Bikepacking the length of Iceland with a Total Beginner

The goal was the Iceland Divide, a 550km traverse of the island straight through the volcanic, unforgiving heart of the highlands. It's one of the toughest bikepacking routes in the world, and to survive it we'd have to be fully self-sufficient. That meant carrying 10 days of food and being ready for anything the notorious Icelandic weather could throw at us. I'd always planned on tackling this route solo, but Tom, one of my oldest friends, was keen to join, so in the end we made the call to ride it together. We were under no illusions that this was a big risk. Tom had zero serious bikepacking experience, he'd only recently bought a bike, and this would be, by far, the hardest expedition he'd ever attempted. He knew he'd be pushed to the limit, but he was eager to give it a go, so after weeks of preparation, we each hopped on a flight out to Iceland's capital of Reykjavik. Hey Buzz, good to see you. So how's the bike? I mean I can't hear anything thinking around in tiny pieces. Oh you said it got beaten up, oh it did. Wow this bike box is terrible. Okay Tom, how are you feeling my dude? You're about to go on your first major bikepacking trip and that's one of the toughest routes in the world. Yeah good, very daunted, a bit apprehensive, very excited, also running now on two hours sleep, it's all very surreal feeling, so I'll be just glad to kind of get a good night's sleep and get to it properly tomorrow. So we're going to be first riding the ring road for today, it's going to be a relatively easy start. We have got 80 kilometers to get down to Vik on the coast, got a lot of really beautiful waterfalls to see on the way, and then tomorrow we're going to finally get onto the Iceland Divide and hit the dirt. We decided to add an extra day onto the Iceland Divide, as we'd heard the section from Vallsvalor to Vik would be really beautiful and the road did not disappoint. After a nice easy day's ride with the wind at our backs, we made it to Vik, the last town we'd see until we'd made it all the way through the interior to the far north side of the island at Akureyri. We pushed on for another hour, then had our first night camping in Iceland. Day one was done, 115 kilometers down, so far so good, but the next day we'd be hitting the dirt and things were about to get interesting. So we have arrived at the junction, which means we are now going to be leaving the ring road, highway one behind, and we're going to be taking this gravel road behind us and heading into the interior. So the road so far has been absolutely beautiful, riding directly towards this incredible ice field, just glaciers as far as you can see. This for me is such a bucket list route and so to be out here riding it with one of my best friends, I am just on cloud nine right now. First major river crossing is done. The water is very cold, like really really cold, so you know you come out of it and your toes are on fire, but the main thing is we got through safely. Tom has had a few falls today, three falls, and so he is a little bit banged up, bless him, but he is doing amazingly well. He's still going and we only have another 25 kilometers to reach camp for tonight, so all is good. As we got higher, the wind rose and I started seeing the first warning signs in Tom, as aside from having crashed a few times, he'd been struggling with pedaling uphill on the rough terrain, especially with such a heavily loaded bicycle. So there is some crazy crazy sidewind hitting us right now. Tom and I were riding together just now and a bit of sidewind literally smashed both of us to the ground at the same time, just absolutely wiped us both out. We literally just both hit the dirt immediately, there's no way to fight it, just slammed us to the ground and I would have loved to have got that on film. Luckily neither of us are hurt, we're all good, but it's pretty hilarious. But yeah, the wind out here right now is no joke, this is absolutely insane and luckily it's sidewind right now and not headwind, but we are about to turn directly into it, so welcome to Iceland. The wind kept rising, blasting bursts of sand and grit into our faces as we fought on into the gale. Tom was going slower and slower and I was really starting to get worried about him as the day wore slowly on. So we are in a pretty difficult situation right now, there is a river crossing just behind me, it is probably the longest river crossing I've ever done in my life. I literally cannot see the other side of this river crossing, which is wild. And yeah, Tom is on the ropes here a little bit, he's definitely in pain cave at his limit, gritted teeth. We are battling into some really crazy headwinds, so I don't know how much of this you're even going to be able to hear, but freaking crazy, crazy wind situation out here. There's nowhere out here with any shelter, so it's about 7pm, ideally we'd want to just camp right now, but there is nowhere where we could put up tents and be confident they would survive this wind, because it's so exposed