Day 4: June 29, 2011

We rode 50km/31 miles from Selfoss to Hvolsvollur on the Ring Road. Today's challenges were cross winds and steady highway traffic on a road with a narrow shoulder. Upon arriving in Hvolsvollur, we immediately took advantage of the small town's thermal pool. It included a winding water slide, which Saya found irresistible. Sho and I kept warm in a nearby jacuzzi, cheering her on.

We found a cabin to sleep in and are debating our next move. Option 1: play it safe and continue to ride on Highway 1 (aka the Ring Road, which circumnavigates Iceland). There will be plenty of places to get food and shelter, but annoying traffic.

Option 2: ride into the interior, skirting north of Eyjafjallajokull Glacier (site of the volcanic eruption that disrupted air traffic in Europe for a couple of weeks last year) and the much larger Myrdalsjokull Glacier. This route will take us over 100km/62 miles on rough back roads, including 10+ river crossings. We'll need to carry about 4 day's food, and I'm not sure if our heavily-laden bikes will be up to the task. I likely won't be able to post blog updates until we finish this section, so if you don't see anything here for a few days, you'll know which option we chose!

Here are some pics from today:












- An Iceland Bike Adventure post