Festy Food Feast

We were presented two challenges involving the consumption of manky putrefied shark, Greenland's finest. Since the dares were of similar nature, Tris couldn't resist topping up with an extra animal part from the local supermarket. The bonus culinary delight consisted of vacuum packed ram's testes pickled in yellowy/green jelly.

Shark on the left, balls on the right

Preparation at the dinner table

First bite

Don't think about Aries!

Tastes like a chicken liver pate

Tris' next challenge involved finding a person of Viking descent, preferably blonde, to spoon feed him harkarl (putrefied shark). After some initial trepidation, he approached some locals requesting a snack. After unleashing the melting meat from its casing, the entire pub was engulfed in the stench of ammonia.

What lies within?


After professing his love for Tris "the most beautiful man in the world", Viddi took to his job with gusto.


The look of satisfaction

Unfortunately for Tris, Viddi didn't turn out to be of Viking descent, but was Swedish. The dare was not yet fulfilled and he'd have to go back for more. We soon found a proper feeder to replace the Swede, who fortunately was much blonder and Icelandic.

I'm sure it will be better this time


Wrong

Tris would like to thank Gerry, Veronica, Dom and Emma for the dares and charitable contributions, and the shark and ram for their bodies.

Further donations to reach the A$4200 goal would be much appreciated. Tris is in England contemplating hedgehog and badger bits... make a suggestion, if you dare.

Part 4: Husavik to Reykjavik

Firstly, we wish to apologise for our recent lack of blog updates. We failed to find a single internet cafe in the north of Iceland which allowed us to upload photographs, so we've now done a double blog post! Make sure you read part 3 first if you haven't yet.

The final leg of our trip involved several 100+ km days in terrible weather, sometimes the only way to keep warm was to dance around our stove while the water boiled.

Another hill climb from Husavik to Akureyri

Stunning views coming into Akureyri, but terrible headwinds!

Feeling the passion with Saturday night festivities in Akureyri

We woke to discover some cheeky birds had ravaged our food supplies

Trying to give Icelander's favourite cuisine (dirty hot dogs) a healthy touch

Garbage bag improvisation came into play in order to endure all day rain: high five to doing it with class!

Let me in: Cycling into Varmahlið was our coldest, wettest day

Barn escape: Our first night indoors in 22 days... bliss

Freezing 6am set off in Blonduos : This is meant to be summer!

An early start with good weather allowed us to make our furthest distance of the trip (120 kms) from Blonduos to a mountain pass 50km from Bolgarnes. We decided to go it rough and camp roadside, setting up our tents in the rain and keeping some blood in our lifeless limbs by grooving to Basement Jaxx.

Dancing cookery styles

There was always room in the panniers for 1 of these each

A break from the bikes led us up Grabrok crater, delivering spectacular views of the surrounding area

By this stage, even Cocobolo was showing signs of fatigue

We were happy not to be on the old road from Reykjavik to Akureyri.

The tourist information in Borgarnes informed us a storm was approaching, so we soldiered on 35kms more to the nearest barn accommodation... Our bodies were extremely weak and it took 3 hrs! Luckily as always the dramatic weather provided a spectacular show to entertain us along the way.



Our prayers were answered when we were treated to a well equipped comfortable barn which we shared with an arctic fox. Cocobolo managed to tame the wild fox, allowing Tris to discuss his views on Icelandic wilderness over a cup of chai.

The following day, Tris whipped up garbage bag couture to ride out the storm

Moments after stepping outside it was clear that it was impossible to complete our intended to route to Reykjavik. Instead we opted for plan B, braving the elements, riding with the 80 km an hour winds to Akranes, all effort was focused on remaining upright. Windy squalls made it impossible to control our bikes, especially when massive semi-trailers hurtled past, creating intense wind suctions. Benedict and his llama were thrown over a metal safety barrier as the final destination came into sight. Luckily no serious injuries were sustained except for sore guts from excessive laughing.


