Iceland - Day 6
After my day in Reykjavik the weather looked pretty bad so I had a decision to make.
After the day riding into the high winds I was paying much closer attention to the weather forecasts and before I left Reykjavik I was keeping an eye on the Icelandic Met Office, especially on the wind forecast.
The original plan today was to ride via the Golden Circle and some of the E roads down to around Vík, a small village on the coast of south Iceland, just to the south of Mýrdalsjökull glacier which covers the Katla volcano. This is also the location of Eyjafjallajökull, the stratovolcano famous for its massive 2010 eruption which grounded aircraft all over the world due to the dust clouds it released. Today the weather forecast looked relatively calm and the winds were in the direction I was going to be riding.
However over breakfast when checking the weather forecast for the next day I knew needed to change plans. On Wednesday it looked like very high winds would be hitting the south east coast in exactly the area I was going to be riding, frim Vík to the Múlaþing area in eastern Iceland, to the port for my ferry back to Denmark.
The rain also was forecast to be pretty intense, focused on the area I’d be riding through.
To be honest I was worried about the weather coming in. After riding in high winds the other day I couldn’t do another day of that, so I knew I had to make a big effort and get to the east today and get camped up in the lee of some mountains for the next day. Even if it meant I’d get to the port town of Seyðisfjörður for the ferry a day earlier, it was worth it to avoid the predicted wind gusting at 14/15 metres per second—a near gale!
So instead of stopping in the south I decided I had to ride the 600km or so from Reykjavik to Fossardalur Campsite in Djupivogur, and I also had to skip going to the Golden Circle. That was ok by me as I had been warned that those areas are very busy with tourists, plus I was already planning on coming back to Iceland again so I didn’t feel like I had to do everything this trip. So I set off, rain oversuit on, onto the rainy highway.
Although it was raining and windy it wasn’t too bad but I stopped in Selfoss, 50km from my starting point, to put on another layer. After I’d added another warm layer the riding then was pretty comfortable and I made good progress. Shortly I passed by a hotel in Hella which I’d actually had a booking in for 2020, and then 2021. My plan was to visit Iceland back then and I even had a flight and hotels booked, although the events of 2020, and the continuing events of 2021 meant that trip didn’t happen. But it was fun to see where I would have stayed, nevertheless.
Hugging the coast I made good progress to Vík and stopped for some food, although I didn’t stay long as I was keen to press on.
My misunderstanding of Iceland was that the north would be the more mountainous area but the south more flat, I think because of UK geography being like that, but the south is incredible! Following the flowing roads along the coast at the feet of huge mountains and glaciers was absolutely breathtaking! The Vatnajökull National Park is absolutely staggeringly beautiful, although again I was making progress today and so didn’t stop a lot. But to experience the view from my motorbike was enough!
As I was getting a little cold again I stopped in a little hostel/café in Svínafell, with views across at the Svínafellsjökull Glacier. There I bumped into a couple who were on the same ferry as me and who I’d seen a couple of times on the road that week. We chatted and exchanged experiences of the previous couple of days. All of us bikers shared the same experience of that wind and it as very much a shared experience. The couple were planning on staying in a hotel in Höfn in the south east that night, around 120km west of the campsite I was planning on staying. They had a hotel booked so stayed there but I was worried about the wind and we chatted about that a bit. They had two days to get to the ferry so didn’t need to rush and would try to wait the weather out a little.
Heading off again I soon passed by Diamond Beach, so named because of the chunks of ice washed down from the glacier, which was incredible to see. I had planned to stop here but it was quite busy, now early afternoon, and also my old friend the wind was picking up again. So instead of stopping and walking around I took a look from the bike and then pressed on. I didn’t take any photos but there are many photos of this place so I didn’t feel bad. It as enough to be there and experience the place.
Eventually I arrived at Höfn and decided to stop there for a coffee because, again, the wind was strong. Being buffeted around is pretty tiring and the wind from the North Atlantic is biting. But a coffee there and a quick stop in a mini-market for some supplies for the night was a good idea.
The 120km from Höfn to my campsite took me along some absolutely beautiful roads, at the feet of the southern mountains. A ribbon of tarmac with a drop into the sea to one side and a vast landscape to the other. What an incredible place! However even today the wind was strong and I was very glad to be making good progress before the heavier weather came in the next day.
Closer to my campsite for the night I saw a lone cyclist and was really impressed, being only the second cyclist I’d seen in the last few days. As I passed I realised it was the same cyclist I’d passed by when up near Dettifoss and she was making good progress around the country. It’s tough and sketchy on a motorcycle but must be absolutely brutal on a bicycle in the winds.
By this point I was aching and looking forward to getting to my campsite so I pushed on, light starting to fade over the mountaintops. Turning onto the winding gravel road which would take me to Fossardalur Campsite I arrived at a lovely spot nestled into a valley next to a waterfall. There wasn’t a lot of space to pitch tents as the rain had been pretty heavy over the last few days and the ground pretty soggy, but I found a nice spot next to a stream which I expected would stay dry as any water there would be soaked away into the stream rather than sitting on the surface.
I made a cup of tea and had a dehydrated meal and desert and headed to my tent with a hot chocolate. It was already around 9pm and I was tired after a long day and the sound of the waterfall and stream put me to sleep almost instantly.
Stage Distance: 570km
Overall Distance: 1620km
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