Iceland (all)

Plymouth (UK) to Plymouth (USA), May to November 2007

Started Bakewell, UK and have completed half of the tour to inlcude cycling up the East of UK to Aberdeen, then Shetland Isalnds then a tour of the Faroe Islands and then a East West crossing of ICELAND to include the Kjlour Route. Currently crossing Greenland (unfortunately not on a bike but on skis) I then pick up my bike in Labrador (Canada) and cycle down through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and then the US arriving in Plymouth Rhode Island in mid November. Then in late December I will complete the final leg of 270 miles non stop riding from Plymouth (UK) to Bakewell.

In winter 2003 we cycled around Iceland on road n°1. It was not that cold but very stormy with heavy snow and rainfall. the 1200 km were really hard-earned....

This tour around Iceland was in August 2005. The idea was to cycle the entire route 1 and not to use public transport. Also to camp every night for free. I suppose it was Iceland on the cheap, and it was total trip cost 425 pounds including everything.

Pictures and watercolours from a cycling-around-Iceland adventure.

We cycled from Keflavík, visited the 196 m high waterfall Glymur, rounded Snæfellsnes, or we actually took the mountainroad over Snæfellsjökull. At Myvatn we looked at the active area. Along the southcoast we saw Jökulsárlón, Skaftafell, Dyrhólaey, Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Strokkur, Gullfoss and Þingvallavatn.

Also see my Iceland-right-now page with webcams and their position on a map. And join my icq user list for Iceland.

Featuring grandiose pictures. The purpose of this tour was to visit some very scenic places along the south east coast, to cycle north of Mýrdalsjökull to Geysir, and then further to Reykjavík or Selfoss. This should take some 12-15 days, leaving 5-8 days for some unplanned detour or a trip to the extreme west (Látrabjarg that is).

The tour was successful in respect of the cycled route and distance, but very unsuccessful regarding looking at the scenic landscape. June had been extremely warm, wet and foggy in the south east, and this weather continued long into July. The extra time were therefore used to spend some days in the north, as the weather usually is good in the north when it is wet in the south.

This is a diary style description of a Swedish cyclist's tour on north Iceland, essentially from Seydisfjördur to Ísafjördur. The aim was to go to several places along the north coast. Therefore smaller roads with little traffic were used to a large extent. The big and busy road no 1 (Hringvegurinn) was used more as a quick transport section between northeast and northwest Iceland.

[I] cycled to Hverarönd sulphuric mud pools (solfataras). The ground is unstable there and you cannot walk everywhere. Blue-gray mud is boiling and produces small or big (depending on water content) bubbles that burst. The ground is yellow and reddish and the noise from an abandoned hot water well is penetrating. The smell of sulphuric dioxide is everywhere.

After several tours of varying lengths in the UK and France I wanted to do something harder and further afield. A long time ago I read a book entitled ``Running Blind'' by Desmond Bagley which was set in Iceland and impressed me with it's description of the wild and dramatic landscape. Shortly after starting cycle touring I read ``The Wind in my Wheels'' by Josie Dew in which she spent several weeks in Iceland as part of a longer Scandinavian tour. [...] I chose to go in July as by then most of the interior tracks are open and it is supposed to have the most reliable weather.

Includes a diary, maps, photographs, packing list, etc.

A couple of years ago I went to Iceland (with my family) by car, I always wanted to go back but instead of a car with a bike. A bike-trip through Iceland. For a few years, that idea, was only a kind of a dream. But time is running. I started to make a bike-trip from Holland to Norway. Besides the bad weather (wind, pretty cold days) I enjoyed the trip. Actually I didn't get any punctures. Perhaps that's the experience I'm looking for (guess not). So I finally decide to go to Iceland. It's a journey that asks some preparations.

I'm not going on my own. I couldn't get my friends as stupid, so I'm traveling with my sister, Dagmar (28). I'm 23. Both persons are studying at the university of Groningen.

We had to cross about three big rivers (big in the sense that you had to take your shoes off) and a lot of small ones. The first river is fun, when you are biking on Iceland you want to face a river that you have to cross (without a bridge) the second one is ok too, but when you just dried your feet and think that this was the last river and you see another one, you (at least I) wish that I was somewhere in the Jamaica sitting in the sun on a beach with a glass of beer.