It took Miles a while to recover from the wild ride. Shamefully we relied on the Reykjavik public transport system for the remaining 50km of our journey.

Back where we started in one piece. What an incredible last day, once again the wrath of Icelandic weather didn't destroy the mighty Mules!

Thank you to all everyone who has supported and helped us through this amazing and challenging mission. You generous donations have amounted to an impressive total thus far, well done! We hope you have found entertainment in our stupidity and we are more than happy to provide information about Iceland if you need it.

Please stay tuned for our final blog entry detailing the results of our festy food challenge!

Part 3: Eglistaðir to Husavik

After completing our previous blog entry we thought we were in for a leisurely ride 25km ride to Seyðisfjorður for a relaxing weekend. Little did we realise it was on the other end of a 700m high mountain, the largest climb of our whole trip. We were punished and laughed at for our ignorance.

Pumping the pedals halfway up

Halfway down the steep descent

Upon arrival we immediately set off night kayaking in the fjord...it was exquisite

We timed our arrival with an annual town festival and got our first taste of Icelandic partying

Seyðisfjorður is a pretty cool town, later in the night we climbed up to a massive Hollywood style neon sign.

The next day we set off to Myvatn, but the distance was too far to cover in a day. So we got our first taste of camping in the wilderness, on luxurious moss next to a river. The weather was splendid, taking us back to our long lost Mexican beach days. Our love of moss was incorporated into our washing up ritual, its abrasiveness yielding sparkling results!

On the journey the landscape transformed into a surreal barren moonscape, reminiscent of northwest Australia. It appears our two great lands have much in common.

We decided to pop in to give the kooky Icelandic songstress a visit along the way. We discovered that Bjork means a birch wood tree.

We arrived at lake Myvatn and were treated to a spectacular day exploring the bizarre volcanic landscape unique to Iceland.

Miles' secret shame

Strange black fingers emerging from the shallow turquoise waters

For use in Bikefriday's next advertising campaign

Pseudo craters were scattered around the south of the lake

Spike from Degrassi Jr. High?

Miles inhales the surrounds?

Rock crab sightings are rare in the area

Sulphurous steam vents invited us with their warmth but turned our stomachs

We sampled the local delicacy: smoked lamb on geyser bread

Fearsome warriors?

Cocobolo toasts his Mexican buns

Shortly after Myvatn, we connected with Mule number 4, our old friend Tristan. His hasty preparation list included twister, juggling balls and a less than adequate bicycle whose handlebars were held together by string, Tristan displays his pain after his first day of riding.

Dettifoss the largest waterfall in Iceland frightened us with it's muddy glacial torrents

Benedict gets acquainted with his inner geologist, examining the interesting formations of Hljoðaklettar. A vortex to another universe?

We camped in the horseshoe shaped Asbyrgi canyon, which the early Norse settlers believed was formed when Odin's normally airbourne horse touched down on earth.


The next town we visited, Husavik, was well known for its enormous collection of penises in the phallalogical museum. Benedict was unable to contain his excitement while pitching his tent.

Humbled by the museum's largest specimen, a sperm whale's member

Miles got a bit too close for comfort.

Elephant wood

Next on our culinary hit list was the adorable puffin, whose succulent smoked flesh was very tasty.

Tristan showed an alarming interest in bizarre local cuisine... which would be satisfied later :)

Fuel the Mules .. WITH FESTY FOOD!

As we approach our donation target on the mycause charity site, we are proud to say we have reached the top 5 highest earners of all time! http://mycause.com.au

In order to reach our total we are willing to go to desperate measures for your entertainment.. and donations :) Photographic evidence will be supplied.

Feast your eyes on this appealing plate of traditional Iceland cuisine

Unfortunately due to seasonal variation, some of the pictured foods are not available. We have done some research and found what foods are available at the moment. We propose the following dares with suggested amounts, other dares are welcome!

