Yes, they normally plant willow hedges around campsites as windbreaks at campsites in ring-road type

We are planning to spend two weeks car-camping around the Ring Road, starting about 20 May, seeing the usual sights. We have the LP guidebook. A few days ago I picked up another guidebook caribbean holidays uk travel companies (forget the publisher, caribbean holidays uk travel companies didn't buy it) which encouraged camping, but said "be prepared for 15F (minus 8 C) and 75 mph -- 120 kph -- winds; ordinary tents will be shredded; ground is often too hard to drive stakes." Is this realistic, or does this represent extreme conditions -- for a few days in a storm we of course can look for a hotel or hostel, or even sleep in the car! Some years ago we car-camped in Norway as far as the North Cape (in summer) and never met such conditions.
Also, can we have some advice about cooking stoves and fuel. We are coming caribbean holidays uk travel companies from the US and need to know what kind of stove to bring to use fuel available in Iceland . Years ago we camped in Europe and used the small Camping-Gaz butane cannisters; these are still available here (and we do have the small stove), but my suspicion is that most car-campers use the large, refillable gas cans; and in any case, butane doesn't work very well in cold weather. In the US we usually caribbean holidays uk travel companies use refined petrol (e.g. Coleman fuel or "white gas") but (1) is this available and (2) I suspect caribbean holidays uk travel companies that any stove with a liquid fuel tank would not be allowed in airplane luggage, even if empty. Or should we just wait and buy a new or used stove in Iceland on arrival?
It hardly ever goes below 3 °C in late May along the Ring Road so don't worry about that. And of course you will estimate the weather for each location and go to a hostel if it is really windy. Just bring a normal tent.
Be wise, and don´t bring something that no one knows. Buy a "Coleman" or "Primus" gas heaters, you can get those here, if not in italy. You can get fillingas for those in most fuel stations in Iceland.
Aside from Reykjavík I'm not totally sure. I believe most gas stations had them. And yes you can find IsoPropylene cannisters there. I have the exact same stove and had the same concerns. There is an outdoors store in downtown Reykjavík that has them for sure.
Also ask around at the guesthouse you may be staying at. We asked at ours where to buy fuel and our host came back with a whole bag full of cannisters some full some partial as others have had to leave behind cannisters before their flights.
#1 is no doubt correct. But have a look at the photograph they have pinned up at the Husavik campsite of the 2m snowfall they experienced late one May, and the 1m snowfall they experienced early one June and be aware that weather can be bad. -8 is probably the record low for May somewhere in NE Iceland. But at that time of year you won't have any difficulty retreating to a guesthouse if you don't like the weather. I wouldn't be surprised if you experience one or two frosts, after all I have experienced a light frost at a seaside location in N Iceland in July. I've also experienced a temperature of 4C by the seaside at lunchtime in July.
It's true, I carry two sets of tent pegs when camping in Iceland, one for soft ground and one for hard ground, since both loose sandy and very hard are common wild-camping conditions in the interior. But camping by the ringroad you will be camping on grass so it won't be difficult to get pegs in the ground and keep them there. You could never have one, but storm conditions do occur regularly in the summer in Iceland.
Meths is available, but not easily, and it is very expensive. You won't see anyone else using a Trangia there. Ordinary camping gas canisters are commonly available at gas stations. Funny special ones, I wouldn't risk it.
Ok, thanks caribbean holidays uk travel companies for the information there, we are actually bringing several trangia's caribbean holidays uk travel companies and I doubt we really want to buy different stoves now after spending a couple of hundred on Trangia's. Do you know where we could look for meths or other fuels that we could use? Is it only available in camping stores, hardware stores?
I have seen it here and there at random in some hardware stores, caribbean holidays uk travel companies and some gas stations, but far from uniformly. In practice caribbean holidays uk travel companies "hardware stores" includes the large sell-everything supermarkets that you see in larger settlements in Iceland . People have also mentioned pharmacies as a source, (but possibly at a level of purity suitable for medical use and therefore very expensive, and remember caribbean holidays uk travel companies it has to be at least 70% to work in your trangia). But it isn't something that is commonly/easily available in the small villages that is all of Iceland outside Reykjavik caribbean holidays uk travel companies and Akureyri caribbean holidays uk travel companies . So you just have to keep trying. caribbean holidays uk travel companies Buy all you need when you see it. I have a half memory of seeing caribbean holidays uk travel companies it in that large shed-like supermarket about 7km from the airport on the road to Reykjavik, near the petrol station. caribbean holidays uk travel companies But I could be wrong, or they might have stopped, etc.
