mike_bike_kite wrote:
Loved looking through all that! Iceland is much greener than I expected! Few questions:
*Can you give any idea of prices (food, fuel, accommodation)?
*Longest distance between petrol stations (do they warn that it might be a long way to the next stop)?
*What type of accommodation is available? hotels, B&B, camping?
*Can you camp anywhere?
*You mention gravel sections - is this deep gravel or just an unsurfaced road?
*Are insects a problem?
*How long would it take to ride all the way round (obviously stopping to look at everything and stopping at the bars along the way)?
*Best time of year to go (assume now)?
Mods : should there be a travel section - either giving people ideas of where they could travel to or just a chance to dream? Perhaps split by continent.
1. Prices are changing every day now because of the banking crisis. This is still pretty accurate:
http://www.visitorsguide.is/practical_information/185/default.aspx
You can see the exchange rate here:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
2.I thought petrol might be a problem, but I fueled up at every stop and my tank never got below half-full between fill-ups. It still might be a problem in the parts further north east.
3. There are hotels, but they are monstrously expensive. In some places there are hostels which are cheaper. But the cheapest way to travel is with a tent.
4. There are camping places all over the place, plenty enough to travel anywhere. Also, many farmers will let you camp in their fields. I've even sometimes just camped in remote areas behind hills or in mountainsides not visible from "road#1" and far away from any dwellings, and nobody has bothered me so far.
5. The gravel section in my pictures is not part of road#1, I took this road to get to a cabin my family owns. Most roads in the countryside that aren't part of road#1 will be loose or compact gravel. There are some parts of road#1 that are compacted gravel and are pretty difficult on a scooter. But they aren't very long stretches. It's probably best to go slow and not go above 30kmph though. Also, the road-repair crews use the summer to repair roads and sometimes tear up the asphalt in places to repair it. It happened to me on my way back and I hit a few km stretch of loose gravel where a road repair crew had removed the asphalt. I went very slow, but ended up with a broken front signal after a bus passed me doing at least 70 and I got hit with some gravel. There's also other stuff to look out for even if the road is paved, like sheep, which are everywhere and sometimes run into the road when they see you coming and panic. I had several close calls with birds too.
6. No, insects aren't really a problem. The worst you get here is wasps (the only insect that will bite or sting) and gnats. I had a summer job far north near "myvatn" (english translation, literally: "Lake gnat") where the air is full of them. But they don't bite, just annoy.
7. In a car, it can be done in 2 days without stopping. It's probably best to take at least a week, if you intend to see everything. By scooter, this trip took me about 11 hours each way. With lots and lots of stops for food, cigarette breaks, tea and photos...etc. Also, my scooter is 125cc, so in places I couldn't get above 80 kmph. And going up the mountains, sometimes 70 kmph. However, because it's the summer, the sun doesn't set, so driving by night isn't very difficult.
8. Yes. The best time of year is now. It is possible to travel in the winter (though not by scooter), but it will be very, very cold. And in places covered in snow and ice. Some remote places are not accessible sometimes and roads will be closed. It did get very cold though. You can't tell on the photo, I was wearing 3 layers of clothes and two layers of woolen socks and still got cold at times. I could barely close my corazzo jacket. I'm surprised that it didn't explode
⚠️ Last edited by Varaflame on UTC; edited 1 time