The Faroes and Iceland

[Devon]

Had a look around the Faroes and Iceland in June: what amazing countries. The Faroes were voted the most unspoilt, natural islands in the world by National Geographic in 2007 and I believe the ring road around Iceland is regarded as one of the best motorcycling roads in the world.

There is good news and bad news if you want to tour Iceland on your own M/C: the bad news is, it’s a 800 mile trip to Hansholm in Denmark from Calais for the two day Smyril ferry to the Faroes and Iceland. The good news is its only a 800 mile trip to Hansholm in Denmark from Calais for the two day Smyril ferry to the Faroes and Iceland.

It’s a 300 mile trip from Devon to Dover for me before the ferry and the trip to Dk with little in the way of interesting roads (imho) until north of Hamburg so I decided to put the bike in the back of my transit and drive to Dk to catch the ferry. It would have been just as easy to take a ferry from Harwich to Esjberg in Dk but with four days at sea from Dk to get bored with already I decided to drive.

The M/C clean and ready to go.


Home sweet home for the trip up to Dk for the ferry

 

[Devon]

The Faroes are a group of islands situated about halfway between Norway and Iceland. I had booked a B&B at a fishing village called Fuglafjørður about 50km from Torshaven where the ferry docked. Unfortunately, due to a force 8 the ferry docked three hrs late at 3am on the 12th June, coupled with the fact the Faroes tourist office had forwarded the wrong address for my B&B that meant I had nowhere to sleep for the night. Fortunately, the weather was good and being so far north it didn’t really get dark so I gave up trying to find my room and explored the islands instead. The Faroe islands are connected by bridges, tunnels and ferrys. Plenty of info here: http://www.visitfaroeislands.com/Default.aspx?ID=9884

I had 2 gloriously sunny days in the Faroes with a rainy day of departure. I covered about 500 miles in the 3 days and covered most of the roads I think: the Faroes are pretty small and 2 days was enough for me.

Some pics of the faroes:

Slipway at Vioareioion Vidoy


Rison and Kellingin off of Eysturoy


I took a 2 hr boat trip to the Bird cliffs from Vestmanna


Some Guillimots


and Kittiwakes

 

[Devon]

I can see why the Faroes are regarded as unspoilt, the scenary is spectacular and there is a lot of wildlife.

The main nesting birds inland seemed to be Oyster catchers


You have to be careful where you tread if you leave the main track


Some Faroenese scenary.




The church at Saksun

 

[Devon]

As I wrote earlier, my last day on the Faroes was wet. Still, two good days out of three isn't bad and it rains an awful lot on the Faroes apparently. I was glad to be back on the Ferry and off to Iceland.

The ferry docks at Seyðisfjörður in north east Iceland at 10am. I had already decided that I would head south and travel the ring road in a clockwise direction. If the scenary of the faroes is spectacular, Iceland is even better.

First time in Iceland


Road to Vatternes which folllows the coast


Someone has made an effort to guard the gate

 

[Bem]

Great pictures and good story.
I would like to see these places too.

 

[Devon]

I spent my first night near Breiodalsvik. My B&B accommodation was booked through Icrlandic Farm Holidays ( http://www.farmholidays.is/ ) and was adequate with prices between 60 and 80 euros a night.
Iceland is situated just under the artic circle and the summers are short and intense. The weather can change in minutes but I was lucky and enjoyed good weather for 6 1/2 days

Some pics from my second day travelling down to to Hofn

 

[Ian M]

A trip to Faroe & Iceland is on my "things to do" list, so I am really looking forward to the rest of your story.

 

[finn]

Nice

Very nice how expensive is iceland post bank collapse?

 

[Devon]

Very nice how expensive is iceland post bank collapse?

Iceland is never going to be a budget destination but prices aren't outrageous now. Petrol is about £1.00/litre. A restaurant meal can be had for £20.00 I paid about £4.50 for a cheese and ham toasted sandwich, chips and coke in the garages along the main A1. I didn't drink booze outside of Reykjavik where the Danish pub was selling Tuborg at £3.50 a pint (special Sunday night price) and I paid £5.00 a pint for guinness in other pubs. It is easy to pay a lot more but the Icelandic Krone is now worth 45% of what it was worth two years ago so prices aren't bad really

 

[Devon]

After Hofn I continued down to Jokulsarlon where the biggest glacier in Europe (bigger than all the other glaciers in Europe put together apparently) starts breaking up into the sea.







I had noticed a Great Skua nesting on the barren land nearby.....


