I arrived in Iceland the day after midsummer. I had been
aboard the MS Norröna for 2 days, all
the way from Denmark. Finally the Ferry
arrived in Seyðisfjörður on the East coast of the country. It seemed like a
prison sentence was complete and I was now free again!
My introduction to Iceland was clear skies and warm weather
and amazing scenery. I was out on deck to get my first look while the Ferry
sailed down Seyðisfjörður and into the harbour.
There’s something about getting to a new country that just
excites me. It seemed like an eternity as I waited to get my motorbike off of
the Ferry. The motorbikes were right at the front of the Ferry and the exit was
right at the back and there were about 800 cars and motorhomes in between me
and the door. The car deck was packed. I had made my way squeezing in between cars
and motorhomes, down various dead ends
as cars were almost touching in some places, only to realise that I had gone to
the wrong end of the ship and had to make my way all the way back again with my
bag carefully balanced on my head so not to scratch cars on the way passed.
The town of Seyðisfjörður was unnaturally busy. It felt like
the area had just been invaded by tourists. After an immigration officer stuck
some weird sticker to my front mudguard I was free to explore Iceland at my own
pace…
It felt like some sort of rat race, there were cars
everywhere, bumper to bumper, as they waited to pull out onto the main road. I
stopped at the first place that I could once I got on the main road. This just
happened to be right opposite the junction that I just pulled out of. There was
somewhere to park my bike and there was a little piece of grass to look at my
map on. I jumped off the bike and began talking with some other bikers that had
done the same. A minute later Mila pulled up on her Suzuki Bandit. I had briefly
met Mila on the ferry while we were searching for where we were meant to sleep.
She was from Holland, that’s all I had learned about her at the time. We both
talked to the other bikers for a while before they left. Now it was just the
two of us looking at my map spread out on the grass talking about our travel
plans. By this time Mila’s chain lube was helping to stop the map from being
blown away in the wind. We talked about what we had planned to do in Iceland, I
learned that she had almost 1 week to travel before she had to start her summer
job and had decided to take the ferry here rather than fly so that she had some
transport.
The small town slowly
settled back to its sleepy norm as the tourists slowly dispersed and moved in
the direction of their onward destinations. It was all quite relaxed at this
time. The warm weather was quite welcome. I had been getting bad weather in my
last few days in Norway and the day I had spent in Denmark was terrible! We sat
talking about places in Iceland, pointing at the map. I started to draw things
on my map so as to remind myself of what was there, rather than just draw a circle
then forget what’s there a few days later. It was about at that time that I
realised that though I’d planned to come to Iceland for several years, I had
not managed to actually make plans on what to do or see once I got there. I
knew very little about the place. Mila seemed to have quite a few good ideas.
The day just seemed to be filled with random encounters….
On the Ferry |
First look at Iceland at Seyðisfjörður |
The interview
We must have looked quite interesting sitting on the grass looking at the map, complete with a tin of chain lube and WD40 to hold it down. A man walked up to us and asked us if we would mind getting interviewed about our travel plans for Iceland. Mila and I looked at each other and both shrugged and told him, “Why not”. Minutes later there was a camera on a tripod pointing at us and a man with a South African accent was asking us questions about our travel plans. It was only during the interview that they learned from us that we were not travelling together and that we had only just met on the ferry. It was quite difficult to make the interview interesting when I actually had no plans to tell them!
We must have looked quite interesting sitting on the grass looking at the map, complete with a tin of chain lube and WD40 to hold it down. A man walked up to us and asked us if we would mind getting interviewed about our travel plans for Iceland. Mila and I looked at each other and both shrugged and told him, “Why not”. Minutes later there was a camera on a tripod pointing at us and a man with a South African accent was asking us questions about our travel plans. It was only during the interview that they learned from us that we were not travelling together and that we had only just met on the ferry. It was quite difficult to make the interview interesting when I actually had no plans to tell them!
Once the cameras were off and we were left on our own again
we decided that we might as well travel together for a while. We decided to go south
to the general direction of where Mila was going to work.
There’s nothing quite like the first few hours in a new
country, especially while riding a motorbike. Anything remotely interesting
gets a double take as I ride passed as everything feels new. I feel like I have
the curiosity of a small child while they learn about this new world they’re
in. We stop and take photos of the jagged mountains that seem to all have
spires like cathedrals. The sheep, some black, some white and some more like
collie dogs with black and white together. We saw gorges, waterfalls and some
massive 4x4s that looked like monster trucks.
Mila getting attacked by a horse in Vik |
A big 4x4 |
Mountains in South East Iceland |
Africa Twin and Bandit |
I’d now been away from home for about 5 weeks. I had left
home alone but in the whole time I had only travelled alone for a few days. I
had mixed feelings about having a travel buddy again. During my 4 weeks in
Norway I had travelled with Peter, who I’d met while waiting for the Ferry in
Denmark. At the time Peter and I had also talked about travel plans and both
realised we didn’t have any, so decided to make some together. It really is a
mixed bag. It always feels amazing to share amazing experiences with people,
but from a more selfish point of view you have compromise with your ideas. It
works with some and it does not work with others. I was lucky enough that it
worked for me both times! The only thing I really had to compromise on with
Mila was not sleeping in my tent. We stayed in Guest houses or hostels the
entire time.
