The Wheels of Chance

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

There aren’t any services on NR1 between Modhrudalur and Myvatn. At the suspension bridge half way between you can go a few Kms to Grimstadir, but I don’t know what’s there.

Leaving Modhrudalur there’s 8km of good gravel road to NR1. Turning left towards Myvatn there’s an immediate steep climb. The road is then basically flat until a steep climb at 55km and as you come over the top you will see enormous valley below with a white suspension bridge in the distance. 12km of easy pedalling will get you to the bridge and the turn off to Grimstadir and Dentifoss. 30km further of flat road through lava field and the grass lands until you come to the brown yellow Myvantan hills. There are vents and thermal mud pools just before a short but steep climb followed by a down hill to Lake Myvatn

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

I rented a car from Egillstadir Airport and will drop it off in Reykjavik so I drove this route. But here are is a description and some pictures anyway.

Make sure you stock up on food as there are very limited services form Egilsstadir to Lake Myvatan. Leaving Egilsstadir on NR1 north the road rises gently for 24 kms until it goes down a steep hill to a bridge. Over the bridge 28km of further gentle climbing up the valley gets you to the guest house and restaurant of Skjoldolfstadaskoll. This is a good place to stay the night or eat and stock up on candy bars. The surroundings are moorland.

Right past the guest house there is a 5km steep climb up to a dry high plateau and another 5km gets you to the 901 turn off to Modrudalur. This road is very rough gravel with washboarding and has rolling hills. When I say rough gravel I mean it, there are pretty big rocks in the road and it doesn’t get enough traffic to flatten the gravel down much. At 15 km there is a narrow bridge followed by a steep climb. At 25km you’ll pass across a wide valley and then climb steeply out and pass through close hills and come to a viewing spot looking down into Modrudalur valley. It’s 10% down hill into valley and 3 km to Modrudalar. Small black flys are numerous ( mid July) and are annoying. Spectacular views of dry lava fields.

If you continue on NR1, rather than taking 901, you’ll ride on 20km of flat road until the junction with rt 85. Then 6 kms of moderate climbing out of a valley. The road is flat until it descends for 5kms into Modrudalur valley. At 40kms you’ll come to the junction with road to Modrudalur which is 8kms down a good gravel road.

The farm at Modrudalur has excellent facilities: good campsite, guesthouse sleeping bag accommodation or made up beds, a cafe that stays open to 10pm or longer if you are buying stuff. Cafe has usual soup, beer, coffee and you can order dinner too. I had lamb fillet. Also serves breakfast. Wifi is 500kr for unlimited time.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Yesterday the bus from Berunes dropped me in the center of Egilsstadir a but too early to check in at my hotel so I found a coffee shop with wifi. The Cafe Valny is nicely funky and specializes in herbal tea, but has everything else including beer. Around 4 I checked in at the hotel Herad which is really nice. The decore is Scandinavian, but it’s run in a bit of a stuffy way. There are 4 British channels on the TV along with France 24 and the Chinese CCTV both of which are also in English. Also half of the programs on the Icelandic channels are in English with Icelandic subtitles. I think this is part of the reason the Icelanders are such god English speakers.

I took the path of least resistance and had dinner in the hotel which turned out to be the best meal so far. Sea food soup with langoustines, mussels and scallops in a curried broth, lamb fillet with wild Icelandic mushrooms and root vegetables and Skyr souffle.

On Sunday morning the breakfast was equally good, I particularly liked the lamb pate and smoked fish with turned out to taste like strong kippers, so I had seconds of those. I decided to work off the food with a bike ride. So leaving most of my gear in my room I set off to climb the 25kms to the bridge north of Egilsstadir. The climb is gentle, but it was cold enough to require a balaclava again and all the time I was looking forward to the down hill ride back.

The bridge was at the bottom of a long steep down hill and I swept down it to take some pictures of the small gorge at the bottom. I rested, ate a biscuit and started back up the hill in a low gear. But without my gear on the back of the bike it felt lively and a few mins of spinning in a nice low gear got me to the top and then it was almost all downhill back to Egilsstadir. A wonderful 45 mins saw me back in town.

