Cycle Baba First Impressions of Iceland: A Journey Begins

Cycle Baba First Impressions of Iceland: A Journey Begins

We have reached Iceland.
Everything is ready. All the luggage has been set. In the end, Ramphal will tie the last knot.

This cycle will go into it. The rest of the luggage will probably go here. Look, both things are here in big size. I will take them outside, open them up, and prepare.

Here it is – the 55,000 Krona notes. This is the local currency. I have just withdrawn 300. I’ll tell you how much that comes to. Now I am going to get a SIM card. That’s my first job. There’s a supermarket nearby where I can get it. I’ll install it now.

Including my cycle, the total weight of my luggage was 65 kilos, while I was allowed only 53 kilos. So, I carried 10–12 kilos in my hands. My hands started to hurt a lot.

Hello, greetings, Sat Sri Akal, Ram Ram Ji. Welcome to the 130th country of Cycle Baba’s world tour – Iceland.

In the last video, you saw that we were in Kiribati. From Kiribati, I went to India. I stayed in India for about 10 days, got my teeth treated, and then I flew directly from India to the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, I collected my cycle and luggage, and from there, I reached Iceland. I was lucky to get a sudden cheaper ticket from India to the Netherlands for about ₹1,000. From there, the ticket to Iceland cost me around ₹25,000 because I had a lot of luggage with me. So, I brought everything along and reached here.

In the Netherlands, there was immigration, but here it was domestic. I came out of the airport, got my cycle ready, and now I am slowly moving out. Let’s see how it goes. I don’t even know yet if I’ll find a camping site or not.

I bought a SIM card here, but it’s very expensive. For 3,900 Krona, I got just 10 GB of data – that’s about ₹2,500. This is one of the most expensive SIM cards I have bought so far. I’ll also need to recharge it later. I haven’t set it up online yet, so I’m moving around without it for now.

Here, almost all tourists hire caravans and travel around, just like the system in Australia.

The views are simply amazing – truly stunning!

The airport here is about 40 km away from the capital city. So, we won’t go into the capital. From this distance, I’ll make a plan. For now, I’m just looking for a caravan park where I can pitch my tent and sleep for the night. From tomorrow, we’ll see what to do, where to go, and how to travel further. It’s already 6:00 in the evening. There’s a caravan park about 15–20 km away, and another one nearby. Let’s see where I end up staying.

It’s cold here. The temperature right now is around 7–8°C. If I go further into the city or towards the snowy mountains, the temperature might drop into minus degrees. Let’s see how it goes. The traffic here is also quite heavy.

Here’s a camping site – a caravan park. There’s something called “Happy Campers” here. I’ve already travelled 89 km from the airport to reach this place. But honestly, this caravan park looks a bit disappointing. There’s not even a kitchen here. How will I manage without a kitchen? So, I decided to go to another caravan park that has a kitchen. It’s about 10 km ahead. I’ll ride a little more. Right now, it’s 6:00 in the evening and the sunset here happens around 9–10 pm, so there’s no problem. That means I’ll cover about 20 km of riding on my very first day.

It’s almost 7:00 now, and I’ve left the highway. I found a local road and started riding there because the highway had a lot of traffic. So, I thought I’d go slowly through this route instead. Ahead, I’ll be riding on a lot of gravel roads anyway, so I thought it’s better to start with gravel now itself. But the road here is really broken.

I got stuck on this rough dirt road. It’s so uneven that I can’t even ride properly. I spotted a small hut nearby, so I’ll check what it is. You’ll find many such huts along the roads here in Iceland. Technically, I could pitch my tent here and camp for the night, but it seems like this place is meant for watering animals. There’s a water tank inside and some lights as well. So, I won’t stay here.

Anyway, I also need to go to a supermarket today. For the next few days, I’ll be camping only – setting up my tent every night.

Oh no, where have I got myself stuck? You can see the highway far away. I ended up taking a wrong turn here.

Finally, I reached a caravan park and set up my cycle there. It cost me 19 Euros, which is about 2,800 Krona – that’s what they call the currency here. For 2,800 Krona, I got a spot to pitch my tent. Some other people are already camping here. I even saw another cyclist here who has set up his tent.

I hope I’ll meet more cyclists around here because many people from Europe come to Iceland for travel – usually for 15–20 days of cycling and camping.

So, did you start today?

No, we are ready to go back.

Oh, tomorrow you’re going back?

Okay.

And you’re starting?

Yes, I just landed today.

How long are you here for?

I’ll be here for three weeks.

Where are you from?

I’m from India.

On the very first day of entering the country, I had to pitch my tent. I rode about 20 km in total and even experienced the gravel roads of Iceland on the first day itself.

Right next to me, there are two more cyclists. They are German and have been travelling for 12 days. They’re going back tomorrow. I thought I had found company – if two or three people joined, it would be fun to travel together. I would have liked to travel with the Germans too.

Anyway, my tent is ready now. Time to unpack some of my things. Here, the winds are very strong, so I had to fix the tent very tightly, otherwise it could blow away at night. It’s better to make it secure. Now I’ll put my luggage inside and start organising things. Everything isn’t properly set yet.

Good morning, friends. It was really cold last night and the winds were extremely strong – the whole night the tent kept shaking. Now it’s morning. As soon as I woke up, I saw this kind of atmosphere outside. I’ll start packing. If I can manage 20–25 km today, that’s more than enough. The forecast shows winds of 50–60 km per hour during the day, so let’s see if I can even move forward.

