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!

After Pingeyri, I rode another few kilometres to a town called Isafjordur, the biggest in the Westfjords Region. Here I met a guy from couchsurfing, Patrick, a student from China who has been studying here for almost a year. Im kinda surprised to hear from Patrick that the education here is cheap compared to anywhere else. Maybe its cheap for him, as I guess he must come from a very rich family in China. He travel a lot around the world while still a student at the age of 25, so I guess he must be a lucky kid. I really took a rest here, eat all I can and get all the good sleep in a proper bed inside a warm room after been struggling with the cold Arctic wind that was constantly blowing directly to my face. It has the population of about 2000 people and a very picturesque town. It looks empty most of the time, the centre of this town is very quiet even during office hour and almost look like a ghost town after 10pm.

capturing the arctic light during the midnight sun

This town is at the seaside and is surrounded by lush and long fjords. I took the opportunity to hike to one of the fjords during the night (its very bright at night here anyway) to capture the beautiful image of this town from above and also the Midnight Sun. I was lucky, when the sun was at the horizon, the color of the sky really turned blue mixed with pink, making the environment turned purple color, looks like fantasy! It was an easy hike, the fjord isn’t so steep and I was climbing with very light luggage. It was cold during the night but I was wearing enough clothes so I felt very pleasant.

view of Isafjordur from the fjord

the color is magical! macam dalam game!

I was introduced with Patrick’s classmates, all foreigners studying here in a local university in Isafjordur. Theyre from all over the world and I was surprised to see some Asians here too, Thai and Filipinos mostly who are married to Icelanders and settle down here. I even see a Thai restaurant here but it is very expensive. This town is really at the north point in the Westfjords and the whole of Iceland, only a few kilometres away from touching the Arctic Circle. So its very cold here because of the high latitude even on summer. It is fine when the sun is shining brightly but when the sun is covered by thick clouds, it feels like winter here.

few km after that snowy hill, is the Arctic Circle!

reflection and balance!

After this town, I will ride out of the Westfjords, getting back to the main highway in the centre of Iceland. Riding out of the lonely remote fjords here will take me more than 300km. So I need to carry a lot of food with me and make sure my bicycle is really in good condition because there is nothing in this 300km road along the winding long fjords. Isafjordur is a town in middle of nowhere! Just like an oasis in the middle of a desert!

the harbor of Isafjordur on daytime

Things got tough for me after the last town I stayed in Stykkisholmur. When I was packing my bicycle, getting ready to go, I realized that my rear rack was broken! And I lost the screw that attaches the rack to the bicycle. And the biggest mistake I made was I didn’t have any extra screws! So careless of me! I went and asked around, sadly there were no bicycle shop here and not even any welder that can help me out. The next available town is Isafjordur, hundreds of kilometers away through the remote areas in the mountains of the Westfjords. In between its only mountains and fjords, nothing else!

In desperate, I took a ferry to the fjords. It was a really good experience taking the ferry for the first time, well minus the one crossing to Langkawi from Kuala Kedah I did years ago :) I felt like Jack Sparrow while I was standing in the ferry watching the vast Atlantic Ocean. Im not too sure if the ferry ride is expensive, but it is around RM80 our currency. The journey on the ferry took 3 hours to get to the fjord. Once I arrived the fjord, I was shocked, it was nothing more than a ferry terminal. The name of the terminal is Brjanslaekur, which is surrounded by mountains in the middle of nowhere. Desperately, I cycled 6 km to the east heading to a petrol station. Again, it was nothing more than a petrol station, a small wooden hotel and a campsite. I asked the locals there and they told me I need to cycle 70km ahead to a village called Pingeyri, through the mountains with bad gravel roads! And I need to climb 2 mountains, as huge as those in Tibet, only different is that the altitude never reach 1000 meters. I then went to the campsite and pitch my tent. There is no need to be worried when in this situation, the negative energy will only consume my strength, won’t do me any good. So I just calmed myself and went to sleep early, need to recharge all the energy I needed to climb to the 2 mountain pass before getting to the village.

the ferry leaving west iceland into the westfjords

The next morning, while in desperation, I made my own rope using lots, lots of tall grass here. Spent an hour making a few ropes, making sure its all really tight so that its strong enough to hold my rear luggage which is around 40kg through the bad bumpy roads. I made 6 ropes altogether, using 3 ropes as a substitute of the missing screw at one time, another 3 for backup. Theres nothing more I can do rather than putting all my trusts with these ropes, looking at them while whispering to myself, “Bismillah” in Arabic which basically means I do this all in the name of God, turned my head up and started cycling. This kind of situation teaches me to be bold, to be confident on my own judgement. I just need to do my very best from every point in solving problems, the result is none of my business, its up to god to decide.

