Iceland planning and shipping details, in detail.
Here, in some detail, are some aspects of the trip. I have concentrated on getting there and back but can write some more soon, if any one requests more. I’ll try and upload some photos too.
Documentation is important if you are shipping a bike, so be pedantic and check twice or thrice with different people. Take a full set of documents and a photocopied set. keep one yourself and give one set to your friend. A set of keys for the bike and a second set for you. At worst you can buy equipment in Iceland but if you are waiting for your bike to be released from customs you are losing your holiday and paying for hotels and setting off in a bad temper!
However, I cannot recommend Iceland enough. Very friendly, civilised, safe, efficient and very affordable now. I would equate the cost to that of a UK motorway service stations. Fuel costs are similar to the UK. Outside of reykjavik the food is fairly appalling but if you can handle burger and chips for breakfast you’ll love the place as much as we did.
Campsites were between £6 and £10 and some were on the honour system. A box where you are expected to pay and as they were well stocked with loo roll and care was taken to maintain them I would recommend we honour the system. Given the land scape we never hit a stone with a tent peg! Soft soil on campsites!!
We went out June 26th 2011 after a lot of planning and prep. As it turned out we had what we needed and no more. We encountered some problems but fortunately nothing we weren't prepared for. I shall go into detail so apologies if it is too much detail but it might be that some other first time travellers find it useful. In my research for the trip I found many kit lists but nothing on how to get all you gear out by plane, without paying excess baggage.
We had bought a couple of Dakars, I’d bought mine from PMVern on this site and Gary had got his elsewhere. We had both done the BMW Off Road Skills course with Pavey, a day with Tams and Craig at Black Desert Training and the BMW Motorbike maintenance course in Wales. All of which were absolutely invaluable for us, and did not only build a good skill base, but also made it really clear what was repairable and what wasn’t, which made all the difference when Gary’s rear calliper burst into flames and he later had two punctures!
As most people are now aware getting to Iceland while not difficult, can be time consuming if you try to go surface. From Newcastle ( Gary is based in Cardiff) I could get the ferry to Holland and then ride to Denmark and get the ferry directly to the East Coast port in Iceland, four/five days travel and quite expensive. Or ride to Aberdeen (I think) and catch the ferry stopping two night in the Faros. Both options are time consuming and would have taken about nine days out of our two week slot so, we decided to ship the bikes from Immingham (Hull) to Reykjavik rtn with Eimskip, and both fly from Manchester to Reykjavik.
I drove the bikes by trailer to Immingham on the Tuesday where I loaded them personally into a container. They were shipped on Thursday and arrived in the port in Reykjavik on Monday morning, ready for collection from Monday Lunchtime. We in the meantime flew from Manchester to Reykjavik on Sunday, spent the night in Reykjavik and went to the port on Monday and collected our bikes. Simples.
The return trip was the same but in reverse. Drop bikes at port and load in container. Stay the night near the airport and fly home the next day. Three days later drive the car and trailer to Immingahm to collect the bikes. On collection in Immingham I discovered that although we had loaded the bikes into the container and tied them down, Reykjavik staff had not installed airbags to support the bikes, resulting in both side stands snapping and the bikes falling and sliding in the container. I thought we would be looking at a drawn out insurance claim but we had taken out the shipping company’s insurance, Eimskip had admitted it was their fault in emails and it was a matter of getting BMW to make a damage assessment, putting the claim in and then Iceland Eimskip transferred the full amount into my account.
As always photograph the damage and as soon as you realise there is a problem be careful what forms you subsequently sign. On leaving the port and in my slightly annoyed sate, I signed a form to say I had collected the bikes. Only when I got home did I see that at the bottom of the copy I was given was a tick box that should have been filled to indicate that there was damage caused! Fortunately staff were excellent and all worked out.
The cost of travel was £708 shipping (tour/retour) and £250 flight rtn.
Packing and equipment.
We were advised that all panniers must have keys transported with them along with the bike ignition keys, no insurer would cover the contents of the panniers in transit. Eimskip staff in Immingham, in the course of general banter, said they would not trust the safety of anything left in panniers. Draw your own conclusion as to wether that was a confession?
So, with some careful planning it was possible to take all our equipment including two tents, sleeping bags, pots and pans and bike gear packed into two 20kg loads. We did put some non critical/replaceable items in the panniers. Other stuff we securely tied to the bikes.
We removed Mirrors and put them in the panniers.
