Away From Civilization

packing outside my guesthouse

I stayed 2 day in Reykjavik preparing my ride. I discovered that the front rack of my bicycle got broken, probably from the flight. So I went to a welder near the guesthouse that I stayed and get it all fixed. Quite a pleasant city to stay, its safe here with a very low population. When I got to the guesthouse, I asked them wether I can take my bicycle in. They said its fine to leave it outside. At first I wasnt feeling good about it, but after the first night leaving my bicycle outside, it was as good as new on the next morning! So yea, I guess I will feel very comfortable riding in this country which has zero crime rate. I wanted to stay longer here in Reykjavik but it was too expensive. A cheap room here costs around RM120. A basic meal costs around RM30! So because of all these, I was forced out of Reykjavik, into the wild…

Vikings!

So after I bought all the food, water and cooking equipments, I finally left the city into the wild. Iceland is basically the size of England, but the population is only 300 000! Around 200 000 live in Reykjavik and the surrounding areas, the rest of the population, probably farmers and some scientists are scattered all around the land. So there you go, only after 20km riding out of the city, I discovered myself in no-man’s land! There are still villages of course, but very low population, as low as 100 people.

taking a quick rest

Getting out of Reykjavik was quite confusing to me. I stopped many times thinking of the way out of the city. I was heading north, so I just rode along the coast to get out of the city. Finally, after 2 hours of riding in the busy road, I found myself in a quiet place surrounded by mountains, fjords and sea, all under the blue sky. It was pleasant. There were less cars here. I wanted to reminisce the moment when I cycled through Asia 2 years ago, so I put on my iPod with the songs that I used to listen while I was cycling in China and Central Asia. I felt so good, the old spirit is back inside me! While I was climbing through the smaller fjords here in Iceland, the beat of the music made me feel like Im still in the Himalayas, up there over 4000m altitude fighting hard to get to the mountain pass to get the reward of seeing Tibetan Plateau from the highest point!

The very sexy North Atlantic Ocean!

As for now I dont need to worry, as the first 500km of the road heading north is filled with petrol station for every 50km, so I can easily get food supply. Only when I reach the Westfjords, I need to carry tons of food. Im currently riding extremely slow, as slow 50km a day. First, Im carrying the luggage which is heavier than my bodyweight, some 65kg of luggage! Second, even tho Im riding along the coast, the road is always up and down, never flat! When it was climbing, I kept looking at the highest point, aiming to get to the top, telling myself that soon I will be flying down on the other side. Once I reached the top, I saw the road going down but climbing again on the next hill. Thirdly, the scenery here really slowed me down. I stopped many times snapping pictures as the view here is really beautiful!

I didnt get to the next town since I was moving very slowly, so I camped in the wild. It was really pleasant, I found fresh water from a stream nearby my campsite coming from the mountain. So I use it for drinking and washing. Lovely view of the North Atlantic Ocean but it was really cold at night, with strong wind blowing from the ocean, making me stucked inside my sleeping bag at night.

The next morning, I was approached by a local farmer. He then asked me to join him for breakfast in his house, I agreed and went it. He told me that I should have go to his house and he can provide me a shelter for a night. I then stayed a while in his house and charged all the batteries for my laptop and cameras. He told me not to buy any mineral water at the supermarket. All the water from the mountains, even the tap water is clean here and its drinkable. So yeah, I guess I dont need to worry about buying water at all here!

Enjoying my coffee early morning, while staring at the blue ocean…

 

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