Proposed Route of Bicycle Travel for Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland- The bicycle is just about all set up — gear racks have been made, my equipment has been assembled, I am all ready to pack up camp and roll out of Reykjavik. Going north first, as I was told that the wind blows through Iceland predominately from the east.

“Are you going clockwise or anti-clockwise,” a German traveler named Octokan asked me once he found out that I was planning to circumambulate Iceland on a bicycle. I had not really thought about this too much, planning for travel is something that I tend to not waste much mental bandwidth on. I answered counter-clockwise, as I felt it would be a good to stay as far south as possible when first setting out. But at this Octokan’s eyes bulged.

“But the wind, I think the wind would not be good. Five out of seven days, the wind blows from the east,” he lectured. “I met one bicycler who went anti-clockwise and he said that it was very difficult. He told me that he was going into the wind and that he only made half the number of kilometers per day than he usually does and that he was very tired at the end of the day.”

I thought about this for a moment, “OK, then clockwise it is.”

And so it shall be.

Proposed route of bicycle travel for Iceland

Ultimately, I plan on using Ring Road, highway 1 that encircles most of Iceland as my guide as I embark on this journey. One planned diversion from Ring Road will be to travel along the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland. The reasons for this will become obvious once I begin publishing entries from that region. In all, Ring Road is roughly 1,300 km all the way around, but, with excursions off of it, I am realistically probably looking at nearly 1,800 km of bicycle travel. This means that I need to make at least 66 kilometers per day to circumabulate the country and get back to Reykjavik in time for my proposed flight back to Maine and then to Colombia with Chaya and Petra.

As far as travelogue publication goes, I have no idea where my internet access will come from once leaving Reykjavik, and, especially as I will be camping most every night, I am unsure how ofter I will be able to publish new entries. But, don’t despair, there will be two special guests partially taking over the blogging duties. When I return to good internet, probably after this journey is completed I will publish entries here in sequential order. Also, the complete, full story will be published in a book called Biketramping Iceland, which should be completed this autumn.

The biggest problems that I foresee in this journey are  1) The bicycle holding up, and 2) I am using a Hennessy Hammock tent in a country that is virtually devoid of trees, and I am therefore unsure if I will always have a place to hang it. But an obstacle here and there is precisely what makes a trip into a journey.