Hi Richard,
I definitely be coming back in the near future for some more Juicy info.
At the moment there are two of us, one GSA and one GS possibly three but the third
going to be on a Honda monkey or something else that we can provide.
It's doable with a GS(A), but if you have never gone off-road with it with full
luggage, I would try that at home before going on such a trip.
We had little off-road experience, only what we learned on previous hollidays
to Scandinavia, but compared to Iceland the gravelroads we had done in Norway
and Sweden were quite easy. Last year I did a one day off-road-skills course,
on which I learned some tricks which would have been very usefull for such a trip.
So if you really want to enjoy your trip, be prepared!
I must say though given the state of the roads, I'm a bit reluctant to take the
better half, as undoubtably it's going to be a siginifant going solo and I'm quite
impressed that you managed so well.
To be honest, it wasn't the best trip for my girlfriend; more then half of our time we spend
riding. For us, my sister, her boyfriend and me, as riders every day was an adventure,
trying to survive all these tracks allday, but for my girlfriend as a pillion the only
challenge was not to yell too often, and occasionally help me getting out of the sand
or water when the GS got stuck.
I'm planning to go back in 2005 (in 2004 I want to participate in the Finnish allroadtour)
but then I want to ride solo, with a bit less luggage, so I can try some of the tracks
which were to difficult last time.
Also what is impressive is that considering there are two of you, you don't sem to
have a lot of gear
Because we went with 3 bikes, we divided some of the camping gear; only one coffee-maker,
one set of pans, 2 fuel stoves, one air-pump, one set of tools and tire-repair-kit ect.
We wore Gially jeans with extra protection and heavy (cat c-d) hiking boots; these are more
functional then other mc-gear when you combine riding and hiking.
But still the bike was quite heavy, because we had to be prepared for all kinds of weather.
There are not many (cheap) places to sleep on Iceland, so we decided we would camp all the time.
But camping all the time, combined with unsteady weather, demanding off-road rides and some
daylong hiking trips means you have to bring quite some extra waterproof or fast drying clothing,
a stormproof tent and warm winter sleeping bags.
Besides this we always brought at least a one-day ration of food and water for the four of us,
because we could never be sure we would reach civilisation at the end of the day,
and if we reached it, if it was a civilised enough place to buy food....
Among the other Iceland travellers, with whom we were on the ferry, we grew quite famous;
on the most desolate places they encountered the four "unprepared Dutchman with their to heavely
packed bikes", enjoying another copious picknick...
Most of the camping places on Iceland are quite basic, toilet and cold water, so we tried
to camp near villages with a swimming pool once in a few days. There we could take a shower
(which was mandatory before going into the swimming pool) and warm up a bit; some nights the
temp went below zero and combined with hard winds it was really winter... in august...
Except these neccesary items as extra clothing and winterproof camping gear for two, I brough
some luxery : my fishing rods, some books, photocamera with extra lenses, a lot of film,
some hiking jackets, foldable camping chairs, a small BBQ, one liter of peanut butter
and some bottles of whisk(e)y.
Luckely I managed not to drop my bike during our trip, I only got stuck several times,
because I don't think I would have been able to lift it up alone...
have you got one of those "Tardis" panniers?
No, I used
a set of Hepco and Becker Junior 2 panniers, 35 and 25 liters,
for my photogear, cooking gear, books, clothing and fishing rods
1 Ortlieb 90l bag,
for the tent, chairs and sleeping bags,
2 10l coleman bags,
for some fleece pullovers
2 20l coleman bags,
for our hiking jackest and trousers
an original
BMW tankbag
for the 2person airmattras +pump
and 2 10 liter sidebags.
for food, water and whisk(e)y