The forecast for the next few days is for sun, with some wind, but cold temps in the mountains where was planning to ride. Along with the remoteness of the north and my basically tired legs and mental exhaustion I’ve made the decision to rent a car for the weeks journey back to Reykjavik. It feels like a defeat, but I’m still happy to have made it to Egilsstadir. The first few days of really bad weather took it out of me along with the need to keep to a definite schedule. I rode on a couple of days when I should have waited for better conditions and that put me only heels. So Iceland has won, but I put up a fight.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Amusement park ride or bus ride, I’m not sure:

Breakfast at Berunes is excellent. All the usual plus pancakes. Not the thick fluffy american kind, but the thin crepe kind that you get on Shrove Tuesday in England, or served table side doused in orange and cognac. No cognac with these though, but the jam, butter and syrup did just as well.

Over breakfast I heard mutterings about some trouble with the road in he south. A 5 meter wave of water had come down the Sandur just east of Vik and knocked out a bridge. There had been a small eruption of Katla and NR1 would be closed for a few days and the traffic was being redirected inland on one of the secondary roads. This would mean crossing a few river fords. Man, I was going across that just a few days ago. You can never take Iceland for granted.

I wend down the track from the hostel to the ring road and waited for the 10:30 bus. There was a strong wind blowing the way I was going, but I was committed to the bus. When it came I was surprised to see that the bus was one of the big white ones I’d already used from Vik. Was this really going to go over the mountain switch backs to Egilsstadir? Well apparently it was. The bus driver helped me load my bike and I got on the bus. It was nice to be out of the chilly wind and in the bustle of the bus. I could hear French and German being spoken. I think the bus is mostly for tourists as I’ve yet to hear Icelandic being spoken between passengers. The bus stopped briefly out side the hotel in the center of Breiddslavik, not the N1 station around the corner, and then started up the valley to Egilsstadir. The road rose gently and the valley widened out on both sides. After a narrow bridge the road kicked up steeply and the Tarmac came to an end. I thought that this would make the driver slow down. Not a bit or it. 90km wasn’t the speed limit it appeared to be the required speed. The bus hurried down the dirt track over taking a couple of cars on the way and making clouds of dust. The head of the valley came closer and I saw the road take off into the sky. The bus slowed down now and the engine struggled up the first incline. We passed a cyclist who was pushing on the very first slope. I felt sorry for him and a mixture of gladness and guilt that I wasn’t doing what he was doing. Then I felt sickness, this bus driver was insane, he threw the bus around the 180 degree turns up the mountain in a vomit inducing way. We climbed up from the valley floor quickly, but after 5 of these turns followed by long steep climbs I was longing for the top. I was glad not to be cycling as I could only imagine what it would be like riding up this road. I got a final glimpse of the poor cyclist way down below and still pushing as we popped up onto the top. We passed a small emergency hut and then the scary bit started, the 12% downhill. More being thrown around in the seat as the bus went around the switchbacks and at last the road straightened out and we resumed the 90km/h dash to Egilsstadir.

The road to Egilsstadir is pretty flat there’s a hydro electric plant half way and fir trees have been planted giving the place a vaguely Scottish fell to me. I’m now in the Cafe Valny in Egilsstadir and I’m thinking of renting a car for the final week. There’s an airport here and I can easily get a car and leave it in Reykjavik. I’ll sleep on it.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

I slept well after yesterday’s exertions and ate a breakfast of flat bread, cheese and chocolate biscuits. The road was flat and there were lots of ewes and lambs grazing in the fields. Each ewe has 2 lambs and they follow their mum nose to tail. I wonder if the same lamb always gets to be closest to mum, or if its random. About 2 hours into the morning the shoreline ran out and the road had to cling to the side of a very unstable looking scree slope. The road also went up pretty steeply in the hardest climb since just before Vik. To my right was a guard rail and then it was straight down to the waves crashing on the rocks. Spectacular, yes, but scary too. I kept my ears open for cars coming from behind as I had nowhere to go if one came too close. I stopped to rest at a parking area at the top of the climb and then saw that the road repeated itself around the next bluff. I crawled up the second hill and then enjoyed the down hill which is when I noticed just how cold it had got. At the bottom I bundled up in an extra wool jersey, balaclava and gloves. The sun was actually shining quite brightly, but the wind was picking up as were the frequency of the hills. I stopped for a mid morning biscuit and doritos snack. After a couple of long straight sections that were punctuated by narrow bridges ( Icelanders haven’t grasped the concept of the 2 lane bridge yet and most are single lane and cars have to wait if something is approaching from the other side) the road turned into a roller coaster with some particularly steep sections where I went through the gears, then got out of the saddle and finally gave up and pushed. It was cold, hilly and that East wind was back. I was miserable. I struggled into Djupivogur after 5 hours on the road.

