Set out in the morning heading east along the coast. My destination is the Glacial Lagoon on the south east coast, but really I just want to drive and soak in the scenery. I wasn’t planning on cycling this far south due to someone advising me that there was nothing to see, but for the first time I was seeing a landscape that was truly blowing me away. I slowly made my way past towering cliffs, massive desolate ash fields and huge glaciers looming in the distance. I eventually arrived at the lagoon. The lagoon has a constant stream of glaciers feeding into it, providing a perfect spot for photography. Given good lighting. The worst thing about beautiful scenery is not being able to do it justice with a photo due to bad lighting. And Iceland is mostly bad lighting. Forget all those photos of blue skies with golden clouds, Iceland is 99% gray skies with the occasional sunset. I do my best to arrive at on location when there is the chance of a nice sunset, but it is mostly down to luck. As a result I do very little photography during the day when the light is flat and lifeless. The lagoon is no exception, so I start to head back.
The second part of my drive today is back across the coast and then north to the Snaefellnes peninsula. It is a long way away and petrol is not cheap, but I have decided that even if my knee does not heal and I see no more of Iceland, I will conquer it by driving all over it.
The ride back provides new scenery, and before long I am past Reykjvik and heading up the west coast. The clouds are menacing here, but as the day comes to a close a beautiful sunset appears. I drive into Borgarnes, starving. The grocery store is closed so I head into a local grill and devour the cheapest burger on the menu (only $35 aud!). Its past midnight so I go to sleep, but not before running into a Czech tourist who was afraid that I was a cop due to my hi-vis cycling jacket.
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