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Such an amazing place
A Midsummer Bike Dream
ICELAND – 19th to 23rd June 2008
This is the first glimmer of a great new adventure for my regular Bike Tours UK best customers. This has the potential be one of my best ever adventure trips, offered exclusively to respected riders who I feel would enjoy the challenge of this first reconnaissance tour. Read on for some ideas, some inspiration, and a proposed itinerary.
I went to Iceland in late July / early August 2006. I was very impressed.
I’ve seen the high snowy mountains of the Alps and I’ve trekked and kayaked in the Himalayas. I’ve ridden in the tropical jungles of Thailand & Malaysia, I’ve ridden sand dunes in the Sahara desert and I’ve endured Caribbean beaches a few times. I even went to Centre Parcs once.
Of all these biking & family holidays, my trip to Iceland remains one of my favourite trips ever.
One of many lasting memories?…….. lounging in a sulphurous hot tub, just South of the Artic Circle (near Husavic), looking out beyond the marshes, and out to sea, watching the sun dip below the red horizon at 1:20am. Then watching it rise again at 1:26am, just six minutes later!
Hotels are very expensive, the price of hiring a proper 4x4 is eye-watering, eating out costs a fortune unless you eat hot-dogs, the weather can be very iffy and there are no pubs as such. There’s nothing there. The interior is cold, barren, bleak and deserted. Yes, it really is a desert – an arctic desert.
So what’s the attraction?
Nothing there? Total emptyness?
Exactly.
No crowds, very few “tourists”, no litter-strewn city streets, no traffic, no tacky shopping centres, no proper roads, no hoodies, no MacDonalds. Truly wonderful!
For me, it’s the bleak isolation of the interior, the harshness, the dramatic beauty, the raw, untamed, still-forming geological features which appeal. The azure lakes, the hot springs, the explosive geysers, boiling mud-pools, still active volcanoes, huge ice caps, massive glaciers, thundering waterfalls and the 24 hour Summer daylight which makes this country so utterly unique and compelling.
How about being there, in this vast, humbling interior on the very longest day of the year? 21st June 2008; when the sun never sets at all?
My dream is to try and offer a long weekend (say 3 or 4 days) around the longest day of the year, with flights, accommodation and rental bike included, for under £500 GBP if possible. (£650 is more relaistic, but return includes return flights from the UK)
Ideally, we’d ride there, using our own bikes. However the journey via Scotland and Shetland Isles (?) is very expensive and takes 2 or 3 days each way. Then we’d need 7-10 days to see the whole of Iceland, and the boat lands on the ”wrong” side of the island. So, all in all, such a trip would be quite demanding in terms of time & money. (Don’t rule it out though!)
I think a good compromise would be an affordable long weekend, which still pulls in most of the major sights which Iceland is famous for. We can still see the best of central and south-western Iceland in this short timeframe.
See www.ridingiceland.is
Links to other info on Iceland……
www.icelandtouristboard.com The official site. Good & informative. 50 interesting facts are good – and weather reports are interesting.
http://users.rio.com/tynda/Page45.html - an American couple ride a GS in July. They tell it like it is, or can be. As I said earlier, it’s not for softies.
http://www.travel-library.com/europe/iceland/axel.html A couple of guys do a tour by bicycle – once again, hitting grim weather in June.
http://users.rio.com/tynda/Page10.html A bit of a messy website.
http://www.hi.is/~bkg/ General info on travelling in Iceland
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