The Icelandic Ring Road is the major highway of Iceland (Route 1), circumnavigating the entire country. Often driven and sometimes cycled, this 864.2 mile loop starts and ends at the same location, Reykjavik City Hall (as is a traditional start and end point of other FKTs).
The route has been modified away from the Ring Road only to go around 3 small tunnels, through which pedestrians are prohibited. The first location, going in the route's intended clockwise direction is Hvalfjörður Tunnel and the modification uses Route 47. This reconnects with Route 1 just north of the tunnel.
The second diversion is just after Akureyri in the north where a diversion uses route 83 and 84 to go around the tunnel to the north, reconnecting with Rute 1 on the east side of the tunnel.
The third diversion is in the southeast before Hofn where Almannaskarð road is parallel to a short tunnel.
Comments
I am very excited to announce that I will be doing a route I have dreamed of for years. The description of this route is my own but having arrived and in trying to drive the part that takes you out of the City of Reykjavik, I will need to amend the beginning of this to say that one needs to find the safest route out, while reaching the waypoint at the Intersection of Route 1, and Baugshlio and Sharholabraut (62.1589245, -21.7242464). I may need to adjust the route back as well. But the start/end remains unchanged, as does the majority of the route. As the first one to do this route, and despite running this by many locals, I was bound to find something wrong with it. I think 840 of this 865 mile route is much more straightforward!
I am starting 6am local time, July 19th. The goal is to finish in 17 days which would be approximately 51 miles per day. It will be a supported run.
I can be tracked via Garmin inreach.
And I will be sharing the journey, alongside my two crew members, on instagram and on my strava.
Hello Matt!
Did you end up completing the run?
Thanks
P.
I did! I ended up completing in 17 days. I got sidetracked by life but I need to get the files in the claim it. Was about 52 miles a day.
Interesting. Happy to see this on here. I have thought about this one myself since visiting Iceland.
Seems the unsupported time is by David Chong
Read more here
Also cycling the Ring Road in 52 hours, here
He was the inspiration honestly. I need to get the files in but ultimately completed the journey in 17 days! I need to adjust the file too because we hit a detour which added 22 miles so the boy way to do it legally is 888 miles. If you’re ever interested I’d love to talk to anyone who wants to do this and share what I learned.
I should note that mine was supported and my previous comment was in no way to take away from David’s journey and really awesome effort.
This will be a great adventure when I'll turn 40 years old(next year) 💪💪💪 I am living in Iceland since almost 2 years and this is on my list!!!
Nice way to spend your birthday 😁👊
Happy to help in any way I can.