Riding the Bullet - to Iceland!

[krian]

Hello world!

Due to a small motorcylce accident I now have finally the time to write this ride report and post a few pics from a journey that lies already nearly a year behind.


Next week will start our trip to Ireland so I have to hurry up. (To post the report and to get healthy again).


Just to know the very essential details: "we" means Bernhard, my love and best friend and me, Karin, 25 years old, both from Austria and together for more than 9 years.

And the "trip" was a journey through the south of Sweden, Norway, the Faroese Islands and to Iceland.

And the motorcycles: well, we drove on two 2005 Royal Enfield Bullet 500, bought in Austria. No E-start, no whatever - just a "pure" motorcycle as it can be . They already took us to Scotland and the Orkneys, to Sardegna, Tuscany and will take us to Ireland.



But to start with, I don't want to bore you with personal details for they will come later on but I think I start with some of my favourite pictures from the journey so that you can imagine what you are going to see if you follow this report....


The first one:

You might know this picture - it's already on the front page I took it in the south of Iceland at the Vatnajökull (meaning "Water glacier" in English - one of Europe's biggest glaciers). The Enfield is mine for it's the more beautiful one





The second one:

Again the south of Iceland. We tried out driving in the sea and it was quite funny. Of course an Enfield is a great enduro as well . It's Bernhard on the pic because I'm responsible for photography as well as for carrying the equipment.







The third one:

This was again taken in south Iceland (yes, it's great there...) at a waterfall called Skogarfoss - "foss" means waterfall. You can put up a tent there and because we were there in the mid of September it was even for free. I took the picture in the morning after a rainy night and the water in the front should be a meadow instead of a sea. Luckfully we put up the tent on the hill so we didn't get too wet actually.








The fourth one:

That's my favourite area in Iceland (I will explain that later) - the Western Fjords, in this case it's on the Snæfellsnes-peninsula. Behind the church is the "magical" Snæfellsnesjökull, a glacier that is said to be the centre of the world. Well, at least: maybe you know Jules Verne and his book "journey to the centre of the earth"? This journey starts here, on this glacier.







The last one for now:

Again the Snæfellsnes-peninsula. The red sand is typically for this region. Together with the blue sky (well, that lasted for some minutes) and the green grass it's a very stunning scenery to my opinion.

[Chanderjeet]

Awesome pics. Iceland is on my bucket list !!


Again, thanks for posting !

[Chanderjeet]

Originally Posted by krian

We tried out driving in the sea and it was quite funny. Of course an Enfield is a great enduro as well .

You are right about that

[krian]

yepp - they're great!

[Chanderjeet]

Originally Posted by krian

yepp - they're great!

I know because i ride one too.

[bunny_punia]

Speechless!!! OMG... The Bull is going places

[5er]

photos are amasing, and RE is king of the bikes .

wait for the more RR

peter

[krian]

Okay, now, before I'm going to tell you where we went I say a few words about our motorcycles and us.

This is my beloved Royal Enfield from India, standing in the valleys of my town in Lower Austria near Waidhofen/Ybbs - a great place for motorcycling besides with lots of small and narrow roads.





500 cc
no E-start
single seat for a better riding comfort
and some optical changes to the original Bullet, but I did no engine-tuning or anything else

... and the best thing is: we have two of them!
in the front there is now Bernhard's Bullet with the TT-cases on them which are perfect for travelling!







So, and this is us. The picture was taken in Denmark after a long and very, very rainy ride.
Bernhard to the right is, as mentioned, my lover, partner, best friend for over 9 years now and that's me to the left, 25 years old and a real fanatic in cases of motorcycling






So, and here you see the metamorphoses of an Enfield into a "GS-style" Enfield with the alloy cases on it . Doesn't it look adventurous now?

My Enfield....





And 15 minutes later ready to go!

[krian]

Forgive the bad map, but I think you can imagine the route that we took...




We drove from our hometown Waidhofen/Ybbs to Vienna were we caught a train to Hamburg in Germany.

Then we drove to Denmark via Puttgarden, then to København and finally to Helsingør/Helsinborg to Sweden. We tried to avoid the big roads and rode through the south of Sweden over mostly narrow roads until we reached the coastal and very scenic street to Fjällbacka in Sweden.

We took a ferry to Sandefjord in Norway and drove via Kristiansand and Stavanger to Bergen where we caught our ferry, the "Norröna" to Iceland.

There was a very short stop on the Faroese Islands and we went out for a short walk, not knowing that we would return sooner as we first planned...

From Tórshavn on the Faroese Islands we headed to Iceland, first to the harbour of Seyðisfjörður, then to Egilsstaðir, then to the north to the geothermal very active area of the Krafla and the hot mud pots of Námaskarð and to Akureyri. After that, we went to the Western Fjords and had a visit at the Snæfellsnes peninsula with it's stunning scenery. Then we went south to Reykjavík and Keflavík (where at the Coffee house "Kaffitár" the best coffee of the world is roasted!) and then to the east again with visits at Geysir and Gullfoss as well as to the glacier lagoons of the south.

Then back to Seyðisfjörður two and a half days earlier as planned because of bad weather at sea (they wanted to avoid storm and waves with a height of 10 metres or more... well... on an earlier trip we had that...) which brought us two days on the Faroese Islands. Yippiiiee...

Well, I have to say I was there... erm... 6 times and I don't think the Faroese Islands are THAT thrilling after beeing there so often...

From the Faroese Island we sailed to Hanstholm in Denmark and rode back to Hamburg in Germany where we again took a train and brought our Enfields back to Austria.



All in all, the Speedo on my machine counted from 18955 to 23723 kilometres which means quite a lot of driving on such a small machine.

But our Enfields did well and nothing had to be repaired or so... we only gave her some fresh oil somewhere in Iceland.



I hope you are interested in some travel pics now...


Until later,

Karin

[GUSTAVO LUNARDELLI]

I can t believe!

This places is real ?

Fantastic!

[Chanderjeet]

Please show close up of your pannier setup. I've tried some on my bike but haven't been to happy overall.

[Birdmove]

Thanks for the great photos!! I love to see motorcyclists taking wonderful trips on their Royal Enfield Bullets. I ride one too-a 2007 model with electric start. I never use the electric start anyway.

Jon in Puyallup, Wa. USA

[roadholder]

Wow...an amphibious Enfield!

[Frey Bentos]

Excellent. Don't stop now. Oh and when and whereabouts in Ireland?

[krian]

Originally Posted by Frey Bentos

Excellent. Don't stop now. Oh and when and whereabouts in Ireland?

Thanks all of you


We go to Ireland on the 10th of August and will be there for 4 weeks - we'll take the ferry from Cherburg to Rosslare and vice versa. I think we go round the island clockwise then, but we're still planning... and we're of course greatful for every kind of tip and hint what we should visit...


Karin