out here, there is no shelter. And Tom has no energy, he's crashed several times, he's really struggling here. He's doing great, but he is definitely on the ropes, so we're going to have to get across this river crossing now, because I think we just have to do it, and then hope that on the other side that we're going to find somewhere to shelter. There is a hut in about 20km, but that's 20km into some pretty insane winds, and the speed that we've been able to do so far has been very very slow, so I don't think we'd get there by dark, we might have to just do that, but anyway. We're in a pickle, this is adventure, we're definitely struggling here, but we're good, you know, you gotta just smile, everything's fine. And yeah, I'm excited for this river crossing, I just hope that Tom is able to hold it together and get across safely. So it has been a very eventful evening. We are camped up, and the view is amazing, but the wind is also ridiculous out here. We've chosen the most sheltered spot that we could find, and it's still extremely windy. And yeah, we've actually just decided to sleep in one tent tonight, just in case it does snap, then at least we have a second tent as a backup, so Tom and I are going to be getting very cosy tonight. And we've reinforced it as much as we possibly could, with rocks and guy lines and extra poles, and it's as close to a fortress as we can make it, so hopefully it survives the night. Tom is basically a chimney sweep. We can get a flash going on your face, and we can see just how caked you are. There you go, look at this, absolutely covered in black sand. Okay, so not necessarily good. Tom has been getting slower and slower, and I've just checked in with him to ask him what exactly the trouble is, like what he's suffering from. And yeah, he says his knees are both really, really inflamed, and he's in serious pain, and he's got no energy, and he's really demoralized as well. He is very unsure if he can do this for another, you know, seven or eight days. So we are going to get to the mountain hut, which they say is coming up pretty soon, and I'm going to get a good breakfast in him, and then we're going to evaluate. Anyway, it will all be fine, and in the meantime, I'm having fun. I'm having a beautiful time out here, but yeah, poor old Tom is suffering pretty hard right now. So we have made it to the hut, and after some food, we've decided that we're going to push on a little bit further. There is another hut in about five kilometers, so we're going to get there and just see how the next 5k goes for Tom. There is an exit point around about where we are now, and then the next one is about 60, 70 kilometers further in. So we're where Tom is at the moment. We're just not sure if he's going to be able to do that, but hopefully he will. Having got out of the worst of the wind, had some food, hopefully it's going to be easier now. So we're going to give it a go, and fingers crossed. Tom, anything to add? How are you feeling? A lot of pain. A lot of pain, but I'm all right. Yeah. Well, mentally I'm all right. Yeah. Where are you suffering the most? It's the knees. It's the knees and the physical exhaustion. Mood is, mood's good. You're doing great. F**k me, I'm, I'm hurting. We made it the five kilometers over the hill to the next hut, which was busy with dozens of hikers out visiting the popular nearby attraction of We put up the tents and sat down together to decide what to do next. So we have come to a decision. Tom has decided that he doesn't think he's going to be able to complete the full route in the time that we have. Tom's initial suggestion was that he just stay at this campsite and I go on, and that he stays here for a couple of days and then cycles back out. That didn't feel good at all to just leave him. So my suggestion, my, my counter suggestion was that we spent the rest of today here and just relax, take it easy, give his body a chance to recover a little bit, eat lots of food, have a good night's sleep. And then tomorrow morning, we're going to leave together, continuing, but we're just going to do a much, much easier day. So we're only going to ride about 30 kilometers tomorrow. It is a fair bit of climbing, but it's going to be much easier than the original plan. We're going to do another much easier day the following day, and that will take us to the final bailout point, basically. And he's going to be able to take a nice scenic route back down to civilization. It's going to be easy riding downhill. He'll still get to have a nice time. And then I'm going to take off that morning and do the route myself alone and continue with the divide. So tomorrow we're going to move as much of the weight off of Tom's bike and onto my bike as possible. Try and get his bike as light as it can be just to make his life a bit easier. Yeah, I'm a little sad for Tom. I'm sorry he's not going to be able to finish the route because he deserves to finish the route. He's done amazingly well, and he's put a lot of work into preparing for this. And yeah, it's sad that he won't be able to