DAY SEVEN
The next morning it was dull and a mizzle was falling but no wind. I was on the road for 7.00am and although there were some initial hills I made good time. My objective for this day was to get to Vik this meant riding over the Eldhraun and then down and across another sandur (moraine) the Myrdalssandur. |
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I new from past experience that this was going to be tough going especially if the wind started up again which was almost guaranteed in the afternoon. |
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The Eldhraun was a strange place, there is a moss that grows on it that
is almost yellow when dry and green when wet, it covers the lava like a
carpet giving it a sponge like appearance peppered with deep fissures.
By contrast the sandur is dry and dusty and on the roadside you can see
signs warning that you may experience freak sandstorms.
I stopped for lunch halfway and took photos of the small cairns that travellers, including myself, pile up for good luck. Whilst having a brew a British guy Paul, who was cycling in the other direction pulled in. His first words were, "Your Swifty aren't you" which took me a bit by surprise, he had heard about my exploits back in Reykjavik and gave me some money for the charity. We chatted and I wished him well on his trip not that he needed it because as he set off he had the wind at his back and I had it in my face which was just typical. |
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The journey to Vik was uneventful although I did pass two Australians going the other way who shouted an antipodean acknowledgement and gave me the thumbs up. Vik is a tiny settlement on the south coast nestled in the lee of some low but pretty steep hills. | |
The campsite was adequate but basic with a disappointingly locked and unusable disabled toilet and the weather was turning bad again. |