Reports by Henrik Sunden

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.

The bike tour on the Faroe Islands was a logistical consequence of the means of transport (ferry) between Iceland and Norway on the way home from a three weeks tour on north Iceland. The ferry makes a tour to Denmark and returns to Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands before departing to Bergen, Norway.