August 24: "Instead
of the tunnel… "
The night's flood of rain transformed our tent into a raft: upon awakening we were surrounded by a pool of water. And since it was still raining, we decided to stay in bed and sleep until it stopped, But the call of nature made our sleeping-in short lived. We succeeded in packing up between two light showers but had to fold the tent completely soaked for the first time of our holidays. Unfortunately in addition to the drizzle, we left with the wind going the wrong way. But back on the n° 1 road, what surprise to discover that it was pushing us! I gather from this experience that sleeping-in perturbs orientation. Another surprise, astonishing energy considering the 211 km we had ridden the last two days. We glided like the wind and arrived at Borgarnes at an average of 20.7 km/h in spite of many stops to remove or put on our rain gear. After a long midday meal, off again towards towards Reykjavik which is gradually becoming a less unrealistic goal. Cloudy sky but not a drop of rain. Increasingly dense traffic reaching practically the same proportions as the first day of our tour. A tunnel which would have shortened our journey by 50 km by going under under the mouth of the Hvalfjördur fjord was forbidden to cyclists. We therefore had to leave the n° 1 road but in so doing also left the deafening and nerve wracking traffic. We were Sunday afternoon and the Reykjavikiens (who make up 50% of Iceland's population) were returning home after there weekend at the countryside - all 115000 of them it seemed to us! Unfortunately, leaving the main road also meant leaving favorable winds and therefore the rest of the trip was a minor battle against teh elements. When we at last reached the swimming pool we had been aiming for, we had come to the point where turning our pedals one more time was beyond us. The two previous days had obviously hit us harder than it seemed when we set off this morning. Alas, the most beautiful swimming pool that we had set eyes upon since the very first one with coffee at the edge of the jacuzzi, was closed. (A peek between the boards of the fence made us drool on seeing that warm water which would have done our poor muscles so much good.) Not capable of going any further, we planted our tent on the very beautiful lawn just beside the entry. Each tent peg I planted hit gravel just under the surface reassuring me that even if it rained heavily, we would risk drowning in our sleep. (Yesterday the pegs sunk in so easily but I was too tired to be suspicious.) It's 8:45. Bed time!
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After a
rainy night
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10 cars/minute
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