Day 20
Saturday 20th July – 109Km
Up early, it’s a nice day. Blue sky with light cloud
cover.
I’m away by 9:15 and back on the track heading north. A
few Km from the campsite I pull off the main track and follow another track to
Holmatungur. This a widening of the main valley filled with low trees and
wildflowers. It’s very beautiful and would have been a nicer campsite than
last night. Camping isn’t allowed but that hasn’t stopped the people who are
there!
Back to the track and it’s now heading downhill towards
the coast. I’m building up some good speed but the surface is very bad and
I’m being shaken to bits. The front end of the bike starts to feel a bit funny
so I stop to check it. The vibration has loosened the mounting of my bar-bag and
the bag has slipped down, pressing on the front brake cable and applying the
brake! Ten minutes with a screwdriver and I’m off again.
I hit smooth tarmac and at 1:15 I’m at Asbyrgi, this is
an amazing almost circular canyon, filled with trees and vegetation.
Asbyrgi seems somewhere to walk around for a few hours but
I don’t really want to spend that much time there so after a brief lunch stop
I head off again.
This time I’m on the coastal road heading west towards
Husavik. It starts flat and then climbs steadily as it crosses a headland. At
the tip of the Tjornes peninsula I stop and contemplate the Arctic Ocean.
Grimsey is visible on the horizon, the Arctic Circle itself.
I reach Husavik at 8:00; the campsite is run by Gunnar, who
is laid back to the point of being horizontal. A nice guy and he keeps a nice
campsite.
I put my tent up and go shopping at the nearby service station. I’m running low on money so find a bank and put my ATM card in the machine. Disaster! I can’t remember my PIN; my mind is a total blank!
Back to the campsite were I have the PIN for my backup ATM card written in a notebook then back to the bank. Success this time!
On the way back I book a ticket for a Whale Watching trip
tomorrow.
I cook pasta with bacon and mushrooms in a spicy tomato sauce and spend some time talking to Franz, a Dutch teacher who is here on his fourth 7-week holiday. We get the maps out and compare routes; he’s been everywhere and seems to be ticking off the different interior routes one by one.