Paul and Hanna's Golden Circle bicycle tour

Hannah and I departed for pastures blue and in Iceland we found a place uniquely beautiful and diverse. We had travelled independently as we usually do but had prebooked a few bits such as whale watching and snorkelling. One thing that caught our eye though was the opportunity to go on a cycling tour of The Golden Circle, having heard of the way people can be shepherded through the key sites a bit too quickly we wanted to see things a little more closely and with the wind between our … Well you get the picture.

Paul's blog about Reykjavik Bike Tours - Iceland biking with Reykjavik Bike Tours

Gay Iceland

Iceland is an incredibly gay-friendly destination. The locals are relaxed and friendly and gay visitors are always given a warm welcome.

Reykjavik Gay Pride takes place 4-7 August 2011. If you are too late to book a flight to this chilled out capital, visitors can still enjoy a lavender-tinged ambience at Trúnó, the only gay café in the capital. Trúnó is a friendly, laid-back café with tiny library of queer literature, easy listening background music and lilac walls. The charming Norwegian waitress told me that the word ‘trúnó’ translates as ‘when you sit down and have a heart to heart with somebody and tell your deepest secrets...’

The fabulous nightclub, Barbara, is next door, and you can’t miss it with its bright pink walls and rainbow flags everywhere. Start the evening with a cocktail at Trúnó then party late into the next morning with Barbara.

Original article by Lucy Mallows - Gay Iceland

Lucy Mallows writes about Reykjavik Bike Tours in Iceland

‘Follow me!’ shouted gentle giant Stefan, as he set off, pedalling along the middle of the road straight towards an oncoming car, which, with Icelandic good manners, slowed down and gave way. Our group of novice cyclists followed in slightly less cavalier fashion, through the streets of Reykjavik, Iceland’s cycle-friendly capital.

Original article by Lucy Mallows - Reykjavik: Cycling, swimming, and partying till dawn

Two types of bicyclists in Iceland

People are different and people use bicycles for different reasons. Wade Shepard wrote an entertaining article about his experience on the matter while cycling around Iceland. He points out that while he and a fellow bicyclist share the road, they do not share the same passion for riding a bike. Wade uses the bike as a means of transport between beautiful places and real life experiences such as encounters with local people from Reykjavik Iceland and elsewhere. He runs into an avid cyclist whose mission is to ride a bike in his spandex outfit and collect sattelite co-ordinates of the journey. 100 km a day.

Source article - Two Styles of Bycycle Travel in Iceland.

Tour de Hvolsvöllur rekindled

Tour de Hvolsvöllur bicycle race in Iceland has been rekindled after a break of several years.

Three distances are on offer 9 July 2011 - 110 km, 48 km and 14 km.

Those cycling the furthest start at 08:00.

Tour de Hvolsvöllur home page

Difference between Eyjafjallajokull eruption and Grimsvotn eruption for aviation

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in April 2010, causing prolonged closure of European airspace. 100,000 flights were cancelled during the volcanic ash crisis in April 2010, with over 10 million people affected. 8,200 flights were cancelled on the first day of the crisis alone.

Read the full article on TravelDailyNews.

Reykjavik Bike Tours

Volcanic eruption in Iceland seems to be over

The Grimsvotn Lakes eruption in Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland seems to be over. Volunteers from the general public, unpaid rescue team workers, as well as the minister of tourism have joined hands to help the local people in a cleanup operation.

The eruption in Grimsvotn Lakes started Saturday, May 21, and produced more ash in only a couple of days than the infamous Eyjafjallajokull’s much longer eruption in 2010. This time, however, the ash was not as fine grained and did not spread as much as in last year‘s eruption, which is particularly good news for the aviation and tourism industries.

Iceland‘s international airport in Keflavik, 35 miles from the capital city Reykjavik, was closed one day as a safety precaution. In hindsight, it may not have been necessary to close the airport as the ash cloud did not reach it. Aviation authorities in Europe had better information this time on which to base airport closures than during last year‘s eruption. The experience gained from last year’s eruption avoided a repeat aviation chaos across Europe.

Ash is being cleaned from roads, village streets, residences, and institutions in the affected area south of the volcano.

The summer tourist season is under way and tourists have returned to the area.

First published on eTurboNews.

Reykjavik Bike Tours