Riding to Höfn
Once again blogging in the morning instead of the evening. Yesterday’s ride to Höfn (fishing village on Southeastern part of Iceland) was our easiest ride so far. On Friday we rode 85 miles in order to only have to ride 41 on Saturday. Plus, we had lucked out and made a last-minute hotel reservation so we wanted to get to Höfn as early as our check-in time would allow. We wanted to make maximum use of the reservation!
We rolled into Höfn right at 3 pm and checked into our room. It has a beautiful ocean-facing view. First things first: unpack our tent so it could start to dry and then string a clothes line across the room to start drying clothes. I didn’t have anything dry left. The combination of rainy days and lots of sweat had moistened my wardrobe. Natalie doesn’t sweat as much (she is in better shape – added note from Natalie: haha yeah right) so she still had a few dry options…. We started unpacking and hanging things around the room. It soon looked like our luggage had exploded into the room - stuff everywhere!
Next we went to a supermarket and binge shopped. $100 dollars later we were laden with food for the next 2-3 days, although it seems like we’ve somehow managed to eat half of it in our hotel room over the last 12 hours. :-)
On Thursday we had made friends with a nice family camping near us. On Friday as they passed us in their car they stopped and gave us their contact information in Höfn and invited us to do laundry at their home. As we were shopping I sent him a note saying that I still needed to look for a part for our bike and we’d be a little late. (Long tangent: when we arrived in Iceland I failed to tighten every bolt on our bike - rattling around in an airplane hold tends to loosen things up. In our second day, riding into the wind, we hadn’t noticed when a small part fell off our bike - an idler wheel - that helps maintain the chain line when we pedal hard - keeping our pedal force from being absorbed by our rear shock. Without the part some of the chain management is being provided by a chain tube and metal bracket which have tons of friction under pressure and will eventually destroy our chain. The idler is a specialized part - unlikely I could find one even in Salt Lake City, so no chance of finding one in Hofn. However, I hoped to find something that could make the situation a little better. The ride is hard enough without mechanical inefficiencies.)
Back to the story. Our friend Siggi said he’d meet us at our hotel and look at the bike with us. It turns out Siggi his the captain of a fishing boat and after looking at our problem he called his boat’s engineer to come help. After some brainstorming we rode to their boat and they improvised something that will work. Icelandic fishermen who are days and weeks at sea have to be able to repair anything on large complex ships - our bike was easy to them. The bike situation is now improved. Siggi drove us around town and then let us use his family’s washer and dryer. He then showed us some of the fishing industry infrastructure before dropping us off at our hotel. What an amazing blessing to have met such a kind and generous person.
We spent the rest of the evening in our hotel room eating food and enjoying the space, warmth, and dryness. It is amazing to have a bathroom 4 feet from our bed!
Natalie is going to add some thoughts…
Weather on the ride into Hofn was cloudy and cool but no rain! The winds were nice to us. There were occasional small climbs but nothing killer. We saw several cyclist packers, a few even pulling trailers like us! Kinda fun to see others experiencing what we are. Lots more beautiful scenery along the coast. Loving it. There was considerably less traffic! Yay!
It was so cool to have a private tour of Hofn from a sea captain (whose father and grandfather and so on were also fishermen), someone who has lived here his entire life! It was also fascinating to get a tour of his ship. I think he said it was built around 1960 and is the oldest fishing ship still in use in Hofn. We had a great visit with him too as we waited for our laundry, talking about fishing adventures (even when he stood - literally - on a killer whale that was trapped in a net next to their ship as they worked to free it), whales, language and education (he speaks great English), family and children, the increase in tourism here and how it has affected everything, the training required to be a sea captain, the fishing industry and related regulations and recent changes as the country works to protect its resources and stay sustainable, etc.
All in all a pretty amazing day and cool “add” to our adventure!
