All packed up with somewhere to go! The first characteristic that makes up an adventure is not everything goes as planned. That can certainly be said for our adventure here in Iceland so far. We are having an amazing time in the Land of Ice and Fire, but our cycle tour didn't quite go as expected. Maybe we'd better start from the beginning...
When you work seasonal jobs like we do, you are often long on time but short on money. We decided early on this summer that we would spend part of our our off-season (October/November) "honeymooning" in Iceland. Since we had lots of time on our hands, but not a long of expendable income (we are saving to buy property after all) we decided to us bicycles as our mode of transportation while we were overseas. It had worked well for us in New Zealand, and we find cycle touring to be a fantastic way to really get to know a country as you move much slower and encounter so much that you would never see zooming by in a car. We did our research, and it seemed as though we would be able to see a good deal of the country by cycling Route 1, also known as the "Ring Road" because it runs in a circle more or less around the circumference of the whole country. The internet assured us that many of Iceland's fantastic waterfalls, black sand beaches, volcanoes and glaciers were right off the ring road and with over 5 weeks to bike we should be able to cover the majority of the 900 or so miles. Further research on the weather gave us hope that although it would be a bit chilly, and a bit rainy October is by no means Iceland's wettest month, and the temperatures hovering between 40 and 55 degrees were similar to what we had experienced in Skagway for most of the summer.
We arrived at Keflavik International airport at 11:30pm on September 20th and spent the night at the airport before taking a bus with our bikes still in boxes to the City Campground. We assembled our bikes and paid $30 each to store our boxes at the campground for the duration of our trip, then set out to a local grocery store to load up on supplies. We were told Iceland is very expensive, but coming from Alaska we found the food prices to be very reasonable, the difference being the produce here isn't half rotten when it gets put on the shelves like it is at home. The next morning we loaded up our bikes, road to the main bus station at Mjodd, and boarded a bus to take us to Selfoss on the South coast to begin our journey.
When you work seasonal jobs like we do, you are often long on time but short on money. We decided early on this summer that we would spend part of our our off-season (October/November) "honeymooning" in Iceland. Since we had lots of time on our hands, but not a long of expendable income (we are saving to buy property after all) we decided to us bicycles as our mode of transportation while we were overseas. It had worked well for us in New Zealand, and we find cycle touring to be a fantastic way to really get to know a country as you move much slower and encounter so much that you would never see zooming by in a car. We did our research, and it seemed as though we would be able to see a good deal of the country by cycling Route 1, also known as the "Ring Road" because it runs in a circle more or less around the circumference of the whole country. The internet assured us that many of Iceland's fantastic waterfalls, black sand beaches, volcanoes and glaciers were right off the ring road and with over 5 weeks to bike we should be able to cover the majority of the 900 or so miles. Further research on the weather gave us hope that although it would be a bit chilly, and a bit rainy October is by no means Iceland's wettest month, and the temperatures hovering between 40 and 55 degrees were similar to what we had experienced in Skagway for most of the summer.
We arrived at Keflavik International airport at 11:30pm on September 20th and spent the night at the airport before taking a bus with our bikes still in boxes to the City Campground. We assembled our bikes and paid $30 each to store our boxes at the campground for the duration of our trip, then set out to a local grocery store to load up on supplies. We were told Iceland is very expensive, but coming from Alaska we found the food prices to be very reasonable, the difference being the produce here isn't half rotten when it gets put on the shelves like it is at home. The next morning we loaded up our bikes, road to the main bus station at Mjodd, and boarded a bus to take us to Selfoss on the South coast to begin our journey.
Selfoss is the largest town in the South Iceland with almost 7,000 people. At first glance there's not much going on, but we found a nice little path to walk along the Olfusa river, which is the most volumnous river in Iceland, but only 14 miles long. The bank of the river is an old lava flow, and its pockmarked with perfectly round little holes caused by gas bubbles in the lava. Steve stood in one and it cam up to his waist, and was about the diameter of his wingspan.
The next morning we awoke to heavy rain and forecasted 20mph winds, and it turns out we had come to the South in the midst of a terrible gale that was predicted to last for days. Sections of the road further down were under a travel advisory even for cars, but the short section we planned on riding to Hella seemed in better shape so we loaded up our bikes and took our chances. It took over an hour to go just 6 miles, pedaling hard into a headwind even downhill, covering 25 miles took all day. Strong gusts would catch us by surprise, causing us to swerve towards the edge of the road. Despite the challenges we were in relatively high spirits, and our rain gear kept us reasonably dry and fairly warm. Steve got a flat halfway through the day that we aired up several times before a break in the weather gave us the opportunity to change it. Turns out the tube had torn at the base of the valve stem, but we had picked up two spare tubes in Reykjavik so we were ok. The wind really picked up for our last two miles into Hella, and it was so strong we struggled to even push our bikes over the bridge into town.