I struggled for hours to get to the first mountain pass. Kept my head down, pedaled very slowly on my way up. This climb really reminds me of riding in Tibet years ago. I stopped for 5 minutes for every 20 minutes of climb. After every stop, my body got weaker, I climbed slower. The mountain pass seems unreachable. After a while I took a long stop, took a ½ hour break for lunch. I ate all I can and drink the mountain water from the stream. I then spent all the energy left on me to finish the climb, to get to the top of the mountain. Once I reached the mountain pass, I felt like a champion! I stopped there a while to enjoy the view from the highpoint and suddenly a bus came by. The bus stopped right in front of me and there were many tourists came out from the bus. Everyone were cheering at me, surrounded me and snapping my photos! I felt so good! Few minutes before I was all alone struggling and now I was surrounded by curious tourists cheering at me and asking me so many questions. Most of them are from Germany, weird thing that I met so many Germans here in Iceland. I met one or two Americans, French and many others but 90% I met were Germans.

came across countless waterfalls on my way up to the mountainpass!

After I was done with the “photo session”, hehehe, I rode down slowly and carefully from the mountain pass, hoping that the ropes that hold my rear rack wont get broken. After an hour flying down through the wind, I finally back at the coast and rode flat for another 20km. I had to cross one more mountain pass before getting to the village. When I came across the second mountain, I had no more energy fight with the gravity, so I climbed for another 2km before finding a place to camp. I camped near a stream so that its easier for me to get water supply for drinking and washing. The water was too cold and my legs were cramped when I washed my feet but what do I care, Im going to sleep anyway.

The next day I quickly got up early in the morning to conquer the last mountain pass before getting to the village. It was only around 8km more to climb so I was a bit relieved. When I almost reached the top, the 3 ropes that held my rear rack were broken. Finally! So I used the other 3 substitute ropes to hold the rack. After I reached the mountain pass, I saw the village from afar. I felt good, no more climbing. I will be flying down all the way without need to pedal for the last 12km to the village!

the second mountainpass

All the pain ended when I reached the small peaceful village called Pingeyri. It’s a small village populated by mostly fisherman and the population here is only around 300 people. I reached an old looking house and it was written guesthouse. I knocked on the door but there were nobody there. I then saw a phone number written there, took my cellphone out and ring the number. A guy picked up the call and told me to wait there while hes coming from his house nearby. When he came, he showed me around the place and it seems that no other tourists came here. Im the only one! I felt so good when he gave me a very special discount, only for me, since Im a lonely cyclist coming from far away from different continent leaving my beloved family and friends. He let me stayed alone and used all the facility in the whole house with a price of a dorm! Somehow I feel that when you are traveling alone on a bicycle, local people are very nice at you. They can’t help but smile at you. And all you need to do is smile back. I received great hospitality since I’ve been traveling on a bicycle, even on my previous journey crossing Asia. I still remember how the Chinese people treated me so well when I crossed China 2 years ago, giving me food, restaurant owners let me eat for free, local people let me stay in their house, washed my clothes, showed me directions and many more. And right now at this moment, I received great hospitality from the Icelanders. Plus I feel very safe here, my bicycle is unlocked most of the time and I can leave my camera outside at night to capture the magical light.

my bicycle with the broken rear rack!

The next day I went to a car workshop to get my rear rack fixed. Thank god there was a welder who is willing to help me out. He looks like those Christian Crusaders in the movie Kingdom of Heaven (no kidding!) but yea, hes a Viking by blood anyway. He was very nice to me, took my rear rack, inspected it and went inside to repair it. Only after a few minutes, he came out and put it back on my bike. I felt so relieved that my rack is repaired. Now, I will take a good rest in this town after crossing 2 mountain pass.

gravel road all the way but its not bad at all!

the view of the majestic Icelandic fjords!