ride the full thing, but he has been clearly, clearly suffering. Every time I've looked at him, he's had this enormous grimace on his face, but he's never once complained. He has been positive even when he's been suffering. He hasn't been negative. He's, yeah, he's been awesome. I'm really proud of him. He's done an amazing job. This kind of stuff is no joke. It's, uh, it's not easy out here, I guess. And, um, yeah, anyway, so that is the, that is the decision. That is the resolution. I'm here by this beautiful lake. The campsite here is lovely. And we are now going to go get ourselves some dinner and an early night. And then tomorrow we will see how we go. We set off the next morning and made our way up into the clouds. Tom was still struggling, but he was soldiering on and we were both in awe of the terrain we were riding through. A high contrast black and green that I found absolutely captivating. This landscape out here is just absolutely insane. Tom is hanging in there. Just about. Just about. His knee is about to fall off. Yeah. That'd be a blessing. But yeah, we've done well today. We've only got a little bit further to go and then we're going to be camping pretty early today, I think. And then tomorrow is a pretty easy downhill day. And, uh, yeah. So yeah. Are you feeling glad that you decided not to scratch? Oh yeah. Good. I'm glad. But yeah, this landscape is just wild. We've had something like 10 river crossings today. 10, 11, 12 river crossings. It's just been nonstop river crossings, but all pretty easy, all pretty nice. So yeah, it's been an amazing day. So we've made it to camp end of day four, day four, I think. Tom is pottering around looking like a very drunk, confused human. He's, uh, neither drunk nor confused, just very tired. Uh, Tom has done amazingly well. We've got a lot of climbing done today and then, yeah, tomorrow is going to be our last day together then. So we're going to have a much easier day riding out and then I'm going to leave Tom at a turnoff and then he's going to have a nice, easy cruisy descent back down into civilization over the next few days. Going to be able to take his time and I'm going to forge on and try and complete this route solo. Thing is, Tom is abandoning me. You bastard. Inconsiderate bastard. Anyway, he's done amazingly. And, uh, I am going to get back into my tent as well because it is just about to start raining and, uh, he's looking a bit bleak up there. How was today? Good. Yeah. I mean, much more manageable pace. Um, credible landscape cycling through. Uh, knee has been, yeah, very, very painful. Sad to be turning off tomorrow or after tomorrow, but looks like tomorrow will be a really good ride. You know, I still feel good about what we have done. Um, it's been still an awesome route and a good challenge. Um, learned a lot about bike packing and I can still get plenty out of the remaining time here. So not too bad, but yeah, definitely think it's going to hit me a bit harder in a few days when I'm back in town. It soon became clear the next morning, however, that Tom's knee had worsened overnight. And after an hour of riding, he was in so much pain that he was even having to push his bike along the flats. Fortunately, our road was mostly downhill and he was able to freewheel down the descents, but it was clear that his knees had had enough and that we needed to get him back down to civilization as soon as possible. We eventually made it to the junction with the tarmac, the final bailout points on our route. And after a bit of a wait, we were able to flag down a camper van that kindly agreed to give Tom a ride back down to the ghost. All right, man. Good luck. Yeah. I'll see you in Reykjavik. Good luck with it. And, uh, yeah, sorry. Sorry. I ended this way, mate. But yeah, thank you to these amazing people. Thank you. Thank you for helping him out. Yeah. Good luck. So Tom is on his way, managed to get him a van going back into town. So within a few hours, he will be back in civilization and then he's going to be able to get a bus back to Reykjavik from wherever they drop him. So his trip is done, which is very sad. He is taking it pretty well, it seems like, but yeah, it's got to be really rough having a big trip like this, just wiped out by something outside of your control. It was the right decision bailing off route for sure. Um, the way he was going, he was just going to injure it if he kept going. So, uh, but yeah, feeling very sad for Tom and a little sad for me. I am happy for me that I'm still on route and I'm going to keep going, but it would have been really nice to complete this together, but it is what it is. Sometimes that's the way it goes. You get the adventure you get, not necessarily the one you wanted, but he is all safe and sound. That is the main thing. And he's got a way back. So all is good. I have given Tom my backpack because it's going to help him out in transporting the rest of his stuff back to Reykjavik and I only have now six and a half days of food on my bike. So I don't actually need the backpack anymore. I've