July 6: Seydisfjordur — a Colorful Bon Voyage

Well, I’ll be darned! What a colorful bon voyage. Today’s adventure involved successfully navigating the Adventure Baby onto the Smyril Line ship bound for the Faroe Islands. What I didn’t expect was to see such a colorful launching off point. Knitted sweaters for a tree and a blue and white church at the end of a rainbow road?

I woke up this morning grateful to be so close to the departure point for today’s ferry. I wouldn’t normally pay $160 for a night in a small one room shack with no shower, almost no functioning lights, and a finicky power source. But after traveling through fresh snow on the mountain pass to get here yesterday I was very glad not to have to worry about potentially dealing with ice to get to my early morning check in.

I had been thinking of Seydisfjordur simply as a launching off point for the next stage of my adventure. Little did I know it was such a colorful town in its own right. Walking through the small village streets, I was mesmerized by a rainbow-colored road ending at a picturesque little blue and white steepled church. Just off this pathway was a home created from corrugated steel and brightly painted with a variety of black and white graphics. Just down the street I did a double-take when I saw a tree with what appeared to be hand-made sweaters wrapped around its trunk and limbs.

As I lined up to get on the ferry, I was amazed to see how many bikers had congregated at the launching point. I had encountered hardly any other motorcyclists on the road during my two weeks in Iceland and was happy to see at least a hundred other bikers geared up at the departure point. There were few women, and I could not see any riding their own bikes.

I was very glad that a good friend of mine had advised me to leave a large gap between me and the rider in front of me as I boarded the ship. At first, I wasn’t sure why he had texted me as the ramp getting on the ferry was quite short. However, when I saw the ferry official pointing me up a steep, slick, steel ramp to the next level I said a quick prayer of thanks for the advance notice.

After safely tying down my bike, I carried my luggage to the cabin I will call home for the next 18 hours. My ship arrives in the Faroe Islands at 3am. I am hoping to catch a few hours sleep at my Air B n B there before beginning to explore the islands. What an adventure!