It must be around 6 or 7 in the morning now. I didn’t even check the time because I could only get some sleep after dawn – before that, I just couldn’t sleep due to the flapping of the tent. The wind has calmed down a little now. First of all, I’ll pack my tent, because if the wind picks up again, it might blow away. Last night, I had to hold it down to stop it from flying off.

An uncle came by and we chatted for quite a while. Now, it’s time to get back to reality. There’s a reception here, so I’ll head there.

Ram Ram Ji, everyone. Right now, we are in Iceland. Yesterday, we arrived here and got everything ready. This morning, a loss occurred. The microphone I was using with my phone for recording – a Rode mic – has gone missing. Because of that, I can’t record the way I used to. Now I’ll have to switch back to my action camera. Until I find the mic, there’s nothing else I can do. For the last hour and a half to two hours, I’ve been searching for it everywhere. I even went back to the campsite and checked all my luggage twice, but I couldn’t find it. Let’s see what happens.

We are about 20–25 km from Iceland’s capital city, but I won’t go towards the capital. I am at a campsite. From here, I plan to cycle around the whole of Iceland. Today, the headwinds will be very strong – 50 to 60 km per hour – because a hurricane has come near Iceland. For the next 2–3 days, there will be very strong winds. I’ll try to cover just 20–25 km today and then camp again. Even that much will be a lot.

The cold has already affected me. I’m even having a little difficulty breathing. It feels like a chest infection is coming on. In India, I was in the heat, and suddenly coming here in the cold has been tough. In Fiji, it was extremely hot, and now here, it’s freezing with fast winds, clouds, and rain. I’ve already lost 20–25,000 rupees worth of equipment.

Anyway, goodbye to this spot – let’s move on. But the winds are so strong that cycling is almost impossible. Today will be tough, maybe tomorrow will be a little better. For today, I’ll only manage around 20 km.

I’m back on the highway now. I need to cycle 34 km in the direction of the airport. But oh, I’ve only gone 2 km and already the cold, wind, and head-on resistance are making it really hard. And my cycle is fully loaded.

This campsite where I stayed is quite useful if you ever come here and hire a caravan. The campsites near the airport have a food-sharing system. People who finish their Iceland round trips often leave their leftover food here. The campsite puts up a notice saying you can either leave your extra food or take what others have left. That way, nothing goes to waste. So, if you ever need food, check the campsite before buying more – you might find plenty.

The full circle around Iceland is about 1,300–1,400 km. Let’s see how it goes. If the winds stay this strong, it might take me two months. Otherwise, it can be done faster.

Now we’ll head towards the Blue Lagoon, which is nearby. After three or four months, I feel like I’m finally back in my true element – back with my cycle, Dhano. It feels good again.

I’ve come about 3–4 km off the highway. It has started raining lightly, a drizzle. I don’t know what to do. I’ve got a terrible cough – I’ve almost seized up within a day of arriving here. But still, it’s going to be fun, no doubt about that.

Now I’ll head to the Blue Lagoon, which is just 10 km away. From there, I’ll move further ahead. I’m recording with my DJI action camera now – not as good as the phone mic setup, but please adjust with the quality for now. I’ll try to improve it slowly. A new one will probably be bought after Iceland.

The winds are so strong that they’re even pushing my cycle downwards. The gusts are pulling it and throwing it to the ground.

Oh, my goodness!

It means I’m fighting with the wind after a very long time. Earlier, I only had to fight the wind, but today I’m fighting the cold as well.

And now, rain has also arrived. I just hope it doesn’t start snowing. The temperature right now is about 4–5°C.

It feels like the saying – shaving your head only for the sky to fall. On the very first day of riding, this is the situation. I’m completely drenched. There was no place to stop, so I just kept going.

I’ll manage with my own setup. All well, all well. But the rain has become heavier now. It’s impossible to ride. The wind is so strong. Only a kilometre is left, but I can’t ride anymore. I’ve already walked for 2 km. The wind is pushing me along forcefully.

And the rain is getting even heavier. Look at this – everything is muddy. Over there, you can see steam rising. That’s where the Blue Lagoon is. I just need to reach there.

Right now, I’m here. I need to go there. That’s their capital city. We’ll have to make a full loop around and then return this way.

Look at the steam coming out of the ground – we’re walking right on top of a volcano. There’s even a warning written here telling you to leave quickly. And see, despite all the rain, you don’t see water anywhere on the ground. My condition is getting worse. Look – everything is blue here.

This is also where electricity is produced – there’s a thermal power plant here. I’ll explain to you later how energy is generated from geothermal power.

But honestly, today’s decision was a very wrong one. I should have stopped earlier. I’ve already been moving for five hours. Still, 6 km are left. I came 2 km inside the road towards the Lagoon, which means I’ll now have to go back those 2 km, and then another 6–8 km ahead.

On both sides, there’s nothing but lava fields. Finally, I reached the camping area.

Now I’m making pancakes. I don’t really know how to make them, but I’m preparing them like our Indian *malpua*. I’m frying them in oil and will eat them. I’ve also taken a bath. It’s still raining outside. I parked Dhano (my cycle) there. Once the rain stops, I’ll set up my tent and do the camping arrangements. The kitchen here closes at 9:00 pm. It’s only 5:00 pm now.

So, first things first – time to fill my stomach. Then, we’ll see what comes next.