I wanted to at least pay tribute to the harbor of Siglufjördur, with all the colorful houses, it may not be so important not to have seen them up close.
Most of it is boats for deep sea fishing, a rather brutal hobby by the way. The fishing rods are not comparable to the equipment used at the village pond at home. To get the huge fish on board in the end, it only helps to hit a hook into the living hull. I have seen this on videos of “Fisch&Fang”. Especially men seem to like it.
As befits a fjord, it is framed by mountains that also have snowcaps.
Spring is coming to Siglufjördur, I thought, when I saw the clearing weather. But I was dreading today’s stage. It’s only 80 km short, but there are insane meters of elevation accounted for. And yes – the mountains all around are high!
And it actually wasn’t that bad. The first two tunnels were two lanes, I flicked on my lights and then enjoyed the ride. I love tunnels,
There are many stories about tunnels. Recently I saw a US blockbuster, where the uncertainty in the Icelandic tubes was thematized. Outside meters of snow, inside burning cars, but of course everything will be fine.
Another one was told by the friendly landlord of the book caf’e “Klara” in Olafsfjördur: There is a bike race through all four tunnels nearby. I didn’t find anything about it on the net. He said the total distance is 85 km and there are only two people who have ever done it under two hours. A great thing. I needed 46 minutes just for the two tunnels to Olafsfjördur (17 km). But I am not doing a bike race but a journey.
The place is between the two modern tunnels 3km and 6km long on one side and a narrow single lane tunnel south on the other side. There the cars have to wait when there is oncoming traffic. I had this yesterday already before Siglufjördur.
Museum + ship on the ground
The weather in the fjord got better the deeper I drove in and at the end is Akureyri.
It went up and down to Dalvik and further to Akureyri, but it was not that bad.
Where snow lies on the crests, abundant meltwater flows. In Dalvik I stopped also again briefly (km 34). But actually I looked only for something special in this place. There was a tool store and I tried my luck again to buy a bicycle tube. Because there would be the need for it. For sure.
But he had none, now wants to order a common size and repair kits. I’ve encountered maybe 30 cyclists going around Iceland so far, so there could be about 100 people like that at any one time. In season, that makes maybe 800 bikers, most of whom will encounter a flat tire. This is the market.
From Dalvik, the ferry leaves for Grimsey, the Icelandic island in the Arctic Circle.
Florent, whom I met the day before, had photographed plenty of puffins there, the typical Icelandic birds. He sent me some:
Merci bien, cher Florent.
My first mission was the bicycle store. Because there is only one in Akureyri and maybe two in Reykjavik. That was it. They were very nice. I got two Michelins (I’m a big fan of Michelin) and they let me put some of their oil on my chain. Utisport here. Utisport.
The downtown of Akureyri, a town of twenty thousand people, is also not smaller than Reykjavik. Many beautiful houses covered with wood. That’s what we tourists like!
After dinner I returned to the hostel to have some company. Tomorrow at the latest, I’m on my own again.
First there was Jacob from Erfurt and Paolo from Poland (first I thought he was from South America, but that was a fallacy. His name is also not Pavel – then he would be from Czech Republic – but something like that. He is a tour guide for hikers. Jacob, by the way, for skiing and whale watching. After the official closing time it became colorful: Claudia (Madeira), Tera (Texas), Mario (Guatemala), Noel, Jack and a third from Atlanta, Georgia and even more. It’s hard for me to keep track of it all, too.
#guidolange #adventureiceand #icelandadventure #bikepacker #bikepacking #olafsfjördur #dalvik #akureyri #icelandnorth #biketravel #bikeadventure #adventuretravel #ampelpublishing #poisonbikes
Iceland ringroad No.1 