Day 72 - Hofsos - "A room with a view" !

There are 4 thoughts that come immediately to mind when you mention Iceland 1) The scenery is wild & spectacular 2) its either cold or looks cold 3) If you're a bike tourer (and we've seen plenty) your nuts 4) If your a hitchhiker (and again we've seen plenty) your also nuts !

Flaunting Karma in its face H drove us out of bloody cold Seyisdifjiordur straight past a young hitchhiking girl - according to me with her hand out signalling a lift, according to H with her hand out signalling the direction of the nearest inhabitable star system.

Climbing out of the valley was not as bad as our entry yesterday. We had to admit that maybe our imaginations had slightly overreacted when the fall offs from the road barriers revealed themselves to be about 10 feet - slightly less than the 1,000 feet we'd imagined in yesterday's whiteout !

Heading inland Karma came back to bite us on the ass. When feeling guilty about not stopping for hitchhiker number 1 H stopped for HH number 2 a slightly less attractive 6 foot 2 bearded Bulgarian who smelt like he'd been living in a sardine factory !

It was a long 50 kms as we conversed with the Bulgarian while trying desperately not to breathe ! We discussed his various travels , love of Iceland and alarmingly his various run ins with the local police!

After asking where the farm was that he was meant to be staying at our friend pointed out the first one he saw making us a little wary about whether this guys marbles were all in the right place !

We climbed higher onto a Volcanic plateau that went on for miles with our main interest now centred around how low the temperature would go. Our car gauge read 2-3 C but our own experience when hopping out of the car indicated that it was more likely - 10 C with the biting wind chilling us to the bone !

With the driving endless and the low clouds obscuring the scenery i resorted to entertaining myself by using the drivers control to keep opening H's passenger side window to see how many expletives he could come up with (many !)

Eventually we came to a turn off point indicating that the Dettifoss Waterfall (listed as one of the most powerful & Impressive in Europe) was some 28kms distant along an unmade road.

In my thorough research I'd uncovered comments suggesting that the road was in average condition although after 5 kms I'd thought the travellers comments were exaggerated ! Boy did i turn out to be wrong !

After enduring until we could endure no more we turned around and headed back to the main road this time though taking a note of the distance travelled to see how close we'd got to the unsignposted waterfall .

By the time we got back we'd registered over 27 kms indicating that we were only about 1 km from arriving at our destination. - Burke and Wills would have been proud of our failure !

Disappointed we drove towards Myvatyn renowned for its GeoThermal activity. Here we got the chance to road test a park that included bubbling mud pools and super steamed rocks that emitted that delightful and chewy sulphur smell that had H on the verge of throwing up !

All sulphured out we drove to beautiful Aukeyri the 2nd largest of Iceland's cities with over 17,000 people delightfully situated with its own harbour.

After taking lunch here in the supermarket complex (we're culinary experts) it was only another 100 kms to lovely Hofsos in outer rural Iceland.

Our B&B perched at the base of a giant scree filled hill came with beautiful coastline views in the setting sun as we were welcomed by our hosts.

We took an early night hoping that just maybe wed get a glimpse of those spectacular Northern Lights that this part of the world is famed for.

Day 72 - Hofsos - "A room with a view" !

There are 4 thoughts that come immediately to mind when you mention Iceland 1) The scenery is wild & spectacular 2) its either cold or looks cold 3) If you're a bike tourer (and we've seen plenty) your nuts 4) If your a hitchhiker (and again we've seen plenty) your also nuts !

Flaunting Karma in its face H drove us out of bloody cold Seyisdifjiordur straight past a young hitchhiking girl - according to me with her hand out signalling a lift, according to H with her hand out signalling the direction of the nearest inhabitable star system.

Climbing out of the valley was not as bad as our entry yesterday. We had to admit that maybe our imaginations had slightly overreacted when the fall offs from the road barriers revealed themselves to be about 10 feet - slightly less than the 1,000 feet we'd imagined in yesterday's whiteout !

