Iceland Adventure to the Westfjords.

Riding the range at work today, bit of a difference from last 10 days odd - the little things I've now grown to appreciate like being warm, dry, steady with no cross wind and relatively safe in general.:banghead:

Thanks Tim for organising the trip, its true to say I've never had so much fun in my life - well nearly.

Big thank you to Dr. Joe for your winsome bedside manner and motivational skills (think thats what they were) - well done on getting the laggards South - that wasn't easy!! Great choice of restaurant though.

Also a big 'shout out' to Tom, (the Shackleton of Iceland) for getting us back from the midnight jaunt :eek::eek: in time for the Jameson and organising Joe's morning alarm call.:augie

The main take-away's for me were.. a) never, ever use Tubliss b) have a spare rim-lock about your person at all times c) drink more :friday d) always carry a spare reed. e) gaffer tape is a fashion accessory - the biz.

Fantastic trip guys - enjoyed meeting you all and every minute of it.

When are we doing it again?
 
What a great adventure!

Such a variety of terrain and trails. Such beautiful scenery.

I even got to like my bike by the end of the holiday which was a bit of a surprise because I hated it at the beginning.

You scored ten out of ten Tim. :beerjug:

One night Liam and I set off on the following day's route in the opposite direction to get a good view of a promising sunset. Trouble was that Liam had a rear trye puncture just after the sunset and a long way from home (our campsite). To make things more interesting he had no tools or tubes with him and had a Tubliss setup. The screw that caused the punture had gone straight through the middle of a knobbly block, through the Tubliss carcase and into the inner Tubliss tube.

Luckily I had tools and a tube with me but had not come across the Tubliss setup before. Well we struggled big time to get the Tubliss bits out and realised a few days later that we should have removed the tyre completely and then taken the tubliss parts out. Anyway eventually we got my new tube in but unfortunately we now did not have a rim clamp because the Tubliss setup had previously performed that function. We put some gaffer tape over the rim clamp hole and pumped it up and got on our way.

Was an exciting ride back along the cliff edge in the dark as it gets light of Westfjords. Eventually we rocked back into camp at 3.30 in the morning.

Liam suggested a Jameson's to celebrate our return. Not being a drinker it went straight to my head of course. From nowhere Liam the Leprechaun rustled up some miniature bagpipes and suggested that Joe Harvey would surely like to hear him play.

Hence the video of Liam the Leprechaun serenading Joe Harvey. I think he was impressed!

 
The part missing from the story is that earlier in the trip whilst my guard was down I confessed to Liam one of my phobias is Irish dancing. I hate they way they come at you, eyes transfixed, arms by their sides, knees bending at non- human angles and occasionally stomping to stay in a regimented line of terror. Like the angels on Dr Who that advance without expression.

Damn you Michael Flatley.

When I do surface from the tent I’d been having the Irish dancing nightmare, Tom was attempting to Irish dance/jig but thank fully is a biking god not a dancer.
 
Big big thank you to Tim for enabling my third summer in 'The Land of no McDonalds' (An accolade it shares with Algeria, Albania, Ghana, Bolivia, Zimbabwe and North Korea) -

Notable feature of this year was that 50% of the team were on British bikes, which I am still trying to work out of it had something to do with Brexit.

Top trip with a top team :thumb2
 

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Well then, that was fun and guess this thread is going to morph into a ride report which I'll also get onto before too long.

Meanwhile thanks for this pic Jon :)
 

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Looking forward to reading it Tim and seeing your great photos. Next best thing to actually being there - which I will be if you go next year (I'm keeping the 690) :beerjug:
 
Looking forward to reading it Tim and seeing your great photos. Next best thing to actually being there - which I will be if you go next year (I'm keeping the 690) :beerjug:

Glad to hear you're keeping the 690 Lee, yes there's already quite a bit of interest in doing similar next year I'll keep you posted :)
 
Tim, if you do this again will there be any prohibitions on people bringing Irish pipes with them ?
 
I'm reading this and pissing myself about the Liam/Joe narvey piping moment, classic :D, nice one Liam.
I play an Overton whistle and a mate plays the Scottish small pipes but I'd never have thought of carrying something like that on a trip, maybe I will now :thumb
 
I'm reading this and pissing myself about the Liam/Joe narvey piping moment, classic :D, nice one Liam.
I play an Overton whistle and a mate plays the Scottish small pipes but I'd never have thought of carrying something like that on a trip, maybe I will now :thumb

For the avoidance of doubt, it’s an awesome way to have your beauty sleep disturbed and the highlight is to see his grinning face and Tom (Smug) attempting an Irish jig.

I’m still in counselling from this trip but think the therapy would entail a decent bike ride with chums, perhaps led by a biking legend who helped me do things I didn’t think I could..
 
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Thanks for the pic Joe. :beerjug:

Amazing what you can be talked into after a Jameson.

Teetotal from now on, I promise.:beer:
 
Virtually all my pics are from the phone so apologies for the shite quality........hopefully the other lads will continue contributing here to what was after all, their trip :beerjug:

While everyone in UK was basking in a great summer I knew Iceland was having it's worst for 100 years which means each sunny day would be a bonus and as the plane ran along the south coast things were looking 'reasonable'.

