10-Jul-2019 -- This is the second out of eight reports reaching or attempting confluence points during a 2-week bicycle trip around Iceland. The story starts at 65°N 20°W.
After crossing the interior of Iceland, I reached the northern coast. My goal was to follow the coast and thereby visit the confluence points on the 66th degree latitude.
In order to reach this confluence point, I had to take the gravel road into the Skagi-Peninsular for 23 km. Although this track follows more or less the coast-line, it is very hilly and exhausting for cycling. At 10 AM I had reached the nearest distance to the confluence on the gravel road – which was 800 m. A little side-track brought me up to a distance of 700 m, where I parked my bicycle and hiked along a stream upwards into the mountains.
It is quite a coincidence, but the confluence is in a lake – about 30 m from its shore. When I had reached the nearest point on land (29 m), I thought about a way how to get a zero reading. I had swam to a confluence before, but at that time I was not alone and the water was pleasantly warm.
Certainly, I could swim to the confluence point, but I would have to take my mobile phone and my GPS device with me to take a picture of its display. Since I had no secure bag for my mobile phone (the only device I had with me to take pictures), swimming was not an option. But I had my inflatable sleeping-mat with me. I pumped it up, planning to lie on it while paddling to the zero-location. But, as it turned out, the mat was not meant for its usage as a paddle-boat. I totally sank into the ice-cold water.
Finally, I had to put up with documenting the confluence point from 29 m distance. Good enough for confluence.org, but actually not totally satisfying for me.
After the confluence visit, I returned to my bike and rode the same gravel track back to the main road. I spent the night in the nearby harbour-town called Saudarkrokur.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 800 m
- Distance to a track: 700 m
- Distance of bicycle parking: 700 m
- Time to reach the CP from the road: 20 minutes
- Time at the CP: 10:50 AM
- Measured height: 136 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 29 m
- Position accuracy: 3 m
- Topography: hilly
- Vegetation: grass, moss, lichen. At the confluence in the water just stones and a thin layer of algae.
- Weather: cloudy, 15° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Sleeping-Mat Confluence
The story continues at 66°N 19°W.