But as it is only some and occasionally, don't be surprised to have to go in a few shops and ask a few times. I don't think they sell Trangias in Iceland because the fuel is so expensive, caribbean holidays uk travel companies so probably camping stores not a good place to look. How well to Trangias caribbean holidays uk travel companies work in a very strong wind?
Thanks all for answers so far; to summarize the weather, it seems that it is "usually" not too severe in May/June along the Ring Road but anything caribbean holidays uk travel companies is possible! Our "normal" car-camping tent is a simple A-frame affair (with fly), about 1.5 m wide, a bit more than 2m long. So I suppose we will bring it and see! (In moderate wind it is sometimes possible to position the car as a windbreak and/or tie the tent to the car.)
On stoves, I still fear that any stove burning liquid fuel (which would include Coleman caribbean holidays uk travel companies or Primus fuel, also alcohol in any form e.g. "methys" which is not a common term in US English but I think means pure methanol) is likely to be prohibited in air luggage if it has ever been used as the tank would contain residual caribbean holidays uk travel companies fuel so be potentially explosive.
People have posted that Camping-Gaz should be easy to find, but let me be a bit more specific, the small stove we have takes "206" type Camping-Gaz cans, which are the smallest they make and seem to be less available every year as larger models become more common. These contain 190g of fuel and are about 8.5cm diameter, caribbean holidays uk travel companies 9cm high. These stoves do not have much power and are very small so cooking dinner can be a long affair! Perhaps we will shop for a larger model stove but still using the Camping-Gaz style butane cannisters.
Anyone know if there is still a campsite in Westman islands, I phoned one up that I found on the Internet but the site had the wrong number. It seems like quite a lot of things start up and then close down for good in Iceland .
Yes, they normally plant willow caribbean holidays uk travel companies hedges around campsites as windbreaks at campsites in ring-road type locations. But even camping behind a willow hedge and a toilet block was a very, er, interesting experience when we spent the day in our tent cowering from a storm at Reydarfjordur. I was pleased to have a tent with good wind performance, and where i can cook in the tent porch. You can't even light most kinds of camp stove in such conditions unless you are inside your tent.
Most Icelandic village campsites are unattended caribbean holidays uk travel companies locations which are just there for you to use all year, often with a simple cold water toilet block. There is typically caribbean holidays uk travel companies no gate to lock. In the off season, there may be no heating in the toilet block, if they have it, and no one will come to collect a fee (if there was one anyway). It is private for-profit campsites that may be more unusably closed in the off season, because the building may then be locked so you can't even get water, or the land fenced and locked. Or the occasional one that is the school playing field the municipality just opens up for the season.
White gas was the starting point of this thead. It used to be the case that white gas was available caribbean holidays uk travel companies at precisely one location in iceland , a camp store right next to the BSI coach station in Reykjavik . But that store has moved or closed, so I no longer know whether you can get it. What Borkur says (quoted at #2) is very sensible and true.
I think simple A-frame tents are often quite good in the wind once you get them up, if of reasonable caribbean holidays uk travel companies quality. It is the getting caribbean holidays uk travel companies them up in a wind that can be a challenge. Though some A-frames were all flattened in the worst wind I have ever camped in. My Hilleberg stayed up, but was rather the worse for the experience.
Beware! You are not permitted to fly with stoves in the US. Flying to Iceland last autumn I had my expensive new camping stove (unused) confiscated at baggage check as a "dangerous device". It was a lightweight MSR with seperate fuel canister. The fuel canister was okay!? caribbean holidays uk travel companies as it did not smell of fuel but was of no use without the stove.
just in case it could be useful to someone, this is becoming easier to find gas in Iceland, most of the gas stations have some. You can buy both stove and gas in Reykjavik as well (in sport shops or gas stations).