Heading inland Karma came back to bite us on the ass. When feeling guilty about not stopping for hitchhiker number 1 H stopped for HH number 2 a slightly less attractive 6 foot 2 bearded Bulgarian who smelt like he'd been living in a sardine factory !

It was a long 50 kms as we conversed with the Bulgarian while trying desperately not to breathe ! We discussed his various travels , love of Iceland and alarmingly his various run ins with the local police!

After asking where the farm was that he was meant to be staying at our friend pointed out the first one he saw making us a little wary about whether this guys marbles were all in the right place !

We climbed higher onto a Volcanic plateau that went on for miles with our main interest now centred around how low the temperature would go. Our car gauge read 2-3 C but our own experience when hopping out of the car indicated that it was more likely - 10 C with the biting wind chilling us to the bone !

With the driving endless and the low clouds obscuring the scenery i resorted to entertaining myself by using the drivers control to keep opening H's passenger side window to see how many expletives he could come up with (many !)

Eventually we came to a turn off point indicating that the Dettifoss Waterfall (listed as one of the most powerful & Impressive in Europe) was some 28kms distant along an unmade road.

In my thorough research I'd uncovered comments suggesting that the road was in average condition although after 5 kms I'd thought the travellers comments were exaggerated ! Boy did i turn out to be wrong !

After enduring until we could endure no more we turned around and headed back to the main road this time though taking a note of the distance travelled to see how close we'd got to the unsignposted waterfall .

By the time we got back we'd registered over 27 kms indicating that we were only about 1 km from arriving at our destination. - Burke and Wills would have been proud of our failure !

Disappointed we drove towards Myvatyn renowned for its GeoThermal activity. Here we got the chance to road test a park that included bubbling mud pools and super steamed rocks that emitted that delightful and chewy sulphur smell that had H on the verge of throwing up !

All sulphured out we drove to beautiful Aukeyri the 2nd largest of Iceland's cities with over 17,000 people delightfully situated with its own harbour.

After taking lunch here in the supermarket complex (we're culinary experts) it was only another 100 kms to lovely Hofsos in outer rural Iceland.

Our B&B perched at the base of a giant scree filled hill came with beautiful coastline views in the setting sun as we were welcomed by our hosts.

We took an early night hoping that just maybe wed get a glimpse of those spectacular Northern Lights that this part of the world is famed for.

Day 71 - Seydisfjiordur - " World class rally driving " !

After our sensory overload of the day before we headed further on Highway 1 winding our way along the scenic volcanic coastline in threatening weather !

While the glacial treats were not present the towering black scree covered hills reminded us of the powerful forces behind this islands creation !

At Breadilsvik we headed inland on a section of Highway that must have been left over as a clever reminder of the Jurassic period - a mixture of brown sludge and swamp material !

With H our Diamond Creek world class rally driver at the helm, the 4wd Skoda soon looked like a swamp dune buggy ! After finally emerging from a precipitous valley climb we rejoined the sealed road section grateful in the knowledge that Hertz would not likely find any damage to our car for some time as it was going to take them 6 months just to get the caked mud off !

With cloud and temperatures dropping quickly we rolled into Eigillstadt to take lunch in the car park before an exciting 25 km journey to our destination at Seydisfjiordur

I'd pre read about the last section of road as having wonderful valley views - views that we now needed to try to imagine as we climbed into the clouds. With visibility down to about 6 inches Kev navigated by the middle white line and my occasional screams letting him know we were about to plunge to a horrifying death down an embankment that (in my imagination at least) went for thousands of feet !

We snaked our way up and over the pass before descending and finally emerging out of cloud next to a thundering waterfall - I'm not sure if it was the relief of still being alive or the effect of all that running water but we were soon scurrying over the rocks to relieve our pressing bladders !

We journeyed into picturesque Seydisfjiordur at the head of a Fjiord surrounded by weeping waterfalls before heading out to find our accommodation a km or two further on amazingly in a restored office building on a dilapidated run down wharf with rotting timbers and rusted machinery - nothing like ambience ... and did I mention the serenity .. !

