Cycling: Iceland Ring Road Day 12: Skógafoss to Selfoss

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Day 12 of my Iceland cycling trip. A day to make up for the bad previous day.

Friday, 4th of August, 2023

The next morning I packed up early, intending to give myself plenty of cycling time in case of another bad headwind. I brewed my morning coffee while spooling the tent into the handlebar bag and enjoyed the morning waterfall view. Next to my tent site was an American woman who had checked in at the campsite reception just before me the night. She had an impressive hiking set up, and I felt that Iceland was full of people doing cool amazing outdoor travels.

I waved goodbye to Leonardo and got back onto the No. 1 road. This time with a strong tailwind instead of headwind, my bike glided along at high speed. I made a stop at Seljalandsfoss and joined a congo line of tourists walking behind the waterfall. I grabbed another coffee from the coffee stand and made sure to take a long pause to rest up so I could maintain my cycling speed. I missed visiting the Gljufrabui tunnel unfortunately as I was very focused on making up for my low distance travelled the day before.

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Back on the road, I saw many bikepackers moving the opposite direction, headed out on their journeys and leaving Reykjavík behind. It didn’t look fun fighting the headwind (the tailwind for me) and the traffic was very intense on that side of the road (while light on mine). The tides had turned, finally my direction was preferable. One thing that caught my eye was seeing a group of 20+ bikepackers with hardcore setups cycling in a single file! Later I’d learn from Max, an Italian bikepacker I’d meet, that this was a famous Italian bikepacker who was taking a tour group into the highlands.

I stopped to grab some supplies in Hvolsvöllur where I bumped into the American hiker from the campsite. She had lost her passport and wallet and was in a stressed out mode. She was making some calls and caught me leaving the grocery store to ask for help, having recognised my bike from earlier. Luckily, her calls worked out and the campsite reception believed her dry bag with her passport and wallet were still in the shower block where she had forgotten them. I gave her some bread as she had no money for food and we chatted a bit, I calmed her down and reassured her that all would be fine. She had done some highland hiking the past two weeks and next stop for her was on to Nepal. Another case that proved that everyone out here in Iceland was doing cool stuff. We bid farewell and she took off to hitch a ride back to the camp. I hope she found her passport and everything turned out okay for her.

I stopped to visit the Uridafoss waterfalls, a small blip on the map, and soaked in the sunshine. I was making amazing time and was in no rush. A short while later I reached Selfoss, a small city on the Golden Circle route, and set up camp there in an campsite in the middle of the city. After so many days with such amazing campsites, this was a bit of a let down. There I met Max, the Italian cyclist and had a brief meet and greet. But I was really tired so I called it early and took a nap in my tent.

I was hoping to cycle without the bags to a natural thermal baths river about 20km away but I could feel my body needed the rest. I took a long nap and rested instead. You can’t do everything on these trips.

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This recap is broken down into multiple posts. Follow the links below to read through the series.