Reykjavik to Laugvartn

As predicted, the weather looked a bit sketchy this morning as we got ready to ride the first leg of the Golden Circle route.  Our plan today was to ride to Laugarvatn, which is about 100 km from where we stayed in Reykjavik.  The forecast didn’t look too bad, but the rain was supposed to increase as the day wore on, so after about 5 cups of coffee we headed out the door.  It wasn’t raining at first, so we just wore warm clothes – the temperature at 0830 was about 13 degrees.  That’s not too bad but we were a bit concerned about weather later today.

We were glad that we’d pre-rode our route out of Reykjavik yesterday.  It helped a lot.  But still, we got lost several times, even when we backtracked on the GPS.  It is crazy how easy it is to get lost, even when you supposedly know where you’re going. 

But soon we were out of town and riding into the rural hills to the north and east of the coast.  

Just outside of Reykjavik

Icelandic horses that don't care about us!

There are some pretty unique colors -- I like the grey

It was calm in the morning

The theme of the day was uphill into a sometimes strong wind, with a fair amount of rain thrown in.  The hills are not steep, but they go on and on and on.  There are no trees on the hills, so it can get a bit monotonous.  And actually, the hills remind me a lot of the Columbia Gorge area between Hood River and The Dalles.  It was pretty going but since today is the third day of a 3-day national holiday in Iceland, traffic was pretty heavy.  The roads are narrow with no shoulder and it can be tight when there is oncoming traffic.  Most drivers are pretty courteous but still it was nerve racking at times today.  We’ll be on small roads most of the rest of the ride, and the holiday is over, so with folks back home we are hoping for some quieter roads ahead.

There are a lot of Icelandic horses and sheep.  The horses are small but are said to be pretty hardy.  The sheep pretty much have their run of things outside of villages – they wander all over the roads but we saw no road kill.

Our first stop was at Thingvellir National Park, which is situated at Thingvillir Lake, the largest lake in Iceland.  (“Thingvillir” is the Anglicized spelling of an Icelandic word that it unpronounceable to English speakers!  Here's the Icelandic spelling: Þingvellir)  The north end of the park has a rift where the North American and European tectonic plates are separating – the signs said that the rift grows 2 – 4 cm per year.  It is pretty cool to walk down the rift into the rift valley.  The place was packed and is a favorite hiking are for locals.  

The rift where the plates are separating

The walkway into the rift (notice how everyone is bundled up...)

A fissure (smelly sulfur gases all around!)

Snow in this fissure

Another view of the rift

Oddly (at least to us), Thingvillir is also the location of Iceland’s first parliament building.  I’m not sure why, since it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  Reykjavik seems a more likely place.  But here’s a factoid: Iceland’s parliament is the oldest democracy in the world -- parliament was formed in 980 AD.  Here’s a photo of the parliament building (no, it isn’t the original but it is of fairly recent vintage).

Parliament building

We had our standard lunch at the visitor’s center, bread and cheese.  Here the rain started in earnest.  We still had another 50 km to go, so it was going to be wet.  We suited up and hit the road.  Uphill again.  And into the wind.

The landscape is so barren in this central part of Iceland.  And it has the feel to it that in winter it must be very, very cold.  There are lots of barriers that they can close roads with that say “Stop, this road is snowed over and closed.”  There are unique volcanic fissures filled with warm water.

The water is super clear, and deep

Smelly, too, but you can't appreciate that!

And waterfalls.

A randome waterfall (a "foss" in Icelandic)

The rain finally did slow a bit, but the wind and the hills kept coming.  But at last, with about 5 km to go we crested a hill and had a glorious downhill run to Laugarvatn where we’ve booked a room in a hostel for the night.  We’re both cold and beat, so a hot shower and a snooze are in order.

Downhill to the lake, where we will spend the night

The landscape

Here’s our hostel (reminiscent of the parliament building in Thingvillir) – it used to be a school but is fixed up really nicely.

Home for tonight 

And here’s a pair of Icelandic horses; no, you’re not seeing double.  Well maybe you are but the photo has 2 horses in it and they never leave each other’s sides.  Good pasture buddies!

Good buddies

Until tomorrow.