I had 3 weeks to spend in Iceland. The plans I did manage to
make before leaving home where that I should see the more easy to access places
around the ring road that circles the country, then later in the trip I’d head
inland to the more remote interior. This worked out well as Mila’s motorbike wouldn’t
have coped well with the gravel roads and deep river crossings of the interior,
whereas my Honda Africa Twin was built for that sort of thing.
After several days we arrived in the area of Eyjafjallajökull,
the volcano that made its name in Europe in 2010 during the eruption that
grounded 1000’s of flights around Europe. We planned to walk up the Volcano
towards the Glacier to see what we could see. The problem was that I had run
out of time. My girlfriend was due to arrive in Reykjavik later that day and I
couldn’t have possibly fit in walking up the Volcano and the 4 hour ride to the
airport in 1 day.
Skógafoss in Iceland
Skógafoss in Iceland
We packed up our bikes together for the last time, put our
helmets on and got ready to go. I looked at Mila and we gave each other a hug.
Our helmets banged into each other… It sounds quite clumsy, but it felt quite
natural. I was sad to leave as we had a really fun time together.
That day just seemed to go so slowly. I was not quite in the
mood to spend time seeing or doing too much. I seem to be such a bad traveller
when I have a destination and a deadline to get there. When I’m free to do as I
please then I feel like I can make the most of being somewhere. The constraint
I had forced me just to ride. I arrived in the area of the airport about 4
hours too early, so I thought I’d use the extra time to find us somewhere nice
to stay on that first night together again. The best I managed was a wooden
cabin only a few kilometres from the airport. It was small, but it was clean
and had everything we needed.
Of course, me being me, I wanted to sneak up on Kiya at the
airport. I had not seen her for about 6 weeks. I just wanted to tap her on the
shoulder and give her a chance to smile before she turned around so I’d just
see her smiling face looking back at me. When the time came it was the opposite
that did happen. She sneaked up on me and I was the one who had to turn around.
It was a new relationship. I had met Kiya while travelling in Australia about 9
months before and we only started to see each other in March when we were both
back in Scotland. It was now the end of June and I had been away half of the
time since March. The only time Kiya had ever been on a motorbike was when I
took her for a 30 second ride around a car park a few days after I had finished
getting my bike ready for this trip. I had given her careful instructions about
what to bring and how to carry it as luggage space was really limited already
and it would now be extra limited with two people on the bike. Most importantly
Kiya had brought with her the heated grips that the freezing Norway weather
forced me to buy. That was a horrible experience, but not horrible enough for
me to pay the crazy Norwegian prices for a set of grips while I was there.
The following morning, it took a while to get things
organised. I had to leave the off-road tyres that I had been carrying since
home at the camp ground with plans to pick them up again when I dropped Kiya
off 1 week later. Finally when we managed to work out how to fit our gear and
ourselves on the bike we headed back to see Eyjafjallajökull. I really wanted
to do the walk now as Mila had told me all about via SMS.
Kiya was a bit nervous at first on the bike. I could feel
her tense up when I leaned the bike into corners. As the day progressed she did
ease up a bit and get used to it. It was evening time when we made it to Skógar.
Skógar is a place that’s pretty hard to drive passed.
Highway 1, the highway that circles Iceland goes right passed it, but I’m sure
most tourists must stop there as there is a huge waterfall that is easily seen
from the road. This is the place where Mila and I stayed the night before we
said our goodbyes to each other. Kiya and I walked to the waterfall the same as
Mila and I had done just days before. It’s hard for me not to feel like a tour
guide when I take someone to a place that I’ve been before and they’ve not. I
put on a brave face and try to maintain the same excitement that I had about the
place when I was there first and try not to reference the fact that I’d been
there before so that we’re sharing the same thing. I even took the same
panoramic photo too.
The following day we made our way towards the Volcano, it
was very relaxed walk. We stopped to take photos quite a lot and we made very
slow progress because of that. We didn’t make it as far as the Glacier before
we decided to turn back and move west again.
Kiya on our walk up Eyjafjallajökull |
We talked about where to go next. I wanted her to see as
much as possible in the week she had as I felt bad about leaving her as she
spent the 2 months working while I was away enjoying myself. Kiya was quite
jealous of my plans to go inland once she was back in Scotland. I told her that
I didn’t think I could ride the bike well enough to take it over the rough
roads with both of us on it. Despite my arguments and my concern that I wouldn’t
be able to handle the bike with the extra weight, she managed to convince me we
should go to a place called Laki.
Laki or Lakagígar made itself famous for its 8 month long
eruption in 1783 – 84. It’s a major part of Europe’s history. The eruption and
the consequences caused by it killed around 25% of Icelanders and around 6
million people around the world. The famine caused is believed to have caused
the French revolution.
