Biking in Iceland

Biking in Iceland

July 2004

Two days after returning to Seattle from Canadian travels I was on a plane to Minneapolis and then to Reykjavik, Iceland. Along with me I had my bike, backpacking gear, and a HUGE duffle filled with kayak gear and clothing for the next three months. I met up with my friend, Zane Crawford, who happened to be heading to Iceland at the same time for a science conference. We planned to bike for the first week together, making up our plan on the plane as we heading to Iceland. This made the transition to being in a new country much easier and the first week of bike touring in fierce headwinds, up steep hills such fun.

Upon arrival to Iceland we had to take a shuttle from the Keflavik international airport to the city of Reykjavik. In Reykjavik I was meeting up with Throstur Thornsteinsson, a fellow glaciologist. Throstur had so kindly offered to store my bike case and the backpacking/kayaking gear that I also had in tow. We met up with him at his apartment in the early morning after our extensive travels. As it threatened to begin raining we assembled our bikes and packed up our gear. After some warm tea and cookies we bid farewell to Throstur and headed off on our bikes in the mid-morning.

We caught a bus (with our bikes) to Varmhlid in the North central part of Iceland (by Saudarkrokur on the map). From here we began biking the northern fjords, encountering few other bikers and incredible scenery. The only problem we encountered was a 4 km tunnel that was not really bike-friendly! Camping is accessible and often free -- it is also fine to camp anywhere that is not private land. Food was also easily available in every town. I only needed to carry at most 1-2 days of food at a time. In this region we had very nice weather, even hot at times, especially around Akureyri.

When we reached Lake Myvatn Zane had to head back to Reykavik to make it to the conference and I biked on. I got back onto the main "highway", though there were many unpaved portions. This was probably the most isolated biking I have ever done. The first two days I biked about 110-125 km each day and saw only a few cars. The terrain was very barren and rocky (though there were still bugs!). I tried to take in everything about this environment as it was truly amazing that I was here, and biking! This changed when I arrived in Egilsstadir, which was full with busses and tourists. I passed through here quickly but not without visiting the pool. Nearly every town in Iceland has a pool with wonderful jaccuzzis of varying temperatures. It is only a few dollars to use the facilities, this experience is not to be missed. Many days I biked much longer than I every thought possible just to know there was a pool at the end of my day.

I then biked through the east fjords, slowing my pace a bit (or being slowed by the headwinds!). Weather here got cooler and rainy. Still glorious scenery and invigorating biking. There were hardly any other bikers, or really many other tourists at all. However, after a few days and a few too many conversations with the sheep and arctic tern I was glad to come to larger towns again. Once back on the main highway there were also bikers everywhere! After seeing so few bikers the past weeks I was impressed to find so many near the southern coast.

I soon found the spectacular draw to the southern coast. I biked to Hofn (by Skaftafell National Park on the map) and then had to take the bus back to Reykjavik to get myself prepared for Greenland. I had planned to have another 2 weeks in Iceland after my Greenland travels and planned to bike this section. In the end I spent an extra 10 days in Greenland due to flight delays and didn't make it back to this part of Iceland. The biking opportunities in Iceland are superb (as evident by the number of bikers in certain areas). It is interesting that the whole time I didn't meet any Icelanders biking, Throstur also thought I was crazy! I agree that the conditions can be intense and adverse for biking but the enjoyment I get from biking around in such a tremendous environment made it completely worthwhile. I can't wait to get back, there is so much more to explore!

After returning from Greenland I spent about a week around Reykjavik. I also visited Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) off the south coast. This is very accessible from Reykjavik, just a one hour bus ride and then a 3 hour boat ride (beware when the sea is rough!). I had an interesting visit here as it seemed that tourist season was distinctly over! I arrived in early September and there were almost no other tourists in town. There were also no puffins, for which the island is famous for (they are around only earlier) -- the only one I saw was in the museum. The island is small and accessible with a vibrant community. I walked around the island in an afternoon. The newly formed portion is a spectacularly strange site, as well as looking out at all the small fragments of islands off the coast. The effort and persistence of the people to keep the island habitable is remarkable.

First night of camping in Varmhlid.