After a lovely Skype call back home this morning, I set about picking worms out of my rain boots. One of the covers had fallen on the ground at the last campsite, and the worms thought the fleece on the inside might make a better home than the water logged ground. They had lodged themselves in between the fibres, so it took me a good half and hour with tweezers to dislodge the buggers.
Today we decided that we might just be over cycling in Iceland. We are both ground down a little by the unrelenting rain and cold. There is supposed to be a couple of partly sunny days ahead, so we decided to call it quits and head to our final destination (Seyðisfjörður) a little earlier (we’re due to catch the ferry out to Denmark on Thursday). Matt is hoping to get some hiking in, while I’m hoping I might be able to do something other than strenuous exercise or sitting in a tent avoiding the rain.
So we set off, for what would be the last time in Iceland, to climb the 650 meters over the pass to Seyðisfjörður. It was a challenging but rewarding climb, and showed us simultaneously both how much fitness we have gained since the start of the trip, as well as how much we will need to improve if we want to make it over the alps next month.
It was the highest we’ve been in Iceland by far, and the remnants of the previous winters snow littered the landscape. Once we crested the top, we had a half hour ride or so on relatively flat roads, riding alongside still lakes and melting snow patches.
The ride down the hill into Seydisfjor was stunning. We arrived in town frozen (one good thing about cycling up a hill is it keeps you warm!) and with aching hands from holding onto the breaks so hard on the narrow switchbacks.
4ks an hour 