Up early, although today I was the second from last up.
It appeared go be a foggy start to the day, but that was half expected anyway. I didn’t come to Iceland to get a sun tan!
Now, Smyril Line do something different to other ferry operators that I have come across, and that is that they open the car decks early to allow passengers to load some luggage before they dock. Then, the passengers have to come up top again and wait as usual for the ferry to dock and the crew prepare for unloading before having access to the vehicles again.
I quite liked this procedure and it is amazing what you can get packed when there is a time limit. I had a quick juggle of my luggage and hopefully won’t have anything too uncomfortable in my back now.
I also removed one of the three straps holding the bike, so this should be easier and quicker now too.
Then back up top, I opted to have some breakfast so that I don’t need to stop for food today.
We arrived at the port of Seyoisfjorour, Iceland, on time and my stomach is pleased to report that it has been relatively calm crossing . fingers crossed for tomorrow’s ferry too.
Once we rolled off the ferry, there was a bit of a wait for other vehicles to go through the passport/security checks, but once the bikes were released, it was straight through and onto the roads of Iceland. I, along with some others headed north, while some headed south.
Well, I didn’t expect to find the summer ice so quickly! It was in patches all over the surrounding hills sides when we left the port area, and boy, did the air temperature reflect the scenery, as it was blooming cold too.
At first I didn’t have my phone data on and couldn’t stop for for sometime. When I did turn it on and got a temp reading on the sat nav, it reported 7 degrees Celsius. Well, I am sure it was cooler than that coming up the first section of twisting mountain roads, with the wind chill factor, it felt more like 4 degrees .
I didn’t expect to find this summer ice so soon!
As it initially looked like I was going to reach my guesthouse early afternoon, I decided to add in a detour to visit something that I was going to do on the way back to the port in four weeks time.
So, a bit further up the main ring road of Iceland, I turned off. Now this was going to add about an extra 140km to todays journey and at about 30km in, I was having second thoughts. Then, as the road climbed in height, the thick fog came in. Then once the switch back turns started, I got stuck behind a camper van. With the fog reducing visibility to about 30 meters, I wasn’t going to chance any over takes and it certainly wasn’t safe to stop and turn around in these conditions either, so on I went, slowly and very mindful of the traffic behind me.
The other concern, that I should have thought about earlier, was the extra tyre wear, because I was supposed to be saving the tyres for the off road sections with the group ride in a week’s time. However, I was too far into it now, I didn’t make sense to turn around now.
Whilst riding here today, I have discovered another great feature of the horseshoe soft luggage, that didn’t occur to me until now. You see riding along this road the wind was bitterly cold, and it managed to find its way past my jacket into the small of my back. I am guessing my top had become untucked in all the movement of undoing the straps and man handling the bike on the ferry. As the bag conveniently come round close go my body, I could just push my self back slightly and close the gap where the wind was getting in. A quick relief from the annoying cold air was much appreciated.
So, what was it that dragged me on this detour?
It was Lindarbakki, a small authentic Icelandic house.
In the past, there were many similar buildings along the seafront, built around 1900, at a time when trading was starting in the village of Bakkagerði. Today, only Lindarbakki remains, an invaluable memorial of old times and habits.
Before getting back on the bike, I decided to tuck myself in properly, undo my large yellow bag and get out my insulated jacket to put on beneath my main motorcycle jacket. Then just as I was doing that, it started to rain. So, I then unpack my waterproof jacket and trousers, which are stored in my quick access pouch, and put those on. Then, I put on, some tight fitting disposable gloves, (which were a struggle with already wet hands) to go under my main gloves. Right then, I thought to myself, we are better prepared for the return journey, and so got on to he bike , turned around and headed back out of the village.
But a couple hundred meters up the road and I realised that in needed fuel, and pulled into the fuel station that I saw coming in.
Now this didn’t go as smooth as I hoped for, in that it rejected my debit card. After a few attempts, I tried my credit card and with a huge sigh of relief, this was accepted. The only other issue here was that when you pre-pay at the pump you have to select an amount to pre-authorise, and I had selected 2000 krona. Now, having not got my head around the Icelandic currency just yet, this didn’t actually fill my tank, but I couldn’t be asked to go through that rigmarole again and road off.
The road surface has been renewed in places with what looks like the chip and tar process that we are familiar with in the UK, but rather than chips, they are more like marble size chunks, and you can certainly feel them under the tyres.
Stopped along the way for a few photos but because of the weather and that time kept running away, took only a very few.
Got to the guesthouse and I am the only one here , literally!
There was a note on the door for me to call a number, which I did. It was answered by an older lady and she said she would send up a young man to let me in and that I had the place to myself. I was to keep the key when I leave in the morning so I could let myself in on Sunday when I return. This also meant that I could leave my camping gear so that my bike was lighter for the Grimsey ride.
When the chap turned up, he was a young 83 year old gentleman, who let me into a house.
As the lady got back on the phone to me explaining me that my room was first on the right after the kitchen, which had a single bed made up. I went out of the kitchen whilst talking to her on the phone and said, no it has two beds made up, but she insisted for me to go back into the kitchen and try again. After several attempts, I handed the phone back to her young man. He does the same, then after a few minutes of walking around the house, he laughed and beckoned me to follow him.
Apparently, we were in the wrong house!
Once in the correct house, a huge building, it all made sense and I found my room, which was indeed, the first room on the right out of the kitchen! We both laughed and said goodbye.
I unpacked everything from my bike and started to reorganise things do my camping gear was in the big yellow bag that I could leave behind for the next couple of days.
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