The next morning we awoke to heavy rain and forecasted 20mph winds, and it turns out we had come to the South in the midst of a terrible gale that was predicted to last for days. Sections of the road further down were under a travel advisory even for cars, but the short section we planned on riding to Hella seemed in better shape so we loaded up our bikes and took our chances. It took over an hour to go just 6 miles, pedaling hard into a headwind even downhill, covering 25 miles took all day. Strong gusts would catch us by surprise, causing us to swerve towards the edge of the road. Despite the challenges we were in relatively high spirits, and our rain gear kept us reasonably dry and fairly warm. Steve got a flat halfway through the day that we aired up several times before a break in the weather gave us the opportunity to change it. Turns out the tube had torn at the base of the valve stem, but we had picked up two spare tubes in Reykjavik so we were ok. The wind really picked up for our last two miles into Hella, and it was so strong we struggled to even push our bikes over the bridge into town.
We woke up the morning of September 24th with some big decisions to make. The forecast for the next two weeks in the South showed heavy rains, dangerous gusting winds up to 60mph and a significant chance of misery on the bikes. After fighting the headwind at the end of the day we realized we had little chance of making much progress and we wouldn't be seeing any of the sights through the rain. We debated taking a bus all the way to Hofn, on the East coast in hopes of turning the headwind into a tailwind, and riding back towards Selfoss, but realized there was no way to guarantee the wind wouldn't change direction. After checking the weather all over the country we decided to abandon the South and take a bus back through Reykjavik to Borgarnes, just North of the city, to try our luck on the North West section of the ring road.
| | Things went much better for us in the West. We rode over 50k the first day, even though we took our time, made camp early and stopped to take a million pictures along the way. The terrain was hilly, but not impossible and there seemed to be an almost equal downhill for every uphill. The weather was also much more manageable, overcast with occasional showers and a moderate breeze at our back. Along our route we stopped at a picnic spot in a tiny forest (trees are rare here) for second breakfast, and stopped shortly after to fly our drone over a stream running through a beautiful canyon. |
Fish drying by the ocean in Hvammstangi We began the morning riding through rocky fields with big mountains in the distance, but by late morning the landscape had changed to black lava fields with bright green moss growing on the rocks. We stopped in Bifrost for provisions and went on a short hike just outside of town to the rim of an old volcanic crater where we ran into friends of Steve's on their honeymoon as well (small world!). About 20 minutes past the crater the scenery changed again and everything began to look a bit prairie-like with golden grasses and rolling hills and lots of little streams and waterfalls. The road wound next to a small river and we made camp on a plateau just off the road.
On September 26 we had another successful day covering lots of ground. It had been incredibly windy and our campsite the night before, making us grateful for our expedition-grade tent, but it had blown itself out by morning and dried out our wet gear as well. We started the day with a short downhill followed by four big hills with short plateaus in between. The final hill was an 8% grade, but although it was difficult neither of us needed our lowest gear and we were rewarded with a nice long downhill stretch into Hunaping Vestra. After a stop at the gas station for one of the famous Icelandic hot dogs we got back on the road. There was another smaller climb out of the valley and then rolling hills along a high plateau with beautiful views of the ocean and mountains in the distance. We turned off the ring road for a 6k detour to Hvammstangi, a town of around 500 people right on the water and stayed at the local campsite with a great view of a waterfall.
On September 26 we had another successful day covering lots of ground. It had been incredibly windy and our campsite the night before, making us grateful for our expedition-grade tent, but it had blown itself out by morning and dried out our wet gear as well. We started the day with a short downhill followed by four big hills with short plateaus in between. The final hill was an 8% grade, but although it was difficult neither of us needed our lowest gear and we were rewarded with a nice long downhill stretch into Hunaping Vestra. After a stop at the gas station for one of the famous Icelandic hot dogs we got back on the road. There was another smaller climb out of the valley and then rolling hills along a high plateau with beautiful views of the ocean and mountains in the distance. We turned off the ring road for a 6k detour to Hvammstangi, a town of around 500 people right on the water and stayed at the local campsite with a great view of a waterfall.
