Where’s the engine Tim?
ICELAND 2020 ... the Wet One
- Thread starter Timolgra
- Start date
Having been beaten by foul weather and high rivers the previous day we take another of my favourite routes into the highlands.
This time although there's countless small river crossings none will be serious, sadly the weather prevents us taking some new and old 'excursions'
Eventually stopping to take shelter in an ancient barn we need to make a decision; camp here in an exposed wet field with no facilities or my promise of a sheltered camp even a warm bed if they wanted,......plus hot showers and heated kitchen which they can share with nubile Scandinavian women.
It was a no brainer we pressed on.
We arrived with great expectation as you can imagine only to find it completely closed up and not even any water available in the nearby stables!
I told the lads it's 30 miles to the nearest alternative camp....it's always 30 miles as many know
Possibly still feeling the benefits of their previous night in a nice and relatively sumptuous cabin as I lay in a canvass wrapped swamp they set about making camp.
I on the other hand, and totally free of guilt headed straight for the place I know well.
And break out some Jameson's
Stuart and I head up river several miles for water
While Bakerman fits a new Touratech side stand foot
This time although there's countless small river crossings none will be serious, sadly the weather prevents us taking some new and old 'excursions'
Eventually stopping to take shelter in an ancient barn we need to make a decision; camp here in an exposed wet field with no facilities or my promise of a sheltered camp even a warm bed if they wanted,......plus hot showers and heated kitchen which they can share with nubile Scandinavian women.
It was a no brainer we pressed on.
We arrived with great expectation as you can imagine only to find it completely closed up and not even any water available in the nearby stables!
I told the lads it's 30 miles to the nearest alternative camp....it's always 30 miles as many know
Possibly still feeling the benefits of their previous night in a nice and relatively sumptuous cabin as I lay in a canvass wrapped swamp they set about making camp.
I on the other hand, and totally free of guilt headed straight for the place I know well.
And break out some Jameson's
Stuart and I head up river several miles for water
While Bakerman fits a new Touratech side stand foot
Before the start of our long crossing of Iceland's interior I speak with the man behind 'Ride with the Locals' an Icelandic trail riding organisation, after learning of my interest in the older routes he's adamant I return to ride with him which I'd love and soon learnt he has a wealth of local knowledge.
He suggests the rivers on our route 'may' be high after all the recent rain, yes that makes sense but of course we won't know until we meet them and if necessary walk them first.
Jon decides the complexity of the 790 would render it dead should the worst happen
eventually David also on a 790 joins him for a very long detour to where we'll meet again in a couple of days.
The river's turned out to be the lowest I've ever seen them and we (disappointingly) crossed them all with ease.
Still no sunshine but it's time for my good friend Bakes to spark up what he describes as an embarrassingly expensive cigar.
Liam and Stuart in high spirits
Us all in high spirits
We press on for a long and 'brisk' ride where the weather picks up and we spend the night at a great camp and this time share the natural hot pool with beautiful bikini clad women ...... and their menfolk
He suggests the rivers on our route 'may' be high after all the recent rain, yes that makes sense but of course we won't know until we meet them and if necessary walk them first.
Jon decides the complexity of the 790 would render it dead should the worst happen
eventually David also on a 790 joins him for a very long detour to where we'll meet again in a couple of days.The river's turned out to be the lowest I've ever seen them and we (disappointingly) crossed them all with ease.
Still no sunshine but it's time for my good friend Bakes to spark up what he describes as an embarrassingly expensive cigar.
Liam and Stuart in high spirits
Us all in high spirits
We press on for a long and 'brisk' ride where the weather picks up and we spend the night at a great camp and this time share the natural hot pool with beautiful bikini clad women ...... and their menfolk
We're pretty much in central Iceland and my intended route out was closed due to a landslide, no matter we'll rejoin the Sprengisandur and have a longer ride to our next overnight.
I slow the pace by as much as 20 mph as this is the area I injured myself in a few years ago, mainly I thought through riding too fast.
We already noticed how slippy the wet hard packed surface was even at these reduced speeds.
I pull over and point out to Stu the bend I came to grief on and even the same rock I used to straight the steering afterwards.
Less than 50m behind us Liam's also lost the front and taken a tumble, thankfully our speeds were lowish but he still took a painful knock.
We detour to take in some new to me waterfalls where we all try to help a thankless German who has a rock jammed between his two rear tyres.
At the road we stop for coffee and fuel at a tourist spot
Stuart and I blast past some bikes at speed on this brilliant trail and even manage to pull away from a fast buggy which tried to catch us.