The track out to Laki was not as bad as had been described
to me. It did slowly get more and more rough the closer we got. The river
crossings were the part that I really was not looking forward to. I remember
them from when I rode a Motorbike around and through Australia, but I knew that
Iceland would not be quite the same. Often in Australia I was quite glad to
cool my feet off as I walked through to check the depth and the best route.
With Iceland this was certainly something that didn’t have the same appeal. I
made the first crossing with Kiya still on the back. It was quite difficult to
keep the bike going in the direction I wanted it to because of the river bed
being uneven. There was a cheer from the back as the wheels rolled onto the
opposite side and accelerated up the track again.
It had started to rain by this time and my feet were getting
cold from walking through the river. On the rougher sections of the road the
bike’s suspension would bottom out and sometimes I’d hit the engine’s sump
guard off of rocks. It was not a fun ride, but I still enjoyed it for the
challenge. We arrived at the base of Mount Laki, where you can get a good view
of all 130 craters that opened up during the eruption, though we couldn’t get
motivated to climb it as the top was covered in cloud and we’d likely have seen
nothing if we went to the top. Instead we found a lookout that was not in cloud
but not as high as Mount Laki, that we could ride the motorbike up. A friendly
German couple that had arrived in a 4x4 took one look at us and offered us hot
tea and asked how we made it over the rivers. I told them about me walking
first before riding them… then before we knew it our cups were full again with
fresh tea. I had wished that I had spent the morning putting on the heated
grips that Kiya brought from Scotland, but I just didn’t want to waste the time
while she was there. The elevation made the weather far colder than it had been
in the morning. My feet felt numb with the cold as they were soaking wet from
the river crossings. After taking a photo from the lookout we continued on
around the track which circles the area. I was glad to be on the bike again as
I could wedge my feet in between the petrol tank and the engine. It took a
while, but they started to feel a little warmer.
Lakagígar. Iceland in iceland
Lakagígar. Iceland in iceland
My vision felt like something was broken. Everything felt so
black and white. The clouds were grey and the ground was black from the
volcanic ash. The surface of the track was just ash from the volcano eruption.
Sometimes it was hard and sometimes it was a bit soft. A small stream crossing
that I didn’t bother to walk across almost made us fall. There was a sharp
right hand corner after the crossing that almost swallowed my front wheel. We managed
to stay on the bike, but only just. The final river crossing before we headed
back was the worst. I stood on the side looking down on the river trying to
guess the depth. Kiya was scouting around
looking for a shallow place that she could cross so she didn’t have to stay on
the bike. A little way upstream the river was faster and had small islands that
she thought she could get over without getting her feet too wet. By this time I
was pretty cold and just starting to wish my feet were dry again, I really didn’t
like the thought of having to wade through again to check the depth and route,
but I knew I had to as the river looked to be about border line with what I was
willing to risk riding over. Kiya told me about her plan to cross up steam. I
said that I could take her over at the crossing as I had to walk over anyway.
She insisted that I didn’t have to as she could make it over herself.
I cast my mind back to when I was talking to Kiya’s family
about motorbikes, which they forwardly told me that they hated and thought they
were one of the most dangerous things ever invented. The day had stressed me
out enough already. My mind kept flashing back to Kiya’s family and what they would
say if we had fallen of the bike and injured ourselves. I felt totally
responsible for everything that was happening that day. I told Kiya that she
had to come down and cross the river with me. I didn’t see the sense in both of
us having wet feet. She took a bit of convincing, but only because she felt bad
that I had to take her, whereas I looked at it from a more logical point of
view. The water was right enough, up to my knees as I crossed with Kiya on my
back. I double checked my route on the way back to the bike before I started
the bike and slowly let go of the clutch to drive it into the river. The water
came well over my feet as they stood on the foot rests and I started to feel
the drag on the panniers as they entered the water too. The crossing was not
very wide, but it seemed to take a long time to get to the other side. I had
read so much about how to restart a drowned motorbike… Things like standing the
bike up on its back to drain the exhaust and taking the spark plugs out to get
the water out of the cylinders. I just couldn’t face doing something like that
while I was this cold. So much went through my head in that short space of time…
The front wheel started making its way onto the high and dry and I was out! I
just hoped that there were no more deeper crossings before we were back on the
main track again.
Our week together really flew in. We managed to make our way
up another inland road and see the sunset over a glacier. We saw “Geysir”, the
original Geysir which Geysir’s got their name from and saw huge waterfalls.
A Geysir at Geysir |
I dropped Kiya off at the airport safe and sound and I was
back on my own again. I was glad I managed not to make it into the bad books of
her family and proud that I’d managed to take her into the highlands of Iceland
on the bike. There was so much still to see, but not that much time to see it
in now.
Navigation on road F35 in iceland
Navigation on road F35 in iceland
I only had 9 days before I had
to leave head for home...
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteGreat shots and panoramas. Where's your next rip?
Hi Martin, Thanks for that. Not sure where after New Zealand, it's still too soon to confirm anything, but I've got 2 ideas in my head and 1 of them is not quite the normal tourist destination. I don't think I'll be breaking my habit of being in the far north during northern summer though.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're out and about taking panoramas in the new location too. Good work!