Bike Touring in Iceland: Day 3

Day 3: The Kaldidalsvegur 

Descent from the Kaldidalur

I think this third day of riding really epitomized what we wanted out of a bike tour in Iceland. We had made the decision to keep going into the interior despite my bike woes, and that we didn't have much leeway in terms of provisions. We were heading into the harsh Icelandic interior. And it turned out to be a tough day, but rewarding in proportion to that difficulty. There was certainly some type II fun (fun once you're done).

We woke up early in our emergency cabin after a somewhat fitful night, disrupted by the rattling of the roof and walls during gusts. We headed out from the cabin in search of water, knowing that there would not be any for about 35km. It was cold -- we were wearing almost all the clothing we had, and a light drizzle began to fall. We set off in earnest at around 7:30, straight into a strong headwind.

 The dirt road deteriorated, and the drizzle turned to steady rain. While the road was never steep, it climbed gradually in consistent rolling hills, and the wind was blowing 30-40mph. At times, we were blown to the side of the road by gusts. For several hours, we plodded on; I never left my easiest gears, even when going downhill! The headwind was strong enough to blow us to a standstill if we ever stopped pedaling. We pushed our bikes up steeper sections, at grades that would have been easy cycling without the wind. The rain continued, and we got cold. Numb hands and feet, and chilled bodies. Keeping our energy up required food, but food required stopping, and we were too cold to stop. So except for a couple quick breaks, we pressed on.

The Kaldidalur valley skirts the huge Langjokull ice cap, which is shrouded in cloud above the mountains visible here

As we progressed into the interior, volcanic calderas rose up to the left and right, and eventually we began riding alongside the enormous Langjokull ice cap. Up above, we glimpsed the tongues of calving glaciers. The landscape became entirely in greyscale. Grey skies, white snow, black rock and grey dirt.

It took us until lunchtime to cycle the 15km to the highest point of the Kaldidalur. Our average speed for the morning was 6kph, or less than 4mph, not including breaks. We were incredibly relieved to see the top, because it signaled the start of our gradual decent, and because the 15ft high rock pile marking the pass provided the only shelter from the wind we had seen since leaving the hut. We were both wet and cold. Its funny that the two coldest times of my life have both been with Postyn! The other was a very long, cold day a couple of years ago while attempting the Presidential Range traverse in New Hampshire's White Mountains, along with Lucy and our friend Sonja. But the Kaldidalur takes the cake. We ate lunch huddled in the lee of the rock pile, taking breaks every couple of minutes to jump around as we felt our bodies chill rapidly. Excuse the funky double-image below: Blogger doesn't seem to handle video very smoothly. But the left one works!

As we began the second half of the Kaldidalsvegur, the rain petered out, and the riding, being net downhill, became easier. However, our bodies had coldness-hangovers, and descent is always colder than ascent. Fingers and toes were still problematically cold. We rode on, getting better glimpses of Langjokull glacier. As we descended, we began to discern colors other than grey/black/white on the horizon, and eventually were greeted by an excellent view of the Husafell valley, shown in the photo at the top of the page.  Proceeding lower, we came alongside a river. It was nice to see water in liquid form, and as far as rivers go, it was a pretty one.

This valley runs to the foot of the Langjokull glacier. Exposed rock and wide valley seem almost like a tidal estuary.

Our route stayed near the river as we continued down the valley, which was much more sheltered from the wind. In places, it ran through strange, geometric volcanic formations. Unfortunately the road is heavily traveled by tourists driving up for a glimpse of Langjokull, meaning the dirt surface was heavily washboarded. We strove constantly to find the least bumpy path, but it was all pretty bumpy.

The strong geometry of cooled lava has been eroded by the stream

We had a late afternoon snack in Husafell, which is not much more than a hotel and a few other buildings, including that of a company that will drive you by snowcat onto the Langjokull glacier. A table outside their office provided a good place to warm our toes, which had stayed numb. From there we followed the river on (finally) pavement. We were on the lookout for a place to camp, but instead found Braunafoss, a cool waterfall/rapid. Postyn and I agreed it was probably not inner-tube-able! Or in fact runnable at all, in any white-water craft. We could see that the valley ahead was farmed, and were concerned about finding a camp spot. Wild camping in Iceland is very easy, as there it is a constitutional right. But not on farmland. However, pretty soon we found a spot off the side of the road, by the river. Perfect. 

Very relieved to pitch the tent, and warm our still-cold feet

We cooked dinner hungrily. Postyn can be seen below acting as a human wind-block for the stove. The JetBoil (an excellent graduation gift to me and Lucy from her mom) was amazing during this trip, but it does suffer in breezy conditions. 

                           Fooood! It wasn't really Chacos weather, but our shoes were still wet from the morning. 

By the time we were done with dinner, we were pretty exhausted. In fact, Postyn almost fell asleep outside the tent, when he decided to test the comfort of the springy grass we had pitched the tent on. I think I will always remember this day of cycling, and peg it as one of the top two of the trip, despite the cold and rain, and exhausting headwinds. I guess that's the thing with type II fun... 

More soon.

 -- Adie

Well, the grass was comfy!