Day 10: Flúðir - Reykjavik
On our last day there was still someting to see! This big island can leave you breathless every day! Thingvellis, the plain where the old parliament was (already in the 10th century) and also the long crack between the two tectonic plates. Late mornign ride cruising along a scenic fjord and an early arrival in town to enjoy a stroll...
Day 9: Kirkjubæjarklaustur - Flúðir
THE DAY has come! The dirt-fun road F208 going through the highlands and reach the backpackers-hikers haven Landmannalaugar has about 25 water crossing. Water levels are a bit lower than last year, so everyting went very smoothly...
Here the adventure starts...
Michael giving a safety briefing and some water crossing tips: how to transform your Tiger into a Jetski
And here we go!!! Jeff mastering the first river
And also Renato enjoying his bike wash
Here gets rough... get high on the pegs!
Norm passing in between the big rocks the Michael was pointing out... don't hit him please!!
Andrew cruising happily on the edge
Well done Dave, nearly there!
Michael's jetski
And also the Ranger gets through easily...
Reaching this famous hikers place is quite an experience.... a frugal lunch is awaiting us, and afterwards some relax in the hot pot!
Rushing to the hot pot...with stream up to 60°C!
Day 8: Höfn - Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Quite an amazing scenery ahead of us today, cruising along the Vatnajökull on southern coast... and we are blessed with good sunshine and blue sky!
Nice setup for a morning briefing?
Closer encounters with the glacier tongues
And the big highlight of the day! An amphibious boat trip in the ice lagoon...
Those iceberg and take even up to 80 years to reach the sea from the moment they flow into the lagoon from the glacier... You can get a piece of pure ice with is 1000 years old.. How does that sound for your drink on the rock?
One more photo before calling it a day... Basalt columns, these are called "verrhamrar", the Dwarf Crag. Day 7: Egilsstaðir - Höfn
Goooood morning.... ehm... Who did piss the trolls this morning? I mean, how's that possible to have one broken rim, one bike tipped like a leaf by the wind and one flat front tyre, all within 15 minutes? Oh well, this wasn't enough... just before getting to the hotel, support truck with flat tyre as well! Un believable! Anyway, another amazing day despite of the mishaps: the weather on the southern coast is simply "summer feeling". Have a look at the late sunset pics with the imposing Vatnajökull glacier in the background!
Mmmh what a nice road, all those little rocks, so adventurous...
Opps the rear rim of David's Explorer didn't like adventure so much after all. Three spikes broken and several more bent, bike is gonna on holiday on the back of the pick-up for a while.
Wait a sec... just a few mins later, here we go. Carl flat tyre, again! Those trolls are so nasty!
Along the southern coast... rough
Resting at the Viking Cafe
Where are those warriors heading to? They wanna conquer that Viking Village in the background...
And they succeeded!
Manuel (after the second bike had the wheel problem today): "Ehy Michael, it's not too bad, at least we have no flat tires on the Ranger!"
A few moments later.... pffffffffff....
Micheal, odd-looking at Manuel: "WTF.............."
Always keeping the good mood!
And finally the well deserved sunset relax... waiting for.... Bikini girls?
No, even better, our riding friends Heinrich, Renato and Jeff with some cold beer! Enjoy this breathtaking view...
Day 6: Husavik - Egilsstaðir
What a day! Again iceland is capable of putting up quite an impressive scenery. New route compared to last year, so even for the tour guides there was something new to explore! We circumnavigate the peninsula east of Husavik and have our first stop at Ásbyrgi canyon.
The road after this point is (fortunately, but who knows for how long more) still gravel, with quite a bit of muddy potholes and bumpy section. Truly a delight, isn't it? Then we have a long stop at the largest waterfall in Iceland (and Europe as well), the stormy Dettifoss.
The afternoon brings us through lunar-scaped panoramic roads, mostly gravel, far from traffic and settlements. We can really feel the call for wilderness here...
The group crossing the highlands.
Happily playing in the mud like little kids!
Dettifoss, high over the rainbow...
A terrace with unobstructed view for sure
Obviously parked this way for a special tribal ritual...
...to let the sun shine!!
A deep turquoise creek flowing through a lava canyon
Day 5: Akureyri - Husavik
This day started with a nice road to warm up for the day because it was quite cold. We were lucky with the rain though and only got wet for about 10 minutes. First we stopped at the Godafoss Waterfall. Afterwards we explored the sights around Mývatn and continued to Husavik in the north of the island. Have a look at our photos! As we arrived in town we had lunch and spread out to explore the city and it's surroundings. Some went into the highly recommended whale museum, some went for a ride even further up north. And some went to the Exploration Museum were you get informations about the NASA crew training in Iceland. A pretty good day!
