Cycling Iceland with
Paxtours
which are home to active volcanoes, sheer granite mountains,
glaciers, thundering waterfalls, steaming lava fields, plunging fjords, boiling mud pools and spouting geysers. Many naturalists describe it as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. In fact today, 20 million years after Iceland was formed from an eruption beneath the ocean, it is one of the most volcanically active spots on Earth. This is the stunning terrain that your week-long challenge will entail.
You will trek past the waterfalls of Goddafoss ("the fall of the Gods") surrounded by a solidified 7,000 year old lava flow, and onto Akureyri at the base of the Eyjafjordur fjord with a backdrop of sheer granite snow-tipped mountains. The expedition continues to Jokulsargljufur ("glacial river canyon"), a huge horse-shoe shaped rock structure rising out of the ground with a 330ft sheer cliff face. It's known as Iceland's mini Grand Canyon, and the views from here are breathtaking. You will pass Dettifoss, a spectacular 45m waterfall, with clouds of spray visible from several kilometres away.
Finally, you will spend the last few days in the area around the volcanic Lake Myvatn. Nowhere else in Iceland can you see the same combination of craters, fresh lava fields, hot springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools. You will have the chance to climb Mt Hverfjall and walk around its rim, and also to the hot springs and boiling mud pools near Mt Namafjall. To the north of the lake, there is a barren lava desert landscape so devoid of life that NASA sent its Apollo 11 crew here for training missions in the late 1960s. You will walk through this lava field, created during an eruption in 1984, where some of the lava is still warm and steam continues to be emitted. The following day is yours to spend at leisure, relaxing, or with an optional boat tour from Husavik to catch a glimpse of the minke or fin whales of the Skjakfjordi fjord. Imagine seeing a blue whale the size of a Boeing 747 right by your boat!
Your homeward journey takes you back to Keflavik, but not without a visit to the Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland's pools of pure, mineral-rich, geothermal seawater, set among fields of lava and against a spectacular backdrop of green rolling hills.