Isafjordur is really a town out of nowhere! Its really like an oasis in the desert! After I took a break in Isafjordur, I ride for around 300km of almost nothing. There is only 1 small fishing village, Holmavik, around 230km after Isafjordur where I stopped by to pack some food, charged all the batteries and get Internet connection before leaving again in a realm of nothingness. The ride was challenging. Its either I have to climb steep hills or I have to fight the endless headwind along the coast. The wind was very strong and cold coming from the Arctic. Whenever I ride against the wind without covering my face, I cough a lot and sometimes even want to vomit. So I cover my face most of the time to save my lungs from this super cold wind. After many kilometers fighting the wind along the coast, I stopped and surprised, to see that the road was going to lead me towards a mountain pass! Oh man, it was torturous.

I climbed really slowly to get to the mountain pass. Along the climb, my face was swarmed with annoying flies, don’t know whats the name but they don’t bite. However, theyre very annoying! These flies love and will be attracted to carbon dioxide, so they were all around my face, ear, eyes, nose and mouth. Some even tried to kamikaze to get to my lungs! Luckily I covered my face well. Even so, some managed to get inside my shade and I had to stop a few times to clear my view from these annoying flies.

many of this during the climb

one of the mountain pass

After every mountain pass, I will stop for a 10-20 minutes break to enjoy the beautiful view. Sometimes I want to stay longer but its too cold when you are at the peak. The wind seems never stop blowing. Riding here in the Westfjords is very quiet. The road was basically owned by me. Cars pass by only once every 10-20 minutes. Waterfalls are everywhere here. Sometimes when I was busy fighting the wind riding along the coast, I heard a weird noise from the sea. Then I realized something weird, water strongly splashed from the sea. When I look, it’s a big whale, the size of a submarine! I was amazed of the size of this creature. I came across a few of this giant creature while riding along the coast but didn’t manage to snap any pictures, they come random and spontaneous.

last mountain pass before flying down to Holmavik

Wild camping here is heaven. I found many nice places to pitch my tent. Its almost everywhere since its very remote here. Water supplies are very easy to get as waterfalls and rivers are everywhere here. So I have no problem getting water for drinking, washing and cooking. The only problem is the temperature. I mean, its summer now, where is the heat huh? Why is it so cold? Sometimes at night the temperature can drop as low as zero celcius. I usually get inside my sleeping bag and never come out :) I cant imagine riding and camping here during winter. Maybe I will turn into a human shape ice cream.

There was once during a climb, I saw a dog from far waiting for me, perhaps wanted to chase me. I cant do anything if the dog wanted to chase me, as the winding road to the mountain pass is very steep and there is no way for me to ride fast. So I kept going ignoring the dog. He never barks but instead the dog kept following me slowly during the climb. I was wondering what does this dog wants? The dog waited for me patiently since I was too slow climbing uphill. When I reached the top, I stopped a while to eat some fruits. The dog sits near me and does nothing, waiting for me as in Im the master. When I started to ride downhill towards the coast again, the dog was running very fast following me, sometimes leading me, sometimes following me. The dog ended up traveling with me for more than 50km! And I started to like this dog. After a while, I lost him. I then rode for another 20km or so before decided to pitch my tent. While I was setting up my tent, surprising, I saw the same dog, coming slowly towards me. This dog seems adorable. He slept nearby my tent, as in like hes guarding me and my property. When I woke up the next day, the dog was gone. Perhaps starts chasing some animals or something. It was really good to have a traveling buddy for a while… :)

hehe my travel buddy for a day

Now Im back at the civilization. Came across a petrol station with a restaurant right after I left the last road in the Westfjords. It was a big change, from gravel roads to paved roads! And I see street lights as well! The bad thing is, the traffic is heavy again now, just like how when I started to ride from Reykjavik that day. Instead of a car passing by every 10 minutes, now cars pass by me every second! I will ride fast now, heading towards Akureyri, there is nothing much interesting riding on a highway here. So I will speed up! Need to get to a town again, some of the things on my bicycle need to be repaired. Im now only 200km from Akureyri, the second biggest city in Iceland after Reykjavik. Well its not really a big one, the population is only 17000!