The Iceland Travel Journal, week 5

 

Stykkisholmur. Mon 27.05

I have been away from home for an entire month, and I count ten whole days remaining, which is still about a quarter of the journey.

This morning I tried to identify the species of bird which I have named the "digital" bird owing to its - at the time - unfamiliar and unnatural-sounding song, which used to keep me up but now comforts me. It's a common snipe, in fact!

My Iso-mat is broken, no longer sustains pressure. Luckily, it still does a good job in its deflated state, but this is ultimately suboptimal. The damage most likely ocured during the storm, at which tim I had to fold it to preven it from getting wet.

Yesterday I broke my personal record for distance cycled in one day, which now sits at 74.5km. This took me from Hellissandur through Olafsvik, Grundarfjördur, and ending in the beautiful stykkisholmur, where hopefully I shall find my bike lock again. I will not waste more than an hour searching for it, though; ultimately I must use this to learn to take what I can and move beyond what I can't.

I shall take my second coffee, another cigarette, and then cross back to the info centre through 35km of mountain road, possibly making it through to the hot spring rivers by evening. Then, I will likely need another day to get to Borgarnes, from where I will take the line 57 back to Reykjavik. My last trick will be to visit the young rocks, formed during the eruption earlier this year. Patrick tells me that retrieval of these rocks is illegal, but I feel it is my duty to disobey this law, in a benign way at least. I will not be stealing an obviously important artifact or any such thing, just a totally normal piece of rock. Hopefully I will be able to see something with my hand lens. This trip really is changing me; I would not have broken such a rule 2 months ago.

Back in Borgarnes. Tue 28.05

Yesterday's cycle took me back past the info centre. The road connecting Stykkisholmur and the south side of Snaefellsnes, the 56, took me through some stratovolcanic landscapes. After encountering the odd American, I finally managed to retrace my steps from 10 days prior as I reached the centre, once again spending the night. The place is well protected, so this was a natural choice. The Iso mat, which I attempted to repair yesterday noon, unfortunately still leaks air. I will try to do a better job of fixing it, since 10 days is plenty of time to develop some severe back pain.

I will need to move my flight forward by one day, otherwise there is not enough time to get to Seydisfjördur. This I will do here, since the N1 has free wifi. I will also use this to publish week 4 of the trip to my blog, call some people, etc, while I wait for the line 57, arriving at 3pm roughly.

This will take me back to Reykjavik, and I will likely spend another night in Mossfellsbaer, to save some money, that is, as long as I can remain undetected. Alternatively, I can check in to Hostel B47 for a night and find a more southern campsite. It awaits to be seen, as with many things on this trip.

The time will come when I am sat on the ferry, headed home, and I will release all of the stored-up inspiration into these pages, flowing unstoppably. I will be lucky to fit another entire trip into this journal at all! The smell of summer, already clear within my nostrils, unlocks within me a raging river, as all the sorrow of waiting melts away. Life will continue at a faster pace than ever, when I get back home. Many milestones are within grabbing distance now. The version of me I intended on leaving here didn't freeze; in his light-headedness he flew away in the storm!

Rest week, Reykjavik. Wed 29.05

Done with camping! This morning I decided that with the failing Iso mat, the fatigues of 4 weeks resting on my shoulders, and dwindling liquidity, the time was ripe to gather some certainty, so I am now spending the rest of my time in the west at Hostel B47, just as I said I would.

Reykjanes will be a journey unto itself, but this choice will enable me to do the cycling without the heavy panniers and the rest of my equipment, which will ease the exploration considerably.

The Island has changed me, and my perception of time and distance. 4-hour cycles no longer seem outlandish, and car-like distances are now understood to be achievable under only biological power.

I have met many people here. The human superorganism, hectic, chaotic, formless and amnesia-ridden as it may be, no longer frightens me in its inherent enigmaticity. Maybe I will manage to become a friend of the humans, whatever that may mean. Much work is left for our generation. We see wars and injustices inflicted in our name, we, the young. As much as there may be a lacking common baseline of facts these days, we are all fundamentally bearing witness to the same phenomena, albeit with some perspective dependency, most likely unavoidable. In our reactions to this stimulus, we can shape the world. Every person is associated with a linear propagator over some unfathomably complex space, which may dictate their behaviour over some short term (chaos leaves room for free will in the long term). We are the feedback mechanism of the human world. No matter how much of an outsider one seems, one is ALWAYS an indispensible part of the system. Outsiders stand the greatest chance to compel change, due to lacking inhibitions or limitations . Will we be the generation to end the bloodshed and the exploitation of the developing world? Will we end war for good? Who knows. Probably god-damn not to be honest.

Grindavik Eruptions, Rest. Thu 30.05

Living in the hostel will prove a necessary rest phase, for I am finally meeting people my age, rather than crapping out trying to cross the counbtry like a madman. The community is more international here, a welcome change, but also more of a risk apparently, because in the wake of yesterday's hectic move-in, my charger and power bank were stolen.

I have since replaced these.

After spending some time reading the pulpy 1991 edition of a Star-Trek novel, to hide from the rain, and accepting that the volcano has decided to continue spewing for some time, I will simply take the hint and rest instead. I hope to join a group for a night out today, to escape the cramped interior of room 229, which I share with 9 people, one of whom causes me unease.

After an amazing burger in a small, sympathetic kiosk, I returned and had a couple cigarettes in a public park. I am feeling good about myself.