The Goðafoss (Icelandic: waterfall of the gods) is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland.
The Dimmuborgir area consist of a massive, collapsed lava tube formed by a lava lake flowing in from a large eruption. Several of the chambers and pillar bases are large enough to house humans, giving rise to the term "castles".
Thank you Carl for sharing this great clip of the humpback whale surfacing!
Day 4: Sauðárkrókur - Akureyri
After crossing inland yesterday, today an entire coastal day is awaiting us! Shorter ride, late start (also to allow Manuel and Michael to fix the flat tyre of the Tiger 800) and a pleasant cruise along the northern coast of Iceland until we reach its second biggest town: Akureyri.
Early coffee break in Hofsos, a little village that has seen many emigrants leaving their beloved country and move to North America between the two World Wars to seek a new life
As we know, trolls are transformed into stones if they are hit by the sunlight... He was admiring the beautiful landscape and got stuck there
I see some hungry motorcyclists rushing to lunch! How pretty are those newly painted wooden houses?
David and Rebecca strolling around the little marina of Siglufjörður
We can clearly see that: Siglufjörður in its heyday was the Icelandic capital of herring
The Herring Museum is quite a piece of history here! Three buildings filled with fishing stories, boats, machinery, a must!
Aye! Aye Jeff!
Before reaching the hotel in Akureyri we visit the Motorcycle museum! An impressive collection for such a small riding community like Iceland!
Heinrich meditating... Uhm, what is I leave here the Tiger 800 and take this Triumph oldies instead?
Day 3: Laugarvatn - Sauðárkrókur
The appetisers of this country we have seen yesterday were quite astonishing, but nothing in comparison with what we are going to experience today. A fairly long day with about 280km, 160 of which is gravel. The first part is paved and brings us into the "golden triangle" of Iceland, visiting Geysir Strokkur and the powerful waterfal Gulfoss.
Have you noticed something? Yeahhh blue sky today!
Strokkur Geysir: it goes off every 5 to 7 min. Constantly. "I wish I could do that too" was heard among the group...
Gulfoss is not only broad, powerful and loud. It's also simply spectacular with its triangular shape.
The air is so fresh and the breeze generated by the waterfall brisk.
And here we start, the long gravel road across the highlands! Let the proper adventure begin!
These landscapes are surreal. The NASA astronauts have been training here as well.
Catching our breath after a tough ride.
Oh oh, that looks like a big mud puddle...
Yes it is! Singing Paint it brown!
Splaaaash
A fairly scenic lunch in Hveravellir, a remote hot spring where the nearest paved road is more than one hour drive in each direction. Jeff and Carl are taking a stroll on the wooden path among 80-100°C (not F...) steaming water
Nooo what happened to that front tyre? It looks like it had enough gravel and decided to (take a) leak.
Michael is explaining the history behind this little turf church: it was built using the plank from the ship that the settlers used to come here, since in Iceland there aren't many trees.
Andrew trying to lure the horse promising him some good stuff... what stuff? Aussie vegimite of course, he tells us horses love it!
Norm and Andrew posing for us in front of the old village of Gaumbaer
Day 2: Reykjavik - Laugarvatn
We start with some classic sights: heading off the capital we move through the Reykjanes peninsula, featuring extensive lava fields, craters, geothermal activity, hot springs, mud hot pots and the world famous Blue Lagoon.
The shortest cross between Euroasia and America...
First group pic!
And here the first encounter with Icelandic mighty steam: Gunnuhver mud pot, don't play in that!
At the Blue Lagoon we were enjoying an interesting guided tour with Inga and Fanney, telling us the nearly magical properties of this water.
Can you believe that this landscape can be reached in only 15 min drive from the country's capital?
Day 1: Welcome to Reykjavik!
Another Icelandic season is about to start! Actually for some of the group has started already a few days ago: Michael started 7 days ago with the preparation in Austria, loading all the bikes on the trailer and then driving first to the top of Denmark, then catching a two-days long ferry ride docking on the east coast of Iceland, afterwards driving the van (which is not the usual blue Iveco but a blue Ranger pick-up since we have some rough roads up here) and the trailer to Reykjavik for another day and a half. Here Manuel joined him for setting up the Triumph fleet for this motorcycle tour. Yes there was a bit to do, also a last-minute tyre fix because of a small defect and then.... everything ready to welcome a great group of familiar faces... Stay tuned!