Before coming, lots of folk had told me that the scenery in Iceland was wonderful and that I would love it there; however, it looked so bleak to me, just a lava desert with purple blue lupins. -Dick Edie, Cycling Iceland

Cycling Iceland, a book by Dick Edie.

Bleak and stinking of sulphur: these were some of Dick Edie’s first impressions of Iceland. When his bike tour of the island finished, 5 weeks later,  he concluded that it was ‘most amazing landscape I’d ever seen’. Iceland also proved to be some of the toughest cycling he’d ever tackled — largely due to the wild and changeable weather.

After returning, Dick turned his diary entries and photos into a book about the trip: Cycling Iceland. The story of his journey also contains some observations which might be helpful for anyone planning a similar adventure.

Of the campgrounds, he noted: “Many of the campsites in Iceland have rooms for people to cook and eat in. These were good social meeting points and it was always great to meet up with other cyclists and hear how they were doing or to get details of the road ahead. I had never before experienced such an enjoyable social gathering of cyclists.”

The distance between towns sometimes proved a problem, however: “One of the continuing difficulties I had was not knowing if there were shops ahead of me, so I always felt the need to carry about three days food.”

Dick’s book is available on Amazon (Kindle edition), for a very modest price.

Dick Edie spent 5 weeks cycling around Iceland.