Iceland - Quandary - help me decide

[Pickled Onion]

I'm booked to fly to Iceland on Saturday.

My normal mode is to rock up with my bike, ride until tired, find somewhere to stay.

It appears Iceland needs more planning. A lot of guest houses are fully booked already. A lot of the ones with space are £150/night upwards. The weather doesn't look great, though "40% chance of rain" often means half an hour of rain all day. Strong wind is a given making it difficult to work out how far I can ride in a day. Some areas are devoid of much in the way of population. A tent seems like a good idea in case of no other options.

Which of the following options sounds sensible?

(A) Just go - what's the worst that can happen?
(B) Try and get a tent by Friday, even though I've not toured with a tent since nearly forever and I've no idea what else I might need
(C) Knock the whole idea on the head and go some other time with a (tested) tent and related stuffs
(D) Something else?

[Rod Marton]

Lucky you! Ever since I first visited Iceland I've wanted to cycle there, but I haven't had the opportunity. A few points.

1. Iceland is experiencing a tourism boom. Consequently accommodation is in short supply. I would want to have a suitable backup, i.e. take a tent.

2. About half the population (which isn't very large) live in Reykjavik or its environs. All the population live close to the coast. Central Iceland is uninhabited, the roads (in the widest sense of the term) across it are only open in summer and then only to 4WDs. I'm not sure if they will be open yet. The point is, once away from Reykjavik treat it as expedition touring and go prepared.

3. As suggested above, I would take a tent. The bare minimum of equipment to go with it would be a sleeping bag, karrimat, stove and cooking gear. And some iodine tabs, you may end up drinking out of streams and whilst they ought to be clean, best to be safe.

For option A, the worst that could happen would be hypothermia.

Given the opportunity to cycle in Iceland, I would go straight away. So I would take your option B. Though if you want to delay, fair enough. It really depends how experienced and confident you are with cycling in remote places.

[andrewc]

Late May might be early for Iceland?  The interior roads may still be closed.  It’s 20 years since I went & I don’t recall a lot of accommodation on offer. Everyone I met was camping. 
I was in a Hilleberg Akto,  there were lots of other Hillebergs in use as well.  Don’t skimp on a tent & take a variety of pegs.

[Canardly]

Linky to your Iceland trip write up Andrew, which was hugely informative.
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=100602.0

[Pickled Onion]

Thanks that's really helpful!

The Hilleberg Akto looks to be out of stock everywhere - can anyone recommend an equivalent?

[andrewc]

There are lots of Akto clones around. 
I’ve been using MSR Hubba tents for the last 10 years. The solo one withstood a windy trip around the Scottish coast.  See the review section.

[Captain Nemo]

andrewc - I'll see your 20 and raise you 20. Its 40 years since I was there! Beautifully barren place that I will have to return to one day to see what dammage the influx of touroids has done.

Then I was on 27 x 1 1/4 Nutrak Marathons and using panniers with plain hooks and bungee spring lower hooks - often had to retrace back along the "road" when I realised a pannier had decided to self detatch. Soon after returning I was initiated into the fledgling world of British mountain biking (Dave Wrath-Sharman / Geoff Apps / Jerremy Torr) and Beta Bikes / Freewheel (Richard Balantine) importing Tom Ritchie machines from the USA.

Pickle Onion - As already mentioned, camping is really the only way to go once you get outside of Reykjavik.

A word of caution on the water: yes, filtration and iodine tabs for drinking from clear water streams but avoid water from any glacial meltwater streams. Glacial meltwater has a slightly grey, milky colouring due to all the tiny rock particles suspended in solution - even with filtration this can cause some serious gut scouring problems if drunk. Glacial meltwater lakes reflect an astonishing turquoise colour when seen from above.

Enjoy!

[andrewc]

https://fjallahjolaklubburinn.is/english


A useful site.


Didn’t Karla go to Iceland recently?

[Ripio]

Pretty pointless to go cycle touring in Iceland without camping gear.
Distances between places are large and facilities at those places can be scarce.

[Pickled Onion]

Pretty pointless to go cycle touring in Iceland without camping gear.
Distances between places are large and facilities at those places can be scarce.

Yes, you are right, I should have done more research before booking a flight on a whim. I've decided to not go today rather than turn up with a brand new, untested tent etc and will try again later in the year.