Route Planning and Things - PLUS; we need your help!

Well, it's 2015, Happy New Year! 

Interestingly, in China this is the Year of the Fatbike, no really. It's also the year John and I hope to cycle unsupported North to South across Iceland from Rifstangi to Kötlutangi. 

In my last blog entry I mentioned Dick Phillips and his invaluable help. Well, thanks to the maps he provided and his brilliant knowledge, we've discovered that there are rarely used trails which we can (hopefully) follow, making the plan slightly more achievable. This is good, as the entire first two days will be spent trying to cross 100km of bog, with no official tracks and a high likelihood of getting profoundly lost! 

Of course after that it's a doddle; just another 120km over lava fields and mountains should get us to the crossing of jökulsá á fjöllum. From there it's merely another hundred klicks before crossing the notorious Sprengisandur plateaux, before a quick (about 100km coincidentally) loop around Porisvatn and then the final 100km to Kötlutangi.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy? Or difficult difficult, lemon difficult?

As we get into planning in more detail, we're having to revise our visionary goal a little. So while we still intend to be "unsupported", that doesn't preclude dropping into a filling station for something vaguely fresh as we cross Route 1 and head into the highlands. Equally "offroad" means definitely no metalled roads (ie no tarmac), and wherever possible off vehicle routes. However there will invariably be pinch points at fords, in the Sprengisandur and as we head between the lakes around Porisvatn. So whether we like it or not (unless we break the law) we're going to end up on gravel tracks from time to time. 

Beyond that we're at a bit of a lull. John is waiting for his back to improve so he can get back on his bike, and I'm waiting for John. Then we can get our Fatbikes (which incidentally are highly likely to be Surly Moonlanders). Since all of this is an elaborate wheeze to convince my wife into letting me have just one more bike in the house, I'm feeling mighty impatient! 

In the meantime, I mentioned needing your help. John wants to name our trip, all of my ideas are bad, crude or crude and bad. Any help? 

Cheers, Tom