Some places announce themselves and some just happen to you. Breiðdalsvík is the second kind, a handful of houses by a wide, shallow bay at the mouth of the Breiðdalur valley in eastern Iceland, with a harbour that still works and a population you could fit in a village hall. The valley behind it opens out between mountains that are some of the oldest rock in the country, laid down by volcanoes more than ten million years ago, and geologists have been coming here for decades because the layers are so clearly exposed. A small geology centre in the old co-operative building keeps that tradition going, which is an unusually serious thing to find in a place this size.
The ride here follows the coast road along the southern fjords of the east, a route that does not get the attention the Ring Road does. It is a quiet, unhurried drive. The road winds around headlands and across river mouths, climbing and falling in modest bends, with the sea on one side and bare, streaked slopes on the other, and you will often go for ten minutes without meeting anything. If you come over from Egilsstaðir, the high shortcut across Öxi is a gravel mountain road that is not suitable for everyone and is closed in winter, so most riders stick to the coast.
Wind and weather are the variables. Even in July the east can produce fog that sits low on the water and drizzle that arrives sideways, and in the same hour the sun can break through and light up the green valley floor. Sheep stray onto the road. Surfaces are mostly paved but there are gravel patches and the occasional stretch where frost heave has left bumps. Slow down on the fjord roads and use your lights.
For practicalities, services here are thin. There is a guesthouse or two, a small cafe in season, and a brewery attached to a local bar that makes a fair bid to be the area's social centre, but you should not rely on opening hours outside summer. Fuel is the main concern. The nearest dependable supplies are in Djúpivogur to the south, or Reyðarfjörður and Egilsstaðir to the north, and the distances are long enough that it is worth filling before you commit.
Stop on the shore if you have time. The beach is dark, the air is sharp with salt and seaweed, and eiders and gulls work the shallows. It is a good place to sit on the bike for a while and realise how few people you have seen all day.