managed to pack it all onto the bike. No problem. So I have a long way to go and I'm going to have to make up some distance because we have been very slow the last few days and I'm now going to have to crank it up, but the trip is only not even half done. Still got a very long way to go. I need to switch back into solo mode now and let's make the most of it. I rode hard into the wind for the rest of the day and the weather gradually worsened as I completed an easy section on the tarmac before the road gave way to dirt once again. Having lost a fair bit of elevation, I was now in for a steady climb over the next few days up into the highlands that make up the core of Iceland. The color of this water is just absolutely crazy in this light. Just this weird silver blue ethereal sheen right now. It's so cool. Yeah, what a stunning, stunning place. It's just such a shame that Tom couldn't be here to see this, but I'm going to have to enjoy it for the both of us. I hit the first bit of civilization I've seen in quite a while. Ran into this little roadside inn and was able to use the Wi-Fi and I've been able to confirm that Tom is okay. He made it safely back to, um, back to town. So he has got a hotel for the night. So as we speak, Tom is going to be warm, showered in a comfortable bed. I am going to crack on. Hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere to camp pretty soon because it is getting cold. Oh, it feels so, so good just to be cozy. It's looking pretty bleak out there, but here in my tent, I am cozy, warm, dry. It is amazing. And I've got some food cooking right now. Feels so good. This is the best thing about the weather being bleak outside is you can just throw up your tent and you've got shelter. You are home wherever you are. So it is a little bit cold and gloomy out here, but at this exact moment in time, it is not raining. So that is good. And I've done the hard part, which is packing up the tent and packing the bike. Time to hit the road and hopefully the conditions will improve because the lake is just down there and I can barely see it. The visibility is very low in this fog. But yeah, day six, let's hit it. So I've been climbing steadily uphill all day and just off to the side here is this absolutely insane wall of ice. Just such a monster of a glacier. Absolutely crazy. I just, yeah, I cannot believe how much ice there is up there. What a spectacular place. It's just been me out here, me and the army of millions of these little fly things, whatever they are, flies or midges or they don't seem to be biting. At least they're just kind of annoying. But cycling with the mosquito head net is more or less solving that problem. But I still have another few hours to cycle to reach the hut I'm going to be staying at tonight. A few more hours uphill, but I have had a slight tailwind today. So that is wonderful. And the weather's lovely. So I'm a happy man. Well, it has been an eventful hour. My morning has been pretty smooth. I've been going into a headwind, but other than that, I haven't seen a single person today. And I just reached the first serious river crossing of the day. And it's a pretty severe one. It's actually one of the sketchier river crossings I've done. Pretty wide, very fast flowing and freezing cold, like painfully, brutally cold. And I've just, I managed to get across. I had to cross five times once and back just to test it on foot to make sure it was going to be doable. Once and back with all the bags and then once with the bike on my shoulders. So I just about managed to get across. And then just as I got across, I have come across my first humans of the day, which is a massive tour group of 12 people on off-road motorbikes. And it's been quite a viewing experience watching these guys get across the river. The first couple of guys that went across nearly lost their bikes. And then after that, they were doing it in pairs, which makes a lot more sense. But yeah, eventful and quite entertaining to watch them make it through. And anyway, I've got across that river safely, which is great. And that's a relief because that definitely could have gone badly. River crossings are no joke. And this river in particular is not to be taken lightly. But anyway, I made it through and I've managed to ask these guys about the upcoming river crossings because there are lots of river crossings. This was probably the third or fourth I'd done today, but the first serious one. And the good news is that they've said that all of the remaining river crossings on this road are much, much less severe than this one. So it sounds like I've got the hardest river crossing on this route under my belt and out of the way safely. So that is really good news. The weather is beautiful. As you can see, blue skies today. I do have a pretty strong headwind to go into, but I'm not going to complain because it's blue skies. But yeah, anyway, making good progress. I am close to the high point of this route and yeah, then it should hopefully be getting a little bit easier going downhill. Well, I am very tired. I'm