Eruptions, erections and Champagne.

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Congratulations to you both , what a fantastic way to spend a Honeymoon. Liking the photos and trip report very much . My wife Julie has same anxiety about boarding ferries even though she has done it many times. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

A trip close to my heart, I'm gonna enjoy ready this

Andres

 

[Farmer Palmer]

Did you find that bottle of single malt whisky I left for you just under the bridge on Route 1 near Vik..........er.........oops!!

FP.

 

[MattW]

Nice one Tim and Ange - looking forward to reading more

 

[Timolgra]

It's a baking hot ride to Hirtshals in the north of Denmark to catch the early morning ferry for Iceland.
I keep my stove and tea/coffee/hot chocolate etc. in my small top box. I'm not sure whether she's an addict and around 30 cups of tea a day seems excessive to me but like the dutiful husband I'm unknowingly becoming I make her a brew.
I give her my 'come on, jump my bone' pose, she drinks her tea and says it's time to go.

As it was a crack dawn start the following day for the ferry we'd booked our only accomodation of the trip in Hirtshals, where it seemed many others were also staying.
A hearty breakfast of yet more tea and a roll up.

So to the ferry for our two day and night crossing to Iceland.
Ange has been looking forward to this trip for so long and in fact was one of the main reasons she learnt to ride a bike in the first place....which is also how we first met.
We join the queue of mainly German, Italian, Belgium bikes.

An unusual mix of vehicles seemed to be boarding, from a big overland truck, a small helicopter!! and these two old timers.

Another ferry of course means more trauma for Ange, she's warned the other bikers of the possibly of damage to their bikes if they should stop on the ramp ahead of her. They've halted well onto the car deck but seem to be checking their mirrors with concern as her bike climbs the ramp in a very un-Evel Knievel like manner behind them.
Ordeal over I sort the abandonded bike out....again.

We're soon on our way after months of anticipation, hoorah.
There's two days and nights to pass on the ferry, we're on honeymoon....oh what shall we do?

Me: It's a long way, I've got a full tanks, half a pack of cigarettes, it's light, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Her: Hit it!

 

[Timolgra]

Did you find that bottle of single malt whisky I left for you just under the bridge on Route 1 near Vik..........er.........oops!!

FP.

Ha ha...I'll come to that place later, we missed the excitement by a few days

 

[earthmover]

I'm so looking forward to this!



Mark

 

[GS TRV]

keep it coming

 

[Timolgra]

I'd never really thought too much about the Faroe Islands until I drank some of their beer on board the ferry, by which time I found it hard to think at all.

For some reason I'd imagined them to be low lying and barren much like the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, so was pleasantly suprised to find them quite mountainous.

Like Greenland, they're a self governing body within the Kingdom of Denmark with an interesting history and stick two fingers up to the outside world concerned with their quite barbaric whaling hunts, it's considered an important part of their history and culture. There's also a 'Burger King'.

We stop in Torshavn for a couple of hours.

Long enough to offload and onload.
Some spend a couple of days here before going on to Iceland, I'd recommend you don't spend time there 'after' Iceland, you may be disappointed.

We took a stunning route out between two of the islands.

Out on deck it was getting so cold that Ange conceded and wore my favourite hat which she hates.

Next stop, Iceland.

 

[Timolgra]

Steaming up the long fjord to Seydisfiordur in the east has to be the best way of arriving in Iceland.

Although it doesn't look it from this photo, Seydisfiordur is an attractive small town. Assuming I last the distance with this tale, I'll show some more photos from when we return in two weeks and the weathers better.

Right then, it's friggin freezing but it's time to go and ride our bikes!

 

[Timolgra]

A stunning road full of switch backs and waterfalls climbs out of Seydisfiordur, at the top it should look like this which I took on the way back but for us was a cold ride with the temperature at 3deg C.

We lost some height and warmed a little before the road turned to dirt in a lonely, wide valley. We stopped (for tea) and put all our warm clothes on.

Free of people, traffic and hassle at last. That's why we came here.

Another pass on the dirt before dropping down to the coast. Apart from Ange's fine rear end, that's just the sight I love to see ahead of me.

I won't mention the tea making again, just understand it's become my role in life to be the tea boy at stops.

Anyone who's visited Iceland on a bike will understand it's impossible to capture the spirit of the landscape on a camera unless you're a very skilled photographer.

 

[Toad]

Awesome Tim................

 

[SIM]

Bringing back some good memories, looking forward to your ride report.

I thought the Faroes where pretty good and would recommend the two day stop off there, especially the visit to the Black Sheep brewery!!

 

[Kirst]

Many congrats Tim & Ange, have a wonderful time. Loving the pics and write-up xx

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Come on!!

More

 

[Devon]

Anyone who's visited Iceland on a bike will understand it's impossible to capture the spirit of the landscape on a camera unless you're a very skilled photographer.

That's for sure, it really is spectacular. Looking good Tim

 

[Timolgra]

I thought the Faroes where pretty good and would recommend the two day stop off there, especially the visit to the Black Sheep brewery!!

Yes, what I meant was it would be better to stop off on the way to Iceland rather than on the way back. For us, we wanted maximum time in Iceland

 

[Timolgra]

We entered a long tunnel through a mountain under a cold, grey sky only to emerge into bright sunlight as we dropped down to the lovely town of Hofn for the night and got the tent up.

An interesting harbour town surrounded by the sea on 3 sides it also has the Glacier Museum.

Still a very active fishing harbour.

We camped near a whacky German couple on two of these beamers and a Belgium on his Transalp and I'd say Transalps were the most common bike we saw there, GS's being far too big. We'd bump into them several more times on the trip, each time a real pleasure for us all.

A great place to watch the Eider Ducks and sea birds during the evening.

Champagne time!
It seemed a good idea to me to drink it all between us before I knocked up some grub.

Of course by the time we'd drunk the whole bottle, food wasn't a main prority.

 

[Micky]

Aw ... lovely, bless the pair of ya

Keep it coming Tim

 

[Timolgra]

Every turn brings with it a new landscape like no other, the whole place a geologists dream, when a long straight opens out ahead you stay off the throttle and savour every moment.

On a first visit it almost impossible not to want to see many of the main attractions Iceland has to offer, these are often very close to the main R1 ring road which encourages hoards of tourists in coaches from Reykjavik.

In the pouring freezing rain we reach Jokulsarlon, it's a glacial lagoon created when Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull, began it's retreat from the coast in the early 1950's.
Despite the grim weather it was still quite impressive, as was the seafood soup in the tourist cafe.

Even here you can see the effect of volcanic ash in the icebergs.

Eventually the small ice bergs, which have broken off the retreated glacier, get spat out to sea under the bridge.