Iceland 2000

Exploring Iceland on a motorbike. A real adventure. What seams the beginning (or the end) of the world, only 3 hours flying from Holland. Off course we had to do some practicing, knowing that Iceland would mean lots of unpaved roads and even some river wadings. This counted especially for me, since my off road experience was only limited to some tracks in the woods. Not very impressive. So on we went to the local "Industrial Development Zone" (aka the building pit like the most of Holland seems to have been transformed into, unfortunately):

A week before we left, our bikes were shipped to Iceland via Eimskip, one of the oldest and biggest Icelandic shipping companies. After arriving at Keflavik airport, we took a bus to Ryekjavik. Since we could not collect our bikes the same day (the customs office closes too early), we took our tent and sleeping bag in the plane with us. Unfortunately we were not allowed to put the tent up in the isle, so we just sat in our seats during flight. The camp site in Reykjavik is only a 5 minutes walk from the harbour. Next morning we walked to the harbour to collect our bikes. The only setback was that the customs office had been moved, but a friendly local person offered to bring us to it in his car. After this the collecting of the bikes took only minutes, and as soon as we had taken down the tent and loade up our luggage we were ready to roll. Iceland here we come! Our first stop was ony a few streets away, a small super market just to buy some bread and jam. This was also our first encounter with Icelandic prices: 1 bread and one small bottle of jam was approx. € 7,=. Ooops!

 

Since it was already not very early anymore, we decided to only drive to the Gullfoss waterfall. We made camp at Brattholt. Just before Gullfoss is the place were the most famous geysirs are found: Geysir (explains the name) and Strokkur. Geysir has been dormant for decades, but since the seismic activity of spring 2000 it has woken again, and erupts its water and superheated steam up to 90 meters in the air 3 times a day. Only meters way from Geysir lies Strokkur. Athough not as big ("only" 30 meters), this one erupts every several minutes. The sight is quite impressive.

 

This was when we actually started the Kjölur highland route. As you can see it's not alway cold an clouded in Iceland.

We stopped at the end of the day halfway the highland route at Hverevallir. This is a camp site situated at a meteo staion that is manned all year around. It is said that in winter this is one of the most isolated inhabitated places of Iceland. One can imagine....

During summer however it is quite a nice place to stay. It has some nice fumaroles to observe, and there even is a basin that is constantly being filled with warm and cold natural water, so the perfect place to soak the dust and fatigue from ones body after a days ride. From this camp site there is a very nice track going into the mountains. It leads through some wonderfull scenery, and goest trough a sandy and rocky riverbed that fortunately was dry when we took it. It ends at a "parking place" from where a hiking route starts to several huts. We found this track actually by incident, we made a navigational mistake the day of arrival and ended up taking the track with our motorbikes packed with luggage.... only to find out the track was a dead end!

Next day we continued the Kjölur route, this time in dreadfull weather. We started the day with rain, but later we encountered a stormy side wind as well, making it not the most pleasant day of our trip. Fortunately the track itself was very good, so no problems there. After exiting the highland route we took the tarmac road to the east, to end up at Icelands second city: Akureyri (14.000 inhabitants). Here we made camp at a camp site on the other side of the fjord that lies next to the town. After settling down and having a decent shower, we headed for the town centre to get a meal and observe the local habits of the people going out in the evening. The biggest part of these habits turned out to be driving circles through the town centre in cars, over and over again. A good way to be seen, no doubt, if there were any persons to observe. They were however driving around in circles themselves, so what is the point....?

Amidst the row of circlers we discoverd a woman driving around on a vintage Moto Guzzi (I think a Nuovo Falcone if I recall, but am not sure), who had her dog with her, sitting on the tank!!!! We waved at her and she approached us and intorduced herself and her very friendly dog. Her name was Maria and she was very nice to us, another proof that Icelanders are very hospitable indeed. She showed us some of the surroundings, and even let us into the garage of a friend so we were able to make some electrical repairs to Frank's bike. He had a wiring breach just below his regulator, so his battery didn't get any charge.

Next day she showed us around even more, and ended up making us dinner in a very nicely situated holiday cabin on the hill slopes just outside the town. She even gave us some tips on where to get a nice breakfast for the next day, when we were heading on again.

After our visit to Akureyri we travelled further east, a short trip to end up in Myvatn. We made camp camp site "Hlid", which is run by a very friendly and helpfull family. This would be our "base camp" for several days, because it was a perfect location to start several outings from. In the mornings you could get still warm homebaked bread and fresh jam, together with a hot cup of coffee. Needless to say Frank and I used this service on a daily bases, this even ending up in getting personal table service by the owners very caring sister Christina, who even was so nice to take us on a trip to see the surrounding area and teach us some local habits. She drove us around in here 40+ years old 3-speed Willy's Jeep. We even ended up in a geothermal bath that was naturally formed in the nearby lava layers, a spot only used by locals and not known to the tourist. Haven can be made by simple things.....

