ICELAND - A game of three halves

[Toddmeister]

The other development was Simon's rear brake pads or rather lack of them
He was in a right flap phoning here there and everywhere trying to source some, even asking me if it's likely to buy some in Husavik

I happen to know that his 650 Dakar pads are the same as mine and I have a spare set, so after letting him stew for a while longer I handed him mine.
Now when I say he was grateful he did draw the line at a BJ

Later in a bar, Mark reminded him to fit them before he became too pissed

I'm not sure at what point Mark gave him this advice, but when Lee and I went with him to get some fish and chips Simon seemed to be a little bit tipsy Whilst we were waiting for what turned out to be a plate of magnificent fish and chips, Simon decided to burst into song and entertained a somewhat bemused groups of Yanks and local Icelanders with several verses of "thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy, when the boat comes in" in his best geordie voice

Here's the singing Geordie enjoying his extra large portion of fish n chips, together with Lee (who was still waiting for the light to be just right before getting his proper camera out )

 

[ButtonMoon]

It's still day 2. at around 12:30 lunch time we pull in to a large car park, there are a lot of tourists milling around, it's a popular spot to stop and look at the geysers. We stay for about forty minutes than back on the trail.

 

[ButtonMoon]

We ride on !! The route takes a change in that the road surface goes from ash track to more dirt roads, with the occasional muddy bits. The lead riders stay at a constant progressive speed but the novice off road riders are starting to slow down and ride within their own comfort zones, which is the right thing to do. This means long waits for the some riders to catch up, I have an idea, so I start to hang right back and wait an extra 5-10 mins after everyone else has gone then ride on catching and passing rider till I get to Tim G at the front, I continue to do this for the rest of the day. I stop and take some pics of the riders passing me.

 

[ButtonMoon]

Time is marching on and we push forward. we get to Siglufjordhur around 8-8:30 pm. the fog on the way in was thick and we couldn't take in the views, the town is nice and we are told to set up camp in what looks like the village green. Tim told how we came to stay two nights and I'm glad we did. Tents all up stoves out, I go foraging for food and drink like the hunter gather I am.

 

[ButtonMoon]

The fog starts to roll in again giving the town a creepy feel.

 

[ButtonMoon]

Now that we've got a rest day tomorrow we can all meet up and have a couple of beers, these were taken at 23:00 notice how light it is.

 

[ButtonMoon]

23rd July, day 3. I wake up bursting for a pee and cold, make my way across to the bogs, there are heaters in the toilets, I should have slept here last night! it's 2am and this is as dark as it gets, made stranger by the fog. All relieved I got back to kip!!

 

[Deleted account 220319001]

You had a rest day after two days ?

 

[ButtonMoon]

23rd July, day 3. I wake up bursting for a pee and cold, make my way across to the bogs, there are heaters in the toilets, I should have slept here last night! it's 2am and this is as dark as it gets, made stranger by the fog. All relieved I got back to kip!!

 

[ButtonMoon]

Fishing starts at 10am Tim French and I are there and ready to go, we are pointed towards a little marquee and we are given, a small bottle of cola, a cake and a savoury pasty thing each. We wait near the boats and I get talking to one of the captains. He's in his late 60's from Greece, he said he's been at sea and all around the world since he was 15 years old, he's lived in Siglufjordur for the last 30 years his children and grand children live here and he said he has no desire to stay, live or holiday anywhere else in the world. He said he doesn't own his own boat anymore as he's supposed to be retired but works a boat for his friend almost everyday. What a nice man.

 

[ButtonMoon]

more pics

 

[ButtonMoon]

You had a rest day after two days ?

Free fishing & free food !!! no brainer!

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Nice one button moon, that last bit makes your trip even more special, if that's at all possible. Keep posting my good man

 

[ButtonMoon]

So we fish, first thing I notice is how calm the sea is, it's got a bit of a swell to it and it's very tranquil, there's a lot of sea birds around us and the don't like the pastry on that savoury thingy they gave us! I saw puffins, arctic terns and I think northern fulmar as we come back and the mist has lifted, on shore there are a few common snipe also.

You know when so look at fish and the packet says line caught, well this what they do on this boat, they had about four automated fishing beams with line and hooks. there were about 5 hooks on this one but I'm sure you could get more on this thing, each hook has a plastic lure on it and a weight at the bottom of the line. The fisherman looks at his fish finder, presses a button on the beam/rod control panel and the line drops to a fixed depth, the machine then raises and drops the line in a "jigging" motion, hey presto fish!

 

[ButtonMoon]

More pics.




Sent from Space

 

[Joe narvey]

(We were on the later boat after a late start to the day). On our boat the fish were being landed but another boat pulled alongside and an old boy sang Icelandic folk songs and played accordion to woo and thanks for the fish. Very surreal and a huge privilege to witness it.

 

[ButtonMoon]

On the way back the skipper has the boat on auto pilot as he starts to fillet the fish. I used to go fishing as a kid from the age of 11 to 16 on my uncles boat, he showed how to gut and fillet but it wasn't like tis fella. You could have fed a family of four on the bits he threw overboard!!

 

[ButtonMoon]

Vid. https://vimeo.com/180895462


Sent from Space

 

[ButtonMoon]

We get back to dry land and straight to the BBQ, you can't get much fresher than that! And all for free !!!



Sent from Space

 

[Joe narvey]

Vid. https://vimeo.com/180895462


Sent from Space

As an enthusiastic cook I really paid attention to the gutting and prep. The one I watched hacked it, slashed it and tore it. When I asked about this he said why, we have lots.. He didn't need to fillet the fish cleanly because they are so plentiful.

Learning point !