CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Iceland Ring Road: Myvatn to Blonduos
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 220 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 17
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mývatn
Mývatn means midge lake, and the name is honest, because in early summer clouds of small, harmless flies hang above the water and rise from the shore in a shimmering haze. They are the foundation of an ecosystem that feeds one of the richest populations of breeding ducks in Europe, and in June the lake is crowded with them. Bring a face cover in still weather, and keep your visor closed.
Read the complete Myvatn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mývatn is where the day begins. Next is Akureyri.
2. Akureyri
Akureyri calls itself the capital of the north, and with a bit under eighteen thousand people it is the second city of Iceland by some margin. It lies at the head of Eyjafjörður, the longest fjord in the country, with steep snow-streaked mountains rising straight from the water on both sides. The air is sharper than in Reykjavik and the winters are colder and drier, and in summer the town has a gentler, greener feel than most of the island. The church, a tall concrete building designed by the architect Guðjón Samúelsson and completed in 1940, stands above the town at the top of a flight of steps, and its stained glass includes a window rescued from a church in Coventry after the war.
Read the complete Akureyri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Akureyri comes up about 76 km into the recorded legs. Next is Blonduos.
3. Blonduos
Blonduos is a small town of about a thousand people on the north coast of Iceland, where the glacial river Blanda runs into Hunafloi Bay. It sits right on the Ring Road, Route 1, and is one of the few places of any size in the long, empty stretch between Borgarnes and Akureyri. The river is milky grey-green with silt from the Highlands, and it divides the town into an old and a new part.
Read the complete Blonduos write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 220 km.
Leg by leg
Mývatn to Akureyri
Mývatn → Akureyri is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Akureyri to Blonduos
Akureyri → Blonduos is 144 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
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