The Eastfjords of Iceland by gravel bike
In the autumn of 2021, Benjamin Hardman, Chris Burkard, Steve Booker, and I sat out to cycle the Eastfjords of Iceland, unsupported. Why the East? Well, there are a few reasons such as its mouth watering topography and its gravel roads that skirt the beach but the chief reason is as follows: They are still unknown to the rest of the world.
Contrary to the Westfjords, the Eastfjords are not on every ‘must see’ blog about Iceland. Aside from the town of Seydisfjordur, with its rainbow sidewalk, there isn’t much out there about this area which is exactly why we’re here. It turned out to be such a memorable trip that I turned into a new book.
This is an excerpt of Vol 03 of Adventure Buddies which drops on November 15 (along with Vol 02)
“Adventure is giving adult means to childhood dreams.”
Sylvain Tesson, French Explorer
Its with with that quote in mind that we did the first pedal strokes out of the sleepy town of Seydisfjordur. It was a pretty glorious September day, the sun was out, and the road was almost dry (which is a luxury when riding in Iceland in the fall) as we began the lengthy climb out of the fjord.
Obligatory start photo with the Seydisfjordur church behind.
L to R: Alex Strohl, Chris Burkard, Steve Booker, Benjamin Hardman.
Photo by Evan Ruderman
Our final itinerary
Steve Booker on the leg stretching routine
Ben, smashing past a low point of Day One
Being now used to the Montana weather I’m not one to be opposed to a bit of rain here and there. Day two however, delivered a perfect Icelandic ‘Skitta-mix’ (Shit mix in Icelandic) of rain and wind that I never experienced before. We got an early start to avoid the bulk of the storm that was fast approaching, and I’m going let you into a little secret: there is always a storm approaching in Iceland, but we still got totally drenched, and blown off the road a handful of times. Our frame bags turned out to be very powerful sails in the sideways wind which made the handling of the bikes a bit… erratic.
Nevertheless we made it to our hotel just in time before the 60mph wind gusts started. There were so fierce that the waterfall behind the building started flowing upside down, the wind lifting its flow into the sky.
Day two was one to remember
In the morning of our third day, after being gently rocked to sleep by the storm, we woke up to zero winds and clear skies. Iceland in a nutshell.
A few hours into Day three, we ran into these natural hot springs outside of Djúpivogur. It was a treat to get out of the headwind for a ‘hot’ minute.
We had already been cycling for 85 miles, most of them into a gruelling headwind, but Chris suggested we do a four mile detour to go ride on the beach near Hofn. You know, ‘that beach’. Sometimes in life you only have one shot at doing something, and when is the next time I’ll be within pedalling distance of this beach I’ve so frequently visited by car. I obliged, and I’m glad Chris insisted because, what a sunset it was…
Our last day wasn’t a walk in the park either. The weather had worsened and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks above us. The headwind? Still blowing.
Still it was a relatively shorter day with about 45 miles to cover so we raided the breakfast buffet at the hotel, shoving three or four croissants in our pockets, saddled up and got on our way.
On the end of Day Four, with frozen toes and soaked pants, we reached our final destination — the Glacier Lagoon.
Our ending point, the Glacier Lagoon on the south coast
These images and journal entries, along with many more, will be included in the “The Eastfjords — by Sail Boat & Gravel Bike” limited edition photo book that releases on Nov 15 on Adventure Buddies. If you’re subscribed to my newsletter (thank you), you will get an invite to order before everyone else. If you are not a subscriber, feel free to subscribe below to get the order email.
