July 29, 2020
Day 11 - Icebergs and glacial flood plains
Jökulsárlón to Hörgsland
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Day 11 - Jökulsárlón to Hörgsland - 74 miles
I had to pinch myself when I woke up because I just couldn't believe where I was. My alarm was set pretty early because I wanted to get packed away before the cafe and car park near the road opened. Regardless, there was still someone around- a lone photographer standing on a hill in the distance who I'm pretty sure must've seen my tent. But morning is morning and there's no real worry. Thankfully the really heavy condensation from last night had almost completely gone and I was left with a nice dry pack up at around 6:30. Heading all the down back down the track and across the bridge, I wanted to get some pictures of the 'diamond beach' which is where icebergs get washed down the river from Jökulsárlón and out into the open ocean. This was almost entirely deserted too, and I spent a while here trying to compose a good scene with the black sand, icebergs and breaking waves. There was an absolutely massive flock of Arctic Terns (apparently the collective noun is a <i>cotillion</i> of terns) which were circling the beach, and I was wary of getting attacked. Some research prior to my trip told me that these birds are fiercely territorial of their nesting sites and will often dive-bomb onto peoples' heads when they get too close. I suppose you can cut then some slack when you consider they've just undergone a migratory round trip of 22,000 miles to Antarctica and back!
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A short while down the road is Fjallsárlón, the other main glacial lagoon, albeit a lot less popular. The glacier itself is a lot closer to the road here, and plunging down from the mountains at a steeper angle, so I made the most of my tripod and took a plethora of self-timed action shots. As I turned off the road to the lagoon viewing point, the same flies from the start of my trip appeared out of nowhere and started to get really annoying again. It didn't seem like other people were getting bothered by them so I'll chalk it up to having an eye-wateringly flourescent orange jacket (although to everyone else it probably looked like I smelled so bad I was attracting the flies!). My water bottles were all completely empty so nipped into the cafe for a can of Coke and a fill up. The seats were comfy so I ended up staying here for much longer than I antipated, catching up with all my missed daily geography quizzes on Jetpunk, a quiz website I'm particularly fond of.
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Cycling was super easy until reaching the headland at Hof where I met a brisk crosswind and my speed plummeted again. Yesterday's cycle must've taken its toll because my legs were tired even when on a gentle downhill. One thing I'm really bad at is allowing myself rest days to recover on cycle trips, especially when I'm pressed for time anyway. I was most of the way around the country anyway, so now felt like an acceptable time to allow myself time to stick my headphones in and I played all the songs that have been stuck in my head the last 10 days on repeat. There were a few viewpoints for glacier tongues and minor waterfalls coming up, but they weren't very close to the road and I decided to just carry on instead due to the dark murky weather. Eventually I reached the edge of Skeiðarársandur which is a huge glacier outwash plain of gravel and sand that has been washed clear from the multitude of glacial rivers. It's a desolote and featureless landscape and looks like it could be from another planet. Thanks to the occasional Jökulhlaups (glacial floods), it was the last section of coastal Iceland to be traversed by road, and you can see why; in 1996 there was a volcanic eruption triggering a huge outburst flood and it completely desolated the bridges, leaving broken scattered girders across the plain. Beside one of the larger girders protruding from the sand, there was a series of information boards and some picnic benches where I met another German solo cyclist. Just like everyone else I've met, he could speak easy conversational English and we chatted for a bit before I settled down for some lunch.
The rest of the day was quite uneventful and even a little depressing because I was getting twinges of knee pain. I had to cut my first ever tour short (in Scotland) because of horrible mystery pain behind the kneecap and since then I've always taken a brace to put on at the first sign of pain, which has somehow magically always nullified it completely. This felt a bit different to what I've had before though, and with hindsight I'm hopeful that it might just have been my seat at a lower height for this trip than normal. The fairly monotonous ride gave me chance to think about what to do with buses and getting to the airport for my flight in 4 days time. From Vík to Reykjavik, the ringroad gets busier and most of the scenery is just flat farmland from what I've seen on Google Maps. I was torn between the choice of cycling another full day and then catching the bus from Skógar back to the capital, or getting it from Kirkjubæjarklaustur tomorrow morning instead and giving myself a sightseeing day around Reykjavik's museums. Weather forecasts turned out to be the deciding factor and I chose the latter. This would mean missing out on seeing Skógafoss but I didn't fancy like having a 70 mile cycle in the rain as my final day on the bike.
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Hörgsland campsite is a bit run down, unusually busy with people, and there is a really strong smell of sewage drains in the corner where I'm pitched up. Directly opposite me were a group of 3 caravans with a big family group and I was kept awake until 11pm with a symphony of loud Icelandic radio mixed with the obnoxious screams of children kicking footballs around metres from my tent. Perfect reminder as to why wildcamping is so much better.
One thought I had before bed is how courteous drivers have been towards me on the bike. I can only think of 2 of 3 times in 700 miles where I've thought someone did a really stupid overtake and dangerous turn past me. That's got to be some sort of record!
Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 700 miles (1,127 km)
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