In all honesty I couldn't have possibly ridden much faster, perhaps (and hopefully) I'll never learn.
Bakerman in his understated waterproofs with Liam looking cool as ever.
We move on
More intended small trails have been lost to landslides but we're still having a ball
Liam takes his second tumble of the day in a dimly lit slippy old tunnel.....thankfully no serious damage or injuries.
We're reunited with Jon and Dave who've ridden around and I meet up with a good friend Dori from this part of the country.
I love this town...a year ago I asked a young lad to show us his best wheelie on a push bike which was quite dismal, he remembered us and can now wheelie the whole length of town as he proudly demonstrated.
We had beer, some had pizza even and in the morning Dori joined us for a bakery breakfast
Dori, a big guy sporting a pony tail arrives as usual in his wife's black Range Rover with music blasting out loudly, he's great company and always helpful but I'm sure he loves to make this great impression of the modern viking when screeching to a halt next to our tents. The great arrival was undermined however by his wife's two miniature dogs which he was charged with caring for and were yapping through the rear window. It also transpired he's not often allowed to drive the Range Rover due to his love of speed.
When I first met Dori and the beautiful Steina they were living together and only decided to marry as there was no one else in town they liked
I slow the pace by as much as 20 mph as this is the area I injured myself in a few years ago, mainly I thought through riding too fast.
We already noticed how slippy the wet hard packed surface was even at these reduced speeds.
I pull over and point out to Stu the bend I came to grief on and even the same rock I used to straight the steering afterwards.
Less than 50m behind us Liam's also lost the front and taken a tumble, thankfully our speeds were lowish but he still took a painful knock.
We detour to take in some new to me waterfalls where we all try to help a thankless German who has a rock jammed between his two rear tyres.
At the road we stop for coffee and fuel at a tourist spot
Stuart and I blast past some bikes at speed on this brilliant trail and even manage to pull away from a fast buggy which tried to catch us.
In all honesty I couldn't have possibly ridden much faster, perhaps (and hopefully) I'll never learn.
Bakerman in his understated waterproofs with Liam looking cool as ever.
We move on
More intended small trails have been lost to landslides but we're still having a ball
Liam takes his second tumble of the day in a dimly lit slippy old tunnel.....thankfully no serious damage or injuries.
We're reunited with Jon and Dave who've ridden around and I meet up with a good friend Dori from this part of the country.
I love this town...a year ago I asked a young lad to show us his best wheelie on a push bike which was quite dismal, he remembered us and can now wheelie the whole length of town as he proudly demonstrated.
We had beer, some had pizza even and in the morning Dori joined us for a bakery breakfast
Dori, a big guy sporting a pony tail arrives as usual in his wife's black Range Rover with music blasting out loudly, he's great company and always helpful but I'm sure he loves to make this great impression of the modern viking when screeching to a halt next to our tents. The great arrival was undermined however by his wife's two miniature dogs which he was charged with caring for and were yapping through the rear window. It also transpired he's not often allowed to drive the Range Rover due to his love of speed.
When I first met Dori and the beautiful Steina they were living together and only decided to marry as there was no one else in town they liked
A ladle FFS - pure genius
Yes, I'd suggested a desert spoon but the ladle is inspired
Another long day follows which starts off well enough in reasonable weather, as we head back to the highlands to head west we ride through stunning countryside but mist and rain plague us.
hardly any photos but here's two of Steve's taken when the mist lifted a little!
It's a long farm track which although claimed a few tumbles has been much improved from last year when it was deeply rutted.
I'm aware there's a light not too far behind me as a 90 deg left hand bend emerges through the gloom, it's a very steep decent and in my mirror I watch Liam miss the turn completely ending up in a heap in the long grass. I walk over to help but we're both laughing as we watch the other descending with almost the same outcome
It seems both Dave and Jon had also taken amusing tumbles along the way
We make the road in high winds and rain for coffee. It's shut.
Pushing on to an ideal campsite some distance along the road we find that also shut due to Covid.
There's another campsite the other side of the fjord but Liam and Jon high tail it to a B&B of sorts.
Our eventual camp is well sheltered from the wind but the rain is relentless throughout the night.
My bike waits patiently in the rain as I'm thankful for my tarp
Poor Dave on the other hand is only just hanging in there while realising an £80 tent wasn't his best decision as the puddle edged closer
It was now I reminded him it's a fine line between character building and soul destroying but it's for him to decide where that line is. It was a close call
I'd had a great night's sleep and the weather was set to clear around 1pm so waited in the shelter of the toilet with coffee and smoke
The sun's about to make an appearance so time to get ready for the West Fjords..........
hardly any photos but here's two of Steve's taken when the mist lifted a little!
