Iceland

[JAP1981]

Looking to head over to Iceland in August for a week and cycle from Reykjavik and would like to cycle into the central Highland region for a few days.

Is there a route (maybe circular) that could be ridden in 4-5 days?

I'm planning on taking camping gear ect...

Any advise or other recommended routes would be appreciated.

[MartinP]

I suggest the golden triangle via Laugarvatn down to sydra-langholt taking in Pingvellir, Geysir and Gulfoss then go on to Hvolsvollur and Vik and then back to Rek. Pity you will miss the Glacier at Skaftafell unless you bus it.
Enjoy - and pray for good weather! Martin (did the ring road last year)

[chrisc]

No route suggestions but beware the Icelandic Kronur exchange rate which often has a large margin between buy and sell. I have known it be 25% . Icelandic kronur is not always readily exchangeable back to Sterling and may need to be ordered in advance too. I last managed to get a Tesco-based bureau de change reluctantly to accept my last 2000 kronur note for exchange (and they had never seen one before !).

My best (least worst) experience has actually been using an ATM in Iceland itself with a UK debit card for kronur withdrawal.

[iviehoff]

With bus assistance, a lot of things are possible. Also depends upon how rough a road you are willing to ride. I take it as read that you have a tent and realise you will have to carry food for several days to do this.

With bus assistance, you could ride any of several routes via Landmannalaugar, which are often the cyclists' favourite. You could also combine it with riding via the Golden Circle (not triangle - that's a drug growing region in SE Asia) in one direction (bus out to, or back from Kirkju....ur or such)

Another possibility via Gullfoss is to proceed northwards up the Kjolur interior route, and take the bus back from (eg) Blonduos.

If you want something a bit more off the beaten track, then some route involving the F338 or the F578 might be on the cards. I haven't ridden either of those myself, but I think poster pq did them both - F338 (a pylon road) looked particularly scenic and worthwhile, F578 (Arnavatnsheidi) looked more interesting than I suspected.

One possibility, avoiding the bus entirely, you could ride via the golden circule to Gullfoss, take the F338 back west, F550 north, and head back to Reykjavik through the network of roads around there.

Mike Erens has been cycling to Iceland about a dozen times, and has ridden just about every significant road imaginable, so his site is a rich source of possible routes.
http://members.ziggo.nl/erens/iceland.htm
I've only been 4 times, but you might find my notes useful.
http://www.masterlyinactivity.com/ivan/iceland.html
http://www.masterlyinactivity.com/ivan/ ... zones.html

(yes, and don't buy/sell Kronur outside the country, they aren't a traded currency just now, but its fine via an ATM)

[iviehoff]

I haven't carefully planned those routes, so do think about them carefully rather than immediately assume you can do them yourself in just 5 days.

[vjosullivan]

I last managed to get a Tesco-based bureau de change reluctantly to accept my last 2000 kronur note for exchange (and they had never seen one before !).

Any post office (in the UK) will buy and sell Icelandic Kronur, though they do need to be ordered three or four days in advance.

[cycletourer]

As iviehoff mentions there are a lot of possibilities with bus assistance. One option to consider is combining some of the roads mentioned in his post. You could do a nice trip Reykjavík to Pingvellir via the 36, over the Kaldidalur route to Húsafell F52 and F550, across the Anarvatnsheiði to Laugarbakki via the F578. From Laugarbakki catch the bus back to Reykjavík.There is an account of us taking this route back in 2009 on our website here. There are also links on our website to the bus companies and their timetables.

One thing to factor in when planning trips in Iceland is the terrain (you can't do the same mileage on gravel roads that you can do on tarmac) and the possibility of bad weather. If you read our account of the trip mentioned above it took us 5 days to do the route which could easily have been done in 4 (or perhaps 3 if we hadn't spent so long exploring the lava tubes at Surtshellir) due to experiencing strong winds going across the Anarvatnsheiði. We also met a German couple in 2007 going north on the F35 towards Kolür who had had a hell of a time battling uphill against the wind and had only managed to do 25km in two days, we were going in the opposite direction and did the same 25km in just over an hour with a great tail wind and downhill!
If you have a time limit then plan your route with ideas of how you could cut the route short if it takes you longer than you think.

Hope that helps. We are back off to Iceland ourselves on Wednesday for 4 weeks so might bump into you! Let's hope the weather is good.

PS vjosullivan is quite right about UK post offices. I ordered our Kronur on the Monday and they were ready for collection on Wednesday morning.

[henry_chinaski]

Hello,

I only went once and cycled very slowly but this is the route, the costs and the campsites.
You may find it useful.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=2671&v=99

There are also other journals for Iceland on the site.

Have a nice time.