just leaving behind another mountain hut where I've just stopped to get some food, but the hut is locked up and it's still only about 6 p.m. right now. Yeah, just after six. And despite a bit of headwind, the blue skies are holding out. And so I think I'm going to have to keep riding for a little bit longer, make the most of the clear weather, ride when it's good. So yeah, very tired. The progress today has been super slow. I've only cycled about 40 kilometers, but it's been uphill into a strong wind all day. And the road today has been a real challenge. Very, very rough, quite loose, super rocky, lots of river crossings. Yeah, it's all very time consuming. So my body is feeling very tired. I think it's going to be another 20 kilometers to the next hut. And yeah, at that point I'll be over the bump, over the high point. So I'm going to crack on. But yeah, definitely feeling it today in my legs and in my back. Definitely feeling tired. So I made it to this amazing hut where I stayed last night. This has been the best night of my trip so far. It's just been so comfortable. This hut is beautiful. There's even heating, which is amazing. I was able to dry my shoes out and slept for 10 hours last night. Had an amazing sleep. Had the place to myself. I've now got the next day's riding. This is going to be, I think, the last full serious day on the gnarlier bits of the route. This is probably going to be the day that I meet the sandy section. I know there are some sections of this route which are very sandy and this is likely to be the day, I think. So we'll see how that goes. But I feel really good. It's hard to leave this place because it is so warm and cozy and there is a cold wind out there. But it is going to be in my face, of course. But it's blue skies. So, oh yeah, feeling good and I'm excited to see what today brings. Day eight was the most remote feeling of the whole route. The landscape flattened out and I was really able to get a sense for the enormous scale of Iceland's interior. So it's been a serious grind the last few hours but oh there it is. The hut that I've been seeking is right there and that is a site for sore eyes after the last few hours. It's been a grind. It's been sandy into the wind, getting blasted by sand and then, oh, the last like eight kilometers on this, whatever this thing is. It's not really a road. It's just been mostly off-piste just on this super rocky terrain. It's been hard work after a long day of cycling. So I'm feeling really tired now. This is good. But the hut is right there. There is even what looks like a little bit of a lake or a little pond or something to swim in and that's going to be amazing. Oh, this is what it's all about. So this is amazing. Literally, as soon as I left the hut this morning, the landscape has changed dramatically and I'm suddenly in this green oasis following this little river down to the coast and there is grass and it feels like it's been a really long time since I've seen grass so that's very exciting. And there's vegetation and it's wild. This has all changed in the space of a kilometer. On the other side of the hut, it is just pure rock, nothing alive. And on this side of the hut, suddenly there is water, there is green, there is life, there are birds flying around. There's so much more happening. It is crazy how there can be such a stark divide of just one place and they seem to have built that hut literally right on the boundary, which is very cool. But today is, I think, going to be my last day on this route. It's only about another 60 kilometers to get back to the ring road, to get back to the tarmac. It's super beautiful out here and the weather is perfect so I am really looking forward to my last day on the Iceland Divide. My ninth and final day on the Divide went smoothly and despite more headwind, I was able to comfortably make it back to the tarmac and then up to Akureyri at the end of the route. I thought a lot about Tom during this section and whether it had been irresponsible of me to agree to take a total beginner out on such a challenging route. There's an argument to be made that it was, but in the end, I think it's a decision I would happily make again. The hardest part of any trip is usually finding the courage to begin, so provided you're not putting yourself in any serious or unreasonable danger, there's something to be said for biting off more than you can chew, for throwing yourself in at the deep end and for simply giving it a go. Okay Tom, so we're back. How's the knee? It's getting there. It's taking its time, but it's nearly back to normal, yeah. You're able to walk? Yeah, yeah. So was it worth it? Oh absolutely, yeah. No, those five days were absolutely incredible. So what's the main takeaway for you? Yeah, more cycling needed in advance, maybe start on something a bit more manageable, but yeah, loads of learning about the bikepacking process, the kit and everything, and just absolutely incredible route. Really worth it. Would you do it again? Definitely, yeah, with lessons learned, but yeah, absolutely.