Jeeeesh, they are stroppy bastids. It attacked me before I was within a 100m of its nest I decided not to disturb the Skua further...........

 

[pkemppai]

Interesting!

I was there a couple of years ago, too. Rode the Ringway counterclockwise.

Some pictures here:

http://www.openroads.fi/islanti/eindex.htm

pkemppai

 

[Devon]

Interesting!

I was there a couple of years ago, too. Rode the Ringway counterclockwise.

Some pictures here:

http://www.openroads.fi/islanti/eindex.htm

pkemppai

Nice write up and pictures pkemppai. I hope to post the rest of my pictures and route later.

I rode through Oulu many years ago with a crazy Finnish girl as pillion. It was in June and we rode from Helsinki to Kittila in 24hrs to visit her family. In kittila we got eaten by mosquitoes and horseflys.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

............ I hope to post the rest of my pictures and route later.....................

Get on with it then

There are two rides I 'need' to do before I pop me mortal coil and this is one of them - loving it so far

Andres

 

[Devon]

I spent the night at Geroi near the Iceberg lake. It was the worst accommodation of my trip: 81 euros for a single bed in an empty bunkhouse that was surrounded by a building site, run by a clueless teenage lass: the hotel/restaurant/museum 500m away, with a nice room and wifi, was 50 euro for the night. Such is life.

Heading east again I fancied a bit of proper off roading so I turned off the A1 and took the F206 (classed as a 4x4 route) which passes Fagrifoss waterfalls to Laki and some water filled extinct volcanoes. The weather was the best yet: sunny and 15 deg.

The track was fairly easy with a river to cross before Fagrifoss which is about 18km from the main road.



Fagrifoss



I travelled another 12 km towards Laki and came to a river about 50cm deep. I decided not to cross and get soaked and risk dropping and drowning the bike whilst on my lonesome: it was still another 20km to Laki and I didn't know how deep or difficult the other rivers would be. So I turned around and rode the 30km back to the main road.

I stayed the night 30 km west of Vik, just south of the Volcanoe that has been causing all the trouble. It was unfortunate (or Fortunate depending on how you view these things) that the volcano had now stopped being so active. Nevertheless the sunny weather had turned cold and a savage wind picked up volcanic ash and made everything grey, including me and the bike.

 

[Devon]

West of Vik is Skogafoss, a really nice waterfall.



There are signs for sites of interest, I stopped at this place which was an ancient farm hamlet with its own church.



The landscape is like nothing I have seen before.

Some dwarf cliffs.



There are miles of Lava fields




That have been taken over by thick moss

 

[Devon]

Just east of Reykjavik is possible the only touristy bit of Iceland. It's called the Golden Triangle. I visited the Geysir first. There aren't many of these in the world and it was very impressive.



Then just 10 clicks or so up the road there is the mighty Gullfoss.



Then I drove over to Pingvellir, which is where the Icelanders travelled from all over Iceland to meet and do justice and decide new laws for many hundreds of years. I found the place disappointing but others didn't.

 

[Oisin]

Great pics!! and a great trip!

well done!!

 

[Devon]

well done!!

Thank's Oisin, I have followed your trip write ups. Some great pics and you have a way with words. Enjoy the adventure and ride safe

 

[Devon]

I booked a couple of nights in Alba Guesthouse in Reykjavik. It's a 10 min walk from the center and for about 60 euros a night you get a cracking room and good breakfast: http://www.alba.is/

Reykjavik seemed pleasnt enough but as I am not fussed about cities nowadays unless they are really special: with a population of about 120k its more of a big town than city really. I didn't invest much time exploring the place. As I posted earlier I had a few beers in the old town section but being Sunday it was very quiet. I understand Saturday is the big drinking night for the locals.

On the monday I left all my luggage at the guesthouse and explored the peninsular west of the city.





I stopped by at the Blue Lagoon but it was too touristy for me so I didn't stay long.



I came back past the hot springs at Krysuvik in the Reyjanesfolkvangur national park.

 

[pkemppai]

Maybe you should try the thermal water pool in Myvattn. It is called Jardbodin, and tourists have not found it yet - at least had not a couple of years ago.

The first time I was there was some ten years ago. At that time there was only a sauna the local farmers had built on one of the hot springs. It still stands there on the middle of the pool.

There is a short video clip of Jardbodin in my ride report at http://www.openroads.fi/islanti/eindex.htm

Have a nice trip.

pkemppai

PS: Tasting rotten shark meat is also a memorable experience.