An idea forms in my head. There was a less recent eruption, which is in a nearby region of Reykjanes, from which I may be able to collect a nice sample. This I can call a rock from the same volcanic system, at least. We can compromise in the face of natural forces which I am at odds against.

After losing my rock samples from Hveragerdi and Hellissandur, - which, granted, were not the most interesting, except for a piece of pyroclastic scoria - I really need to make sure I do not return geologically empty-handed.

The wait for my ferry home will not be a long one. The chapter is almost complete. A story within a story. Just as I am settling in here, I already have to leave again. Having met a professional footballer, an anthropologist, a traveler, and all manner of cheesemongers, perhaps I can be satisfied in this experience of cultural exchange. The days are ahead. 1,926,346.

Pancakes at B47 for June. Sat 01.06

I awake into a hazy, moist June morning by the sound of some impressively resonant snoring, against which I had already fought quite hard in order to fall asleep and escape May the night prior.

This morning: pancakes for myself and my small circle of friends, which ahs formed at the hostel. Yesterday's Q&A and eventual drinking excursion has reinforced the sense of freshness which this trip has successfully given to me anew. The story is bound to wrap up quite soon. I prepare for my eventual departure from Reykjavik this coming week, and only have a couple small things left on the list. Firstly, a visit to the Videy island, where puffins are often sighted, and secondly, the site of a marginally less recent lava flow, from which to retrieve a sample.

I find myself once again surrounded by cheesemongers, hopefully a good omen. Their language both attracts and repulses me.

Nadine, whom I have also made some pancakes for, probably spent quite a while still awake last night, as Lee was set to leave early this morning (I mean to recall that Lee decided to stay awake through the entire night).

Today, with the weather still miserable, I may finish my book, continue to get my journal entries out into the void, and then perhaps go for an afternoon swim.

I am remarkably well equipped considering how lightly I am traveling. Anything is possible when one is willing to sacrifice a benign degree of hygiene. There is nothing at all wrong with wearing a set of shirts on rotation, as long as doing so is not detectable in odour. Underwear is a different story, but of that I have a lot of clean spares.

Another task for the ferry; a long reflection piece.

All is different after all. Tue 04.06

I mean to recall hearing Adam Savage, the co-host of Mythbusters, say the following:

    "The only difference between messing around and science is writing it down",

so by that logic, stupidly getting my bike stolen out of the stairwell I had attempted to hide it in, was actually a rather sophisticated thing to do.

I returned from a much-needed night out in Reykjavik at around 2 in the morning, to discover a gaping void where my bicycle used to be. Spent the rest of the night searching the entire area, 2 blocks far, but the Ortler, along with my tent, panniers, and all of my camping equipment, were gone. Nothing to be done. After around 13 hours of waking, most spent searching, I gave up and resigned myself to the room and my bed, where I managed to repay around 16 hours of incurred sleep debt. I could scarcely hide my devastation.

In the night, Nadine and I went for some Döner near Hverfisgata, which helped soften this last and final blow the journey dealt me. My good friends from the hostel, namely Milen, Nadine, Sebastian, a Uruguayan whose name evades me, and the kind and empathetic hostel staff, were there to help with the grief.

Videy was nice, but I lacked the heart to really enjoy it after this newest development. Did not see any Puffins, but those were not on my bucket list to begin with.

Without a vehicle, there was very little reason to board the ferry, and the cost of train transfer from Hirtshals to Munich is roughly equivalent to the cheapest flight I could find, that departed KEF around 2 hours ago, at 10:30 (now aboard as  I write). Keflavik to Copenhagen to Stuttgart to Munich. Home appears in sight. Sooner than expected, precisely on time for my sanity.

-

Afterword

I would like to thank my friends for reading this blog recently, and following my journey along, giving me encouragement and keeping me company through my smartphone. I especially thank my brother Philip, Alex, Wren, Theresa, and Nikhil. The bike belonged to my brother, it wasn't even mine to lose at all. Tallying up all my camping equipment stolen, we are probably equally affected by this loss, and it is quite poor form to return without the very vehicle I did this trip with. I have suffered some losses, but I think the victory of having months of work pay off is the base which neutralises the sour aftertaste. My final cycling distance was 810km, just about breaking 500 miles. As for the stolen bicycle, there will be recompense of some form or another from me to my brother - we are working something out. As I sit here in my room again, feeling 10 degrees warmer, and watching the remanence of one of the most severe hailstorms I have ever witnessed, recede into the grass and the surrounding air, the yellow light making emeralds of each and every leaf in sight, the world momentarily makes a little more sense to me. My fighting spirit is once more with me. The coming months will bring their own difficulties, I won't get into personal details, but I think that I am truly endowed with powers equal to my tasks rather than needing to pine for tasks equal to my powers, as was my main occupation last winter. The trip has brought me an increased understanding of myself, and the patterns of behaviour which constitute me, and what kinds of situations I thrive in, and which not. Important to know for development.

As for this blog, I may give it a rest for now, since I am liable to fill it with more insane crap as a result of owning a computer to do so with, that is, unless I continue to have interesting experiences to share. My approach is to only do blogging when it feels natural to, and I won't be forcing myself at all. No point in turning recreation into a chore; if you spend your entire time breathing out, you run out of air.

If you made it this far, please do let me know what you thought, it would mean the world to me. Best, and see you all very soon!