I first visited Iceland in the fall of 2017. It didn’t take long in that magical country to know that I needed to come back and experience it with my bike. While the punishing winds, rain and tire bogging sand can make Iceland seem like the last place you would want to ride, the mind bending scenery, and limitless tracks and trails make this a spectacular place to explore by bike. I settled on a variation of Christophe Noel’s loop published on bikepacking.com https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-iceland-landmanalauger-to-skogar/ Three of my buddies committed to the trip set for September of 2019. As the trip approached Hurricane Dorian decided to make things interesting by threatening our flight plans then turning north and battering our destination for most of our time there. We landed in Keflavik in a literal hurricane and promptly booked a hotel instead of trying to start our ride. We napped a bit then headed out to look around Reykjavik. I highly recommend checking out https://kaffivagninn.is/en/ for amazing and affordable (by Icelandic standards) food. Also check out https://braudogco.is/ for amazing pastries.
The next morning we began following the south coast towards the start of our route at Skógar. Along the way we stopped and did the tourist thing at Seljalandsfoss. This is a easily accessed water fall that you can walk behind.
We also checked out Gljúfrafoss which I had missed on my first Iceland trip. To see the falls you walk up the creek into a small slot canyon in which the falls empties into.
A short drive down the road we arrived in Skógar and began assembling bikes. From there we began our ride on The Ring Road. This section on the south coast is heavily trafficked so to break it up we made some stops at the Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck and Dyrhólaey lighthouse area.
From Dyrhólaey it was a climb over the mountain and a descent down into the picturesque village of Vík and our campsite for the night.
After a solid nights sleep we awoke to a lot of fog and wind. After some breakfast and a walk on the beach, the sun came out and we headed out. A strong tailwind pushed us along for several hours. We stopped to eat lunch beside a nice steam and watched a storm approach from the north. A hour of riding in the rain and we arrived at our turnoff on F-208.
Once on dirt and away from traffic the ride became more enjoyable. We rode in and out of the edge of the storm and began to see the mass of Mýrdalsjökul, the glacier we would be riding around to get to Landmannalaugar. We followed F-208 for about 20 miles til we found a campsite that would help shelter us for the weather moving in during the night. The predictions were for heavy rain and high winds until around noon the following day, so we sat around outside enjoying the soft mossy ground and the warm sunshine while it lasted.
To be contiued……..
Thanks for reading!
Shiggins Outside 