Day 9
Tuesday 9th July – 89Km
Up at 8:00, it’s too warm in the tent
again. A fairly nice day, light winds with broken cloud cover.
I have a quick breakfast, say goodbye to
Richard and Martin and then ride along the path to the foot of the glacier for
some photos before heading back to the road.
By 12:00 I’ve only covered 20Km, the
wind has picked up and I’m feeling tired. I stop at a life saving garage and
buy some chocolate milk and Snickers, which I eat on the spot and bread and
cheese for later. Fresh loaves are hard to find so I’m buying small packs of
sliced rye bread, dense, chewy and doesn’t seem to go stale.
An hour later I pull into a parking area
below the Kviarjokull glacier and have lunch. It’s cold so I need to put my
fleece on. There are some large brown birds quartering the area, I dig my
binoculars out and tentatively identify them as Great Skuas.
Back on the road and I’m now crossing
Breidamerkursandur, the wind is stronger now so I’m just grinding along,
ducking the occasional dive-bombing Skua, the flatlands at the side of the road
seem to be a nesting area.
At 4:00 I reach the famous glacial lake
Jokulsarlon. I leave the bike at the side of the road and walk down to the
lakeside. It’s full of mini icebergs, all colours from dirty white to
toothpaste green. I can feel the cold air coming off the water and hear the
creaks and groans of the bergs breaking up. A boat from the visitors centre is
an orange highlight in the middle of the lake.
Walking back to the bike I encounter two
Skuas on the ground. I take some photos and get a good picture as one of them
flexes it’s wings and takes off. Thankfully it flies away from me…
I cross a road bridge and pull into the
visitors centre at the head of the lake, where I have a couple of coffee’s and
put some sunscreen on.
The wind has died down a bit and there
are lovely views ahead to Hofn, I’m still tired though and don’t think
I’ll be able to reach it tonight. Lonely Planet tells me that there is an
outdoor centre at Hrollaugsstadir where I pay 600 Kr to put my tent up and use
their washroom.
I eat and then lie in the tent listening to the radio and writing postcards.