From here we made trips to the Kraftla crater, only a short distance from Myvatn, we travelled to Husavik to take a whale trip, and took the masterpiece of our expedition: The Highland route to Askja and back.

The Kraftla crater is only about 25 km away from Myvatn, and only the last part of the road is not covered with tarmac. The gravel road to the crater is well taken care of. This has mainly to do with the fact that there is a geothermal energy plant closeby and this has to be reachable without too much problems off course. The surroundings of the crater are covered with sulfur wells, that give the area a very eerie and even some ghostly atmosphere. The picture below (click for a bigger view) does not even begin to give an impression of the real thing....

Husavik is a very nice fishing town on the northern shore of Iceland, with quite some whale fishing history. Nowadays whales are only hunted with cameras, and one can embark on several ships that take you out on a tour deep into the fjord to (hopefully) see whales. Like it is with all things in nature, nothing is guaranteed. So unfortunately we did not get to see the big whales we hoped for. But all was not lost, we saw several dolphins and porpoises (even a mother with baby!!!). Although I'm quite fanatic when it comes to taking my camera on exotic trips, off course I could not bring everything on a motorbike trip so I left my telelenses at home. The best picture I made can be seen below, for the keen eye one can spot the back of a whale when it is exhaling in the centre of the picture.

Ah well, one can only hope to go back once and try again. I hope that in 2005 I'll be able to go back to Iceland, this time with my girlfriend Chantal and now in our Land Rover 110, which makes it much easier to bring back proper equipment.

 

And then, the best trip of the whole "expedition", the trip to Askja!

Askja is a crater deep in the inhospitable centre of Iceland, and the road to go there is through barren vulcanic desert, crossing big lava fields and wading through several glacial (read: freezing cold!) rivers. This "Piece de Resistance" can truely be seen as a small adventure within an adventure. At least I do so, hehehe.....
The real diehards can go to Askja and than continue to take the highland route furhter south to end up near Geysir again, but because I still saw myself as a beginner in all road driving, especially with a heavy traillie and not with a superlight enduro, we decided to take a visit and go back to Myvatn. This also had the advantage we could go there without having to take all the luggage on the bikes.

As you can see on the pictures, the landscape in central Iceland is very barren, and fuel / coffee shops are far and between. You can imagine how comfortable you feel when it is 3 °C and your feet are wet from wading through a glacial river where the water is even colder.
Tip: do not use water proof motorbike boots. They keep the water in when you have to walk deeper than the boot itself just as much as they keep it out, so your feet won't dry.

When we left in the morning, the weather was not really bad (for Icelandic standards, that is), but it was quite cold and windy. The trip however went very well, untill halfway between the first river wading and the crater, when we had driven around mount Herdrubreid (aprox. 80 km on the way). We were driving on the tracks through a desert covered with black lava gravel when the wind became much stronger and we found ourselves in a sand storm, barely able to see where we were going, if not for the poles on the side of the road that are usually needed in winter when snow is covering the road and everything around it. Because we were driving with off road helmets and goggles, our faces felt like they were sand blasted. Probably because they actually were.....

When we finally arrived at the end of the road and were walking the last part towards the crater rim, the wind had picked up in force so much that the sand storm was slowly changing into a gravel storm with 8 mm big pieces of lava gravel flying by horizontally and our ears hurting from the noice of the wind! No, this is not a fantasy, this was the real thing. We later learned from the camp site manager that because of the weather the small crater lake, which normally is warm enough for people to descend the rim wall and take a bath, had cooled down several degrees.

On the way back from the crater to Myvatn the weather had started to clear up quite a bit. It was still cold and windy, but the sun had appeared which gave us a much better feeling while driving back. So much, that suddenly I felt a psychological switch flip over and was able to ride my bike the way it was designed for: fast! I never feld so good while riding my bike off road, and we drove back like we were in the Paris-Dakar itself. For comparison, the trip to the crater took about 3 hours, the way back less than 2. It took quite some time for the grin on my face to wear off.

After our “adventures” in the Mývatn / Askja region, we continued our journey east, travelling to the coast and stopping for the night at a camp site in Höfn. When we left Mývatn, the weather was not too bad, bud there was a terrible wind. We had our hands full keeping our motorbikes on the track. How surprised were we to see, on quite a steep road, a couple of travellers on bicycles, using nothing but shere muscle energy, to get themselves and their luggage around this enourmous island.

