The first week of a long trip always seems hard work, you're never as paddling fit as you'd like to be. We haven't really done any distance in the kayak since April and the last few weeks before departure plus a few weeks in the UK means a long break from even the shortest of paddles.
Five days from Reykjavk now and the unfamiliar is becoming more familiar, paddling fitness is building and we're becoming accustomed to the cold. I hope!
The wind and the resultant sea conditions are the same wherever you go but the cold here takes the paddling to another level. Even out of the wind we cool down incredibly quickly when ashore for a wee stop and a bite to eat. We anticipated this and brought a two person zarsky sac (rip stop nylon emergency shelter) and used it for the first time yesterday for lunch. I'd forgotten just how effective they were, within minutes the stuffy heat inside becomes both lovely and almost unbearable.
The biggest problem so far is my right wrist, I had a niggling pain from only a few hours out of Reykavik then Saturday morning I woke with the wrist really swollen and painful. It was obvious that we weren't paddling anywhere, which given it was a rare clear and sunny day with very light winds was extremely frustrating.
Snæfellsjökull in the distance.
With anti inflammatories, a splint and a days rest it settled down very quickly. Thanks too to Steffi in Devon who quickly became my personal sports physiologist via FB messenger!
The wind was forecast to pick up at around midday Sunday so we were on the water at 4am to try and get to a small village Arnastapi at the base of Snæfellsjökull. With my paddle unfeathered I proved its quite possible to complete a days paddle with splinted wrist.
We didn't make it, the headwind beat us back, so here we sit in the tent for a couple of days at Búdir waiting until Weds and some calmer weather.
The church at Búdir, one of the oldest in Iceland.
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