We slightly loosened brake levers and clutch levers. Another top tip from Craig, and saved the day more than once. It allows them to rotate in a spill.
At the airport I took off trainers and packed them in hold luggage and put on my heavy moto X boots. some other minor repacking was required to keep the hold luggage at 20kg and my carry on luggage within the required size and weight.
We gave a lot of thought to paying excess baggage charges but decided it wasn’t required. You only have to look silly and hot until you’ve passed check in and passport control, then you can strip off and carry jackets and jumpers.
Equipment put in the hold:
* All equipment was put into a large HG plastic hold-all (water proof). That was later strapped to the back of the bike with tent and sleeping bag in.
* Tent, light weight two man.
* Sleeping bag, synthetic light weight (Feather bags don’t dry easily and are cold when wet).
* Bag liner - silk
* Cooker - Primus multi fuel that works on unleaded (if it even vaguely smells of petrol they might not let it on the plane!!!!!!)
A set of pots kettle, plates, knife, fork, spoon, cup, (gravel makes a good scourer).
Tool kit- see below.
* GoreTex boot liners - excellent.
* Jeans x1
* Merino wool Base layer , 1 long sleeved 1 short sleeved.
Fleece
Trainers
Thunder pants x2
Motorbike socks x2
Socks x2
Wash bag
First aid kit
Spare gloves.
Snood/Buff
Air bed
Tripod
On my person and in pockets:
Jumper
Tshirt
Bike Jacket with thermal liner
Moto X boots - water proof - They great but don’t let the water out once its in!!
Pants (third pair)
Bike socks
Jeans
Camera, Canon G12
Passport
Moto x gloves with GoreTex liners
Glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses
In my Hand Luggage:
Helmet
Chargers
Gopro HD and mounts
Scala rider G4 - excellent kit.
Map and travel guide and reading book.
Garmin GPS
Tank bag- I later gave this away as it was impractical
Travel documents
Camera flashs
In the panniers I put :
* Oil, WD40,
Full waterproof suit
Haynes Manual
Strapped to the bike:
Large Tyre levers
Spare inner tube
Fuel Can
Straps
USB Charger
BMW tool kit - under seat
15 x 75 cm Plastic ties - they’re huge and saved the trip when my pannier ripped off in a river crossing. I had them tied them round the back of the tail light.
Two Touratech oil cans on the back of the Panniers that we filled, one with Vodka the other with Whiskey. ESSENTIAL!!!!! But remember which is which when you grab one to try to put out a caliper fire!!
Tool Kit:
*Simple motorbike tool kit that tackles only the problems we are prepared to tackle. Including Light bulbs, spark plugs, brake and gear levers, gear cable, spare tube ( I took a front and Gary took a rear. The front tube can be used in the rear). Electric pump, Vulcanizing fluid and a big patch to cut to size. A selection of fuses, wire, test probe, small and medium cable ties, self amalgamating and electrical tape, many pairs of latex gloves, spanners, pliers and an adjustable, plus medium size mole grips. Metal epoxy putty to repair engine casings. Junior hack saw and blades, Plastic tube.
On arrival, Sunday.
We got the bus from the airport ( 45 mins) to the centre of Reykjavik and to
Hotel Leifur Eiríksson
Reykjavik
Iceland
562-0800, where we stayed the first night for about £50 each. Central and excellent.
Monday we checked with Eimskip to see if the ship had arrived which can be iffy in the north Atlantic if the weather is bad, and arranged to get the bus to the port which is 20mins away.
Collecting the bikes could not be easier provided you have all relevant documentation. Eimskip are keen to make the process easy as they are aware that there is a huge tourist demand now which they will benefit from, now that other imports have fallen off dramatically, provided Icelandic customs are not difficult and put us tourists off.
We were told to bring with us:
* V5
* Both parts of the driving licence,
* Passport
* Import export paper work, I cant remember the details but it is supplied by Eimskip.
* A printed list of all items in the panniers.
MOT
I think that is all.
After Collection and having taken our helmets with us, we reinstalled our mirrors and drove back to the hotel. We loaded up and headed North.
The return.
After dropping the bikes at Eimskip and loading slightly more in the panniers this time. we got the bus to Kefflavik where we spent the last night near the airport at:
http://www.1x6.is/ which is a small guest house and quite unique! in the morning we got a taxi the short distance to the airport and home.
The collection of the bikes has been explained.
If you would like to read more about the trip drop me a message and i’ll give an outline of our route and accommodation.
...in fact you were the only bikes with Brit plates we saw.
.