Cycling around Iceland

Party In Vegamót.....

The 17th of June is Icelands National Day. The sun was shinning, there was no wind for once.... it was a beautiful day. Then we got attacked by flies. We were still in Borgarnes hanging around to see if any festivities would be taking place for the big day. We waited till around 1pm. There was still no sign of much happening here. It truly is a slow moving pace of life. After asking a few locals, they informed us that the bigger towns would be having parties. So we fought off the flies at the old camp sight, took our tent down, and got on our way towards Stykkishólmur (the gateway to the fjords).
Leaving Borgarnes we took route 54 west north west in the direction of Snæfellsjökull (a journey to the center of the earth). Once again we fought an early hill, and then was rewarded with lovely flat roads and beautiful mountain views, the most spectacular being the view of Snæfellsjökull. As we passed near the town Eldborg the hills and the wind decided to play a game with us. Cycle up the hill = wind in the face. Change direction with the road and head up another small mountain = wind in the face. The Icelandic wind seems to be alive. Like a young child playing games, trying his/her mischievous best to break your spirit down. The sight of the mountain however was just too beautiful, and kept us going in our pursuit of route 56 towards Stykkishólmur.
After stopping for some food, to fill the energy bank route 56 started to come into sight. A huge moral lift was the sight of a N1 service station. We Stopped off for some coffee and a rest before attemting to head on to Stykkishólmur. After 65k we were all slightly warn down and in need of a good rest. In N1 there was three girls around our age working there. We got chatting to them, telling them what we were doing etc, and then asked if we could camp behing the petrol station. They allowed us too and then said we could use their tomorrow. They even invited us to a party the following day.
So we hung around in Vegamót for a day and another night. We had some alcohol with us and we had also obtained two further couchsurfers that were to stay in our allready full tent. The party itself was pretty crazy. Starting with some guitar songs and a buffet, it appeared quite formal. Then more crazy Icelandic party goers turned up and got the party started. Upside down drinking was to name atleast one of the crazy things going on here. Vegamót wasn't even a town. All that was there was a gas station and few farms. I have no idea where all of the people turned up from.
With a slightly wobbly approach we set off towards Stykkishólmur, hoping that we finally would get there, and that the ever looming hang over would stay away. Route 56 from vegamót back towards route 54, started with a slow climbing hill and then a huge mountain like thing that nearly killed all three of us. The only thing that kept me going was the hope of a huge down hill cycle. Sure enough from the top of the huge hill on route 56 it was all downhill into Stykkishólmur. It was the best day of cycling on the trip so far. We covered around 35k in about 2 hours with a few stops. The weather was great and arrival into the stunning little sea side town of Stykkishólmur made the day even better. Stykkishólmur is by far one of the prettiest towns so far. It will definatly be hard to beat. Old wooden buildings run down narrow streets to the harbour, all in different colours, sizes but following the same fashion. The bay and the view out towards the fjords is fantastic.

Fjords here we come. Today we are catching the afternoon ferry past the island of Flatey to the town Brjánslækur in the west fjordlands (Vestfirðir). All to do before setting off today is to stock up our food at Bónus and pack up the tent. Apparently we are in for a few days of rain..... wish us luck! x

Icelandic colours.... Litirnir (colours)

Svartur = Black
Blár = Blue
Brúnn = Brown
Grár = Grey
Grænn = Green
Bleikur = Pink
Fjólublár = Purple
Rauður = Red
Hvitur = White
Gulur = Yellow
Appelsinugulur = Orange