Iceland from the East to the West?

[fatbikephil]

If you want to dip your toes in and avoid epic weather, the southwest of Iceland is great. Much easier terrain than the interior but gives you a real flavour of the place, loads of campsites (mostly free) and plenty of places to re-supply. I did it with a mate in 2012. We started from Keflavik, headed to the south coast and then east to Selfoss. We then went up to Thorsmork for a bit of adventure then north west to Laugervatn, another jaunt into the hills and then back south-ish to pick up our outward route. All road or gravel road with only the Thorsmork track a bit rough on rigid 29ers.



https://philsbikepacking.blogspot.com/2 ... -tour.html

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just picked up my RSF book and flicking through the pages until I came to the journal about the Iceland crossing.

I need to do a lot more digging about, about the route, logistics, etc..., but if anyone else is interested in doing something like this, or has any advice let me know.

Initially thinking about a 2 week trip sometime in Aug/Sept

I recall there used to be a bloke who was the RSF expert on Iceland. Can't recall his name* but he used to offer his advice and services to members. I'll look back through some old journals.

*Dick somebody perhaps?

[ripio]

Dick Phillips?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Dick Phillips?

Could be.

[RIP]

Aye, 'twas. Was often called 'Icelandic Dick'. Founding member of MBA too. What a guy .

[Bearbonesnorm]

'Icelandic Dick'

Think I once saw the film.

[Gari]

Straight to dvd presumably?!:)

[RIP]

Certainly top shelf title .

[Borderer]

Enjoyed reading that Phil, thanks. I was disappointed that you didn't hit any little hot springs earlier in your trip as I had thought they were all over the place. Are there not any in the area you went to? It was also a lot greyer than I had hoped....
One thing I did wish for that would have improved this excellent write-up was more detail about the food ie prices, photos etc. Food is very, very important. Do you have any photos you could add?

[RIP]

lot greyer than I had hoped...

What colours were you hoping for B? Iceland is somewhat renowned for monochromicity . Apart from the Blue Lagoon perhaps .

food ie prices

"Astronomical" But maybe not as bad as once was. I saw somewhere recently McD (shudder) £10, beer £8, etc etc. Staples not so bad - milk £1/L, bread £2, 12 eggs £4, 1kg spuds £2, 1kg toms £3 (lots of geothermal greenhouses!).

You could always dig around on beaches for Hakarl fermented shark meat delicacy.... buried for up to 3 months traditionally. Yum .

[Bearbonesnorm]

It was also a lot greyer than I had hoped....

Said it before - might as well save your money and go to Dylife.

[RIP]

I think you've photoshopped that grass in.

Beer's MUCH cheaper in the Star as well!

[Borderer]

lot greyer than I had hoped...

What colours were you hoping for B? Iceland is somewhat renowned for monochromicity . Apart from the Blue Lagoon perhaps .

food ie prices

"Astronomical" But maybe not as bad as once was. I saw somewhere recently McD (shudder) £10, beer £8, etc etc. Staples not so bad - milk £1/L, bread £2, 12 eggs £4, 1kg spuds £2, 1kg toms £3 (lots of geothermal greenhouses!).

You could always dig around on beaches for Hakarl fermented shark meat delicacy.... buried for up to 3 months traditionally. Yum .

It's volcanic, I get that, but it wasn't very sunny when Phil was there so I guess I was just a little disappointed
If the campsites are free then the cost of food is key. It doesn't sound that much dearer than Sweden if that is right ^

[Bearbonesnorm]

... and for them who like things organised but it will cost you $4500 ... although you get a T shirt

https://ratraceiceland.com/?fbclid=IwAR ... 6hJZ40jDj0

[Bearlegged]

For that price I hope it's (TNF X) Gucci!

[fatbikephil]

Enjoyed reading that Phil, thanks. I was disappointed that you didn't hit any little hot springs earlier in your trip as I had thought they were all over the place. Are there not any in the area you went to? It was also a lot greyer than I had hoped....
One thing I did wish for that would have improved this excellent write-up was more detail about the food ie prices, photos etc. Food is very, very important. Do you have any photos you could add?

