After leaving Skogafoss, with a strong tailwind behind us, we quickly clocked up 20 blissful kilometres on the long straight road. We had virtually uninterupted views of the mountains around Mýrdalsjökull (one of the large glaciers) on our left, and it was hard not to stop and take photos every 2 minutes.
We were headed for Vík, a small fishing village on the south cost of Iceland, with a side trip to Dyrhólaey (a small peninsular west of Vík) to check out the volcanic rock formations and black sand beaches. Getting to Dyrhólaey, with the wind behind us, was a piece of cake. Coming back was a whole other matter. While we were admiring the black sand, the wind picked up, and the 5km back to the ring road took about an hour. We had read many stories about Icelandic winds, but until you are in it its hard to imagine. The wind was insanely strong. Bracing against it, we were flat out cycling 8km an hour (on a flat road). As if that wasn’t enough, the wind would regularly shift directions and intensity, making keeping a straight line and staying on the road particularly challenging.
Once back on the main road, with the wind at our backs once more, we made good time and cruised on into Vík around 3pm. We set about stocking up on food and wine (supermarkets have limited trading hours over the weekend, and the government run bottle shops don’t open at all) and attempting to put up camp in such a way that we would get come protection from the wind.
The next day we learnt our first valuable lesson over night… winds can change direction. What started out as a strong tailwind from the east, was now a strong headwind from the west (ruining anything we had tried to do in terms of a wind block with our camp set up). To top it off, rain had set in overnight, and the temperature didn’t manage to make it above 12 degrees!
To me, this meant a perfect excuse for a rest day. Matt, meanwhile, has decided to take off up a mountain path, in the hopes of some views of the glacier. As I’m sitting here typing this, warm and dry in the camps’ kitchen shelter, Matt is out in 35km winds, while it’s 12 degrees and pouring with rain.
4ks an hour 