Day 11 - Northwards

 So last night, I was charging my phone in. the campsite when I smelt burning and then saw smoke coming out of the end charging my phone. I pulled it out quickly but was immediately worried that I wouldn't be able to charge my phone anymore... which needless to say would be a disaster....

I pulled out my spare charging cable and hooked up my slightly charred phone to my battery pack... and waited....

If it wouldn't charge I knew that I would have to find a phone repair shop and fast... I needed my phone to get me home...

93%... cmon phone... it looked like it was charging but until the number started rising I could not be sure... it seemed like ages

..

94%! Yes! and no further burning smell.. clearly I had stopped the charging process in time for no damage to be done or at least not enough damage to prevent me from ising the phone. So back to plan A it was then.

The following morning I awoke and packed up... it all gets stowed away in order and with ease, following the rythms of life on the road. Pack away spare clothes into seat pack.. place stove bag on top... roll it up. Secure it to the seat post. Next collapse air bed, stuff sleeping bag in sack, roll air bed up into stuff sack...

Pack backpack... electronics and food mainly go in there plus any spare bits. Put on SPOT onto belt loops, put Garmin onto bike...

Collapse tent, roll up, put in bag. Put tent, sleeping bag and sleeping matt in front handlebar bag. Add gas cannister... roll up the end tight. Secure bag to handlebars.

Check I have left nothing behind... fill up waterbottles, last minute bathroom break, then stand on the pedals and get rolling down the road.

So starts most mornings of  prolonged bike trip... everything works like clockwork, goes into its prearranged space.

This morning I then had to navigate myself out of Reykjavik, north... to find Thingvellir National Park. Apparently there was a bike path and I followed the roads to where I thought the bike path would start. Inevitably the quiet way out of a capital city involves the industrial back roads and this was no exception, but whilst it isnt always the mpst salubrious of exits, it is much nicer than joining all the other traffic escaping the city. I hit the bike path early and this is where I must congratulate Iceland...

I live in the UK, where bikepaths are often strewn with glass, only go for 500m and then filter you back into traffic at the most inconveniant and dangerous point of the road, or take you somewhere you don't want to go...

This one was smooth, had no glass, and took me all the way out of Reykjavik with signposts pointing the way to various places, including Mosfellsbaer, which was a town on the way to Thingvellir.

The route was climbing. up steadily always but it was such a lovely path, with bridges over rivers, stretches alongside the river and one bit which went through a stretch of pine trees... my god the smell of pine trees, I love it, and there have not been many trees of any sort on this ride so far... it was a little slice of heaven.

I then came into Mosfellsbaer and pulled up at another slice of heaven... subway!!

Given that I have had generally very little to eat and certaonly nothing that could be called fast food, this was sooooo good!!

Also I was a little chilly as the weather has turned a little from the really warm to hot weather of the past week or so to mild but definately cooler., so it was good to sit in. a nice warm Subway whilst eating and just watch the world go by!

Soon however I got back on the bike and joined Route 1 for the small bit prior to turning off onto Road 36..

When I did turn off, the first thing I saw was another bike path and signs to Thingvellir. This bile path even had a bile workstation with pump and a water fountain! I was sooo impressed!

Unfortunately this bike path was not as long and fed me back onto the 36 fairly quickly but it was a pretty quiet road and Im fine with cycling on fairly major roads anyway... Highway 101 out of St Louis it wasn't! 😂

This was smooth tarmac and just kept winding up and up, nothing too steep, just constant upwards gradient. I remember thinking that I would deffo have to come back to Reykjavik this way as I had sweated uphill, I deserved the downhill reward.

The fields either side had horses or sheep in and were very green, not a black desert in sight. It was lovely to watch it go by, the odd church up on the hillside, birds soaring above!

Eventually I got to the top and a plateau of sorts... for some reason it reminded me of years ago, on a plateau in Texas at the Halfway Cafe... that was a cold day! I met Faith and Tom in the cafe, and we have stayed in touch ever since. I love that about my travels... that I meet people who then stick in your life, like it was meant to be....

Anyhow, the plateau reminded me of that one in Texas, though I think oddly it is slightly warmer here. Sweeping along and down the other side made me cold and there there was no McDonalds to sit my shivering arse in to warm up. It wasn't quite as big a descent here, just down to the lakeside and then running along the rock of Thingvellir on the road towards the campsite.

It wasn't far from there and I rolled up to the information point, excited... I had seen trees of green, no red roses, but it did seem wonderful. I paid for three nights and got a 4th free if I wanted it. I knew very lottle about Thingvellir except it was a historic site and a Unesco World heritage site and it was green!

I picked the campsite. a little way into the park, eschewing the one by the info centre and the one by the lake for now. I reversed the packing process and in no time at all had my tent set up, dinner cooked and decided to go for a quick explore.

I headed onto the path at the back of this. campsite and in the short walk I did, what I saw delighted me... but I will leave a fuller description of the park for Day 12 blog.

Needless to say, there was no black deserts here!