A week in Iceland - 2008
 

Two of us are just back from a great week in Iceland on F650 Dakars. We were blessed with sunshine most of the time and I even had to buy some suncream! We did the F35 from south to north and the F88 to Askja plus the usual touristy bits of Godafoss, Jokulsarlon, Dettifoss (the F862 was great fun), Geysir, Krafla etc. The river crossings weren't too bad for a couple of fording virgins but we did meet two people who'd dropped bigger bikes and one needed an oil change afterwards. The most worrying "off-road" conditions we encountered were actually the road works on the F1, in particular one long section that seemed to consist of golf-ball sized pebbles.

I didn't check all that often but whenever I did my mobile phone worked even way down the F88 towards Askja. Our F650's each used about 12 litres of petrol to get from Myvatn to Askja and back so we didn't really need the extra fuel cans but they were comforting to have anyway. We had no punctures but one bike lost a rear sub-frame bolt for which we had a spare. My new TKC80's lasted OK including the trip from just north of London to Scrabster.

The midges at the campsite along the F88 were attacking in swarms so the head-net I was advised to buy was well worth £1.50. Also useful were the eye masks from a long-haul flight to permit sleeping at "night". Campsites were good and it wasn't worth taking loads of indigestible packet food as tins etc were readily available at the service stations and not outrageously expensive. We used petrol for cooking and I don't recall seeing gas canisters for sale but I wasn't really looking. Credit cards worked OK in the service stations which were mainly of the automatic type. One chap (from Switzerland I think) had trouble because he had a 6 digit PIN which didn't work though.

The only bad part was the long ferry trip back via Hanstholm and then Esbjerg to Harwich which made time stand still. The breakfast buffet on the Norrona wasn't actually bad value if you spent the whole morning in there and made your sandwiches for later too!

So all in all a great time which we'd been talking about doing for 22 years. Iceland is thoroughly recommended - especially if it's sunny :clap:

we´re there
 

myself and franconian(met him on boat) are here in reykjavik at the moment and having a great time. tell you all when we get back. dreamt of coming here also for about 20 yrs and finally made it... speak soon

I hope you both have a good time Kevin, and I look forward to hearing about your exploits.

Chris

Just sitting in the cultural centre bar in Seydisfjordour and having a pint. Unfortunately I´m leaving tomorrow. Kevin has another 2 weeks.

I booked the other route with 3 days stop on the Faeroe Islands and just noticed that the Ferry goes to Bergen first before heading to Scrabster :thumbdown:


I had a great time here, unfortunately too short. Will definitely come back, but first to a warmer place.