[Closed] Anyone ridden round Iceland (The big island in the North Atlantic)?

Brace yourself, I fear there may be a few supermarket related puns coming.

No, but a mate of mine is planning on riding across it on a fat bike

http://icelandicfatfun.blogspot.co.uk/

Mount Katona?

I can think of Morrison's to do it than Net-to.

What Lidl do I know about it - I reckon I might be riding Aldi for a few days to get round it.

Just ride around somerfields like everyone else.

Not toured there but Iceland is an amazing place. We did a 2 week (car) recce last year and plan to return with bikes when kids are a bit older.

Touring round the main highway 1 looked pretty bleak and slow going - especially the sandur between Vik and Skaftafell. I'd take something like a 29er or cross bike with tyres that are OK on gravel to open up options. Then think a bit laterally, maybe:-

Take the southern coast road from Keflavik airport rather than main highway drag into city (free volcanic stuff out that way at Krysuvik).

Hot river bathing at Hveragerdi (free and better experience than Blue Lagoon). We did an mtb tour there with Iceland Activities (very good, not cheap but only option as we hadn't taken bikes) - I can point you to roughly where you ride into the hot river area.

Kortabok 1:300,000 road atlas is detailed enough for touring and pannier-ish sized.

Geysir, Gulfoss, Pingvelir etc all fab, especially mid-late afternoon when bus trips from the city have left.

The regular gravel minor roads can be used for very peaceful "shortcuts" - e.g. road 550 from Pingvellir to Hraunfossar or road 48 and 47 around Hvalfjordur which is deserted now route 1 takes the tunnel.

The gnarlier F roads might be a bit tricky by bike due to deep river crossings....

Maybe use internal flights to hop to different areas such as NW Fjords, Myvatn etc (rather than trog around the whole ring road).

Plan any route 1 biking that coincides with summer and holiday weekends - i.e. don't bike towards Rekjavik on a Sunday afternoon / evening or you'll be in a continuous convoy of superjeeps and trailer tents 🙂

And take lots of money.....

Didn't do the whole thing. Rode for 3 weeks around the SW (the populated area) ~15 years ago. The only three pieces of advice that I think would still be valid.
1) It'll be windy
2) It'll be wet
3) it'll probably be windy and wet

Honestly 15 years on that is one of my abiding memories. Along with some fantastic scenery.

On the Salsa cycles website is a blog from someone who was doing some cycling in Iceland. Seems they experienced the same....

Edit. [url= http://expeditionportal.com/bikepacking-iceland-the-a-z-how-to-pre-planner/ ]link to lots of info[/url]

Check out Josie Dew's book "The wind in my wheels" i seem to remember she cycled around Iceland years ago on a road bike.

Disclaimer - we had only moderate winds and dry for about 3/4 of our stay - sometimes even t-shirt weather! And I'm certain that we were very very lucky........

Some world touring bike friends once got the ferry home from the east side because they couldn't face weeks of riding into a headwind to get back to Keflavik airport!

Charlie the bike monger recently toured Iceland- it looked very windy!

I've visited Iceland many times and not once have I seen a happy cyclist on the ring road! The interior roads however are a great experience to ride. The two classic routes are the Kjolur (F35) and the Sprengisandur (F210). I did a solo trip for my 40th, staying in mountain huts which are easily booked on-line or better, by phone but do it well in advance as places fill up quickly in peak season which can be short depending upon the road opening dates following the winter snows. Fords were not a problem on Kjolur, there are only two. One of them (Svarta)is between the Hvitarnes hut and the Kjolur track so if you are not staying in the hut it needn't be considered. It is only a couple of feet deep and is in very slow moving water. The other crossing is on the main route and is little more than a watersplash. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. The river crossings on the Sprengisandur are also easily managed although the Nyidalur was a bit scary in biggish water. The first time I drove it I waded it first to scout the route. It is right by the hut.

I could write loads more... email in profile if you want.

Top tip, If you can get to Myvatn or Porsmork or Landmannalaugur or Skaftafell, do it.

