10 days, 730km, 7 minutes. This is how I experienced Iceland. HD-version recommended on vimeo.com.
Sorry long post, but get coffee already. Thanks.
Pack - Bike, camping gear, ten days of food
Go - Tour the Iceland highlands and sand deserts
Find - Natures raw beauty and a calming solitude
Well I really didn’t assume that the bike with 29+ wheels and all the gear would fit in one bike bag, but the sheer amount of stuff that needed packing came as a bit of a shock. After a four hour fight and some tears everything was packed and ready for the flight. Surprisingly Icelandair did not have any problem with the extra large luggage and everything went smoothly. Took the bus from Keflavik airport to the Reykjavik campsite. There I built up the bike and added some extra struts to the rack. Monday morning I hoarded an embarrassing amount of energy rich edible items from the shop and was ready to go.
Getting out of town properly would have required a map of some sort, but after trial and error I was headed in the correct direction. After about fifteen kilometers the city started to fade away and immediately the mountains became visible. Checked out some plate tectonics at Thingvellir and continued east towards Gullfoss. It rained for a few hours, but it was quite warm and not too windy, so made for pretty easy riding on the tarmac. Called it a day after 105 km.
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80 000 of them in a country with a population of 300 000. Amazing.
Hydropower and geothermal provide effectively for all of Iceland‘s electricity and around 85% of the nation‘s total primary energy consumption. Still there are countless free flowing rivers with crystal clear water that is totally drinkable. This is great for bike touring.
Luckily a local farmer stood up to the efforts of a big foreign company that tried to dam this beautiful waterfall in the beginning of the 1900 century. Now it is one of the most visited places in Iceland. And also the last place I had a proper sandwich and coffee before taking on the Kjolur (Kjalvegur) route.
The F35 is a highland route crossing the Kjölur plateau from south to north. The road was in decent condition and was nice to ride on the semi fat setup. The Maxxis Chronicle tires made for smooth riding and rolled great. Of course the bike was super heavy with 10 days of food and all the gear, but the hills were not very steep and I think I had to push only one.
Vegetation started fading away and the green along with grazing lambs was gone. All that was left was sand, ash and stone in different shades of grey. And yellow road markers.
The Kjölur took a few days to cross and I exited after lake Blöndulón, which is one of the largest lakes in Iceland. Took some smaller tracks (F756 and F752) that eventually connected to the Sprengisandur route.
Day four took me through a beautiful mountain pass with epic scenery. The road was good and at the end of the pass I was rewarded with a long gentle downhill into the valley bellow.
After a day in the valley I started climbing again toward the highland on Sprengisandur.
There were many rivers to cross on the route, but in general they were pretty easy with a moderate flow. I could just push my bike through them. At the Laugafell mountain hut there is a very nice hot pool to soak yourself after a day of riding. Bliss.
I did not see one single cyclist on the entire Sprengisandur route. But I did see a set of tire tracks a couple of days old. I really felt bad for this person riding normal “skinny” mountain bike tires since the tracks seemed to be all over the place in the soft sand and rocky sections. My 3” semi fat setup meant for a pretty nice ride, but I still had to steer all the time to avoid the bigger rocks and holes. I met a couple driving a 4WD Kleinbus. They were searching for a metal disc that had fallen from the gearbox of their friends car of the same make and model.
For hundreds of kilometers, there was no fodder for horses to be had, and no human habitation to take shelter in. This feature gave the area its name: it is derived from Icelandic noun sandur “sand“, which denotes the volcanic ash deserts of the center of the island, and the verb sprengja that means “to ride a horse to death; to be on the point of bursting after running for too long“. One needed to ride as fast as possible, nearly driving the horses to death, to cross the mountain desert and reach the inhabited regions of the island again before one ran out of victuals.
It had been a sunny day when I reached the second to last river before the Nyidalur mountain hut, which would be my destination for the day. The glacier runoff made the river uncrossable on foot. I met a group of three motorbikes and one of them had tried to cross it. Immediately the current had swept the bike away but they were lucky enough to salvage it from the river. I spent an hour looking for an alternative crossing, but always the current was too strong. As I was about to set camp and wait for the morning and the river to calm down, a French Land Cruiser showed up and they were willing to take me and my bike across. A big thanks!
I spent the following couple of days headed south on the Sprengisandur. The desert was awesome, but some strong winds made for a slow going and I only managed around 50km on two consecutive days. I really had to pin my tent down with rocks and extra guylines to keep it in one piece. Even with the doors closed the fine volcanic ash and sand made it inside and it was all over the place. My sleeping mattress also called it quits and refused to keep any air inside.
After a long uphill I saw a powerline, which meant the end of Sprengisandur and the end of my mission. My initial plan was to catch a bus from this point back to Reykjavik, but I had made pretty good progress and had a few days left, so I decided to ride the remaining 180km. Of course it started raining immediately. Hard.
After the gravel ended I didn’t have to ride long before there was a village and I noticed a hotel sign. Being completely soaked and tired I thought this is a treat I can cater to. This would be the first night indoors since i left home over a week ago. Of course they were fully booked. But they had a room with sleeping bag accommodation in a not so fancy building nearby, which turned out to be more than enough. A shower and a wash of clothes raised my spirits to a new high. The next day turned out to be the warmest and sunniest so far.
The ride to Selfoss was a treat. Riding on smooth tarmac with a nice tailwind made the 100km feel laughable easy compared to the rocks and sand of the highland roads.
After Selfoss it seemed to be an easy 70km back to Reykjavik. My legs said no for the first two hours and then I met a surprise mountain that needed to be tackled on the detour of the Ring 1 road, that I did not want to ride because of the traffic. I didn’t have a proper map for this final leg because the original plan was to take the bus. Well I somehow managed up the last of the big hills, but then had to ride the last 20km to Reykjavik on the busiest road in the country. It was bad. An extremely strong sidewind tried to push me under the trucks passing by. White knuckled I made it to the suburbs and took the first possible exit. Then it was a easy ride on bike paths to the city and a cold beer. Or two.
Spent the next day in Reykjavik lounging around and mainly eating some real food. Visited the maritime museum and the headed back to the campsite and packed my bike away and dozed of for the 3 am wake to the airport.
It was truly a great trip with some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. From green valleys and mountains to the grey nothingness of the sand deserts with glaciers in the background. Totally awesome. I can’t say it was a life changing experience, but something I would definitely recommend to someone that is into bike touring. When I learned to ride a bike as a kid - now that was life changing.
Big thanks to Hi5bikes !
© 2026 Erik Plankton