It's a long farm track which although claimed a few tumbles has been much improved from last year when it was deeply rutted.
I'm aware there's a light not too far behind me as a 90 deg left hand bend emerges through the gloom, it's a very steep decent and in my mirror I watch Liam miss the turn completely ending up in a heap in the long grass. I walk over to help but we're both laughing as we watch the other descending with almost the same outcome
It seems both Dave and Jon had also taken amusing tumbles along the way
We make the road in high winds and rain for coffee. It's shut.
Pushing on to an ideal campsite some distance along the road we find that also shut due to Covid.
There's another campsite the other side of the fjord but Liam and Jon high tail it to a B&B of sorts.
Our eventual camp is well sheltered from the wind but the rain is relentless throughout the night.
My bike waits patiently in the rain as I'm thankful for my tarp
Poor Dave on the other hand is only just hanging in there while realising an £80 tent wasn't his best decision as the puddle edged closer
It was now I reminded him it's a fine line between character building and soul destroying but it's for him to decide where that line is. It was a close call
I'd had a great night's sleep and the weather was set to clear around 1pm so waited in the shelter of the toilet with coffee and smoke
The sun's about to make an appearance so time to get ready for the West Fjords..........
Tim, how many times have we had the conversation.
Mark
Yes Mark, but how many times do we ignore our own conclusion
Great photo's and write up Tim 
What camera are you using?
What camera are you using?
Great photo's and write up Tim
What camera are you using?
Ha ha just my old phone
That was a great campsite - those of us with hair shampoo'd everything at the over-flow end much to the amusement/bafflement of the Germans at the other end. They were riding a string of ponies through the week. They change steed 3 or 4 times a day and usually have fresh ones waiting at next stop - fantastic set up - they were covering 40/50 miles a day between bivvies.
The only 'moment' was when some ugly fat thing accused me of trying to pinch her husbands swimming togs from the clothes line - she obviously realised her mistake when she took the opportunity to properly size me up - no doubt also took a look at her man
The only 'moment' was when some ugly fat thing accused me of trying to pinch her husbands swimming togs from the clothes line - she obviously realised her mistake when she took the opportunity to properly size me up - no doubt also took a look at her man
Attachments
It was worth waiting for the change in weather, after a couple of hours we pause while Stu positions himself to a appear taller than me
The sun making a guest appearance.
Onward
Bakerman's side stand holding up well although the ladle needed some adjustment and eventually replacement!
790 and Liam's lovely 500
I've been here a couple of times in thick mist, today was much better
Eventually to camp at one of my favorite spots (on the 2nd trip the weather so good we spent 2 nights here)
It's what motorbikes are for
My kitchen
Jon finally experiments with his expensive tarp
There are folk who won't camp anywhere, my advise to them is wake up before your dead!
A perfect evening.
The sun making a guest appearance.
Onward
Bakerman's side stand holding up well although the ladle needed some adjustment and eventually replacement!
790 and Liam's lovely 500
I've been here a couple of times in thick mist, today was much better
Eventually to camp at one of my favorite spots (on the 2nd trip the weather so good we spent 2 nights here)
It's what motorbikes are for
My kitchen
Jon finally experiments with his expensive tarp
There are folk who won't camp anywhere, my advise to them is wake up before your dead!
A perfect evening.
We have a fine day ahead before the weather's going to really close in again so make the best of it with the intention of staying at one of my regular stop overs with great facilities, we can even lay up there for a day.
But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
When we arrived it was shut due to Covid!!
Luckily there was an equally great place to stay less than '30' miles away.
Back to the day.
Having another mooch around this special old place
On the way back to the main track I headed off alone to this old settlement.
A couple came out of what was there summer house to greet me, he was one of 8 brothers who were born and bred around here on their farm. They were both retired school teachers.
I told him I'd previously met two of his brothers on separate occasions.
He began by telling me of the old days when as a young boy he would walk with the postman for 2 days to get to school where he would stay for 6 weeks at a time and how tough that walk was in winter.
I could have stayed all day talking but needed to catch up with the others and Bakerman was already worried as to where I'd got to
as I was getting ready to take my leave his wife welcomed me back anytime and to call in. Such is the hospitality of the Icelandic people.
The summer house is on the right
Heading back to catch up with the others at a small harbour and community shop run by a Frenchman escaping society.
.........
But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
When we arrived it was shut due to Covid!!
Luckily there was an equally great place to stay less than '30' miles away.
Back to the day.
Having another mooch around this special old place
On the way back to the main track I headed off alone to this old settlement.