The next day we managed another 50+ kilometers to the town of Blonduos. We visited the Seal museum in Hvammstangi in the morning, so we got on the road late and the 6k back to the ring road was mostly uphill and partly into the wind but by the time we got to the highway we felt pretty good. The route was mostly rolling hills through grasslands full of sheep. There were huge mountains to our right and the ocean to our left for much of the way, and it was a beautiful ride. The wind was light and behind us most of the day with light rain off and on and temperatures between 45-55 degrees. We stayed the night at the campground in Blonduos and splurged on dinner at a restaurant...significantly more expensive than cooking for ourselves.
September 28th was a really grueling and slightly dangerous day that ended up changing everything for us. We woke to a fairly steady rain, but no major wind. In fact, it was the first calm night we had experienced as the excess condensation in our tent proved. The ride started with a moderate but short climb out of town followed by some rolling hills that felt harder than than they should have because we weren't warmed up. The temperature started around 38 degrees, but combined with the rain it made it too cold to stop for more than a few seconds. It was raining where we were, but just a few hundred feet above us on the mountains it was already snowing. We felt warm enough while riding, but our hands were rarely comfortable as our "waterproof" gloves did not perform as advertised.
About an hour into the ride we reached a long sustained climb out of the valley we were in and over a low mountain range. It took over an hour and a half of hard pedaling in our lowest gear to conquer the hill without any rest breaks, and by the time we got to the summit we were both drenched in sweat. The rain had turned to wet snow and without the exertion of pedaling uphill we both cooled off rapidly on the descent, making it miserably cold. We made a beeline for the gas station in Varmahlid to warm up and it took over an hour for us to both stop shaking. We bought two burger meals for $17 each and tried to look at things objectively.
About an hour into the ride we reached a long sustained climb out of the valley we were in and over a low mountain range. It took over an hour and a half of hard pedaling in our lowest gear to conquer the hill without any rest breaks, and by the time we got to the summit we were both drenched in sweat. The rain had turned to wet snow and without the exertion of pedaling uphill we both cooled off rapidly on the descent, making it miserably cold. We made a beeline for the gas station in Varmahlid to warm up and it took over an hour for us to both stop shaking. We bought two burger meals for $17 each and tried to look at things objectively.
There's a certain amount of pride and stubbornness that comes along with cycle touring, and neither of us liked the idea of giving it up, but we didn't want our pride to stand in the way of enjoying our experience. We spent several hours going over weather reports, potential routes, financial costs and emotional happiness and came to the conclusion that cycle touring was not going to be the best choice for us this time in Iceland. Despite making fairly decent progress on our bikes we were missing out on so much. Everything that was advertised as "in" a town, or "on" the Ring Road is in fact a 10-25 kilometer detour one way. In the conditions we had experienced that could easily mean spending ALL DAY to take a few pictures of one waterfall, biking over gravel roads and extreme hills to get there. We were constantly missing out on places and experiences because we needed to move on before the weather got too bad. We were also spending quite a bit of money on food at places like gas stations, not to mention bus fares to avoid busy sections of road where cycling is discouraged. Looking ahead we had a two-day minimum ride to Akureyri, and another too-dangerous-to-ride section after that. With no major attractions on our way and nothing being close enough to the ring road to get to in the foreseeable future on our route we decided to bus back to Reykjavik to rent a car.
We found out we could rent a small car for $30 a day, which would be less than what we just paid for the two hamburgers we had to eat because we were too cold and exhausted to cook. In the long run, we would be able to save money, see more and be less miserable and so we put our bikes on a bus one last time and paid $45 each to get back to Reykjavik. We arrived in Mjodd at 1130 pm and made one final bike ride back to the city campground. We were sorry to end our cycling tour earlier than expected, but after careful consideration we both decided we were making the right call. We don't know if we'll ever get back to Iceland, and we don't want to leave feeling like we missed it. In hindsight it would have been better to plan a very thorough bike trip through just a small section of the country, giving us time to make all of the detours and get to know an area really well. Who knows, maybe some day we'll come back and do just that!
We found out we could rent a small car for $30 a day, which would be less than what we just paid for the two hamburgers we had to eat because we were too cold and exhausted to cook. In the long run, we would be able to save money, see more and be less miserable and so we put our bikes on a bus one last time and paid $45 each to get back to Reykjavik. We arrived in Mjodd at 1130 pm and made one final bike ride back to the city campground. We were sorry to end our cycling tour earlier than expected, but after careful consideration we both decided we were making the right call. We don't know if we'll ever get back to Iceland, and we don't want to leave feeling like we missed it. In hindsight it would have been better to plan a very thorough bike trip through just a small section of the country, giving us time to make all of the detours and get to know an area really well. Who knows, maybe some day we'll come back and do just that!
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