And take some really good waterproofs.

Monitoring this thread with interest as it's something I fancy doing as well

It's an island, so you need a boat to go round it.

Some friends of mine were there earlier in the year, not on road or CX bikes though. Huw did a write up somewhere, I'll see if I can find the link. It looked like pretty stunning place to be.

Edit: [url= http://enduro-mtb.com/en/the-big-picture-a-wander-through-the-land-of-fire-and-ice/ ]http://enduro-mtb.com/en/the-big-picture-a-wander-through-the-land-of-fire-and-ice/[/url]

Dirt has an article on a trip to Iceland in this January's issue.

Hi - Yes. Sort of. Well no. We set out to, self-supported style. Heading clockwise, but up F35 rather than round the ring road for the 'first' bit. Drama unfolded as follows:

1) F35 closed in late June because of snow
2) No bother, we'll go anticlockwise in the hope that the F35 is open in a week or so
3) Got to Vik, Grimsvotn volcano eruption meant thick ash in the air and impassable roads turned us back.
4) Ok, we're trapped. Let's see as much of the SW corner of Iceland as we can and do some hiking too
5) Front hub destroyed itself, taking forks with.
6) Back to Reykjavik, hired a bike did 1-2 day trips from the capital, saw some amazing stuff, did some camping in the sticks, sat in a hot puddle or two, covered 500 miles or so in the South West.

Bumped into a chap who was off up to Vesturland and Vestfirdir for a couple of weeks. You'd miss this on a circumnavigation but I bet there's some good stuff up there. If you want more info drop me an email. And yes, it's windy.

some pics

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Sorry, keep remembering things...

road 48 and 47 around Hvalfjordur which is deserted now route 1 takes the tunnel.

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/iceland-on-pedal-power ]THIS[/url] may already be linked above. Bookmarking this thread also! I'm really drawn to the place.

tomd from here was there this year riding with his other half. He stays over near your way too, maybe worth getting in touch ?

Iceland is amazing (this isn't cycling related but I'd love to go back there). From what I've read either concentrating on an area of crossing via the interior roads is the best approach.

Fact 1) it's really big, bigger than you'd think, I drove from Reykjavik to Akyueri and that took about 6 hours.

It's colder, windier and more remote than you'd expect.

If you are hiring a car then go for SAD cars, our car was 'experienced' an old Rav4 with 240k on the clock, but never missed a beat on or off road.

You will fall in love with a girl with piercing blue eyes.

You should spend a night out in the city on the Runtur - but don't go out till 11 or 12 at the earliest.

You'll look at the landscape in wonder, then realise it looks odd, the realise that you can't see any trees!

You'll ultimately want to go back once you get home.

One of our customers took her Stoater for a tour round Iceland this Summer and wrote about it on her blog :

[url= http://sheilaswheels.blogspot.co.uk/ ]http://sheilaswheels.blogspot.co.uk/[/url]

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willjones - is that singletrack and steaming river in the hills above Hveragerdi? I think we rode down that track (quite marbly at the top, bubbling mud pools in the valley to the left at source of stream). Come to think of it, most of the small walking and biking tracks we did were quite loose / scree.

Glymur waterfall I think at top of Hvalfjord - we walked up to that. Very Icelandic fuel station a few k's down the road - fuel, diner, ice cream parlour and whaling exhibition!

Worth a watch

I can confirm the windiness of Iceland. We drove around it a few years ago and saw some US tourers having to pedal [u]down[/u] a 1:10 hill into the wind. Despite that I'd love to explore it on two wheels - a really great place.

Europe's highest waterfall is a short walk from the top of Hvalfjordur.

It's not even Iceland's highest waterfall 🙂 Quite a few in Norway a lot, lot higher.

Iceland's definitely on my bucket list, just looks amazing.

It's not even Iceland's highest waterfall Quite a few in Norway a lot, lot higher.

Here's a Wikipedia list for you - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Waterfalls_of_Norway Yet another country with simply stunning scenery