August 3: "Speed record"
After a good night (10 hours sleep: proof that we work too much much during
the year) Anne worries about how she will be able to pedal, deep breathing
and most other mouvements provoking severe pain. I do all that I can by helping
her getting dressed, tying her shoe laces etc. Those that mistakenly think
that recumbent cycling is a handisport aren't that far off! It turned out
that at the end of ten km, Anne had succeeded in finding a position not only
comfortable but pain-free allowing her to fully enjoy the beautiful sunny
day which began without a cloud. By noon, the clouds were back and in the
afternoon the blue sky had pretty well disappeared. To compensate, we had
a 10 km/h tailwind. This combined with 70 km of rigorously flat road allowed
us to maintain an average of more than 19 km/h until 10 km before Vik where
we had to climb (on foot) a steep 10% grade rewarded shortly afterwards by
the same slope but in the other direction. It is here that Anne managed to
repress her braking instincts thus beating her speed (and fright) record of
68 Km/h. Nonetheless, she had in her mind the damage which 220 kg of woman,
man, and machine could encur if something went wrong. A few km further on,
another hill but much longer and steeper (12%.grade). I of course pushed our
machine making a dozen stops on the way up to catch my breath. We were amazed
along this superb route by the beauty of a large glacier in the distance,
many small water falls and an IMMENSE Skogafoss. It is at this very touristy
site that we were flattered by being photographed almost as much as this natural
wonder.
With each stop we made to take a pictures, we were filled with awe by the number and the variety of small flowers which grew between bits of lava. Certain areas between the cliffs and sea were vast pebble beaches composed of basalt or black sand on which were strewn immense blocks of lava, vestiges of Mount Hekla's spittings. Our passing was a curiosity for many cows and especially horses, each one of the herd turning his head in unison as if they were all watching a tennis game in slow motion.
We easily caught up
with an Italian lady cyclist from Venice (whom we would see again in Höfn
a few days later and in Reykjavik at the end of our voyage) riding alone on
the n° 1 road on a heavy one-speed bicycle!. We shared raisins and nuts
with her which seems to have put a tiger in her tank: it took us a long time
to catch up with her again after she had gone on ahead. And after passing
her, she had a tendancy to catch up again in the uphill sections.
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First big
waterfalls
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Skogafoss
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Between Hvolsvollur
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and Vik
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Camping
at Vik
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