Have read through the various threads on here about trips to Iceland. We are thinking of heading there for a week (possibly an 8 day week) this year. No fixed plans or indeed time of year (but have entered a few ITT group starts that limit when we can go) but have a few ideas, namely:

1. tour/bikepack the SW of the country, the Golden Triangle.
2. Hire a car and do day trips from wherever we fancy.
3. Get an internal flight to ??? and ride back to Reykjavik on a longer tour.
4. The NW fjords peninsular looks interesting/spectacular so would like to visit that area

We have a decent two person tent (vango) and a Terra Nova Laser Competition which is somewhat cramped. Have seen an Icelandic MTB site with a variety of day routes which go through amazing terrain but full on technical riding isn't what we are after.

Having never been we'd quite like a mixture of things to do so a ride through the interior on gravel roads for the duration might not be the best suggestion

3. Akureyri. We flew there and drove back to Reykjavik stopping off at stuff along the way.

We did version 1 about a year and a half ago. Had a fantastic time. Mix of paved roads and gravel roads. Took advantage of the bus system to use one day that was full on storming to go eastward to the Westman islands. Altered the direction of travel to allow for wind direction. In the SW you could get away with that. Lots of nice places to camp, some hot springs etc that are easy to get to.
Wife wasn't super keen to bikepack so this mix of small paved and gravel roads was our comprise.
Went back to Iceland this past Christmas and had a great time just hanging out in Reykjavik. We'd like to go and do the NW fiords this year. Would rent a car to get up there and do day trips or overnights in that case.

Ian, I saw in one of the old threads that you and Beth had done that. Over what timescale and at what time of year? Did you follow Route 1 or cut inland?

The bits I did of route 1 sucked on a bike.

Use the buses to cover big distances. They go everywhere and all carry bikes.

Bike tour and camp around the SW is fun and plenty to see and be in awe of... Route 1 isn't too horrendous, although when it is pouring down and you are riding into a monster headwind, and there is loads of traffic, then it's not so nice...

That only happened to me once in two weeks though so the odds are OK.

Lots of gravel roads and minor routes to use though, so can avoid Route 1 a lot if you want/need to.

Would love to go back again... It's been too long.

Si

The fastest car is a hire car!

I did the South West with a mate a few years back - flew into Keflavic and stayed at the bunkhouse just by the airport for the first and last nights. They will store your bike box as part of your digs fees and shuttle you too and from the airport. Spent 9 days wandering round a variety of roads and gravel roads in mostly good weather. Thorsmork is worth a visit if you can stand a bit of rough gravel road (picture railway ballast as a surface) and a few 'burn crossings'. We also ventured briefly into the mountains north of thingvellir. Loads of campsites either cheap or even free and de-lousing in the Blue Lagoon hot springs just south of Keflavik is a must on your last day!

Hi First post on forum but been sitting in the back ground for along time.
Went to Iceland two years ago and cycled around the north west coast from Buoardalur to Bolungarvik.
Great cycling on roads, gravel roads and tracks with a tunnel with a give way half way along it.
I can recommend it as a great trip even when it was wet/cold most days and that was in the middle if summer.

Its on mine and mrs t-r radar as well how ever this summer is out as mrs t-r is heading to rwanda for 4 weeks :(

What time of year did those of you that have done it go ?

We went last week of August into the first bit of September. Had good weather for the most part. Starting to get cold (rather then just cool) at night by the end of the trip. Our trip looped back to Selfoss at the end and the number of campers was much lower then it was at the start of the trip.

Trail-rat wrote:Its on mine and mrs t-r radar as well how ever this summer is out as mrs t-r is heading to rwanda for 4 weeks :(

What time of year did those of you that have done it go ?

Mid July. Too soon and the interior routes are closed, too late and the interior routes are closed.

And sometimes they don't open at all as we discovered.

Went to Iceland twice and will go again for a long bike pack this late summer.
When I hiked across the island in 2013 I chose mid August as a starting point. Lowers on glaciers were snow free and less risky to cross, run off of glacial rivers was low and the residual snow in the interior and highlands was hard packed.
Some of the fords I did were know as notoriously difficult and dangerous - but they actually were all rather straight forward. Quite sure this was due to the season.
Temps mostly dropped to very little under nil during clear nights but were very pleasant for hiking (speed hiking) and surely would have been pleasant for biking too. On passes and mountains you have to expect it to snow in every month.

The only time critical issue in my planing was, that I wanted to be out of the highlands once the bus service stoped, which is mostly somewhere round about beginning of September.

whitestone wrote:Have read through the various threads on here about trips to Iceland. We are thinking of heading there for a week (possibly an 8 day week) this year. No fixed plans or indeed time of year (but have entered a few ITT group starts that limit when we can go) but have a few ideas, namely:

1. tour/bikepack the SW of the country, the Golden Triangle.
2. Hire a car and do day trips from wherever we fancy.
3. Get an internal flight to ??? and ride back to Reykjavik on a longer tour.
4. The NW fjords peninsular looks interesting/spectacular so would like to visit that area

We have a decent two person tent (vango) and a Terra Nova Laser Competition which is somewhat cramped. Have seen an Icelandic MTB site with a variety of day routes which go through amazing terrain but full on technical riding isn't what we are after.

Having never been we'd quite like a mixture of things to do so a ride through the interior on gravel roads for the duration might not be the best suggestion

My suggestion would be a circumnavigation of Katla.
Bus to Vik, again go with R.E. and pick the scenic bus trip. Go up the Fjallabaksleið-nyrðri, visit Landmannalaugar, Eldgjá, Langisjór and turn south on one of the many options. Take the bus back from Þórsmörk, Hella or so. You get a bit of everything on that loop. Moss, crater lakes, fords, gravel roads, single tracks (if you wish), hot pots, campgrounds, wild camping, huts, ashes...

I originally wrote down two suggestions, but deleted one, as this one is much better

More and more options

Roughly how many days for that tour of Katla? Assuming a steady pace and actually stopping to look at things. Oh, R.E.? Not sure what that's an abbreviation of.

This route looks not too dissimilar: http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/bikep ... to-skogar/

Reykjavik Excursions- one of the big tour companies that run buses all over the country.

whitestone wrote:More and more options

Roughly how many days for that tour of Katla? Assuming a steady pace and actually stopping to look at things. Oh, R.E.? Not sure what that's an abbreviation of.

This route looks not too dissimilar: http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/bikep ... to-skogar/

Fancy that. Had it in the back of my head but wouldn't have thought it to be so similar. Here's his account on it: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/bikepa ... a-bucksaw/

But be aware, if you read his account you may start to believe in monsters again.

I feel 70 km for my girlfriend and self is always a good starting point. Not too short when it's easy going and yet doable if the going gets rough.

rando nomad wrote:Reykjavik Excursions- one of the big tour companies that run buses all over the country.

Exactly. Sorry, too lazy to write...