We wanted to do something off the beaten track. After having met in the US on a cycling trip, Steve and I had always planned to spend another cycling holiday together. Certainly not an organized one and Iceland was only one possible destination (where can you go to if you have only got two weeks?).
So we met in London on a warm and stormy Friday afternoon in early June and flew to Iceland the next morning. The first small difficulty arose at check-in at Heathrow airport, when we learned that the airlines in their efforts to become more efficient had cancelled the perfect bike boxes and use now only plastic bags. Everybody who has ever profited from these huge cardboard garages knows the advantages: not only that they protect your bike to the maximum possible extent, they also hold all excess luggage and allow you to travel easily with only one pannier (for all heavy equipment) and hand luggage. Since these helpers were now out of service, we had to stuff our bikes in the plastic bags, wrap cloths around the most vulnerable parts and pray that the airline workers will not mistreat them. Luckily we were allowed as many pieces of luggage as we wanted, so at least we did not have to mess around with repacking panniers at the airport. Surprising enough: we were not the only cyclists on the way to Iceland: there were at least 5 bikes on the plane.
It was a quiet flight. The clouds cleared up just in time to allow for a first glimpse at 'our' island. It is pretty impressive to see the huge glaciers from the air. Touch down was not so smooth but we could not blame the Icelandair pilot. I felt slightly uneasy when Steve - he was sitting next to the window - reported that it looked like the wing would hit the ground before the rest of the aircraft. Of course we had a safe landing, but as an infrequent flyer I am just not used to landing in heavy cross winds. And this wind was really strong. Luckily all our luggage arrived; my bike in a good shape, Steve's with damaged handlebar-extensions, but still rideable. Another cyclist was not so happy, all his luggage, including tools and camping equipment, was lost. He could spend a night in a hotel on Icelandair's costs, but I bet he'd rather cycle with us to Reykjavik than having a comfortable hotel-night spoiled by the uncertainty of the rest of his vacations.
In the cosy airport hall we had already forgotten about the wind outside, in fact, the weather looked fine and we were eager to set foot on Icelandic soil. Everything looked easy from inside: sunny and not too cold, so lets go! Reality is often brutal. We had expected an easy afternoon ride to the city of Reykjavik, 45 km away from the airport. In fact, it took us five and a half hours to get there, and there is not a single hill or any other obstacle noticeable on this road: it's only the wind! This wind was the worst we have ever been cycling in and we have already done a lot of biking. Even Icelanders said that we had picked a particularly bad day for arrival, as far as the wind was concerned. As a cross wind, we could hardly pedal since the pedals would always touch the ground, as a headwind it was like a really steep and never ending hill. As a tailwind it would have been great, but this experience we never had.
Additionally of course the wind was not very steady what forces you into strange curves and bends and zigzag. This sure is only a problem if you have to share the road with heavy motorised traffic. About the most dangerous situation probably is when you are passed by a truck, followed by a second one. Once the first one protects you no longer from the wind you are forced into a sharp bend in order to maintain equilibrium, what cannot be expected neither by the first nor by the second truck. Pray that they do not overtake too close.... To sum it all up, Steve and I somehow managed to avoid running into all cars and I was blown off the road only once - never mind, no blood no fun! Certainly after the first 10 km it was everything but fun! We had a short break on a supermarket next to the road to stock us with the most important supplies, especially food, and some stops due to exhaustion. We both agreed on not camping but going to the youth hostel for the night. At almost 22 00 h we arrived, more than tired, and almost lacking the ability for joking. We had been warned that Iceland is a windy country, but who had expected this ?? - Welcome to Iceland!
Of course there were some more cyclists in the hostel but two of them had given up cycling! They said they could no longer enjoy it in this weather - unbelievable only in the enthusiasm of the first day. A week later we would have understood.
In the late evening and morning the wind died and it became almost quiet, in fact so quiet, that you could hear the rain. Yes, the wind had dropped, but it rained and the temperatures were down to not far above freezing.
We had a long and substantial breakfast at the hostel and stayed there until about 10 00 h when it cleared up a bit and we set out to go to the tourist information and to buy some more food for the days to come. So far we had no idea where we could buy supplies and how many stores there were once we had left the Reykjavik area. Soon we found that it was normally sufficient to carry food for only one day.
The Reykjavik Tourist Information is a cosy place and the people are friendly and as willing to help as all Icelanders, the problem only was: we did not know exactly what to ask! We obtained some information about Iceland in general and the road conditions (all pistes in the interior highlands still closed). Finally we also changed some money in the information place. Don't do this! They charge 10 % !
