Day 07: Möðrudalur – Reykjahlíð, Mývatn

This day will be the hardest of my trip. It's good that I didn't know anything about that in the morning.

Today we want to try to ride to Askja without luggage. We are quite late in the morning, so that it is almost noon when we set off. First we go to the very odd gas station in Möðrudalur.

The first part of the gravel road to the south/Askja is not difficult. There are two simple water crossings that probably don't really count as such for Icelanders. After about 10 kilometers, however, we get into very loose gravel interspersed with lanes. We struggle with this surface and Melanie has a hard drop down. Fortunately, she only got some bruises and no serious injuries, as did the motorcycle. We decide to return to Möðrudalur, where we can recover from the shock. Melanie and Marek decide to stay one more night in Möðrudalur. I choose to continue today.

My plan now is to ride to Dettifoss, an impressive waterfall, and from there further north, where I read about a campsite near the Ásbyrgi gorge where I want to stay overnight.

The route from Möðrudalur to the ring road is about 10 kilometers of easy gravel. I leave the ring road after about 20 kilometers already to take the 864, which leads on gravel to the eastern side of the Dettifoss. My problems start on the somewhat shaky gravel. The Garmin no longer charges and therefore switches off at some point. It has happened before that the Garmin's contacts were briefly interrupted, but this time I did not get it working again. Well, not that bad, you can hardly get lost here. I want to take care of this issue in the evening and ride on.

From the parking lot at Dettifoss you have to take a walk to get a really good view of the waterfall. But I don't stay very long because it's already late. Back in the parking lot, a French guy approaches to me and explains that he has seen me before on the ferry and that he has taken notice of my problem with the bike when boarding. In fact, Denis later sends me a photo of me on my motorcycle at the check-in in Hirtshals.

Barely a few kilometers later, at a branch to another waterfall, I meet Denis & Patricia again. Denis takes another photo of me just before I leave. And this is where my problem really starts. When I leave the place, the engine suddenly dies. I have to accelerate so that it doesn't die in the lower gears.

First of all, I suspect that the air filter may be clogged, because the engine only dies in the small gears at lower speeds. But I can hardly believe in this reason. Very confused, I ride further north. I decide to ride back on the road west of the Dettifoss because of the problem. There is not really much infrastructure in this area and I expect help at Mývatn, a lake on the ring road that is well developed for tourists because of the geothermal areas nearby. So I ride without a break to refuel (I work out that my gas should be enough) past the Ásbyrgi Gorge in the north, straight back south on the tarred 862. Somehow I didn't take the headwind into account or that because of the misfiring, the engine also needs more gas than usual. In any case, the fuel gauge goes down far too quickly and so after about another 100 kilometers I just reach the gas station in Reykjahlíð at the Mývatn with the last drops of gas.

I only fill up a few liters. Then I have to push the bike into the parking lot because it dies immediately after starting it. A little desperate, I talk to an Icelandic motorcyclist who is sitting there next to his motorcycle and is busy with his mobile phone. I describe my problem to him in English. He gives me to understand that he has understood, even if he does not speak or does not want to speak English himself. He's obviously checking his cell phone for known problems with my bike and asks me whether the safety switch on the side stand could be the reason. I don't really know, but I've heard of this issue too. He calls a friend on site, who is still at dinner, but promises to come over afterwards. We already try to dismantle the switch on the side stand, but we don't succeed because we don't have the right tools.

After a while, the local buddy named Omar joins us. Together we decide to cut and short-circuit the cables of the side stand. That doesn't work right away, because we don't connect all the cables but only two. In addition, after a few attempts to start the battery, the battery runs out of power again. Omar drives off briefly and comes back after a few minutes with a starter pack. In between I call my Icelandic friend Guðmundur in Reykjavík, who is also very familiar with BMW motorcycles and who talks a little with my two supporters, who don't really like to speak English. Guðmundur thinks that I am in good hands with both of them, which should prove to be more than right.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the safety switch on the side stand is not the reason for the issue. The engine starts, but as soon as I want to drive off, it suddenly dies again. After a few tries, we notice that the engine stopps as soon as I turn the handlebars a little too much. So the problem is probably due to some kind of contact or cable that is being moved by the handlebars. Omar suggests we go to his garage nearby. After the machine starts again, I follow him to his garage, which is fortunately only a few hundred meters away, with the least possible steering angle and without using the indicators. The garage turns out to be fully equipped. All professional tools are available.

In the meantime I call Oliver, because I know that he, his family and Markus wanted to be here at Mývatn as well. I am lucky. They are here too, but are currently hiking around a nearby crater and promise to stop by later.

With Omar and the motorcycle buddy, we try to investigate the issue. First the motorcycle buddy finds a broken connector on the battery, which leads to the power connection of the Garmin and thus explains the problem with the Garmin. The connection is quickly restored. Then we find the ignition switch and a cable that leads to as suspects. Oliver and Markus join us. Oliver is going back to the campsite very soon, but Markus stays and helps with troubleshooting. Very lucky, because Markus has a lot of professional experience with electrical systems. We remove the ignition switch, whereby it breaks. Finally it turns out that the issue is a broken cable in the cable leading to the ignition switch. It's the power cable, which is broken. It's already late and we decide to end the day. Omar generously offers us that we can continue to use his garage the next morning and leave my bike her. Since he has to work himself, he gives us his pin code to open the garage. Great!

Oliver picks us up. This way I can take my paniers and everything with me to the campsite, where I get help from Oliver's daughter for pitching up my tent and am generously fed with canned food by the family. It was a very, very long and exciting day.