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I arrive a couple of days ahead of the others to make sure the bikes are released from customs, have a mooch around and best of all get to see my friends Þröstur and his wife Silla.
For me it's a breath of fresh air to be back.

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And to stock up on the all essential plain chocolate raisons :drool

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Þröstur is meticulous in everything he does, his bikes are no exception.

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First we go for a drive but rather than have another look around on my own bike, Þröstur insists I take his immaculate K75 for a spin.

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A rare cloudless sky in Reykjavik this year.

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But there's a change coming to greet the lads when they arrive the following morning.

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We leave town in rain and blustery winds heading for the Kaldidalur route which runs close by a glacier with spectacular views.....if you could see them....which we couldn't!

Crouched behind a pile of rocks I finally manage to roll a smoke and eventually get it lit in a near blizzard, all is right with the world.

Despite conditions, the riding is a great mix of surfaces until we finally hit tarmac and have the wind on our backs as we run to the coast for our first camp at Bourganes.

A tent flap moves aside like a suspicious net curtain, a tired bicycle lay on it's side, an ugly German woman pokes her scowling face towards Liam, "I hope you lot aren't going to be noisy, ve came here vor peace and quiet" perhaps this was a missed early opportunity for Liam with his Irish pipes at 4am.

As it was, most of this rebel biker gang were at the end of a long day and tucked up in bed long before anyone could mention the war.

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My newly acquired dry bag from Aldi cost £15 and reminded me of the Yellow Submarine, no not that one.....in 1979 I'd heard stories of a prostitute in the Falkland Island by that name and was told she was much cheaper.

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Next day we're headed for the Snaefellsness Peninsular to ride some great trails.....in the wind, rain and sleet, Geoff needs to find a replacement for a mystery disappearing nut from his lovely bike.

This leaves time for a truly disgusting second breakfast.

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We're soon riding high into the gloom which on another day can be spectacular, today it was like entering Mordor but the riding is superb.

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Byron (BFG Big Friendly Geordie) starts to get to grips with his 701.

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Unaware of our height, Rob's smiling :)

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I know a trail which will probably be blocked by snow but it's worth a look.

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Some wait at the junction where Liam had a little mishap on a tight hairpin, for a while we follow two women up a rugged trail in a 4x4, I spot an overtake, Liam spots it too but doesn't quite make it, the two women watched as he picked his bike up.
At the top, Toddy the Terrified drops his bike while turning it around, I explain to the two women that we're here for their entertainment :D

Tom, Liam and Geoff revelling in it.

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Sure enough, it's blocked.

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Later, coffee and cake at a lovely place in Grundarfjordur where a young woman picks up a guitar and sings beautifully, we take more trails out to our wild camp.

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Bikes are checked over as tomorrow we go to the West Fjords.

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I imagine Jon is always most happy in the kitchen.

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Liam gets his dinner on.

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Toddy has been shopping on the way.

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And now tells us he's going to have an early night.......

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We're up and away early next morning as we have a 9am ferry to catch.

There's an excellent bakery on the way into Stykkisholmur, it's now 0735 but doesn't open until 0800 on Sunday, luckily for us there's a respectable German family who undoubtedly had more success than we would in persuading them to open early.

Fed and fuelled it's ferry time.

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I'll not provide too much general information about the West Fjords again as much of that can be found in a previous thread about unfinished business......there is always unfinished business!

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...for-unfinished-business?highlight=west+fjords

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/431762-ICELAND-A-game-of-three-halves?highlight=iceland
 
The tarmac ends and the wet dirt road takes us both along the steep edge of the coast and high through the mist on our way to the Latraberg Cliffs.

First stop on the way.

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Latraberg.

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Puffins, said to be very tasty....

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Retracing our route part way, we made camp in Talknafjordur.

I take a ride to a hot pool looking out to sea in the fjord, last time I was here the weather was beautiful as was my wife, this time as I tried to enjoy the warm soak four Americans were there too, hardly drawing breath in their non stop talking.

I left and went for an evening ride to the end of the peninsular.

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The weather forecast is good.
 
The weather's improving greatly just when we needed it to!

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Last time I was this spot there was sand across the road which caused Ange to have a spill, no such problems today.

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20 miles of lovely winding track following the coast.

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Some remarkable buildings (now restored) and sculptures built by a very lonely artist!

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.........

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An Icelandic biker is camped here with his dog who rides pillion

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Tom and I linger a while longer while the others head back to the town of Bildudalur, in the distance there's a faint track continuing around the coast.
Of course we had to go and have a look.

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After a fast ride back Tom and I join the others for food before heading off again.
The dirt road climbs higher and higher until you feel like you're on top of the world.

It's too much exposure for one of the lads who decides to return to the ferry and keep to lower ground.

I had intended to try a very remote and high route in this area even though I could find no reference to it anywhere but we'd need more time.

We stop briefly at Dynjandi waterfall.

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Back on the dirt road around the fjords I'm encouraging Byron with his technique and speed, fuck me! I'm well over 80mph and he's with me :clap

Each time I've been in this area I've had my eye on this great wild camp spot to base ourselves for a couple of nights.

Perfect :)

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