ICELAND - A game of three halves

You've all been making it look like getting around was hard work. I've just got back from a few days off-roading around north west Iceland and it was an absolute doddle :)

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You've all been making it look like getting around was hard work. I've just got back from a few days off-roading around north west Iceland and it was an absolute doddle :)

That's all very good but we need spoilers!

Is there enough room for, say, 3 dragons ?
Or a hoard of dothraki to camp ?
Or for a wildling revolt to take place ?
 
Turns out it wasn't for Game of Thrones after all, but for a superhero feature film. I don't know how it fits into the story as I'm not involved enough in this one to be given a script. I'm off to Baffin Island on Friday though which will be even further off the beaten track, it takes 3 days to get to our survey area, by airliner, small plane, bush plane, river boat and a lot of hiking.
 
Turns out it wasn't for Game of Thrones after all, but for a superhero feature film. I don't know how it fits into the story as I'm not involved enough in this one to be given a script. I'm off to Baffin Island on Friday though which will be even further off the beaten track, it takes 3 days to get to our survey area, by airliner, small plane, bush plane, river boat and a lot of hiking.

No where near as impressive !!
 
We leave Husavik minus three riders who've opted to stay on the tarmac for the rest of their trip .......

Heading north around the coastline we brim the tanks at Asbyrgi and take the lovely trail south calling briefly at Dettifoss and onto the F88 and into the interior of Iceland towards Askja.

Mark H at the first river crossing.

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Spud

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'Toddy the Terrified' heading somewhere while Lee waits.

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Just needs a pair of skis :D

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Yep, that'll be Lee :clap

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Before the second and slightly more serious river we'd ridden through some very tight and twisting lava fields and were waiting for a few of the others for quite some time.

Simon had a bit of an off and damaged the pannier on his 650 Dakar so took advantage of a big truck to at least bring his luggage over.

Tim F staying close to the rope which marks the shallowest route but the currents strong.

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Nearly there :)

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A few pics of Mark ButtonMoon riding as well as ever:clap

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There's a big smile in that helmet and not just because there would be time for a Spicy Sausage break.

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Mark H

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Mark shows us his best impression of Lee :D

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Lee showing some caution this time :beerjug:

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Spud nearly across.

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Enter Toddy the T

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Finding the rocks under his wheels I guess

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Spud's straight in to lend a hand

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And he's on his way again with no dunking.........for Toddy T at least.....

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But the current pulls poor Spud over and he get's a drenching:blast:comfort

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Obliviously on his way as Simon loads his luggage onto a truck on the far bank.

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Simon.

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And his luggage.

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Then a very fast blast down toward Askja stopping once again at 'John's Tea Junction that wasn't'.

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We leave Husavik minus three riders who've opted to stay on the tarmac for the rest of their trip .......

But someone forgot to tell the Icelanders to tarmac the R1 :blast154.jpg152.jpg153.jpg
 
We had better weather at that spot 5yrs ago Rob, well it's brighter anyway but we stopped to put every piece of clothing we had on.

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Did you at least get the view as you dropped down?

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Don't even recognise it in the sun, spent the entire day in the fog going from one yellow post to the next.

Made up for it the following day when I reached my goal of the polystyrene Icebergs:clap
 

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This was a fabulous day's riding despite having wet feet for most of it. Poor Spud had wet underpants though after taking a tumble after giving me a push when I had stalled the bike and it wouldn't initially restart :blast

The first part of the day was reasonably straight forward and we even had time to visit a waterfall or two

Tim, Spud and Lee:

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We then headed off towards lots of lovely river crossings :eek:

Spud on his lovely DR350
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Myself, Lee and Spud were riding together and had negotiated some lovely long straights and the odd lava field where the trail would snake upwards briefly and then back down the other side. As we approached one we could see something wasn't quite right as Simon was sitting on his bike at 90 degrees to the trail. Turned out his pannier had hit a rock as he cranked the bike into a bend and this had thrown him well off line going into the next bend. He did well not to completely exit the trail edge, particularly as there was a six foot drop a few yards in front of where he came to rest.:yikes

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We repaired his pannier as best we could and set off again:

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After a short distance Simon had to stop again as the rear of his bike had collapsed. Initially we were concerned the sub-frame had broken but it turned out that the two bolts at the top just under the seat had fallen out.

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Luckily a couple of spares out of the CCM bolt kit fitted and we were quickly on our way again

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With the odd stop to admire the scenery:

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and wonder where we might end up (according to Tim there was always 30 miles to go!) :D

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For the avoidance of doubt, I was one of the 'minus three riders'.

After an off on a tight adverse camber covered in thick slippy mud, the bike sank and I land on large rocks where I injured my neck, shoulder and back.

Worse than me not being able to turn my neck or grip the clutch was that I broke parts of my bike, brake, mirror, switches, and the seals on my engine started leaking oil. Keeping up with the KTMs that skipped over the crap was not easy with the GSA.
it was time to break away..

If you think we do Tarmac you are crazy. Tarmac in Iceland is laid by travellers that are on holiday. They also lay turf and do roof repairs.
 
I came across this little fella, I think it's Coprinus comatus also known as Shaggy ink cap, apparently it's edible and popular in China, I'm sure someone will confirm or not as the case maybe.
 

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So this is me back in the camp after my ride out with Tim G. As you can see I am much happier than before and I'm looking forward to the next day. But first I fancy a pint, I mange to persuade Joe to come with me so off we walk. I say persuade, I just mentioned where I was going and I think out of a sense of duty and or comradeship Joe didn't want me wandering the mean streets of Husavik alone in case some Puffin rustlers ambushed me. Thanks Joe.
 

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So Joe and I have a couple of beers, Andy turns up and we have a couple of more, this stuff a little strong and it went straight to my head, I'm feeling a bit pissed. God I've only had four pints, I must have been down south too long I'm thinking to myself. With that up I gets, and decides to find a super market for some water and spicy sausages.
 

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