Snails on Wheels Daktari Appeal: Happy days near the top of the world

The brief taste of city civilization in Akureyri was hard to abandon but the road north was calling and our snails pace had left us little time to explore it. Aiming for a 7:30am departure we achieved our most impressive start by leaving at a respectably 8:30am. A 37km stretch stood between us and an 11:30am ferry to the northerly island of Hrisey where we had been invited to stay by Vidir, an Icelandic mussel farmer Dom had met months earlier while hitch-hiking. We were again reminded never to trust a motorist's interpretation of distance and topography, as the flat 15km road described to us in town turned out to be a 37km roller coaster of bumps and dips that were rather noticeable to the novice cyclist. Nevertheless we completed the task in under 2 hours of solid riding, perhaps a sign of our maturing cyclist abilities?

Hrisey, positioned at the mouth of a dramatically deep fjord, is a flat grassy island of 160 inhabitants, though no more than 9 were visible at any one time. We were met off the ferry by Ziggy (an employee of Vidir), and after pitching our tent in their front yard we keenly volunteered to assist him with some de-bearding of mussels down at the factory. Our brief but enjoyable stint working in the mussel industry was celebrated with a delicious sampling session of our little mollusc friends,.. apologies to the little guys but we were informed that they were some of the tastiest in the world! That evening after devouring a fantastic bbq feast (something we had grown very unaccustomed too) we made cultural exchanges by partying with the locals, eventually resulting in a 1am swim in the tingly Arctic Ocean which was promptly followed by a crazed dash up the hill to the sanctuary of their hot tub, complete with mountain vistas.

As vidir had suggested we were taken out on the water for some fishing and hopeful whale watching. Whales were not interested in being seen and the fish had better offers elsewhere but cruising the fjord with its mighty mountains and abundant bird life was adequate excitement for us land-based humans. More water fun followed in the form of jetty jumping aided by flotation suits to minimize the stinging pain of the icy waters.

After chasing it for several weeks we finally caught up with the midnight sun. On Hrisey we were only 40km south of the Arctic Circle and with the summer solstice only days away the sun was giving us a near 24hr showing. Cheers of excitement filled the midnight air as we celebrated the sun's brilliant shining face, it's persistence having allowed us so many late evening rides, glorious sunsets and the freedom to not fear the dark whilst on the road. These celebrations continued into a midnight football match with the locals which tested our tired and buckling limbs till we were reduced to lumbering old men reminiscing over days of youthful manouvering.

Our ever generous host, Vidir (at one time the only mussel farmer in Iceland), offered us a ride to his place in the west of Iceland that we simply could not refuse. So, with the clock ever ticking, we reluctantly left Hrisey bound for the west to a destination unplanned and via a means unexpected. Setting ourselves up with a final meander into Reykjavik over 200km away and with just 3 days to do it,.. the end was within sight!