Went to Iceland twice and will go again for a long bike pack this late summer.
When I hiked across the island in 2013 I chose mid August as a starting point. Lowers on glaciers were snow free and less risky to cross, run off of glacial rivers was low and the residual snow in the interior and highlands was hard packed.
Some of the fords I did were know as notoriously difficult and dangerous - but they actually were all rather straight forward. Quite sure this was due to the season.
Temps mostly dropped to very little under nil during clear nights but were very pleasant for hiking (speed hiking) and surely would have been pleasant for biking too. On passes and mountains you have to expect it to snow in every month.
The only time critical issue in my planing was, that I wanted to be out of the highlands once the bus service stoped, which is mostly somewhere round about beginning of September.
whitestone wrote:Have read through the various threads on here about trips to Iceland. We are thinking of heading there for a week (possibly an 8 day week) this year. No fixed plans or indeed time of year (but have entered a few ITT group starts that limit when we can go) but have a few ideas, namely:
1. tour/bikepack the SW of the country, the Golden Triangle.
2. Hire a car and do day trips from wherever we fancy.
3. Get an internal flight to ??? and ride back to Reykjavik on a longer tour.
4. The NW fjords peninsular looks interesting/spectacular so would like to visit that area
We have a decent two person tent (vango) and a Terra Nova Laser Competition which is somewhat cramped. Have seen an Icelandic MTB site with a variety of day routes which go through amazing terrain but full on technical riding isn't what we are after.
Having never been we'd quite like a mixture of things to do so a ride through the interior on gravel roads for the duration might not be the best suggestion
My suggestion would be a circumnavigation of Katla.
Bus to Vik, again go with R.E. and pick the scenic bus trip. Go up the Fjallabaksleið-nyrðri, visit Landmannalaugar, Eldgjá, Langisjór and turn south on one of the many options. Take the bus back from Þórsmörk, Hella or so. You get a bit of everything on that loop. Moss, crater lakes, fords, gravel roads, single tracks (if you wish), hot pots, campgrounds, wild camping, huts, ashes...
I originally wrote down two suggestions, but deleted one, as this one is much better
