Day 10: Flúðir-Reykjavik
Every good story has to come to an end, at some point, and so our last riding day has arrived. However, there are still quite some highlights on the way: morning stop at the Kerid crater with its blue lake, then a very curvy (the best of Iceland perhaps?) road along the lake near Tingvellir - the old gathering of the Viking parliament and also the place of Silfra, the fissure between the Euroasian plate and the North American plate. Dulcis in fundo, a pretty scenic ride along the "Whale Fjord", leading us back to Reykjavik with a subsea tunnel.
The tour has been very special, mostly because the great people taking part in it. Thank you for sharing this experience with us! See you soon, anywhere in the world!
One of the last photo stops... pretty good weather to close up a good tour!
The crack between the continents... every year a bit wider
Attention! Divers crossing!
Have a good flight back home!!! See you soon!
Day 9: Kirkjubæjarklaustur-Flúðir (highlands route)
What a grand day! "This is definitely in my Top 10 riding days of my life" - said Denis once we pulled in the parking lot of the hotel. Those words make us tour guides very, very happy. A long dirt ride across 20 water crossing, reaching the plateau of Landmannalaugar for lunch, relaxing in the natural hot pot: after quite a bit of cold water in our boots that was a warm stop.
Have a look at the photos... they tell more than pages of text.
The tour guide bike today is fully loaded with tools and all the necessary to keep the bikes going in case of damages or flat tires, since the van can't follow us today, the road is too rough.
Helloooo, ready for some adventure?
The first splash!
Quick rest and then dirt again!
This seems fairly long, we better check the water level and where is the best line to cross, avoiding strong current and big stones.
How nice, to clean the dust off the bike!
Julian and Christine (first lady rider on our tours to cross the highlands) passing one of the last water crossing before the well deserved lunch break.
Martin had a big smile from the very start till the end!
And here they are, enjoying a good siesta after all the water crossings! Jean-Claude is missing in the photo, he went to a little hiking trip.
And a natural hot spring to warm up after the cold rivers, fantastic!
Boot beer time!!!! Thank you Julian for spontaneously offering us some beers, very appreciated! 
Time to celebrate also the 5-tour Worldtourer Polo shirt for Martin, well done, see you for 10-tour Polo soon...
Enjoy a good evening... the sunset still has to come and it's 9pm...
Day 9: Kirkjubæjarklaustur-Flúðir (coastal route)
With a new day, new posibilities arise, given the choices, we were able to prepare 2 different routes, Both beautiful and filled with things to see and do. The optional route would take us bordering the coast all the way to our hotel, visiting various waterfallsand and the "Black sand beach".
Sitting in the "throne of basalt"
Having a shaved head has it's inconveniences.... it gets cold!
We saw hundreds of puffins, odd bird.
After singing happy birthday to Pablo'ss dad, a selfie of the van gang is compulsory!
The hot tub in the hotel looks magnificent!
Manuel and Denis enjoying a well deserved dinner.
Day 8: Höfn-Kirkjubæjarklaustur
As the day begins, the riders wake up in anticipation something great is going to happen. A visit to the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, bordering Vatnajökull National Park is the first highlight of the day, it finds itself at the end of Breiðamerkurjökull, an offshoot of Vatnajökull, Iceland's largest glacier. It covers 8% of the whole island.
A panoramic wasn't enough to capture the obscene size this glacier covers.
All standing in awe at this incredible sight.
We witnessed a massive iceberg capsizing, quite an experience!
The beautiful lagoon holds all the icebergs that break away from the glacier, some will take up to a year to melt. The blue colour is due to the light reflecting off of the newly capsized pieze of ice.
Manuel was able to organise a trip on the amphibious vehicle around the lake.
Pablo got a souvenir!
He seems to be searching for an unsuspecting traveller to put it down the back of their jacket!
Drone group picture, what a cool little machine!
A charming waterfall after a short ride around the hotel area.
Day 7: Egilsstaðir-Höfn
Today the weather is pretty harsh with us: the wind is blowing very hard with force gale and gusts over 100kmh. We had to battle quite a bit to stay on the road and not mingle with the goats on the grass...
This dirt looks quite messy and muddy...
Christine pushing against the wind... in some areas was really strong
Time to do some cleaning... the white van was pretty brown in the end!
Tonight Manuel and Pablo are gonna stay in this cosy cottage...
Dramatic sky tonight
Can we write to Santa and get this as support van for next year?
Day 6: Husavik-Egilsstaðir
From Husavik we leave and the weather isn't the most welcoming, that said, it doesn't stop these brave riders from enjoying the wonderful roads that await us. three major stops, Asbyrgi Canyon, Dettifoss and the Boulder Wall. A total of 100 kms off road puts a smile on our faces, a refresher of the adventure we are living.
A new player has joined the game!
Raining at the Asbyrgi Canyon, but still, we're enjoying the beauty of it.
The inner mollar stands 25 meters tall
The outer wall, reaches a total of 100 meters in certain spots, majestic!
Hafragilsfoss, is Dettifoss' smaller sister, so beautiful, just the road was spectacular!
Quick stop, unplanned
because we lost a numberplate! but, fortunately, it was picked up by Manuel, who was driving the van for the day at a constant and very comfortable 22ºC!
Pablo getting some support from the bike!
Fjallakaffi is a cossy stop in the middle of nowhere
People were so inconsiderate not respecting turns!