I ate lunch in the hotel Framlid and weighed up my options. I considered staying at the hotel, but the sun was shinning outside and it wasn’t as if I’d be pushed for light so I set off again to do the final 40 kms to Berunes. I could actually see the hostel from Djupivogur harbour across the water and it was probably only a couple of kms away. But the road went deep up a bay and down on the other side. I set off with the idea that I could always turn back if it was all too difficult. But as soon as I got into the bay the wind completely stopped and it warmed up noticeably. The bay was beautifully sheltered and things got good again until the tarmac ended towards the top of the bay and the hills came back. But I could deal with those and got to the hostel in reasonable order.

The Berunes hostel is great…..it has a bar! It’s really cute too with clean rooms and very friendly proprietors. This would be a hit with the better half of any couple and the view is amazing now that the sun has come out at around 7 pm.

But the last few days have hurt and I’m continually amazed by the geographical and temporal micro-climates of Iceland. You can get 4 seasons in a single day here. The hostel has a relief map of Iceland on the wall and tomorrow is a long day with lots of climbing and after today I think I’ll play it safe and take the bus to Egilsstadir and regroup.

Scary bit of road along the cliffs

Djupivogur Harbour

Between Djupivogur and Berunes the road turns to gravel

Berunes Hostel

The final climb of the day!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Hali buffet dinner is great. I was in reception at 6 to start noshing and went down the line of smoked fish, flat bread with smoked lamb and lamb mouse and various types of potatoes and salad. By the time I went back for more roast lamb had appeared and the serving girl proceeded to cut me two of the most enormous slices I’d ever seen. I only took one as two would have been ridiculous, you eat it with a sweet and sour rhubarb jam which was really good. I had rhubarb fool for dessert and used the free to guests wifi in reception for a while and then went down the hill to my room and slept well with a full very belly.

I woke to something unfamiliar; a hint of blue in the sky, but by the time I went over to reception clouds had come down the sides o the hills behind the guesthouse and the blue sky had gone. The flags were telling their familiarly depressing tale of winds from the east too.

Breakfast was included in the cost of the room so I loaded up on that for the day ahead. The breakfast was the now familiar meat cheese, cucumber and tomatoes with toast and jam and I went back for seconds a couple of times to fuel me for the ride to Hofn ( pronounced Hup). I also down loaded a couple of BBC Radio4 podcasts to keep the brain cells ticking over. The thing I’m finding the hardest here is the isolation. There aren’t many cars and certainly no people to wave to and the landscape is forbidding. But the ride to Hofn proved to be very pleasant. On both sides of the road were green fields and farms. There are also a couple of hotels and places to camp making this the nicest section of the road since Selfoss. There were snow covered mountains in the distance, but seeing some green fields was very welcome. The wind was still around, but it couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. It would get bored being a tail wind and become a side wind for a while before it gave up on that too and blew in my face. Still, the best riding so far and I got to Hofn in good time for lunch.

Hofn is a bustling little harbour town with all the facilities you could want. There’s a good market in the mall and a couple of restaurants that specialize in langoustines. I sprang for a meal downtown and then bought food for the couple of days ride it would be to the next store and hung around before starting for Stafafell. I was reluctant to leave this little bit of civilization behind.

Just after Hofn there is a nasty tunnel. The approach is up hill and there isn’t much of a shoulder.Inside, the tunnel was lit by a string of amber lights hanging from the roof. The walls were rough and jagged almost as if the Dwarves had just finished cutting them with their pick axes and I peddled hard to get through it as fast as possible before any other traffic came along. It was pretty scary. Coming out of the other side it really seemed as if i was pedalling into Mordor. The road swept down across the sands and gravel between two bluffs and I could see more towering bluffs out to the horizon. I zeroed out my cycling computer so I could count off the distance. Thirty kms and a couple of river crossings an I gratefully came to Stafafell. There was nobody around so I made my self at home in the ramshackle guest house which was open, doors don’t often get locked out here. Eventually someone arrived and showed me to my room. If you like funky Stafafell is ok, but if you want mod cons give it a miss. I can see that as a student or for a young couple it would be charming, but if the husband of a middle aged couple booked this place it would be the bane of his existence to the grave……..for me it was good. Cooking facilities, a bed and a shower, it fit the bill nicely.

