Distance: 75.4 miles

Time: 5:56:10

Average Speed: 12.7 mph

Elevation Gain: 3838 feet

I had high hopes for an earlier start today. My hopes were soon dashed when a German lady who had camped nearby came over for a pleasant chat. She was cycling parts of Iceland with her son, who had just left school. It was his first cycle tour that didn’t involve cycling along a mid-European river path, and they’d just taken the high gravel road from Reykjavik. After a rest day here they would take the bus to Akureyri, then head back west to the Snaefellsnes peninsula.

Freewheeling back down the hill to the petrol station, I spotted some more touring bikes propped up outside. It felt like Varmahlid was a bikepackers’ crossroads. There were a couple from New Zealand, who’d got a ferry over from Denmark, and would be sailing back out of Seydisfjordur in the Eastfjords. They were having lunch with a cyclist from Chicago, he had cycled over from Blonduos in the morning, and was now waiting for a bus to Akureyri, so he could get his bottom bracket fixed. They told me I should have a ‘nice ride, after the hill’, so there must be a hill, then.

One thing I’d noticed, as I cooked my porridge this morning, was that the wind had turned a full 180 degrees, and whereas for the last few days I’d been heading north with a tailwind, it now looked like I might be about to start heading south again, but still with a tailwind. A massive stroke of luck. But first this hill.

Leaving the valley behind, the climb was a long drag, I was battling the wind more than the slope, and gradually I worked my way upwards, reaching the Minnisvardi monument, at over 450 metres.

Descending the views improved, and I was looking out over a lovely valley, when I realised that the route I had loaded onto my GPS wasn’t continuing along Route 1 to Blonduos on the north coast, it was taking a higher short cut inland, and checking my mapping app, I realised it had a 12 mile gravel stretch. Not a risk I was willing to take with road tyres, I committed to cover the extra miles to Blonduos.

Reaching Blonduos, after 30 miles, my eyes were on the clock. According to my weather app, rain was due for 6 o’clock, and I hoped that if I had a brief refuel here, I could get another hour on the road before it arrived. But, after a hotdog, and the largest portion of fries imaginable, I set back off and was quickly accompanied by the rain.

This was the type of irritating Icelandic rain that I’ve encountered on numerous occasions now, light persistent drizzle that feels like it’s just about to stop, for hours, and accompanied by a bitterly cold 20 mph wind, the moisture soon permeated everywhere. As it had started so innocuously, other than my waterproof jacket, I hadn’t put on any of my other wet weather gear, and 10 miles later I was soaked through, and cooling down fast.

But, with a strong tailwind behind, there were miles to be made, so on I battled, into the darkening evening light, trucks thundering past, on undoubtedly the busiest stretch I’d encountered so far.

After 65 miles, I reached my intended stop for the evening, Langafit campsite, Laugarbakki, the weather was atrocious, but the reviews said that facilities were poor, and I’d have a lot of wet clothes to dry. Then I remembered the next place had a Fjord-side hot tub…

It was a long ten miles – to Saeberg Environmentally Certified Hostel, Camping and Cottages – and with the weather only getting worse, I was worried I’d made a mistake as I dropped down the gravel track to the campground’s super-exposed position by the water’s edge.

I hurried inside the campsite’s spacious, lively, and very toasty dining area, and suddenly all hope was restored. After a hugely-rejuvenating and very warm shower, I set about cooking dinner, and draping sodden cycling paraphernalia over the kitchen’s numerous radiators, quietly satisfied at another day survived, and more miles won.

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