DAY NINE

In the morning I started out for Reykjavic and soon found the first hill, it was long and steep. I plodded on for about an hour until I finally succumbed to fatigue. I caught the next bus that came by to the top of the mountain and alighted in the morning mist and after putting the trike together set off down the mountain and the 25kms back to Reykjavic. Shortly after setting off, the wind came up, I couldn't believe it after nine days battling against it, finally I get the wind in my favour and not only that but it's while I am going downhill, a steep long hill. 

I reached my maximum speed for the trip at this point, 50kph, I struggled to keep control of the trike the front wheel was wobbling like a wheel on a car when the tracking needs attention. 

The truck and car drivers were tooting their horns as they passed cheering me on with thumbs up. 
I screamed onto the section of Route 1 that I had left on and as I slowed and came to a stop at some lights I realised that I had hit the morning rush hour.

It was too late now, the lights were green and I was away, besides I only had a couple of junctions to go anyway. 20 min later I was just preparing to pull off of the highway and into town when a figure in full leathers on a Harley Davidson motorbike came along side.
It was the cops, the rider indicated that I was to pull over into a bus stop which I duly did and turned to face the officer. It was a policewoman and she wanted to see if there was anything I could do to make myself more apparent to the other traffic. I explained to her that I was getting off the highway at the next junction and that I did have a red light on the back, she said that was ok and we sat and chatted for a while. 

She said she had read about me in the newspaper and was interested in why I should want to cycle in Iceland I explained about the charity and the challenge but as we parted I'm sure she thought that I and other visiting cyclists to Iceland were a little crazy.

I rode on into town and straight to the phone shop Landsiminn to hand in my mobile phone. Njordur Snaeholm, the guy I had been in contact with on the Internet from the UK, came over to deal with the transaction. He said that he and the company had been impressed with my achievement after reading about it in the news, and went on to say that there would be no charge for the phone and no charge for the calls of which I had only made a few. I thanked him for this generous offer and left to go across the road to see the guys in Makid, the bike shop that had been so helpful at the start of the journey they also had read about the trip and congratulated me on my safe return.

Next stop was the hotel, my wife and I had reserved a room at the Hotel Esja and she was going to join me that evening for a short 3-day break in Reykjavic. I really needed to get cleaned up and I was sure people were starting to notice. I had 300 miles of sweat and dirt to wash off the journey had taken me nine days and it would be nice to get out of my Stumpies, which I had been wearing for about 18 hrs every day. At the hotel they thankfully allowed me to check-in early, I'm sure just to get me out of the lobby and away from other guests. I got to my room and after two baths and a shower sat around waiting for my wife, Sarah, to turn up with some clean clothes, travelling light has its disadvantages.

Hans, who I had met on the trip turned up at the hotel and offered to take me to the airport to pick up Sarah. I accepted and ended up putting on some of the less dirty clothes on to go with him. As soon as we got back to the hotel we spotted Frederick and he invited us to join him downtown for a farewell drink. He was flying out at 5am and as it was 1am didn't see the point in getting a room, so we trundled off to a bar. I had abstained from alcohol for the 9-days much to the amusement and amazement of the people I had met on the trip as they offered me a beer or vodka. As we sat in the bar in Reykjavik it was with a great sense of satisfaction that I took a sip of Icelandic beer not quite "Ice cold in Alex" but close.