I set out in the morning after saying my goodbyes to my hosts and guests. The ride out of Reykjavik was tiresome as there were not many bicycle paths leading out the ring road. After a half hour of navigating traffic lights and cycle paths veering off course, I ended up just riding on the ring road itself. It had a seal shoulder so I did not feel unsafe.
As I turned onto the road to Thingvellir, the wind started to pick up dramatically. The road also started to ascend gradually, and before long the combination of the two made it very difficult to progress. At times it felt that the wind would stop me from being able to roll downhill. I was exhausted, having to take frequent breaks and hiking the bike up the steeper hills to avoid having to deal with the wind. After many hours I was still 10kms from Thingvellir. I decided that I would either set camp on the side of the road or try to hitch hike the remainder. Luckily I spotted a 4WD with a big trailer, and the driver was kind enough to load the bike on the back and take me to the Thigvellir campsite. Here the wind was still, so I cycled up to Thingvellir itself, before finding a shore-side camp site and pitching up for the night.
Comments are closed.