Colours are a huge mix. We went from fairly mossy covered volcanic rock to Broxburn bings (Central Scotland blaes spoil heaps from Scotland's first attempt at an Oil industry) to Montana style verdant grassy plains (with horses) to full on volcanic desolation within 100k.

Re hot springs - everywhere you look there are plumes of steam from home steam turbines. Geysir is the tourist draw, and fabulous but you need to be in the interior to find the wild ones.

Food prices. Hmm, my memory fails me. It was much cheaper than normal as we got a really good exchange rate given that our trip was just after the Icelandic bank crash. Similar prices to here I think but about 30% cheaper than my pals previous trip mebbes???. Real drink costs a fortune as does food in posh restaurants. Every town had a supermarket and even small places had a garage come diner. We ate junk food mainly.....

I'll dig out some more photos.

[summittoppler]

In 2017 these were the prices I encountered:
20170726_121808 by Jeff Price, on Flickr
864 Krona is now about £4:90

On our last evening we were paying about £9 for a pint of Tuborg.

What made it cheaper for us was we stocked up on food/drink on day 1 from the cheap supermarket called Bonus.

When out on the tourist trail these were the prices at Seljalandsfoss:
20170730_121722 by Jeff Price, on Flickr
The ham and cheese butty was £6 and no I didn't buy one.

I'm sure JC had an app showing where all the bathing pools were, some were massive and other were the size of a small bath!

[Bearbonesnorm]

some were massive and other were the size of a small bath!

... and I bet he made you have the plug end!

[summittoppler]

some were massive and other were the size of a small bath!

... and I bet he made you have the plug end!

[Gari]

In terms of food costs the aforementioned garage/diners were ok for pizza, burgers that kind of thing, which is where I usually ate when not away from populated areas and living on dehydrated meals. Also as has been mentioned, restaurants and bars are really expensive. Supermarkets are a little more expensive, especially meat, but no worse than other Scandinavian countries really. I think it gets its reputation for being horrendously expensive from folk who rent a car, stay in hotels and B+Bs and eating/drinking out. Even worse if you do a couple of guided tours.
Bikepacking/touring etc is pretty reasonable in my experience. Most campsites are between 8-10 a night including wifi and often a covered cooking area, sometimes a proper kitchen/dining room.
That said, my most painful memory was staying on. Campsite at the south end of Rte26 after several days in the highlands. As I was checking in at the reception/cafe/bar I spotted a bottle of Caol Ila on the top shelf. As I was getting toward the end of the trip, and given the past few days of horrendous washboard I’d been riding on 700/38s I thought I’d treat myself. Only a single, but £15!!!!
To add insult to injury she carefully measured it out from a bottle that was clearly almost empty. I reckon there was less than half a measure left, but she never bothered just pouring it on the glass
I reckon my 3 weeks cost me about £1000 all in, inc flights and transfers. I wasn’t really trying to be cheap either. So it’s all relative.

[Borderer]

Thanks for that Phil and Gari. Sounds very similar to Sweden in 2017 then. Alcohol and eating out are taxed heavily as these are luxury items, which is kinda fair enough. A few bits for a picnic were setting me back £20 at least. But if camping is free that makes up for it. I have wanted to go there for ages but a lot of people put me off talking about headwinds, bleak desolation and generally not enjoying it.

[Gari]

Headwinds aside, the bleak desolation is what appealed to me, its very attractive to be honest. When people say is just black and grey maybe they were just unlucky, the colours(especially the greens!) are amazing.

[Gari]

Out on the Snaefellsnes peninsula.


Camping somewhere along Rte54.

Seltun geothermal site on the Reykjenes peninsula.
These were taken in 2018. Third trip with a bike.

[Borderer]

Nice. So can you just pedal up to a wee hot spring somewhere remote and hop in? Because that would definitely seal the deal for me.

[RIP]

It does feel like a decadent sort of bath with amazing views. All you need is a cocktail on a floating tray.

I remember at Myvatn there was an underground hot spring called Grjotagja that you could climb down into and swim around the deep pools and passages. I think it became too hot some while after I visited though.