A couple came out of what was there summer house to greet me, he was one of 8 brothers who were born and bred around here on their farm. They were both retired school teachers.
I told him I'd previously met two of his brothers on separate occasions.
He began by telling me of the old days when as a young boy he would walk with the postman for 2 days to get to school where he would stay for 6 weeks at a time and how tough that walk was in winter.
I could have stayed all day talking but needed to catch up with the others and Bakerman was already worried as to where I'd got to
as I was getting ready to take my leave his wife welcomed me back anytime and to call in. Such is the hospitality of the Icelandic people.
The summer house is on the right
Heading back to catch up with the others at a small harbour and community shop run by a Frenchman escaping society.
.........
Deleted account 211025001
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Yup, that's the lad Amanda fell in love with
Great write up young man, cheers for taking the time
Andres
Yup, that's the lad Amanda fell in love with
Well, who can blame her!
I had a good chat with him a couple of weeks later and had already written out a "Bakerman is Tosser" sign for a photo because Steve wanted me to ask him what music he was playing on this occasion, but our talk evolved into the philosophical reasons for being in remote places so couldn't bring myself to ask for the picture.....I did tell him Bakerman had asked about the music, we both held out our hands in a kind of je ne sais pa way
Deleted account 211025001
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Well, who can blame her!
I had a good chat with him a couple of weeks later and had already written out a "Bakerman is Tosser" sign for a photo because Steve wanted me to ask him what music he was playing on this occasion, but our talk evolved into the philosophical reasons for being in remote places so couldn't bring myself to ask for the picture.....I did tell him Bakerman had asked about the music, we both held out our hands in a kind of je ne sais pa way
Yeah, I get that
It was full volume Sigur Ross when we where there
Here's a clip from a lovely film they made called Heima. Check it out, lovely music yes, but so much more than that. It really conveys that Icelandic vibe as well as having some beautiful cinematography of the country
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KbPWi1gshzI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Andres
Onward to a lovely old trail given to me by tonight's would be host.
I've used this on several trips although skipped it on the 2nd trip this year.
David riding his 790 well...
And a very composed Stuart
Previous trips had this name the bridge of doom and it perhaps seems that way more so when riding up it for the first time.
Always a moments hesitation.
Then let it run missing the big rocks as Liam demonstrates
Jon very nearly fucks up in the first four inches
But from then on it was plain sailing
David safely across
As always Stuart makes it look simple
I invite Stuart not to take the bridge but to find the barely discernible old trail meeting the others a little further along, it was difficult to find the first time and of course conditions change all the time ..... as did the rocky river crossing.
I love this photo as Stuart's body language shows what a good rider he is, to my mind there is no way both he and the bike aren't coming out of the river at the same time
Eventually we reach our plan B stop over, luckily I have my tent up before heading to the bar/restaurant on my bike.
Liam and Jon already well lubricated, become a bad influence and I've had so much beer I can hardly stand.....riding my bike back down the track is something I can't even remember.
Somehow in the early hours Jon and Liam manage to ride theirs down and collapse in a big puddle as they haven't put their tents up yet.
I woke to see two badly erected tents but no sign of Liam until early afternoon
We knew it was going to rain all day so laid in the warm bar with considerably less beer than the night before.
I've used this on several trips although skipped it on the 2nd trip this year.
David riding his 790 well...
And a very composed Stuart
Previous trips had this name the bridge of doom and it perhaps seems that way more so when riding up it for the first time.
Always a moments hesitation.
Then let it run missing the big rocks as Liam demonstrates
Jon very nearly fucks up in the first four inches
But from then on it was plain sailing
David safely across
As always Stuart makes it look simple
I invite Stuart not to take the bridge but to find the barely discernible old trail meeting the others a little further along, it was difficult to find the first time and of course conditions change all the time ..... as did the rocky river crossing.
I love this photo as Stuart's body language shows what a good rider he is, to my mind there is no way both he and the bike aren't coming out of the river at the same time
Eventually we reach our plan B stop over, luckily I have my tent up before heading to the bar/restaurant on my bike.
Liam and Jon already well lubricated, become a bad influence and I've had so much beer I can hardly stand.....riding my bike back down the track is something I can't even remember.
Somehow in the early hours Jon and Liam manage to ride theirs down and collapse in a big puddle as they haven't put their tents up yet.
I woke to see two badly erected tents but no sign of Liam until early afternoon
We knew it was going to rain all day so laid in the warm bar with considerably less beer than the night before.
Ah Lee, I can only apologise for the poor photos.....particularly the last one!!
Have a great winter trip and keep in touch, I'll be staying down your way next March and again in summer.
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