Iceland - Day 4
On day 4 in Iceland I experienced the strongest winds I’ve ever had to ride in!
The day started quite calmly as I packed up and left Hellissandur Camping after a very comfortable night camping in the lava field which was really nice and sheltered. There was a little bit of wind when I was setting off but nothing extreme…for now. The plan for today was to end up in Reykjavik where I had a hotel booked for two nights and on the way visit the location of The Horns motorcycle gang from the Icelandic TV series Ófærð (Trapped). This is along Hvalfjörður fjord to the north of Reykjavik. The planned distance today was a little under 300km.
Having decided to visit the western tip of the peninsula to see Djúpalónssandur Beach, Saxhóll Crater, and Malarrif Lighthouse I rolled out west and noticed there was a bit more wind today—but it was ok. Slightly gusty maybe but by the time I got to Malarrif Lighthouse [1] it was calm, still, and good riding in the lee of Snæfellsjökull.
After stopping for a while to see the lava field I jumped back on my bike to make my way down the road towards route 54. I could have taken this route directly from Hellissandur although I wanted to loop around the end of the peninsula. The road was really beautiful along the coast but at this point I started to feel the first gusts of really strong wind. This was to get much worse.
Each day I was keeping some notes about what I did which were often quite detailed. Today though my notes were simply:
- Hell
- Soup
- Hell
By the time I rounded the end of the peninsula to the south the crosswind was getting really strong. My bike was leaning over into the wind and I had to brace my arm into my side and pull hard on the other bar to fight to keep my bike on the road. To be honest it was pretty terrifying. The road is very exposed with just a mountain, a vast plain, and then the road. No shelter at all. The wind was tearing down the side of the mountains and blasting into me. Instead of riding at 90kph at points I was riding at 30/40kph and battling to avoid going off the road. Honestly if there were any other options I would have taken them because this was horrendous!
At one point I was going so slowly that I put my hazzard warning lights on as the occasional car might not have realised I was going so slowly and wiggling around the road in a desperate attempt to stay on line. The wind also pushed the cold through every single tiny gap in my clothes and I was getting colder and colder. There also was no shelter anywhere. No trees, no hills, nothing. Just a vast open space with wind.
Eventually I saw a large wooden building hove into view and I decided to stop for a few moments in the lee of the building to have a bit of a break from the wind. Pulling alongside the building [2] I realise it was actually a little café which I was delighted about! I made sure the bike was parked safely so it didn’t get blown over and went inside, probably looking shell-shocked and cold! Thankfully they were lovely and I ordered a coffee, soup, and some cake.
Warming up again I decided to push on towards Reykjavik but I was dreading the rest of the ride. I still had 150km to ride even with a shortened route as I’d decided to not visit The Horns location today due to the weather. But every single metre was a battle today.
Eventually I turned slightly south to head down the 54 towards Reykjavik which helped a little bit but the wind was still really strong. Really on the limit of what’s safe. But I had to get to Reykjavik today as that was where I was staying so I battled on.
Picking up route 1 from Borgarnes I re-fulled and by this point it was also throwing water from the sky. It wasn’t rain, it was water dumping from the sky and being blasted at me. Thankfully the crossing of Hvalfjörður is via the Hvalfjörður Tunnel so I had some respite from the wind and rain and, as I passed through this long tunnel, I remembered what it was like to be able to ride a bike without the battering wind!
Looping around the coast via Mosfellsbær it was getting worse and worse, also due to having to be more careful around the traffic which was starting to build in this area, closer to the city. I pulled in behind another building to get a few minutes shelter and then pushed on again. Thankfully as I approached Reykjavik I started to find some shelter from the city and eventually I was pulling into the hotel carpark and the ordeal was over.
Never in my life was I so happy to see a shower and a bed—I was bitterly exhausted and cold. Although, it was still an adventure, despite the really tough day, and I’d made it to the hotel I was spending two nights in with one full day in Reykjavik. After having a shower I relaxed in my room for a little while before heading out for a lovely meal. Tomorrow I was just going to potter around town and see the sights and my bike was safe in the warm hotel garage.
Later, on the ferry from Iceland back to Denmark, I was to chat to one of the bikers I met on the way over. He told me that on the same day he was riding in a group but was actually blown off his bike in the wind. It took 5 of them to push the bike back up into the wind and hold it steady for him to get back on again and keep riding. The wind really was no joke at all and I’d been worried about this, being a solo traveller. This concern was to influence my plans for the rest of the trip.
Stage Distance: 230km
Overall Distance: 1050km
Prev: Iceland - Day 3
Next: Iceland - Day 5