Despite it being a busy campsite, it was very quiet until late. I cooked breakfast and got away about 9:00. My initial task was to find the SBA bus company offices, I know it was a Sunday, but it has buses running everyday so I’m hopeful they may have an office. Their website keeps crashing on my phone just as I’m about to book a bus. I did some planning last night and to cycle across the Highlands on Road F35 (The Kjolur Route), in manageable chunks – ie cycling between known refuges, campsites or mountain huts (where you maybe allowed to pitch a tent), with a target of around 50km a day (some shorter some longer) would be 4 days minimum. I would need to factor bad weather, as the forecasts had winds getting higher (up to 35 m/s) and south westerly (headwind) until at least Thursday.

The more I thought about it, it clearly it wasn’t going to happen (but I always have a backup plan). In this case it’s the bus 610a, which is a rugged off road coach, which somehow goes from Akureyri to Reykjavik – 400km everyday on the gravel “Kjolur route”. The perfect solution except their website can’t take my booking. My plan today was to sort out the bus, and then cycle to near the start of the Kjolur at Varmahlid, about 100km which didn’t look too bad. There was only one thing showing on the map en-route, which appeared to be some sort of food stop.

As I cycled into Akureyri, a cruise ship had pulled up in the harbour, and the inmates had been allowed to roam freely. They were everywhere, stood in the road, wandering aimlessly across traffic and single handedly mobbing the Tourist Information office. It seemed like they were trying to book taxis to most parts of Iceland. I should be grateful as I’m not sure the Tourist Information office would have been open without the “battery” tourists (I like to think of them as battery chickens – especially the ships with all the cabins having balconies on the outside look like cages). Anyway the Tourist Office seem pleased to help a cyclist with a simple bus problem. They suggested booking on line and then phone on Monday regarding the bike, as nobody would be around on a Sunday. My phone failed again, and so did the public access PC, so I’ll have to do it all by phone tomorrow. My final question was about supermarkets opening on a Sunday, and luckily the Netto opened at 10, so I had 20 mins to cycle there (the Bonus didn’t open until 12, which would have ruined all my plans – as I had little cycling food left).

Fully stocked up with food, I headed off. Initially along the coast, with a side wind, but I did know (thanks to the Vedur App) I would turn into the wind for about 50km, and where the route changed direction towards the end I should pick up a tail wind. Also at the start of more remote sections of the road, there are helpful digital displays confirming the weather forecast.

Not too much to say about the ride, beautiful mountain scenery, with agriculture on the wide flat plain. Plenty of Oyster Catchers flying with me, chirping and leading me away from their nests. It was slow going, and I was expecting a climb similar to yesterday (350m high point), and today 270m, but with a similar climb because I was coming from sea level, rather than the interior. On the cyclists map, a food place was shown at what I thought was the high point – it turn out to be a small village, about 500 m off the road, so I pushed on. Shortly after I saw the scale of the climb – I’d miss read the map, and 580 m was the high point. The road just snaked up the mountain seemingly for ever. This was is in addition to the headwind!

I just got on with it, grinding up in the lowest gear, head down and hands on the drop bars, to cheat the wind as much as possible. I pedalled the whole way up, but stopped frequently.

Eventually I got to the summit (with an average of 14kph), and headed down. I was expecting the headwind for another 30 km or so, but then to get some benefit with a tail wind. It never came, I pedaled the whole way down, if I free wheeled I quickly lost speed due to the wind. It was a completely different valley on the otherside, very wide with a fast wide river next to the road. It may have been an optical illusion, but the river seemed to be going at least 25kph, as I was cycling the same speed as the water and rapids.

The tailwind never happened, if anything the headwind got stronger as the valley flattened out wider. I got to Varmahlid at about 6pm, after over 7 hours cycling. I was pretty tired, but passed one campsite on the plain, which had only one caravan, and no shelter – but I knew there was another behind the village near a forest which sounded better. I got to the N1 service station, and with only 900m to go to the campsite, according to the sign. I stopped. Coffee and cake were the order of the day (and plug sockets, and warmth, and world cup on the TV), I sat for a good while – until I realised it was starting to rain (as well as continue to be windy).

A quick food shop, and a cycle up a very steep hill to a nicely wooded, but still very wet and windy site. Found a sheltered corner for my tent which hopefully give it some protection. Pitched up the outer really quick and got everything inside, before starting to cook. There’s no kitchen or common sheltered area on this site which is a pity, but luckily my tent has plenty of room, the only question is will it stand up in the wind?