Having checked into the weird looking accommodation we ventured into town to find something to eat that didn't require our mortgage documents for security. Luckily we found just that, the cafe "El Grillo" named after the British ship of the same name sunk by some sneaky German aircraft in the fjiord during WW2 after Britain invaded neutral Iceland to secure it from potential German occupation - work that one out !

As it was a cuppauchino and (i must admit it was tasty) and a bit of burger meat slapped between 2 pieces of bread set me back $27 AUD - I consoled myself in the knowledge that the way our $A is going I had in fact saved myself $10 on what it would have cost me in a week's time !

A walk around town had H poking and prodding at the cladding of the towns Swedish Consulate building -   although why an isolated town with only 50 buildings would need a consulate was beyond our simple comprehension ?

For Kev and self it was back to our meagre but comfortable room for some "Sticky Golf" - H having major problems in "Sandy Land" - while i put together the plans for tomorrow with only 1 week left of our far northern adventure !

Re: Day 70 - Hofn - "Icebergs Ahoy" !

(Excuse the previous draft)

We had an 8.30 appointment for breakfast at my apartment but as H got little overnight sleep he thought he'd invite himself over at 7.50 and get an early start - I made a mental note to ensure that any future separate bookings are in rooms with double locks ! 

We left our high style Laurgavatyn apartments and took to the Icelandic circle route road (the main highway) that circumnavigates the island.

With fairly narrow roads, a speed limit of 90 km/hr and initial flat featureless scenery time seemed to go slowly until we stopped at the beautiful waterfalls that Iceland is famed for.

Seljalandsfoss had majesty and class while even allowing for a spray soaked walk behind the fall itself while  Skogadoss was sheer power with its melt running down from the Myrdralsjokul Glacier. Both waterfalls were a photographers dream.

Heading towards Vik the scenery started changing - while the road continued on its largely flat path along ancient sea beds the hills and escarpments took on a volcanic feel, jagged peaks, severe scree filled slopes & deposited boulders giving you a feel for an ancient time.

We passed the amazing moss covered lava fields from the 1783 Lavik explosion that sent tonnes of poisonous gasses around the world causing starvation in many parts of the globe and indirectly giving start to the French Revolution !

Further along the coast we reached the arms of the massive Vatnajokull glacier providing for spectacular close up views although an ominous memorial sign for two tourists who never returned suggested we should be a little bit careful !

With H passing in and out of consciousness we pulled in to the days highlight at Jokulsarkon with its floating chunks of glacier ice many working their way slowly out to sea.

With even H indicating he'd reached his wow factor limit for the day we drive on ti Hofn in the drizzle arriving at 7.39p.m. some 459 kms and 9 hours after leaving Laurgavatyn.

Enough memories for a lifetime !

Day 70 - Hofn - "Icebergs Ahoy" !

We had can 8.30 appointment for breakfast but as H got little overnight sleep he thought he'd rock in at 7.50 and get and early start - I made a mental note to ensure that any future separate bookings are in rooms with double locks ! 

We left our high style Laurgavatyn apartments and took to the Icelandic circle route road (the main highway) that circumnavigates the island.

With fairly narrow roads, a speed limit of 90 km/hr and initial flat featureless scenery time seemed to go slowly until we stopped at the beautiful waterfalls that Iceland is famed for.

Self had majesty and class while even allowing for a spray soaked walk behind the fall itself while  ..  was sheer power with its melt running down from the massive ..Glacier. Both waterfalls were a photographers dream and there were plenty of those present !

Heading towards Vik the scenery started changing - while the road continued on its largely flat path along ancient sea beds the hills and escarpments took on an amazingly ferocious volcanic feel, jagged peaks, severe scree filled slopes deposited boulders giving you a feel for an ancient time.

