10-Jul-2013 -- My good friend Clayton ask me to meet him and a mate in Iceland for a weeks get away, they would be coming from Canada and I would arrived from London. Clayton had arranged everything, and I just needed to turn up and enjoy, I agreed as Iceland was a place I was interested in visiting, Clayton was very easy to travel with. We would spend a couple of days in the capital Reykjavík before hiring a car and circling the island in a clock wise direction.

After Clayton emailed me the trips itinerary I started to look at CP’s that we would pass by that would not be to difficult or take a lot time as I was conscious that I was the only one in the group that would be interested in making it to a CP, and 65N 22W looked like it would be ideal. From reading previous visits and looking at google earth it was only about 800 m from the dirt road #54 which we would be passing, and we would be passing early on in the trip so it would be easy to get this out of the way early.

We left Reykjavík a little later than we had planned and headed out towards our first nights planned stopover, Sauðárkrókur stopping off at a few sights on the way. We left Route #1 and took route #60 and then the dirt road Snæfellsnesvegur #54 towards the CP, it was late in the afternoon and the closest that we could get to the CP was 1.2km to the North. The guys had a couple of things that they wanted to do and felt that the time it would take to walk the 1.2 km and return would be too long and didn’t want to do it, I knew that this could be my only opportunity to visit a CP in Iceland, so suggested that they leave me to do the CP, and I would hitchhike up to Sauðárkrókur after I visited the CP and meet them for dinner, it was summer so it would not be dark till 11 pm. Clayton was happy with this as he knew me well, but I think this suggestion was a little bit of a shock for Jeff, but it was agreed that I wanted to visit this CP so I gathered all that I needed for the CP visit and also a hitch of about 200 km to Sauðárkrókur. At 1400 hrs I hoped over the fence about 1.2 km from the CP as Clayton and Jeff drove off towards their lunch and Sauðárkrókur.

It was great to be out in the countryside alone with nothing but fresh air and the wind. The vegetation was very tough and at about knee height for as far as the eye could see. Parts of the route become a little wet and boggy so I tried to look out for dryer rocky routes along the way. I crossed a largish creek and another farm fence about 600 m from the CP. The route towards the CP was up a slight incline, and I passed a few man made rock cairns which I was not exactly sure what they were for. I also came across a couple of sheep, as I think this was a farm land.

It took me about 40 min to get to the CP from leaving the road, it was in an area that was very similar to the area around, getting all the zeros did not take long, so the CP dance was not a long one and I also took all the required photos, and had a small snack before putting the GPS away and just walking North towards the road. It is always the case that the route you take back appears to be both quicker and also easier, which was the case with me this time, walked down hill for a while and then come across another large creek and just followed it till I reached the road, which I could see a couple of cars traveling along, hoping that when I arrive a few traveling my way would stop an pick me up. I managed to get back to the dirt road Snӕfellsnesvegur #54 at about 1530 hours and just started to walk east along the road.

One car passed going my direction but did not stop to pick me up, this road was not a very busy road, only about one car every 30 min or so at this time of the day, at the 5 km mark the road crossed the Skrauma River, and it was while crossing this bridge that a car with an Icelandic couple and a new born baby, stopped and gave me a lift the 10 km’s to the busier route #60 which I was hoping I would get a lift easier.

On this road I managed to get two rides, one from a farmer who was going only about 3 km to visit his neighbor, which was nice, and after a few more km’s of walking I was picked up by a University Professor and his wife going to Reykjavík for a few days. This couple gave me a lift of about 20 km’s to the junction of the road #60 and the main ring road, road #1 which was the busiest and only road north, and they said that I would not have to wait long before I got a lift North, and they where right. I was waiting at the spot for no longer than 5 min before a lovely couple stopped and said that I could get a lift North with them, after about 5 minutes told them exactly where I was heading, Sauðárkrókur which was a smallish town, and they said that they where from that town and heading there, two streets from where our bed and breakfast was, how amazing was that!

They had moved to Reykjavík a few years ago and were making a visit home for a couple of days to see family and friends, I managed to bump into them at the local bar and get them a couple of drinks as a thanks for the 180 km lift they gave me. It was also at this bar that I had a nice Puffin Curry.