From the Diggers Gulley to the Smoky Peninsula

Leaving the Farm

I woke up early, but it took a while to get ready and I didn´t feel like I was ready to leave the farm yet. My aunt packed me some leftover potato salad and lamb meat, and away I went down the bumpy road. Until 1996 there was a pass at 720m that one had to go over to get to Ísafjörður, but has now been replaced by a 7km long tunnel. It was a bit spooky cycling there, it only has one lane, but with spots for you to wait while cars come past the other way. 

Inside the spooky tunnel

In and out of the Fjords

The rest of the afternoon was spent going in and out of several very long fjords, and it rained most of the day. It was very quiet and mostly desolate but the few farmers I´d see would wave and I´d wave back.  It was almost disheartening at times seeing cars pass me, and then within minutes see them on the other side of the fjord already while I was in the rain taking almost 10 times longer to cover the same distance.  I really liked passing through Álftafjörður (Swan Fjord) with the beautiful tall mountain at the end, and seeing a family of swans with 3 young! Throughout the ride I also had a view of Snæfjallaströnd, the barren snowy coast on the peninsula to the north where nobody lives any longer.  

Seemingly at the end of the Earth - with the North Atlantic beyond Hornstrandir 

Álftafjörður with the Swam Family

My destination for the night was the hotel and campsite at Reykjanes. The owners are two brothers who when they were young had spent some summers working at the farm with my father and grandfather, so I was looking forward to saying hello! With "Reyk" in the name there was also of course the promise of hot springs! Once leaving the fjords behind, it was much longer to Reykjanes than I had thought though, and my distance for the day was more than 96 miles and I didn´t arrive until almost midnight.  The woman at the desk opened the changing rooms and the pool for me though, so after setting up my tent I ran through the drizzle into the hot pool and soaked for about half an hour. Such an incredible feeling after about 9 hours in the saddle, looking out to the north on snow covered mountains, sitting in a pool at about 35C. Needless to say, I slept great afterwards!

The smoky hot springs from where Reykjanes gets its name

Texas trucks have nothing on Icelandic ones

Today I´m heading over Steingrímsfjarðarhæði, and will pass through Hólmavík before finding a spot to camp on the side of the road somewhere south of there.