We passed the amazing moss covered lava fields from the 1783 Lavik explosion that sent tonnes of poisonous glasses around the world causing starvation in many parts of the world and indirectly exoertrs think giving start to the French Revolution !

Furthger along the coasr hortly afterr we reached the asrms of the massive gla ier with its arms providing as spectacukar close up views of action although an ominous sign memorial bfor two tourists who never returned vsuggested we should be a little bit careful

With H passing in and out of consciousness mainly because of little sleep and then me telling weow by ave a look at that we pulled in to the days high-level gt the iceberg floating lakes - a magic scen e of aqua water with large chunks of Glacier working their way out to see - the aitcwas that still that the first ce blocks cakving bwas enough to reverberate

With even H indicating itbgad reached weow factorvcJev received enough to get us to Hofb in drizzle at 7.39 p.m. meaning it had taken us neakr 19 hours with stops to cover just over 499 kms ,!

Thankfukly the daukyvdiustances bvaxckoff meaning more time tyo take in thibwonderffuk ancientnkandscasoe !

Day 69 - Laugarvatyn - " Its the middle of summer " !

If yesterday was a little underwhelming in terms of expectations then today certainly made up for it as we traversed the famed Golden Circle area of Iceland taking in its amazing natural phenomena.

With H dropping in for breakfast despite complaining about the long walk (20 metres downhill !) we "gutsed" out on our supplies and took in the lovely apartment view of the neaeby wikd volcanic landscape.

With nearly a loave destroyed (H has a bread fetish) we took to the road journeying to Gulfoss one of Icelands premiere destinations - an amazing waterfall that comes with its own road sign destination !

H took his impressive tally of hitting speed bumps to about 15 (most done in Bergen when he complained about their lack of visible colour) when he launched over one (a bright brown brick colour) near Geysir at a startling 70 km /hr - with my screams still ringing in his ears he this time indicated he'd been distracted by the scenery !

After calmly explaining to Kev that having a 4wd meant having all 4 wheels on the ground at the same time we arrived at Gulfoss. The huge Ice Glacier on the horizon should have given us warning for as soon as we opened the car door our mild 12 c temperature became a gusty icy wind with a wind chill effect of about zero - any exposed skin soon froze !

Despite the discomfort we were soon in awe of the powers of nature as amazing waterfall cut its way through a narrow canyon !

We clambered down on to the rocks right beside the waterfall getting wet by the spray by enjoying the mesmerizing sound of its power !

Thawing out from our "Wow" experience we headed back 15 kms to Geysir (H now wary about speed bumps) the Geo Thermal park that gave Geysers their name !

With Getsir itself now only blowing irregularly we setrled fir watching the nearby Strokkur which with military precision launched every 4-5 minute when vaporized steam would propel the boiling water over  40 metres into the air - an amazing sight when you consider the earth forces at work to create this event.

Even H surrendered to the overpowering sulphur smell of the area indicating that even in his best form he was no match !

After the pools and their wonderful scenic surrounds we headed back to our apartment for lunch before traipsing 30 kms in the opposite direction to Pingvellir a national park of incredible significance for Iceland.

Not only was this area the site of Icelands and possibly the world's first Parliament but it is also the area where two continental crusts come together with amazing effect !

Overdosed on scenery and history there was nothing else to do other than pick up a couple of hitchhikers in the vain hope that they would cook us dinner !

That failed it was into the fridge for some lasagne and chips with a big drive on the cards for tomorrow !

Days 67 / 68 - Laugarvatyn Iceland - " Neither Ice nor Land " !

Both of us were taken down a slight peg last night by our Polish acquaintances - H invited to throw a line down on the local wharf soon snagged an underwater obstruction & then retired from his promising fishing career while I (thinking of self as a bit of an adventurer) sat back open mouthed as the guys talked about their Mongolian adventures which included one of them (Paul)  buying 2 horses (for girlfriend and self) & setting off for 3 months across Mongolia equipped with a fishing rod and 5 kgs of rice - pretty amazing until Paul mentions that up until that point he had never ridden a horse or fished in his life !!!

