Day 15: Selfoss – Arnarvatnsvegur

My next destination is the Westfjords in the north. My advisor Guðmundur recommends a wonderful route through the highlands to get there.

I say goodbye to my Icelandic family and hope that I can see them someday in Germany so that I can thank them a little bit for the hospitality, I have received here.

First of all, today's route leads me through the Þingvellir National Park, where the people's assemblies used to be held. A very impressive area.

After a walk to explore Þingvellir, I have another lunch nearby before heading into the highlands. The weather is not that good, sometimes it even rains lightly, but the fog that prevents the view to the mountains and partly to Langjökull is really annoying. Nevertheless, the landscape is once again breathtakingly beautiful in its barreness. I only encounter a few vehicles. The 4WDs could perhaps be on the road with a little more consideration for other road users. I barely escape an oncoming monster 4WD.

I decide to take the detour to the glacier, a 10-kilometer stretch that gets increasingly steeper. The roads surface is sometimes covered with quite large boulders that make riding not easy.

Once at the top, I park my motorcycle and take some photos and who is coming towards me: Denis & Patricia. Denis states that I'm pretty crazy to ride up the road on my motorcycle.

Because of the glacier it's quite cold here, so I pretty soon turn around. At some point I realize that I didn't catch the turn into Arnarvatnsvegur F758. So I have to turn around again. On the Arnarvatnsvegur I pass Surtshellir, caves in volcanic rock. The single-lane road is easy to ride and the landscape is once again wonderfully lonely and endless.

Guðmundur had vaguely shown me a spot on the map where I might be able to camp in the wild. When I get near the area, I start looking for suitable places. But it takes a while until I find an ideal spot, right by the river. I can park the motorcycle on the old deserted road. A perfect place. There is only one car passing by on the road that day, then no more traffic until I leave the next day.