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Accommodation
I've spend all nights either somewhere in nature or on camping sites. Camping sites are generally equally prices as on mainland Europe. The quality is good; there are nearly always hot showers and cooking facilities. Some smaller villages have camping sites without those facilities and most of those sites are therefore for free. Actually in Dalvík I was on a free camping site that did have a hot shower. Roads and traffic
It is not a surprise that road are quiet and sometimes almost deserted. The only busy roads are around Reykjavík, the road from Keflavík to Reykjavík and the ring road in and out of Reykjavík, until Borgarnes (north), and Selfoss (south).
The inland route I did (Kjölur) was not as deserted as I thought, at least a car every hour or so. Nevertheless I wouldn't recommend to do it all alone just in case of accidents or illness. Moreover because there is no signal for (GSM) cellphones.
Road quality is very good considering there are so little inhabitants. They are working on sealing the whole ring road; something that should be finished by the end of 2002 (or so I've been told). All roads with two-digit numbers are good whether they're sealed or not. The three-digit roads can be rough in times, especially in the west of Iceland where those roads often have very soft top layers of lava dust and stones. Eating
I normally cook myself because it is cheaper and I don't feel like going into a restaurant all alone. Well, the first argument is doubtful in Iceland since the food prices in the supermarkets are beyond you wildest dreams. I recall shopping in Varmahlíd where I bought read-to-cook pasta for 5 days, a bread, 500 gr of cheese, half a liter yogurt, 5 Mars bars and some cookies. The price of all this: €45 (US$ 40).
On the other hand, everybody knows Iceland is expensive so there is no good reason to complain about it - if you cannot afford it, don't go there! Insects
I've millions of mosquitoes and flies but didn't have a single bite. Most mosquitoes don't sting at all and the one's that do probably didn't like me (maybe it is the smell after not having a shower for several days?). Weather
Can't say too much about it. In three weeks I had one really bad day, the second day I was there. On two other days I had a couple of hours rain but the rest of the time it was dry. I started with cold sunny weather (around 6 degrees) with strong a northeasterly wind. After a week or so the wind turned around a couple of times and temperature rose to 12-15 degrees with an occasional 16-17 degrees. The last week the wind turned to the southwest and the temperature was around 18 degrees with a pleasant 22-23 degrees in Reykavík. However, outside the city the cold wind makes you realise you're not far from the Arctic circle.
The wind is always there, sometimes strong. I didn't have any major storms but I've been told they're horrible. |