It was an early start to the day with 400 kms to travel and Kev doing all the driving. We'd honestly forgotten how beautiful the drive up was with stunning lakeside and valley views. What kept our main interest though was our collective efforts (H when not driving obviously) to challenge "stick man golf" on our tablets - courses that included such wonderful names such as " Magnetic Land",  "Icy Land" & " Stickier Land" - you can see what travelling for long periods does to your brain !

After 9 hours, endless tunnels and endless breaks to deal with H's endless appetite, we rolled back into Bergen during peak hour finding our way eventually to our new Air BNB host Rosie a Geologist from Bristol now working and living in Norway

With good company we spent a fair bit of time discussing Norway, Climate Change, Immigration and why the Bulldogs will win the flag (H snuck that one in) before deciding that we should hit the sack and take advantage of the 2 & 1/2 hours remaining before we had to get up again !

As good a host as Rosie was the accommodation provided was borderline crap - a single bed + another pull out bed that blocked the entire small room meaning a) the door could not be closed b) all of our gear had to be put in the kitchen & c) there was a very real danger that I could cop a size 10 foot on my head should H decide to pay the bathroom a visit during the night !

I need not have worried as what seemed like 30 minutes later we were getting up at 2.15a.m to pack and drive to Bergen Airport taking some of Rosie's kindly cooked Norwegian Waffles which at that time of the morning tasted like they had the same consistency as Norwegian cement !

Starting the car in our Zombie like states we realised that neither of us knew the name of Bergen's Airport to programme into our GPs !

With visions of having to hire and follow a taxi we resorted to our back up Nexus Tablet which at least gave us some idea of general direction until we picked up the airport signs.

With loaded trolleys we finally walked in to the terminal almost totally devoid of life other than a dozen or so sleeping backpacker like travellers. Waiting around for a good 45 minutes before staff opened up we finally checked in and took a quick rest before our 6.00a.m. flight  back to Oslo.

What had taken us 8 days to cycle took us only 40 mins to fly which was a damned relief given our sauna like 737-700 !

After a 2 your wait in Oslo we were on our way to Reykjavik Iceland passing the Faroe Islands. After what seemed like a short "dribbling" period we arrived to this "other world"  place that for me at least has held  a life long fascination !

With no passport checks, loaded with thousands of Iceland Kroner and a 4wd Skoda that could have fitted another 4 people plus our bike boxes if they weren't currently winding their way back from Copenhagen (yes you read correctly that's where our bikes ended up !) we headed off to Laugarvatyn on Icelands famed  Golden Circle route first of all stopping to shop for supplies for our 2 night apartment stay.

As far as first impressions go driving to Laugarvatyn was like going back in time with a featureless and largely flat  volcanic landscape evident.

With H almost doing a sleeping "Chevy Chase" impersonation we finally arrived at our apartments around 3.00p.m. just south of being totally buggered !

With our own apartment each we crashed meeting later on for dinner where once again we were confronted by bloody induction hotplates that for reasons unknown to us keep turning on & off despite having the appropriate saucepans in place !

Throwing H out at 8.00p m. I reckon i was asleep before hitting the bed barely having a chance to consider the trill of being in Iceland !

Day 65 / 66 - Dyrkom- " Caught between 2 tunnels " !

We said goodbye to our little cloud perched cabin heading further Nth on an overcast morning with a hint of drizzle.

Taking a direction away from Stryn and towards Lote we seemingly clmbed even further on the narrow roads before heading alongside yet another magnificent lake / Fjiord to Barstadvik for our ferry to Solavager.

Amazingly we scored our 5th consecutive immediate ferry departure in a row despite H reluctantly wanting to get in the right hand ferry lane fearing oncoming traffic - until i explained to him that the road finished at the ferry and even if it didn't driving on the right in Norway has been what he's been doing for the last week !