From here we travelled downwards and west again, following the southern coast line slowly moving back to our point of origin. But still no time to get bored here!
Early in the afternoon we had a stop at the famous Jokusarlon glacier lake. Here, an enourmous glacier finds its destiny when the lower end finishes in a bay, which has become filled with literally thousands of pieces of ice, in all colors, shapes and sizes, slowly floating towards the ocean. The shore of the bay is a pebble beach, and the athmosphere is hazy with clouds of fog slowly drifting around. It gives the area a dreamy touch, as from a well registered fantasyt film.
The makers of “Lara Croft – Tomb Raider” sure knew what they wanted to shoot the siberian Inuit scene over here. Actually, one can take a tour on one of two amphibic vehicles very similar to the ones used in the film. We did’nt do it, but when I return here once (and I will!), I’ll try to take that trip.

With some stops on the way we finished the day on the camp site of Kirkjub?jarklaustur (try saying that ten times, hehehe). Pleasantly surprised we were, when we noticed a whole flock of Land Rovers, taking their own tour of the island. They were a group from the dutch Land Rover club, and since I’m a member it took us not long to find some familiar faces. It’s a small, small world.

Next day we decided to take the trip into the Lakagígar crater area. This track is not too difficult, and the scenery is just undescribebly beautiful. Its origin however was one not of beauty, but of pure primordial power:
The crater area , which is approx. 25 km long, was created during the eruptions of 1783. It is known as one of the most catastrophic events ever recorded. The eruptions lasted for more than 10 months, its debris (gas, dust, rocks) killing over half the live stock and 20% of the Icelandic population.

The first leg of the track is very easy to drive, and even with normal road cars and buses this can be driven (in good weather, that is). After this, a nice track begins that is only suited for off road vehicles.
The track is very variated, stretching from black lava deserts to twisty roads through vast lava rock fields. At some point we had to wade through a small stream, and suddenly my front wheel lost track so it made a sideways sweep getting in the deep part of de stream. The bike dove in upto its front head lights (and they are placed quite high on the Elefant), and only because the air intake is well inside the fairing and I gave full throttle to try to get to the other side, did I manage to stay on track without turning the Elefant in a Dugong……
After this small adventure, we drove several hindred metres to find a small stretch of snow coming down from a slope and crossing the road. We found the ice impossible to cover, and it was necessary to drive my bike up on the slope and around the icefield. At that time (probably now still so) my aff road skills were not that good, and Frank took it upon himself to circumnavigate the icefield.
From there the track was very easygoing, and the only backdrop was a left turn where my bike suddenly decided to take its own course and drove right ahead, over the edge of the road and down the slippery, rocky, moss covered lava slope. I thought my time hade come, bit I managed to keep the bike upright and ended up with the left side against the slope, with the left mirror and footpeg (and my foot) buried in the soil.
I came off with a broken mirror and a slightly strained anckle. Not too bad, considering the drop I made.
Later at home I found out that the stearing head bearings were the culprit. The lower one was completely dry and showed pitting, causing the handlebar to lock up just when I needed it the most.

Next day I had quite some pain in my left foot, so we decided to take it easy for the last week of the trip. Easily we drove further west, off course taking a stop for some pictures at the breathtaking XXX fall. In the evening we made camp at the þingvellir National Park, a beautiful area at a lake. Very green, and despite the Zillions of biting mosquitos it was a place well spend. We took a small hiking trip at the edge of the lake, to the place where the oldest governemental body still in office today was founded. During this small trip we had the honour of crossing the border between the Atlantic and Eurasiatic tectonic plates. This border crosses diagonally through Iceland and is the origin of all the vulcanic and tectonic activity in the area.

After this we drove back to Reykjavík where we made camp and stayed for the reminder of the holiday. Off course we did not get bored, after a few days my foot was well enough and we took some trips exploring the area around the city, including off course a nice day at the Blue Lagoon.
During our stay in Reykjavík we decided to only eat out for the rest of the trip. Whilst travelling, we were most of the time dependant of prepackaged pasta and noodles, and after a few weeks this gets boring. When I returned home, I found that the price level in Iceland had put a heavy burden on my credit card… Ah well, that was after my return, so no loss there.

Iceland. Although its climate may not be what we are looking for during our holidays, the place itself posesses a beauty which is very unique and well worth the efford. If you are of the adventurous kind and would like to see landscapes that reflect the beginning of our times, Iceland can only be recommended.