I made my first trip to Iceland in the summer of 1996. It was everything I had hoped for and then some. This web journal is about my trip in the summer of 1999. This time I had 4 full weeks. Again, as in 1996, none of my friends could make the trip so I would go it alone. This trip circles the main bulk of Iceland.

I traveled 2000 km by bicycle, covered a little distance by bus, camped every night, met some great people and once again had the time of my life.

Once again. a very fine report with pictures and maps.

Includes photos, route descriptions and tips for bike touring in Iceland.

Why Iceland? I heard that question more times than I could count before my first trip to Iceland in July of 1996. Well, plain enough, I didn't know anyone that had been here, I had at least a passing interest in viking stuff, and I was always interested in the far north (even if Iceland isn't really in the arctic). It also was a good time for an adventure. I'd been a good little worker boy for too long. And I'd been thinking about all those lengthy climbing trips I'd made back when I was fumbling my way through college. Anyways, I did it by bicycle and I had a great time. Have a look...

Includes a photo album.

This route goes from the rainy South-West coast of Iceland right to the North of the country, which is drier and warmer in summer, passing through the interior of Iceland along the Kjölur route. I made it with 4 more friends in 6 days.

I cycled around the Baltic Sea from mid-June to mid-July 1996, starting in Stockholm and going clockwise, finishing in Stockholm a month later. It was a great trip!

The report of a 37 days (from July 21, 1994 to August 26, 1994), 4240km tour of the Baltic See along the route: Hamburg - Schleswig/Holstein - Denmark (Border-Frederikshavn) - Norway (Moss-Ostby) - Sweden (Sorsjoern-Grisslehamn) - Aland-Island (Eckeroe-Mariehamn) - Finland (Naantali-Helsinki) - Estonia (Tallinn-Valga) - Latvia (Valka-Bauska) - Lithuania (Salociai-Lazdijai) - Poland (Sejny-Kostrzyn) - Brandenburg - Berlin - Magdeburg - Hannover - Paderborn

Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe.

Reports and pictures from various mountains of Europe, America, and Australia. Partly in Dutch.

We wanted to do something off the beaten track. After having met in the US on a cycling trip, Steve and I had always planned to spend another cycling holiday together. Certainly not an organized one and Iceland was only one possible destination (where can you go to if you have only got two weeks?).

A report and pictures from [a] MTB trip in [the] not very often visited interior area of Iceland. There are some remarks to Faroe Islands there, too.

You think your home trails are rough? Read what's in store here...

Has some beautiful photos of Icelands, great maps and descriptions of hiking trips and bicycle tours, and plenty of excellent information - a must-see if you plan to visit the country.

First the easy part: why Iceland? Because it's a country with magnificent, raw, bizarre and fascinating landscapes, unique in Europe and probably the world. A place where you can see scenery that makes you wonder what nature had in mind when it was created. But why cycling? I don't think it's the ideal way to move around in Iceland. You are less limited and vulnerable with a 4-wheel Drive. You can cover longer distances and stay drier in a bus. And you're closer to nature on foot. The first reason for me to go cycling is, that this way of transport gives a good balance between money and freedom. Renting a car costs loads of money, and you keep a distant feeling with the environment. The bus or walking limits you to the places where you can stop or go. But I have to admit, that on every cycling holiday, I also used the bus to cover long distances. And I always had some hiking days. I even did an organized one-day trip on my last vacation. You just pick the best way of transport for your goal : to see Iceland.

The weather is often mentioned as the reason not to go to Iceland. I think I've seen nearly all weathertypes there, except snow. Luckily I missed that in July1998 when it snowed in the north east. The first time I was in Iceland we had three weeks of bright sunshine. My second was pretty good, with a lot of sunshinebut also some rain. My third tour was one with a lot of dark clouds and rain. On my fourth I had a lot of mist, but it was mainly dry. And my last tour was excellent again, with only 2 days with mainly rain. My prediction for a three week holiday in the summer are

• temperatures between 5 and 15 degrees Celcius
• at least three days with bright, sparkling sunshine
• at least three days with mostly rain
• the rest of the days ever changing weather
• at least one storm
• and there will always be wind!