August 18: "Meeting up again"
The day began by cycling around Lake Myvatn with all its fauna and in particular
geese which were gathering together before starting off on their migration.
Then 10 kilometers of dirt road which we had seen on the map and therefore
accepted. What's was much less appreciated was its becoming 13½ kilometers
of road under construction. More hell and brimstone (mostly the latter by
the way): small boulders on very soft gravel which it was impossible to peddle
on. Fortunately this treacherous roadway became dirt track again 5 km further
on but our relief was short-lived: the construction trucks on the stretch
of road threw up blinding and choking clouds of sand and dust . Steering with
one eye shut and the other one only half open was rather dicey. Fortunately
Anne only saw the back of my head and was therefore not aware of the situation
("blind leading the blind"). She was of course very peeved of having
so carefully hand washed and dried all our clothes at the last campsite. Thankfully,
we were again on asphalt road at the end of 10 kilometers. Then a stretch
of rolling hills , a picnic in the grass, another flat back tire,and an interminable
hill before arriving finally at Godafoss, another waterfall as spectacular
as the preceding ones but with a different personality. And what a happy surprise
to find on leaving the main road to take a look at the falls, Hedwig and his
binoculars on the carpark! He had been spying on us the last km. We thus visited
the falls together and left, promising to meet up again at the campsite at
the entry to Akureyri. We had just left the carpark when another tire went
flat, this time the wheel of the BOB, surely jealous of all the attentions
the two other wheels had been getting! 11 minutes to change the inner tube
and off again. Our friends caught up with us (after having made a small excursion
on their side) walking up a mountain pass at sunset. Their announcement that
they would be waiting for us at the campsite with a hot meal prepared by Hedwig
warmed our hearts and gave us the courage to continue until the end in spite
of quite a bit of headwinds and the chilly temperatures once the sun had gone
down. Another difficulty or rather frustration, was our having to brake going
downhill because of the constant fear of the front tire exploding. We thus
tried not to exceed 40 km/h, speed already rather acrobatic in the event of
a blow-out. I counted on my lucky star and hoped that I would feel the first
premises of a weakness in my repair job before final tire failure.Yves
NEVER showed his concern! Not that crazy!
Our friends were awaiting
us with binoculars on the carpark opposite the campsite. But it is we who
saw them first thanks to the height of the roof of their camper which we could
see over the crest of the preceding hill. The campsite had a very beautiful
view of the city's nightlights. The noodle dish with tomato sauce and wieners
was a true delicacy for two famished, fatigued (95 km covered during the day),
and frozen cyclists (Arrived at 10 PM.) We were touched by their patience
in waiting for us and all the more so that they were still functioning on
Belgian time which means that they ate at midnight!
Northern coast of
Myvatn Lake