Putrified shark meat (Hakarl)
Lonely planet description: Iceland's most famous stomach churner. Hakarl is Greenland shark, an animal so inedible that it has to rot away underground for six months before humans can even digest it. Most foreigners find the stench (a cross between ammonia and week-old roadkill) too much to bear, but it actually tastes better than it smells.. It's the aftertaste that really hurts.
Our suggested pledge: $50 per Mule family member

Sheep's head (Svið)
Lonely planet description: Singed sheep's head (complete with eyes) sawn in two, boiled and eaten fresh or pickled.
Our suggested pledge:

• $100 - 2 hours used as bicycle seat
• $150 - Used as helmet whilst defrosting
• $200 - Consumed by all members of the Mules
  

Head Cheese (Sviðasulta)
Lonely planet description: made from bits of svið pressed into gelatinous loaves and pickled in whey.
Our suggested pledge: $50 per Mule family member

Any other imaginative suggestions are welcome!

Introducing Mule #4 - Tris Mcaffee

We have a suprise late addition to Team Mule, our childhood friend Tristan McAfee of whom we haven't seen in the last 15 years. We're as excited as you about the explosive and crazy powers he will bring to our team. He is asking for suggestions for dares in exchange for donations of which there will be photographic evidence. We're looking forward to seeing how his fitness holds up, as you can see by the photo he has been training hard in Slovenia!

Part 2: Vik to Eglistaðir

Moments after completing our last blog entry we were punished by 60-80km/h head-on winds on route to our next destination, forcing us to ride slower than we could walk. After a couple of kilometres we declared defeat and rode back to Vik and caught the bus to the next town, Skaftafell. We camped at the base of the biggest glacier in Europe where icy cold glacial winds sweeping over the campsite made for an unbearably freezing night. Miles has had a number of extremely frustrating camping "incidents" the worst being when he had to derobe 3 times, running around in the freezing cold collecting change for the shower machine (it takes 4 x 50K pieces), as the bloody machine ate his money. We have also had a little difficulty with our trangia stove for the first week. The first fuel Miles bought wasn't flammable at all, and the second was hugely flammable, blackening our brand new equipment with a giant fire ball! Until now we had been grateful to borrow other people's gas burners.

Glacial walk

Entry to underground ice river

Demonstrating his fury on the icy slopes

The view energized us

Glacial tongue

Svartifoss hexagonal basalt columns

Benedict staring death in the face

Skaftafell National Park entertained us with a surreal 5 hour glacial walk followed by a strenuous 6 hour hike through the mountains above campsite in the national park where we had spectacular views and collected wild blueberries to be added to a delicious porridge breakfast. As always, Benedict was the guinea pig to see if they were poisonous -- the only side-effect being deliciousness!

Gathering wild blueberries

The following day we were faced with more extruciating head-on winds, but our efforts were rewarded with a visit to the gorgeous Jökusarlson glacial lagoon, resembling an Antartic landscape. Some fellow Spanish bikers, conivingly drafted behind us the whole way and were annoyingly composed at the next campsite but offered us free Spanish nougats for our assistance.

Jökusarlson was frosty

Cocobolo ponders with his head above the clouds

Dancing with Cocobolo

The previous days continual exertion against headwinds had begun to weaken Benedict´s fragile knees, which only allowed the meagre 60km journey to Höfn, the next major port of call. After eying up the deliciously healthy livestock alongside our route, we couldn´t resist to indulge in a massive marinated pork feast for dinner.

Happily insulated and succulent

Clouds meeting the mountains

An early 6am start the following day took us 106km to Djupivogur. The day was glorious as we entered the spectacular eastern fjords... until we encountered our first gravel road. Our withered muscles struggled to cycle up the steep inclines as massive semi-travels showered us in rocks as they charged past. By the end of the day we atrophied our bodies and brains by melting awaying in the 42 degree hot tub of the local swimming pool. nice.

