Day 18 – Sigulfjordur to Akureyri

I tend to feel a bit restless when I stop for too long, as if I’m going to lose momentum. Today was no exception so I committed to getting up early and riding down the other side of the peninsula towards Akureyri, the second biggest town in Iceland.

Ahead of me were three tunnels which totalled about 13km in length. Cycling through such a long tunnel is an eerie experience. You soon lose sense of whether you are going up or down, or making any real progress as the dim overhead lights trail off in a straight line to some distant horizon.

The disorienting effects of the tunnels meant that even though I only had to cycle maybe 100 metres up above sea level to get to the entrance of the second tunnel, it seemed to go downhill for a good 4 kilometres and at quite a steep angle towards the end. Yet when I emerged I was back at sea level.

The third tunnel was one way which made for a few awkward scenes where oncoming cars would pull off to the side to let me pass only to realise I was a slow bicycle rather than a motorbike and pull right back out again to pass me.

Awaiting me on the other side of the tunnel was a great fjord running far to the south and beyond it, a snow covered mountain range following the fjord to its tip. The ride was easy, and I quickly approached my initial destination, Dalvik. As I approached Dalvik I was stalked by a man on a mountain bike. I could see him in my rear view mirror and after a kilometre of trailing me, he came up alongside me and signalled that he wanted to chat. He was a local and contemplating a tour of Iceland himself, he wanted to know how I had faired so far. We chatted for a while and he showed me the way to the local campsite before leaving due to a sudden rainshower. The campsite was in pretty bad shape, just a muddy field with some shipping containers packed with mobile facilities. I was no FIFO, so I decided to try my luck somewhere closer to Akureyri. I was out of luck, as the next two campsites were terrible. Clearly made for campervans they were little more than small fields of mud with no cooking or washing facilities, let alone a flat place to put down a tent.

In the end I continued to Akureyri. As I approached the town I witnessed a beautiful mixture of dark rainshowers and fleeting sunlight and committed to capturing the moment no matter what. I spotted a farmhouse road leading to a good view and darted up it. Halfway up I realised the only view would be from right next to a house but it was too late to turn back. I approach the house and vista, and as I brake and look around I see the owner, sitting in a chair maybe a metre from me, enjoying the same view. I apologised for intruding and asked if I could stay to take a photo. He said yes, which was nice because I’d hate to have to kill someone for a photo after such a long run of nonviolence. As I snapped away we chatted about his life as a farmer and local fox hunter, the state of Iceland, and how little of it he had seen. The valley we were facing was truly his home, he had only been outside of it to visit nearby Akureyri to buy tractor parts.

The clouds eventually spotted me and chased me down, so I parted ways with the farmer and pushed my bike up and over the last hill concealing Akureyri. Just outside of town I met another German cyclist. She was just starting out and told me that the best campsite was just past the airport.

At this point I had done about 70km and was ready to turn in for the day, but I diligently soldiered on to this particular site. The town felt long, and the airport even longer. My hunger and exhaustion was hitting me all at once. Finally I see the camp sign, straight up a steep hill. Fine, I go up the hill and immediately see another sign pointing up yet another hill. And then another. I’ll never find this place . After about 4 kilometres I finally find the campsite at the base of some rock formations. The campsite is massive, with a half dozen large fields to choose from. I somehow pick the one with Australians. We chat for a bit while I make a pasta soup abomination.

There is a beautiful sunset that night but I have no luck finding a good subject to shoot, so I go to bed defeated.