Planless on Iceland - revisited

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit: This trip happened in 2011.
Update 2020: Back to Iceland starting in >post 255<.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


The riverbed was full of rocks and the far bank steep.
- 'Well, this is the end, is it?'
It sure looked dangerous, so I answered:
- 'Ah, let's give it a try. You go first!'

But I get ahead of myself. This will be about a planless 4 week trip to Iceland earlier this year.


Considering the road options ... Shall we do it?


Ride The World!

Sounds great, bring it on...

In for this one.

Last year I wasn't able to go on vacation before September, so I had to go south to find some nice weather. Instead of Iceland, I ended up at the Black Sea.



Somewhere in Bulgaria

To make up for this, my employer had promised not to interfere with whatever vacation I would have in mind. As the winter went by, I saw an inmate looking for company to do an Iceland trip and jumped at the occasion. Things went forth and back, and in the end another inmate, maddin, and I got ourselves tickets for the ferry. Months went past and we never had much time to plan or even meet.
So, coming from different parts of the country, we agreed to meet on the way to the ferry in Rendsburg, near the Danish border.

Maddin rolled in minutes after myself on his all-black 660 Tenere. Great, we hadn't done a single kilometer yet and I was already envying it. We filled up at the next gas station and hit the autobahn towards north. The last exit before the border was our first stop. Simply set, the 'Bordershop' is nothing else, but a huge liquor shop and the last possibility for the Scandinavians to benefit from Germany's low taxes on alcohol. Exactly, what we needed.

The autobahn all through Denmark was almost uneventful. A traffic jam. We filtered through the cars until a man waved at us to stop as there had been an accident. It turned out that 2 motorbikes had crashed and both riders were severely hurt. A soldier from one of the cars had provided first aid - probably much better trained on open wounds then anybody else. We couldn't do anything, but watch the ambulances and a helicopter. When we were finally allowed to go on, we saw the rest of the biker group standing at the side of the road. All packed up, probably as well just starting their holiday trip up north.


Getting closer to the ferry port, we saw more and more vehicles with an adventurous note: Jacked up Land Cruisers, loaded bikes, 4x4 trucks ... We arrived in Hirtshals in the very north of Denmark in the evening and decided to check out the ferry port before looking for the camp site. Here, we met Ernst on his red GS and recruited him.

A disposable BBQ grill and the beer were just right to celebrate the first camp.



BBQ in the rain

At sunrise, we had already left the camp and checked in at the port. The ferry wasn't there yet, so there was plenty of time to look at each others stuff.



The bike lane



Yummy.

This guy from Sweden had brought a power drill. He had rode in over night and hadn't had the time to mount his panniers before now.




Then, news spread through the crowd. The last arrival had brought the complete Touratech catalog mounted to his steed.




Anyway, we finally got onto the ferry, strapped down the bikes and found our berths. Time to hit the sun deck.



Unfortunately, not our ferry ...

Are we there, yet?
...
And now?

There wasn't really much to do on the ferry, other than sleeping and eating. We took the chance to exchange plans with every biker we could find. When we found out that at least 6 or 7 wanted to see the highlands, all on their own, jenzz came up with a brilliant idea: 'Let's meet for a camp somewhere remote after a day.' Unfortunately, we still had a full day on the ferry ...



The Faroeer islands



A quick stop in Torshavn







Coming up next: Iceland!

I'm in. Sounds like a good story!!

My dream ride...


Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Excellent photography!

Thanks a lot, but wait until we're actually on Iceland.

Adventure riding in Iceland - AWESOME!

Subscribed.

I be hooked

One place I would LOVE to go someday....can't wait for the report

Looks like a good one!

So stoked to follow this one.