I’m still on the Ferry but I didn’t have too bad a nights sleep considering it was back into the couchettes. I learn’t from the previous leg and got my bed ready early, blowing up my pillow and unrolling my sleeping bag. So I avoided disturbing everyone when I went to bed, I think there were some rough seas through the night, but nothing too bad. The couchettes are low in the ship, below the vehicle decks, so avoid the worst of any “roll”. For some reason the cabin started to stir at 6:30, when we weren’t due to arrive in Iceland until 9:30, but I gave in and got up. So ended up sat by the plugs charging battery packs and drinking coffee. In the end the ship was delayed and we didn’t arrive until 10:45.

Iceland gradually came into view, but I stayed inside until we started into the fjord as I expected it to be cold and windy. It was a real surprise when I did get on deck to find it sunny and warm. The mountains with patches of snow were magnificent.

Disembarking was the same faff, but was able to share some last minute tips (from the german guy in Eidi) on places to go, with two Australian girls, who had cycled from London. It was reassuring to see other cyclists, after the nightmare in the Faroes – where cycling was madness, and I was the only one. They described a wild camping shelter system that they used on their route through Denmark. They sound excellent, I had seen one or two of the log platforms with a roof, but wasn’t sure who could use them. There is a whole network that I will look into when I go to Denamrk again. (If you read this, and the route I described – there seems to be two tunnels on that loop to Siglufjordur one looks very long!)

After disembarking from the ferry, I remembered about getting a copy of the Iceland cycling map, I have some A3 copies, but headed back to the Information point to grab a proper version (he only gave them out to bonefide cyclists – and I passed the test!). https://cyclingiceland.is/

A quick trip to the shop, for my usual – unfortunately all the bread was sliced, but there was a good choice. Things are expensive (and in big volumes), the most reasonable cheese was a small brie – with everything else in massive packets.

I had a quick look around town, the church was very nice, and a handy place to leave all my change – I had a good few Euros and Danish Krone to donate – hopefully they can change them!

I headed down to the Gallery for the Visual arts, which was in a pretty nice building. It opened at 12:00, so only had 30 minutes to wait, when it didn’t open I realised I hadn’t changed my watch to the correct time, and now it was only 11:10 (so the ferry may have been on time!). Further down the street was the East Iceland Technical Museum, which looked big. I could see printing presses, and workshops. Looks like it would be really good to spend some time if you were waiting for as ferry.

Decided to eat some lunch, by the gun of a ship sunk in WW2, the rest of the ship hasn’t been recovered. Back to the gallery, which soon opened. Free entry. Quite good stuff by local artists. There was a completely hypnotic audio visual piece, which was impossible to stand up in, as in the dark my “sea legs” kicked in, and I staggered around! A good piece on telephone calls being carried out simultaneously, and a very strange pair of paintings with cats.

It couldn’t be put off any more, I had to start cycling. The mountain quickly became very difficult, and I needed to stop frequently – luckily there were magnificent waterfalls, so I would have needed to stop anyway. The bottom 4 km is definitely the hardest, the gradient slackened off in the middle, and the top kicks up a bit on the last couple of hairpin bends. I’ve never cycled so slow, I averaged about 8km/h to the top and that doesn’t include my stops! At one point, there is a set of rapids and a viewpoint. When I got there a passerby had taken my photo and came to offer to email it – thanks Laurent, I think that indicates how many people cycle up it!

Once on the top the plains opens out, with lakes and snow patches, it’s a magnificent sight. It was further enhanced with a big lake, with ice and thawed sections, all totally amazing. One thing to note, despite the snow it was still very warm, in fact it appeared that the tarmac was melting, and sticking to my tyres (along with lots of little stones). I thought this was very strange as it wasn’t really that warm, I think the Icelanders must use a lower melting point tarmac!

It was then all down hill into Egilsstaoir, there were some pretty fierce winds, which were unsettling, especially going around hairpins, which reminded me of Faroes.

The route brought me to the back of some industrial units, and I quickly identified the aroma of hops, with a glimpse of a stainless steel vat through the backdoor – it must be a micro brewery. Cycling to the front to be a brewery Tap Room. Google didn’t really help with what Austri is (the brewery?), but obviously I purchased a (very expensive) bottle of beer – just under £8! I only had 1.2km to cycle (according to the sign), and I tried my best (unsuccessfully) not disturb the sediment. There’s a market for a transportation system for good bottled beer by bicycle, in this particular case, as the brewery is local – an exchange system (a shaken one for a good one) at the campsite, which would avoid any licencing issues.

I found the site easily, and the Belgian cyclist who was on the ferry was just pitching. He found the climb hard which was reassuring. I tried to pitch next to him, but the pegs only went in 10mm, it appeared solid under every peg and would have been a long job hammering with my D lock. I found the soil softer by the childrens playground.

I walked into Egilsstaoir (incidentally, therefore seem to be many ways to spell each town name) past a Netto supermarket, some very posh shops, a hotel, a Subway, until I got to the Bonus supermarket. The setting is perfect for some bleak scandi drama, there is an airport for an added dimension.

I shopped in Bonus, I have no idea on Icelandic money, 1000 ISK is about £7, but after that that I’m stuffed and my brain freezes. It was a big shop, and had big cold rooms rather than lots of fridges, I suppose for most of the year you are correctly dressed to go in, but I found it a bit chilly in shorts!

I managed to get filled pasta for the first time since Germany, plenty of salad and discovered the 2.2% beer. Only official liquor store can sell alcohol over 2.2%, but in contrast to the bottled beer, a can only cost 62p. I still think it’s better to go for quality, but bought one for sampling and allow a longer settling time.

Back to the site, to cook and to sample the beer. I left it as long as I could and managed to get one good glass out of the bottle – it was good stuff. It started to rain gently and the site started to fill up with camper vans of all shapes and sizes, from small converted vans, the normal vans, to big 4×4 with every possible attachment, like roof tents, numerous spare wheels, Jerry cans, you name it.

The campsite was quite large, and the facilities small, but there seems to be building work to expand it.

Today had been the solstice, and it certainly didn’t look like it was going to get dark when I went to sleep, but it had been raining a bit which meant clouds I guess. Unlike when I awoke at 3am, it was bright as day, and the sun was out – it took my sleepy brain a good while to accept it wasn’t 9am.