#1: [15-Aug-02]

08-Jul-2019 -- This is the first out of eight reports reaching or attempting confluence points during a 2-week bicycle trip around Iceland.

Friday after work, I took a direct flight from Zurich to Keflavik (50 km from Reykjavik) arriving there at 5 PM. As usual, I took my bicycle with me, such that I could directly cycle out of the airport. I only had to find a place to store my bicycle box for the time of my trip.

In order to reach this very remote confluence point in the interior of Iceland, I had to take an extremely rarely taken route across the island. It took me three days to reach the confluence area. On this route I had to traverse several streams (with ice-cold, knee-deep water) and cycle 200 km on very poor gravel tracks.

On Monday noon time, my track had reached the minimum distance to the confluence point with 4.5 km remaining distance. I decided to walk it beeline and thereby taking my bicycle along. This was a crazy idea since the terrain was very rough with large stones and in between those stones soft ground where my loaded bicycle sank in quite deeply.

After an hour of pushing the bike, I had reached the confluence point on a flat plane at an elevation of 770 m. Even though the confluence is as remote as you can be in Iceland, there is a sheep-fence nearby. The sheep can basically roam freely on the whole island, but I wonder why the sheep would come in such places where almost nothing is growing.

In a distance about 100 m there is a badly maintained track that leads to a remote hut. When reaching the track, I parked my bicycle and walked to the point. The confluence is covered with dark ashes from the nearby volcanos, giving the whole scenery a moon-like feeling. In the distance to the south, the ice from the Langjökull Glacier is visable.

On my onward travel, I had to admit that the track wasn’t cyclable at all. It was too soft for riding the bike. After an hour of walking the bike, I reached another track where I could ride my bike again.

It took me another two days to reach the north coast of Iceland. Traversing from one confluence point to the neighbouring one in the interior turned out to be not feasible (no tracks, difficult terrain).

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to a road: ca. 100 km!
• Distance to a track: 100 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 100 m
• Time to reach the CP from the main road: 2 days
• Time at the CP: 12:58 PM
• Measured height: 770 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 3 m
• Topography: slightly hilly
• Vegetation: moss, lichen.
• Weather: cloudy, 8° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Remote Interior Confluence

The story continues at 66°N 20°W.