Stage 12: Hvítárnes - Geysir

Our last day of the Kjölur route starts with quiet overcast weather. The first kilometres are undulating and we progress at ease while enjoying the views on the lake and its glacier.
After crossing the river Hvítá the road starts to climb a longish gentle climb to the nameless pass in between the Bláfell mountain and the glacier. Some short parts of this climb are pretty steep, particularly at the end. There is also one larger brook to ford and it causes more problems than expected. The riverbed is filled with large round shaped stones what makes it difficult to cross the brook by bike. Someone has placed some larger step stones in the water that can be used to cross it. Haussie and Susann successfully cross the brook but I get stuck in the middle. Of course the others find it much more interesting to first take a picture of me in the middle of the brook before helping me. We manage to get my bike out at the cost of a soaking wet right foot for me.


Glacier reaching down in Hvítávatn Lake	Me struggling up Bláfell pass

The summit is not far away and at the top we have a great view over the valley of the river Hvítá that flows towards Gullfoss, the end point of this inland route. The descent from the pass is long, bumpy and sometimes very steep. I have great difficulties to keep my bike in one piece and cannot prevent the others getting far ahead of me. At the lowest point the road crosses another affluent of the river Hvítá before climbing up in a terrible few hundred meters at 14% on average with some 16-18% parts in the first 100 meters.
We are now on a more or less flat plain with mostly stones but also some grass. It is another 25 kilometres to Gullfoss and it turns out to be the worst part of the whole F35 road. For the next 20 kilometres the road has ribs like a wash board filled with soft lava dust. One can either pass over the ribs what limits the average speeds to 7-8 kph in order to prevent damage to the bike (and kidneys) or choose the soft dust next to the road that makes handling the bike very difficult.
The Swiss have front suspension on their bikes and can go over the ribs at significantly higher pace than I can and several times they have to wait for me. The weather has not improved either as it has started to drip slowly but surely. It is under these conditions that I get another flat tire. An examination of the tire learns that the second patch I’d put on yesterday has come off. Since it is raining right now it is no use trying to fix it again and so I take a brand new spare inner tube.
Haussie has returned by now to see what’s keeping me and he helps me to get my luggage on my bike again. Together we go on to where Susann is waiting. One more time they have to wait for me until the road finally improves to a more passable level. The last kilometres are actually quite good and just before the end point of the road it becomes sealed again. At high speed we cycle to the small restaurant at the Gullfoss waterfall for some hot coffee that we had to miss over the last four days.


Valley of the Hvítá river	Gullfoss

We have quite a lunch here with a lot of coffee before we take a quick look at the waterfall. The others had already been here about 4 weeks ago and considering the weather I see no reason to hold them up too long. We jump on our bikes again and try to find a way along all the tourist busses. The next few kilometres are pretty tough with lots of traffic and a still steady rain coming down.
Where road F35 becomes road 35 it widens which makes live a little easier for us. The road descents gradually and is very straight so we can see the geyser at Geysir long before we get there.
The camping site next to the geysers are rather primitive with only a (flush)toilet and cold water but there is a swimming pool next to the hotel on the other side of the road that we can use. For an hour or so we enjoy the swimming pool and hot tubs to remove all the dust from our bodies. At the camping site we meet again with the Dutch couple that we’d met in the hot spring in Hveravellir and who had passed me just before I had a flat tire for the first time. We tell our stories about the last two days enjoying some hot chocolate they’d made for us. It is good to see and feel green grass and civilisation again.


Strokkur	Geysir, after which all geysers are named...

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