Lamb and local thyme flavoured beer. The Hali buffet is great and as a cyclist the "all you can eat" feature is great.

Hofn harbour

The small mall in Hofn is the last chance to stock up on food for a couple of days.

Stafafel, not exactly the Hilton, but definitely an experience

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Hovll is a modern hostel with good facilities, but it lacks atmosphere and warmth. It’s a bit institutional and there’s no wifi. Still it’s a good place to stay with excellent kitchens and bathrooms and does an ok breakfast in the owners small bungalow which is separate from the hostel.

I set off into a damp chilly morning with low clouds, but for the first time I had the hint of a tail wind. I quickly came to the Sandur. It stretched out to the sky and looked enormous. I started out avoiding the damp volcanic ash that was still on the side of the road. The road only varied from the flat at the small bridges that spanned the rivers that flow across the Sandur. After 3 hours of pedalling I came to the mountains of the Skaftafell Park. I turned into the rest area and took a bathroom break and ate in the small cafe.

Only a km or so down the road is the Skaftafell Hotel and there’s a gas station with a small shop opposite so that’s another food option. The cycling was good and the weather had warmed up, there was even a little bit of blue sky. I climbed a small hill and turned left around the southern most point of the National Park and started heading for jorkulson. On my left ash covered tongues of the glacier flowed down the valleys and I stopped to take a couple of pictures. By late afternoon I was feeling the miles and I was glad to cross the small suspension bridge at the mouth of the Jorkelson lagoon and turn into the car park which was full of cars and buses. I was more interested in the cafe and toilet than the amazing chunks of ice floating in the water, but I took a couple if pictures anyway. More food and coffee and filling of water bottles and a rest before the final few kms to Hali Guesthouse. It was cold back on the bike and the flags that I passed showed that the wind was again coming from the East, but Hali came along sooner than I thought and I checked in at the book themed reception. A good day, but man this place is lonely and there’s little relief from the monotony of the road. They are long and straight and I’m looking forward to the twists of The Eastern Fjords.

Hali is a working farm and I’m in a guest house that has the feel of one of the better hostels. My room is small but clean and has shares a bathroom. There’s a kitchen and sitting room with a TV that seems to show only “white noise”, but the big leather sofas are comfy and You can read about Hali’s famous literary son Thorbergur Thordarson.

Hovll Hostel

Hali

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The wind howled around the hostel all last night and I was glad to be inside. When I woke up it was still blowing a gale and of course it was coming from the East. I made the executive decision to take the bus.

The Vik Hostel is a little frayed around the edges, but it’s clean and comfortable and the staff are friendly. If you stay there cough up the 1300 kr for breakfast which is excellent consisting of waffles, boils eggs from the hostels own chickens, home made bread and jam as well as the usual cold meet, smoked fish and cheese. My fellow hostelers are British, French and German students, a French family with young kids and a German couple who must be over 70. No cyclists though!

After breakfast I hung out in the lobby to use the wifi, then rode around Vik, which took about 2 mins, went down to the black sand beach and ended up at the N1 gas station to wait for the bus. The gas station sign showed the temp as 9c. I bought a soda and settled in to listen to some more of my “Jeeves and Wooster” audiobook. Two hours later the bus arrived.

The road from Vik to KirkbKlauster is pretty flat and starts out passing over a sea of lupines. They are blue and stretch to the horizon so they actually sometimes look like water. This place continues to remind me of the North Yorkshire Moors. True they don’t have moss covered lava or spectacular waterfalls, but the exposed bleakness is similar. A swift hour and we stopped at the ‘klauster N1 gas station and then on to the Hvoll Hostel. Of course by the time we arrived the wind had stopped and the clouds were starting to lift. I got the bike setup and rode the mile or so down the gravel road to the hostel. The road was actually more gravel than road and my wheels began to crackle and ping as I went over the rocks and stones.

Vik Hostel

No shoes allowed inside the Hostel

Waiting for the Sterna bus at the N1 gas station in Vik

Feeding lambs at the Hovll Hostel

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »