July 2026Iceland's Ring RoadPete and Scott's Retirement Adventure

Well, speaking anecdotally, today was very tough. We had a great night at the Eco Campsite, visited the local community pool for a great soak, and had good food and drink at the campsite’s cafe. However, it was very loud, and when it’s basically light all night, people feel free to come and go loudly all night as well. Nonetheless, we slept well, got up before six, and decided to pack up and make the 7am bus 3.7 miles away. We left the campground at 7:30 and raced to make sure we were early for the 7:55, barely made, and were chastised by the frantic driver (“I don’t have time! There is only 1 minute!”). Must be totally regimented, because when he dropped us off at Sellfoss (to miss the death-for-cyclists roads near Reykjavik), he was quite friendly and gave us pointers on where to eat (great bakery with smoked salmon on “lava bread”) and wonderful coffee.

We then hit the road. The section from Selfoss through until about 20 miles past Vic are “waterfall alley”. The roads were still busy this close to R, the the sun was peaking through and we actually had a bit of a tailwind, instead of the dreaded full-on headwind that is often discussed. We even went off route to see Uriddafoss, the highest volume waterfall in Iceland: spectacular). 

Then the weather turned, and we had a freezing cold headwind that just sucked the life out of us. 19 miles short of our goal today, we stopped at a hostel off the road. It’s spectacular! Decent price, great accommodations, lamb stew for dinner and included breakfast. 

All our devicei are currently charged up, we are warm and dry, and enjoying a beer :-).

In the morning we got on the FlyBus from the airport and arrived at the Eco Campsite about an hour later, no muss, no fuss. We set up our tents, took showers and naps, put the bikes together (no issues!), and then ventured out. 

We will be making coffee, and occasionally dinner in my JetBoil, so we needed to get propane/gas. We had a nice walk, were able to find the canisters at only the second place we went, had a tasty spicy tuna sandwich for lunch, and went to the neighborhood pool.

We’ve been told on previous visits that the community pools are at the center of of every Icelandic community, no matter how small. Today’s pool actually had the warmest of the pools close (sad face), but the remaining pools were very warm, and relaxing. Going forward, I see this becoming an essential part of relaxing after a long day in the saddle. 

Sunrise 3:23 am tomorrow morning.