Day 14 - Rain and Ramblings

 Essentially this is going to be a short blog as today was 'back to Reykjavik day' I woke up to rain hammering down onto the tent... there is NOTHING worse than packing up a wet tent. Trying to avoid your sleeping bag getting wet until it goes in the handlebar bag. Don't let the sleeping mat touch the wet grass... Be careful how you fold up the tent so that the sleeping compartment doesn't get wet. Horrible job. Fortunately I'm pretty good at packing up my stuff and have got into a good rythm after 13 previous days of packing and unpacking everything... so it wasn't too long, everything was on the bike, I had my long cycling trousers on cos it was bloody cold... and I headed off into the wind and rain and mist.

About 200 yards up the road, I realised that this might be the first time that I may need a back light on my bike, so I stopped and hauled my rear light out of my bag and zip tied it to my seat pack. With that and my luminous rucksack cover I was pretty certain everyone could see me... even if I was having trouble seeing the road.

In my head I was kinda laughing... Finally Iceland shows me what it's all about. I have been so incredibly lucky with so much sunshine and warm weather... Iceland was just reminding me how it could have been....

I ground uphill... strange there must have been more downhill on the way here than I had remembered because there was a lot of uphill. That said, I was going a decent pace, faster than I have been... must be getting fitter....

I couldn't see much of anything for a while as I climbed up to the plateau and then up and down as it wound around... where was that downhill??

I was soaked through, pretty cold, but smiling to myself... I was wierdly enjoying this...

Then the rain slowed and the sun came out... For 1 minute or so.. I had the sun out, the wimd on my back and I was going downhill.... Life doesn't get much better than that!

The downhill was as good as I thought it would be... fast... fun...

And I saw a minke... ok so it was a dead one on the side of the road... but it still counts!! No photo as I was going downhill to fast to stop. 1st furry animal I have seen that isn't a sheep.

Then I hit the bike path and thoughts turned to repeating the Subway experience... so I did... I dried off nicely and then set out for the last 10 miles into Reykjavik following the lovely bike path...

.. up and down the path meandered... and just as I was dry, it started raining again... wet through in seconds... hey ho... finish the day as I started.

It was nice to come back into the city the same way I went out as it was familiar and felt like returning to a place that I knew well... I found the campsite easily and stopped at the famed ice cream shop... worth it!

Tent set up in the rain again and then back out on the bike down now familiar streets into the centre to pick up a few bits and pieces...

Reykjavik doesn't seem that big... in fact it feels smaller than Reading... I have no idea if it is or not but it feels like it. I feel like I already know my way around after 2 or 3 bike trips into the centre. And I like that about this place... most cities fill me with dread.

Tomorrow is another trip to the volcano in the hope it is doing something this time!! I decided that it was worth another trip, albeit as part of a day tour this time... because although it was more subdued last week.. it seems to have kicked off again. Fingers crossed! 









Comments

  1. Unknown22 August 2021 at 12:28

    Wow that seems like my kind of city..remote and really reduced in size compared to others. Hmm must try a subway one day. Everything crossed for an erupting volcano. Mum xx

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