Eiríkur:
The day Karl and Rannveig arrived became a new day off, so we didn't leave Egilsstaðir until june 26. It became a hard start for the newbies with ice cold headwind from north. We were quite tired all of us when we arrived the farm guesthouse, Hótel Svartiskógur after 35 km. We stayed in our tents on the campsite, but the service was unbelieveably good, and they treated us like a royal family. The same evening we bought dinner at the hotel restaurant, and on the menu was locally slaughtered lamb, spiced with hand picked herbs from the surrounding forest. It's not an overstatement that our taste buds went bananas by the taste of that lamb!
The night brought us really heavy rain, and with 4°C and biting wind from north, the wind chill was severe. When we dared to put our heads out of the tent in the morning, the entire field (campground) had turned into a small lake. Luckily our tents were located at the very edge of the field and the water mostly stayed out of our tents. So, our plans for the day - to head further north and over the mountain pass Hellisheiði Eystri (650 masl) - were quickly cancelled, and we decided to take it easy and chill out at Svartiskógur. Soon the hotel owner came and told us he felt sorry for us sleeping out in the bad weather, so he offered us a nice cabin for the next night. But he still didn't charge us for more than half of the camping price, "because of the rain". We didn't know how to thank him!
Next morning we bought breakfast at the hotel, and then the owner came to us again and told us to pack some slices of bread for lunch. And when we were about to leave, he gave us two liters of milk! "You need this!". What a man! So I hereby highly recommend Hótel Svartiskógur in Jökulsárhlíð, 30 kms norht of Egilsstaðir, if you want to be taken care of like a king!
But because of the weather, we decided to skip the north east part of Iceland, that is Vopnafjörður, Langanes og Melrakkaslétta. Instead, we went back to the Ring Road, and bicycled up Jökuldalur to Skjöldólfsstaðir, and took the bus from there to Mývatn. And as soon we had punched down the tent pegs, the wind turned to south, and brought warmer weather. This gave us some really beautiful days at and around Mývatn.
Karl:
Today is sunday, 3rd of july, and we are sitting at a café in Akureyri and enjoying the day off. We, Karl and Rannveig, have now been bicycling for a week, and yesterday's struggle turned out to be especially hard on our respective rear ends. It was also hard for our tighs, and not least for the psyche. Yesterday gave us two quite steep hills that had ca 250 m. climb each, but none of them can compare with the last 18 kilometers along Eyjafjörður to Akureyri. Here we really got to experience what Iceland has to offer. Here as the strongest headwinds we two have experienced until now!
Except from that, july has given us a lot of sunshine and good cycling conditions (we have actually had tailwind!), and we are proud to say we have managed to get sunburned, all of us!
Now that we are in a real city we decided to take some days off. Here we can build up energy, do our laundry and try to find stores that sell something useful, that is everything from spare tires to a good book.
The day Karl and Rannveig arrived became a new day off, so we didn't leave Egilsstaðir until june 26. It became a hard start for the newbies with ice cold headwind from north. We were quite tired all of us when we arrived the farm guesthouse, Hótel Svartiskógur after 35 km. We stayed in our tents on the campsite, but the service was unbelieveably good, and they treated us like a royal family. The same evening we bought dinner at the hotel restaurant, and on the menu was locally slaughtered lamb, spiced with hand picked herbs from the surrounding forest. It's not an overstatement that our taste buds went bananas by the taste of that lamb!
The night brought us really heavy rain, and with 4°C and biting wind from north, the wind chill was severe. When we dared to put our heads out of the tent in the morning, the entire field (campground) had turned into a small lake. Luckily our tents were located at the very edge of the field and the water mostly stayed out of our tents. So, our plans for the day - to head further north and over the mountain pass Hellisheiði Eystri (650 masl) - were quickly cancelled, and we decided to take it easy and chill out at Svartiskógur. Soon the hotel owner came and told us he felt sorry for us sleeping out in the bad weather, so he offered us a nice cabin for the next night. But he still didn't charge us for more than half of the camping price, "because of the rain". We didn't know how to thank him!
Next morning we bought breakfast at the hotel, and then the owner came to us again and told us to pack some slices of bread for lunch. And when we were about to leave, he gave us two liters of milk! "You need this!". What a man! So I hereby highly recommend Hótel Svartiskógur in Jökulsárhlíð, 30 kms norht of Egilsstaðir, if you want to be taken care of like a king!
But because of the weather, we decided to skip the north east part of Iceland, that is Vopnafjörður, Langanes og Melrakkaslétta. Instead, we went back to the Ring Road, and bicycled up Jökuldalur to Skjöldólfsstaðir, and took the bus from there to Mývatn. And as soon we had punched down the tent pegs, the wind turned to south, and brought warmer weather. This gave us some really beautiful days at and around Mývatn.
Karl:
Today is sunday, 3rd of july, and we are sitting at a café in Akureyri and enjoying the day off. We, Karl and Rannveig, have now been bicycling for a week, and yesterday's struggle turned out to be especially hard on our respective rear ends. It was also hard for our tighs, and not least for the psyche. Yesterday gave us two quite steep hills that had ca 250 m. climb each, but none of them can compare with the last 18 kilometers along Eyjafjörður to Akureyri. Here we really got to experience what Iceland has to offer. Here as the strongest headwinds we two have experienced until now!
Except from that, july has given us a lot of sunshine and good cycling conditions (we have actually had tailwind!), and we are proud to say we have managed to get sunburned, all of us!
Now that we are in a real city we decided to take some days off. Here we can build up energy, do our laundry and try to find stores that sell something useful, that is everything from spare tires to a good book.