by at 1:15.  I had turned my key in at the campground, but the room door did not lock automatically.  So I went and read for couple of hours until it was time to go to the N1 to eat a bit and wait for the bus.

The bus arrived on time and I loaded my bike on the rear bike rack, through my bags in the hold and spend the next couple of hours meandering off of the ring road to a couple of remote towns.  The road was gorgeous but steep and the rain began.  It did not take long to get to Akureyr; it would have been about 100 km for me to ride more directly.

In Akureyri it was still windy; it seems once the wind sets in for the day it stays.  But the sun was now poking out and so after checking into the Backpackers (not an HI hostel) I had a nice walk around town.  The Backpackers is teeming with young travellers.  I had a nice visit with some.  On was a young Tasmanian who is researching, for a possible book, a little known Danish vagabond from around 1830.  He did some interesting things in both Iceland and Tasmania.

Sept 20, Akkureyri

I foolishly went to bed at about 9:30, not being overly tired after my easy day.  I kind of drifted off around 1:30 I imagine but the party in the backpacker bar was still going on.   I have planned two days here but I need to find a different place to stay tonight. At any rate I am now committed to staying here;

Akureyri is considered Iceland’s second city.  Unfortunately the weather looks better for today than it does for tomorrow.

West Iceland Photos

Sept 14, 2015 – Reykjavik

I am having a nice Scandinavian breakfast buffet, reading news clips on-line, thinking about how to progress today.  Yesterday I arrived after a 6 hour flight from Edmonton at about 6:30 am.  An hour through the airport and another hour on the bus put me at the City Hostel at about 9:00.  Check-in is at 14:00, but I could use the open areas and store my stuff.

I spent two hours putting my bike together, which means I had a fair amount of trouble.  I then rode the bike the 3 km into Centrum, noting all of the things that would have to be adjusted.  It is pretty obvious from both my bike assembly and my riding that I was very punchy.  But I struggled through the day, determined to get onto Iceland time as soon as possible.  I had visits to the information centre, a bookstore, an Icelandic history museum and Hallsgrimkirkja, the big modernistic church that is the biggest building in this low profile capital.

Across the Bay

Pedestrian Way

Generally it is grey and fairly chilly but not real cold.  A few patches of sun appeared and it was then very pleasant.  Back at the hostel I struggled to get set up in an upper bunk in a nice 4 bed dorm, fiddled with my bike, read some and had a very nice dinner close to the hostel.  I decided early that I could not attempt anything important until I had a good sleep.

Today, I need to finalize preparations to hit the road.  Primarily I need to organize my things into my panniers and get my bike tuned. I will touch on a few more tourist attractions as I ride around town.  It has been fairly easy to get into the swing of Iceland.  There are no language issues – everyone speaks English to me, road customs are similar, and signage is good and I am gradually finding out enough about my prospective route to head off tomorrow.

Later, at the day’s end..

Rested, I was quite productive.  Within an hour I found a good bike shop and got my bike nicely tuned and had a sim card installed.  As the day progressed I rode quite a bit, visited some more book shops, had a slow lunch and read a lot.  I cooked my own dinner and packed my panniers.  I feel good about getting on the road in the morning and the grey weather seems to be holding, so I should get a few days before rain comes.  At any rate I am off in the morning heading North and West along the Ring Road.

All for now.

On Saturday, Sept 12 I will fly Icelandic Air to Reykjavik.  In the following three weeks I will attempt to cycle the Ring Road, Hwy # 1.   This is a bit late to cycle Iceland, but I guess that will be part of the challenge for me.  The 1400 km road is primarily paved with some mountain areas and a lot of coastal riding.  Very likely my route will vary somewhat from the rough plan.  I will go prepared to camp when necessary, but I do hope to find places to stay out of the elements.  

Along with the cycling challenge, of prime interest for me on this trip to Iceland will be experiencing the people and some of their history and culture.  The Icelandic Sagas are particularly interesting, revealing and gory.  I hope to embrace some of the Sagas and what they mean today, although I hope I do not get embroiled in a blood feud.   The photographic opportunities of this severe country are also enticing and so if the weather allows I will certainly be trying

I hope to make the odd post during this trip.