Welcome to gravel country

Excessive deep heat application

Curbing alcoholism by creating ridiculously short opening hours

Our next day involved covering a massive distance hugging the coastal route around the epic fjords, completing a record day of 112km. Struggling our way through steep gravel sections was rewarded by visiting the dazzling collection of stones in Granny Petra's geological wonderland (the most visited place in Eastern Iceland). Our camping experience at Faskruðsfjorður was one of the best yet, as we were one of only 3 people at the site, looking over the panaromic fjord - plus it was free!

A sample of Petra's amazing lifetime collection

Heart attack after inflating thermarest mattress

Yesterday's we cycled 50km around the head of another fjord, only to discover a tunnel shortcut which would have saved us much pain, luckily the view was worth it! After lunch we had to cross our first significant mountain pass, cycling uphill to 600m above sea leavel, soon after to be rewarded by 40 minutes of pure downhill bliss in Eglistaðir for the night.

The pocket llama finds its centre of gravity before tackling the mountain pass

Help us reach our target!

Australia http://www.mycause.com.au/fundraise.php?mode=frpage&id=419

UK http://www.mycharitypage.com/themules/

Part 1: Reykjavik to Vik

Team Mule setting off

We finally set off down the dangerously busy highway out of Reykjavik on 12pm on Tuesday after stocking up on supplies. Apart from almost being wiped out by a few cars, our first hitch was when Miles failed to unclip from his pedals correctly, doing a stationary stack at a petrol station. An hour or so after we´d hit the road, we realised that we had started heading up highway north instead of south and had to backtrack to an alternate route?

It didn't take long to realise we were in for a tough ride

This led us into a rainy mountainous path where we quickly realised we were in for some hard times. By mid afternoon we reached þingvellir, the site for the oldest parliament in the world and existing on the edge of a tectonic plate creating spectacular views. We were largely unable to enjoy the vista as our hands and feet were ice blocks. The visitor centre served as a storm shelter while we re-energized and changed into warmer clothes. The weather remained the same for the rest of the afternoon and it was an extremely long, slow, 90km ride to Selfoss service station. Deliriously we gorged 3 free coffees each, hot dogs, ice creams and other junk - we were never so happy to reach civilization.

Icelandic cuisine: The sheep's head almost tempted us

Now we were paying for our 3 months of indulgence in Central America. The warm showers at the campsite were a godsend and set us into good spirits for the next days 80km ride to Seljalandsfoss.


The route to Seljandsfoss was relatively flat but we couldn´t continue onto our final destination inland, þorsmörk as it involved crossing glacial rivers, so we took a bus with intent to return the following afternoon. The campsite supplied a lukewarm slime bath for us to bathe our sore muscles in as the showers were not working. The following day we took the morning to explore the mind boggling glacial sculpted area by foot, it was exceptional apart from unnecessarily crossing 7 freezing cold glacial rivers with no shoes on. The graphic images display the effect on Benedict´s withered stumps.

Slime bath of delight?

Glacial river crossings

We returned to Seljalandfoss by 4pm and biked on to Skogar, another exceptional waterfall which provided our campsite for the evening. This was Icelandic camping at its best.

Crazy creek chair Muel and yoda Benedict suffering from frostbite

Our last day riding with Muel led us across a treacherous mountain pass to puffin-country "Vik" where rain started plummeting down as we started ascending the biggest beast of a hill we´ve encountered. The ride down from the top made it all worthwhile resembling the Scottish highlands. We trekked up the nearby 150m cliff face to view puffin nesting from above, unfortunately we didn´t get closer than 30m from the delicious animal.

Road into Vik

Where are the puffins?

Today Muel has left the group and headed back to Reykjavik then London. We awoke this morning to find Muel´s tent poles snapped from severe winds which we must ride 70km into to our next destination! It´s now 1:15pm and we're a bit worried! Thank you to the puffin hotel for their use of laptop and fast internet connection.