This trip takes us around the second largest glacier in Iceland through desertlike mountaintracks, tranquil mountain lakes, packed with trout and through the center of the Icelandic highland. Along the way we visit the renowned place of Thingvellir, where the oldest parlament in the world, Althingi, was founded in the year 930, Húsafell, Hveravellir hot spring area, Kerlingarfjöll and finally the great Gullfoss waterfalls and Geyser hot spring area. The biking is mostly on dirt and gravel roads with quite a few rivers to cross. In this trip we travel through quite remote parts of Iceland and can expect all kinds of weather hence making this trip at times quite challenging. We rank this trip in the demanding group meaning that fit people without a lot of mountain biking experience should be fine.

Day 1 | Þingvellir to Húsafell | 65 km
We start cycling in the beautiful Þingvellir area, where the first parlament of the world was founded in around 930. Nowhere in the world are the rifts between two tectonic plates, as visible as in this area where the Eurasian and the North-American continental plates are drifting appart at a rate of 1-3cm in a year. From Þingvellir, at about 100m a.s.l., we head north, at first on asfalt road but soon on quite rough gravel road, slowly climbing to an altitude of 700 m high on the dark and desolated mountain pass of Kaldidalur. Climbing the first approx. 55 km we than descend back down to 100m in appr. 10 km stretch heading for our birch-tree sheltered campsite in Húsafell the last couple of km back on the asfalt. In Húsafell there is a chance to take a bath, hit the hot tub or even swim at the local swimming pool.

Day 2 | Húsafell to Arnavatn hið stóra | 46,5 km
From Húsafell we head northeast, soon leaving the asfalt and passing the farm of Kalmanstunga through the huge Hallmundarhraun lava field (1.000 years old), where we stop to explore a large lava cave called Surtshellir. From Surtshellir we follow the river Norðlingafljót and finally ford it heading into the Arnarvatnsheiði lake area where there are countless number of mountain lakes, packed with trout and char. Following a dirt road in heath land we climb slowly to an altitude of 550m passing a few small lakes until we make camp close to the largest lake in the area called Arnarvatn stóra (The large Eaglelake). For dinner we will enjoy fresh Char from the area.

Day 3 | Arnavatn hið stóra to Hveravellir | 66 km
From Arnarvatn we still head for northeast and than east following the dirt road called Skagfirðingavegur, an old route between the north and south of Iceland. We pass over an area called Stórisandur (the big sands) climbing to little over 820m above sea level to the north of Langjökull before turning southeastward and slowly descending until we hit the main route of Kjalvegur or Kjölur. On Kjölur we head south again on better road the last 20 km to Hveravellir at and altitude of 620m the day summing up to 66km. At Hveravellir we can soak ourselves in a wonderfully warm geothermal pool or strawl around and look at the many hot springs that can be found there.

Day 4 | Hveravellir to Hvítárnes | 39 km
From Hveravellir we won‘t take the „new“ Kjölur road but the old one through Þjófadalir (Thief valleys) and following the river Fúlakvísl to the hut of Þverbrekknamúli where we stop for lunch. From Þverbrekknamúli we continue to follow the river Fúlakvísl, down by Baldursheiði on our right and Svartárbugum on our left, on a singletrack that finally leads us to Hvítárnes, where the first mountain hut of the Icelandic Touring Club, was built in 1930 and rebuilt in 1977. At Hvítárnes we make camp at approx. 460m a.s.l.

Day 5 | Hvítárnes to Geysir | 62 km
From Hvítárnes we travel along Hvítárvatn to the carbridge over Hvítá on the Kjalvegur mainroad. We then follow the mainroad for a while climbing up Bláfellsháls to an altitude of 600m where we turn off to the right and head for Skálpanes, close to the Langjökull glacier. Climbing some additional 200m, we reach the Skálpanes hut at an altitude of 800m a.s.l. From the hut, where we‘ll have lunch, our way lies off-track over black sands and lavafields down by the mountain line of Jarlhettur to the Hagavatnsskáli hut by Einifell. From there we still travel offroad and aim for the footbridge over the river Far and some 2km more until we hit the mountain track F338. We follow the track to the left some 5km, than turn right and follow less travelled track that takes us down to Haukadalur where we finally end up at the famous Geyser area where the geyser Strokkur spouts 30m in the air every 10-15 minutes. Having spent some time viewing the geysers and after making a 10 minutes drive to the Gullfoss waterfalls and making a short stop there, the driving to Reykjavík takes about two hours. The center section of this last day is offroad and very dependent upon condition. In very wet or very dry conditions we might adjust this part taking an alternative route, following the mainroad over Bláfellsháls and on until we reach the crossroads with road F338 where we than turn right and back on track.