Across the lake / fjord the roads started to pick up in traffic volume as we headed towards some large Norwegian towns. Thankfully we finally turned off taking a beautiful Fjiord drive along the Storfjiord passing through 2 of Norway's 1,000 + tunnels to a small establishment called Dyrkom positioned strangely between tunnels directly on the fjiord !

After checking in we stocked up at nearby Stordal and settled back later on for a romantic dinner on the wharf with the days magical sunset only spoilt by the machinations of the local hydro system.

After a reasonable nights sleep (or not according to H who in his own room had a choice of 3 beds 1- a cot 2 - a soft mattress on the floor or 3 - an above ground Mattress about 3 inches wide) we jumped in our car to head 100kms North towards Kristianstad and the famous Atlantic Road, a section of bridge spans that join small islands over an 8km section with some calling the Atlantic road one of the most picturesque drives in the world !

It's claim to fame is its design, its setting and its vulnerable position on the Atlantic. The bridge has been pictured being lashed by wild storms over time with the aves actually breaking on / over the road !

Of all the things that Norway has offered this felt a bit of a let down - sure it was picturesque and provided a lovely setting but its 8km length was in fact only about 3 and to give it world billing would be a great injustice to amazing roads like Australia's magnificent Great Ocean Road.

Anyway on such a magic day it was hard to argue so we took numerous photos before back tracking the 100 kms we'd come luckily finding an open Kiwi Mart (equivalent of a 7 - 11 ) along the way - about the only damned shop we'd seen open on a Sunday in Norway in our time here.

Back in Dyrkom we put together a tuna salad dinner spending some time chatting with a number of guests and visitors at our establishment

As a collection from Poland and Venuezla they provided some fascinating travel stories - our Venuezlan acquaintance told of the daily struggle for life while our Polish friends provided some great travel stories one being the time one guy journeyed to Mongolia with his girlfriend buying 2 horses and with a total budget of $1,000 spent 3 months travelling across the country.

With another magic sunset to bade us farewell and a long journey ahead tomorrow back to Bergen it was time to call it a night and get ready for the last stage of our OS adventure - Iceland !

Day 64 - Birksdal Glacier - " A concrete barrier too close " !

I could hardly blame Kev - I mean the roads are narrow and oncoming traffic often comprises trucks, tourist coaches or damned Winabago type tourers so when one of the above decided to go a little close to the middle line it was reasonable that H should veer towards the concrete barrier on the passenger side ,(my side !) I thought it was also pretty reasonable that I should scream in response giving enough warning to Kev to enable him to miss said concrete barrier by at least 1 mm thus preserving the front of the car and my undies at least for the time being !

Up until then Kev had done pretty well on the driving front with only one indiscretion the day before when while commenting on a drivers indecision and looking in his direction. he mounted the gutter / slash footpath with a noticeable thump - a minor indiscretion after all the kms he'd driven !

With the amount of nearby available breathtaking sights slightly reduced after our 2days of side tripping, we headed back along the fjiord to Olden where we took a delightful 24 km inland lake drive to the fantastic Birksdal Glacier !

Part of the enormous Josteldalsbreen Glacier, Birksdal's sheer delight is not its retreating glacier but the walk to it that takes you directly by a thundering waterfall where you get pretty wet by its spray - the walk also provides magnificent mountains views of you guessed it, more waterfalls !

Our 2 x 40 odd minute walks there and back were filled with eye catching moments mainly from the thundering waterfalls and some throw away derogatory comments at the tourists who chose to ride to the Glacier base on troll vehicles basically oversized golf carts !

Back at the car park we had our packed lunch in the wonderful camping surrounds wondering where all the tourists where given that this is the middle of Norway's summer season !

Returning home i relieved H of the stress of driving after this mornings incident returning to Stryn where i put down a house sized deposit at the local chemist getting medication for my painful skin split feet caused by weeks of cycling.

Back to the cabin H was in control in the kitchen under direction preparing a sausage type curry with veg and noodles and this time we even decided to use some plates !