Day 22
Monday 22nd July – 95Km
It’s been raining all night with no breeze so I wake up
to a damp tent. Rain outside, condensation inside. It’s grey and miserable
with low cloud cover, which is how it stays all day.
I have breakfast, pack and then go to the pharmacy to buy
some Ibuprofen for my bad leg and some contact lens solution to replace the
stuff I spilled in the highlands. 610 Kr for a 60ml bottle!
Today is all on good, fast tarmac. It’s fairly warm with
a light drizzle. I go south inland then turn west through a wide valley.
Just before lunch I meet two more cyclists, one towing a
trailer with an Austrian flag on the back. We say hello then I pass them. As
I’m sitting down eating the usual rye bread, cheese and Snickers they pass
again.
The road climbs up into the clouds and it gets cold and
wet. Gore Tex on. I can’t see more than about 20M ahead of me. I crest the
pass and then it’s a long, fast downhill. My glasses are covered in rain and
the shape of them seems to funnel the wind into my eyes, which fill with tears.
I can’t see a thing and it’s not fun! Scary!
At 5:30 I reach Akureyri, Icelands second largest city. The
large campsite is noisy, full of Icelandic families in campervans and smells of
barbecue fuel and burning food.
I put the tent up and then get some more food in the
adjacent supermarket. The evening meal is Bratwurst, beans and rice. I feel
quite bloated so go for a quick spin around town on the bike. I also buy another
litre of fuel for my stove.
Back at the campsite I have a shower and then lie in the tent looking at my map, trying to decide which route to take back towards Keflavik. I want to do the Kjolur route through the interior but it doesn’t give me much of a safety margin for my flight home.