When we finally set out the rain had stopped but it was even colder than in the morning. Never mind, after only a few kilometres, still within the city limits, the rain started again and the wind was picking up. In fact, it was similar to the day before, slightly less stormy but much wetter. After hardly more than an hour's ride we were glad to find an open supermarket (Sunday!) next to the road. We went in for shelter, bought some more supplies and had lunch there. How comfortable! Most supermarkets have some kind of picnic table and provide you with free coffee. Additionally, if you have so good looking women working at the desk, you simply have to shop and hope for a long queue…
After a while, the weather was not really better, we felt like we had to carry on. Soon we left the main road and followed a smaller one, still paved and in excellent shape, towards Thingvellir, the historically most important place of Iceland. The wind was picking up more and more, the rain luckily dropped a bit. A steep hill did not make cycling easier. Today it was Steve who was caught by the wind and left the road not deliberately and for him slightly surprisingly. No serious damage happened, but this did remind us that we had to stick to paved surfaces as long as the wind was as bad as this.
The eastern back country of Reykjavik is quite hilly, but almost no vegetation except grass and some bushes. When Steve asked later on for a campsite with shelter an suggested trees for this purpose, he got an answer in typical Icelandic humour: 'You might have realised that we do not have so many trees in Iceland' - which is perfectly right. We were also told us that we had missed fresh snow in the area by only one day. For us, the temperatures were cold enough even without the snow.
Thingvellir is the place, where the oldest still existing parliament of the world was constituted (in 930), where - in the old times - the laws were announced to the Icelandic people, where the Republic of Iceland was founded in 1944 and, last not least, where geographically America meets Europe. Today, not much more but a church and a hotel can be seen, but the land has a certain beauty with a roaring waterfall and a very quiet, very cold lake.
After not much more then 35 miles as a total ride for the day - remember, we had to fight fierce headwinds, rain and cold temperatures - we were glad to find a nice spot close to the lake. The wind had completely died, it felt almost warm (although less than 10 (C). The sun managed to send some illuminating rays through the tiny gaps in the clouds. We had a walk to warm up, got attacked by some birds intending to defend their nests and went to the bar of the Thingvellir hotel for a drink. The beer was 'so la la', but incredibly expensive (about 500 ISK ~ 5 £ for 0.25 l). In any case we had the chance to talk for a while to one more pretty Icelandic woman, who handled the bar and had no customers but us. Despite the daylight at Midnight, at 11:00 pm we were tired enough to go to the tents.
The next morning was cold, but sunny and calm. What had happened to the wind and the rain? Do not ask, enjoy! Our aim was to see the Geysir area and to come to Gullfoss, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Europe. We left the campsite at about nine, had an easy ride on a good paved road for the first two or three miles and turned left on a much smaller road, no longer paved but gravel and winding over a pass. What really surprised us was the density of traffic. We had expected not more than a car every hour or so, in fact, every couple of minutes we had to give way to a car or, worse, to a coach or lorry. At least it had rained enough so we did not have to bother with clouds of dust - only with flying rocks. It struck us that most drivers either could not imagine what it meant to ride a bike on a gravel road or simply did not care about us: it seemed that only tourists slowed down, even gave us a wave. Locals sometimes gave us a warning horn, but in most cases too late to do anything.
For lunch time, it was still not very warm but the sun was out and we came to a petrol station, where we found a picnic table and had the possibility to restock our supplies. Again, it was no easy pedalling and we were tired after only the short distance of the morning ride.
Again on a good road (don't complain about a road construction, it never lasts longer than a few miles whereas the headwind is more reliable than everything and lasts always all day long) we came to Geysir in the afternoon. Those of you who know Yellowstone park might expect an even bigger area of thermal activity in Iceland. This might be true if you compare the hot-spring-density of Wyoming with the corresponding density in Iceland. This area in the south of Iceland, although world famous, has very human dimensions, so you can walk everywhere in not more than ten minutes. Unfortunately the big Geysir is retired now and Icelanders, for environmental reasons, have stopped to keep it busy by applying huge amounts of soap powder. All what is left is a flat hot lake of maybe 10 m diameter. Nevertheless, its smaller brother is still very active and erupts every one to five minutes in perfect shape, starting with a beautiful bubble and ending in a straight fountain - if the wind allows. We enjoyed the natural beauty of the place quite a while, then went to the nearby cafe to warm up and to write some postcards.
The sun had disappeared again, but it was too windy to expect rain and Gullfoss was only about 10 km away, so at six we set out for the last bit of riding. Different from most waterfalls you approach Gullfoss from the top which is rather spectacular since you do never expect a waterfall once you come to the top of a hill.
The reason for this is simple. In the course of the last couple of 10,000 years the river had washed out a deep crack and continues its way for a while almost 60 m below the level of the surrounding terrain, until it drops and river and meadows are level again. Even today, the waterfall recedes about 30 cm a year. With an average flow of 103 m3 per second there is quite a bit of water coming down from the glaciers. But now it was melting season, so certainly some more water roared over two steps down into the narrow canyon. |
