Day 4: Stykkisholmur to Blonduos

June 26, 2010July 25, 2010 | gloriakidsfirst

We awoke on Saturday morning having slept well in Stykkisholmur. After breakfast we had a good review of the map and thought “bloody hell it is gong to be a long way from here to get anywhere useful” so reluctantly we cycled back to Borgarnes. It was another hard ride back and a bit of a detour but was definitely the right decision. The ‘return’ journey seemed harder partly due to Julien’s very heavily laden bike and the fact that Angelique’s make-shift panniers shifted with every notch on the road resulting in us having to stop to re-adjust them after each minor bang. We covered almost 100k back to Borgarnes.

Although this may upset the more adventurous of our followers we elected to take the local bus to Blonduos which is a small seaside town in the northwestern part of Iceland. Our leg muscles were bulging and the logistics of our kit were getting us down. Approximately 1000 people live in the town and the distance from Reykjavik is about 245 km. The word that sums up our first view of the town was ‘weird’ but we mean that in an eerily endearing way. There is an unusual building that looks a little bit like a pudding bowl with the top lopped off. There were few people around and the only thing missing from this ‘Omen’ style scene was the tumbleweed. We found a little camp area and stuck the tent up.

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Events Team
Kids First Trust

020 7841 8955
events@kidsfirsttrust.org

Day 2: Borgarnes to Budir

June 24, 2010July 25, 2010 | gloriakidsfirst

At 4am we were woken up by the unmistakable sound of torrential rain pelting down on the canvas. Because of Iceland’s location, so close to the North Pole, you will have heard that the daylight hardly ever subsides so eye-guards are vital. Waking up to the sound of the battering rain wearing eye-guards is quite disorienting and we had no idea of the time. Tentatively we pulled up our masks hoping that it was not 9am and were relieved to learn that it was only 4 in the morning. So, eye masks back down and we were able to snooze away until 7am.

When we awoke for the second time this morning we got up and dried out the tents before heading out to look for breakfast. This is where we happened upon a unique Icelandic character who is a puppeteer by trade and now also runs a great cafe with his wife. We had a fantastic breakfast and reviewed our maps taking on local advice from the puppeteer.

We cycled North West to the Snaefellsnes peninsula which had also been highly recommended by our first host. To get there took us 4 hours and battling the continuing headwinds meant we covered just 40km. In the afternoon Angelique had to pull up as she was concerned that she had injured her leg. We flagged down a passing truck and she managed to blag a lift to our destination for the day. I waved her off and cycled on, completing another 75km alone.

Tonight we reside in Budir close to Snaefellsjokull. Our prettiest location so far. We are in a small hotel which Angelique managed to get a great deal at and have a view of the glacier we had been heading for. Angelique is fine and should be back on the road first thing. Off to relax now!

Please support Kids First Trust by sponsoring Julien on his Just Giving Page

Events Team
Kids First Trust

020 7841 8955
events@kidsfirsttrust.org

Day 1: Reykjavik to Borgarnes

June 23, 2010July 25, 2010 | gloriakidsfirst

We awoke to a beautiful day and set off north around the harbour towards Borgarnes which provided us with our first real experience of cycling in Iceland and along a 69km stretch. We had heard the Iceland was renound for it’s head-winds. The rumours were not wrong. The temperature was a very pleasant 25 degrees but the wind was incredible. The last part of the days trip had us heading along a dead straight road where we could see the last 10 miles ahead of us. Cycling in a straight line into the winds was almost debilitating so we were relieved to reach our destination.

We found a campsite and having set up our tents, headed off in to the local town to search for dinner. The food in Iceland can be challenging, fish is ‘popular’ but by now we were craving the green stuff. We were thrilled to find an awesome restaurant which served up the most fulfilling salads. Not something we thought we would ever appreciate quite so much but we went to bed full of fresh vegetables and utterly exhausted.