Such a polite and friendly goat
Manuel made good friends with the goat
Amazing "roads"
On the tours equator, we celebrate a boot beer with some local "Viking""
Apres-ski drink at the hotel bar.
Day 5: Akureyri - Husavik
Today the ride is fairly short, only 160km to Husavik "the capital of whale watching". However, the route is not short of highlights: after passing by Brad Pitt's house overlooking the bay of Akureyri we stop at the Godafoss - the waterfall of the gods - where vikings in the year 1000 AD threw the statues of the nordic gods, trading this culture for the newly arrived Christianity. Then it's time to move over to the lava fields giving birth to the scenic Myvatn lake and the surrounding Dimmuborgir lava labirynth.
Husavik is now only an hour away and the afternoon has plenty of opportunities: whale wacthing, a whale museum or the polar exploration center?
One step back, one more, one mooooorrrrree ops
The fiery lava turrets of Dimmuborgir, only 3800 years old.
Yummy lunch time in Husavik at the Selka restaurant, ready to join the whale safari later
Day 4: Saudarkrokur - Akureyri
As the day starts, the sun we had the previous day seems to have dissapeared, but fortunate for us, after a previous hard day, it was just hidding. A short day awaits, with beautiful landscape and two very interesting museums to visit. Siglufjörður with the "Herring Museum" and Akureyri with the "Motorcycle Museum of Iceland". An early arrival, gives our adventurous travel companions the possibility of a quick visit to this enchanting city or just a quick dip in the public swiming pool across the road.
Pablo putting to the test his well learnt first aid skills in aiding Peter with his cut!
As the fog cleared, we were able to appreciate the paradyse that surrounds us.
The boat that sits in the main building to the "Herring Museum" is an attraction in itself, you can go in and wander arround!
Pablo remembering his old days in the kitchen
Manuel, making sure it all tastes good!
Quick lunch and we are ready to go. Nice little place right infront of the docks.
In this enchanting island you can find travellers from allover the world with all sorts of vehicles
After going through the long cold tunnels and the dirty water particles sticking to our shields, it's time to give the helmet some TLC
Pablo loves his E1, what a great helmet!
A Hercules W2000 with a Wankel engineis a little jewel hard to come by.
Pablo's old bike... what a bike!
The beautiful garden terrace in our hotel in Akureyri
Waiting for dinner in the Lobby.
Day 3: Selfoss - Saudarkrokur
Big day today: crossing Iceland south-north over the highlands along the spectacular F35 "Kjölur", about 300km route with nearly 200km gravel. The weather is simply fantastic, as soon as we leave Selfoss the clouds magically disappear and from there onwards only blue sky and sunshine with around 18°C to 23°C.
Geysir Strokkur, showing its power regularly every 5 or 7 minutes. Today even every 4 minutes. I bet they ordered him to boost production to satisfy the increasing amount of tourists...
Gullfoss, one of the prettiest waterfalls in Iceland with its double triangular shape
Deanis and Beatrice along the highlands, time for a photo stop!
While Manuel had a pretty fun ride on the Tiger, today Pablo had his back tickled by the 200km dirt in the van, surely not the appropriate vehicle for this tour but unfortunately the Ford Ranger had a last minute problem on the way to Iceland...
Best lunch stop ever: the food is surely not the highlight here, but a hot pot to relax in, soaking in the open landscape can't be beat.
The north coast is famous for its Icelandic horses... and oh boy how many of them we saw today!
Last (of the many many) sights for today: the turf-room old village of Glaumber, just before reaching the coastal town Saudarkrokur.
Day 2: Reykjavik - Selfoss
During our first ride we get a nice "appetiser sampler" of the various landscapes in Iceland and some of its unpredictable weather as well. We leave Reykjavik with nearly 20°C and blue sky, experiencing clouds and 100% humidity just an hour later, followed by a brief 3 min moment of sun, followed again by some of the thickest fog you can ever think. Oh well, not forgetting the strong side wind puhing the bikes here and there on the gravel:
"Si sta come d'autunno sugli alberi le foglie"
(Here we are like leaves from trees in autumn),
to sum up the feeling of instability with a poem from the Italian father of hermeticism Giuseppe Ungaretti.
First stop: meeting history at the Viking museum
This peninsula is the hottest part of the island and the hot mud pools Gunnuhver are a fiery example of that.
A touch of class, lunch stop at Lava restaurant inside the uberfamous Blue Lagoon.
Are we playing cool guys?
Encountering the first short gravel part, time to switch mode on the Tigers and put them in "dirt mood"
On this tour we are happy to meet again Peter "The Bear", the contributing editor of the Australian Motorcyclist magazine. Manuel had the pleasure to meet him a couple of years ago for a tour in Norway.
Quite comfy beds are exactly what we need after this intense start!
...and maybe a bit of sweets to get us ready for tomorrow's game: we are crossing the highlands!
Day 1: Welcome to Reykjavik!
It's time to begin another Edelweiss adventure on our beloved 2 wheels. this time for an all-Triumph tour across Iceland. A very well mixed group featuring South Africa (Gui), Australia (Christine, Julian, Peter "The Bear"), Switzerland (Hans-Peter), UK (Peter, this time just Peter, no bear here), Luxembourg (Jean-Claude), Germany (Sonja and Martin), France (Beatrice and Denis), with Pablo (Spain) and Manuel (Italy) in the lead. Isn't that an awesome mix?
Now we are ready to roll!
Diesen Beitrag bewerten
