Riding through Iceland: Icebergs and Volcanoes, Oh My! | GTAMotorcycle.com

Riding through Iceland: Icebergs and Volcanoes, Oh My!

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A couple of months ago, Neda and I rented a BMW F650GS and a Triumph Tiger 800 and spent two weeks riding around Iceland. Here are a couple of entries from our photojournal. More pictures and writeups at: http://www.RideDOT.com/iceland

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Tue Aug 23 2011: Ice? In Iceland?!?


Hofn (A) to Glacier Lagoon (B) to Vik (C)​

We only covered about 600 kms the last couple of days, from Seydisfjordur, through Hofn then onto Vik. Most of it in the rain. Note the Vatnajokull glacier that our route passes by. We spent most of today riding up to a few of the tendrils that reach the road and the water.

This is the first time I've ever tried Gore-Tex riding pants - definitely not as good as a dedicated rainsuit. When you sit on wet Gore-Tex, the pressure squeezes all the water through the fabric onto your skin. 10 hours of soaking butt in 5C rain. :(

​

In the background you can see one of the tendrils running off Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Iceland. If Vatnajokull is the size of a hand, the visible part from the ground is only about the size of a fingernail.


Glacier Lagoon​

We stopped to view quite a spectacular sight at Jökulsárlón aka "Glacier Lagoon". This part of the Vatnajokull glacier gets pushed out into a lagoon where pieces of ice regularly break off and create icebergs. These pieces are huge, only 10% is visible, the rest is underwater. They slowly melt and drift out of the harbour. We saw a piece break off while watching in awe.

You can see some dark banding on some of the icebergs. Normally they are pure white, but the big eruption last year threw ash all over the glacier, giving the icebergs here a marbled effect. Beautiful!


Close-up of an iceberg at Glacier Lagoon​

The largest icebergs must have been well over 60 feet high, and that's only the part that's above water!


Looking over Glacier Lagoon. Two James Bond movies have been filmed here, as well as Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.


Just like at Timmies: Posin' with an Ice Cap. :)


We spent such a long time here, just staring in wonder at these mini-icebergs!

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On our way up to yet another one of the glaciers that runs off Vatnajokull. There are tons of them all along the south shore of Iceland. You can see another one off to the left.


Neda is probably looking for more flowers to take pictures of


Mini Glacier Lagoon​

After hiking around we find a secluded mini glacier lagoon all to ourselves. Great view of Vatnajokull up ahead. The leading edge of the glacier (terminus) has a very "Fortress of Solitude" look to it.


Close-up of the glacier. Just to give you an idea of how gigantic it is, those dots in the middle of the picture are ice climbers


A taste of Iceland...




Riding away from our own private glacier lagoon


Mossy terrain on the ride to Vik​

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This blog and more are continued at http://www.RideDOT.com/iceland
 
Sun Aug 21: A Lunar Landscape


Akureyri (A) to Myvatn (B) to Dettifoss (C) to Seydisfjordur (D)​


The next morning we rode out to the Myvatn Lake area.

Myvatn sounds like a pretty name, right? Vatn means Lake, but unfortunately My means Midge, a very annoying fly found in abundance around the lake. They don't bite, but they are attracted to carbon dioxide, and they tend to fly right up into your nose and mouth. We were going to buy a head-net to keep them out, but they were all sold out. So we kept our helmets on instead, but those little flies found their way in anyway. Our time around Myvatn was spent stopping for very short periods, and then riding away quickly from the mobs of midges that found us.


Neda's visor was instrumental in killing many midges


A Tiger in the grass.​


Nice dual track around Myvatn. Volcanic rocks strewn all around is a reminder as to how geologically active Iceland was and still is.


Riding around a volcano cone near Myvatn.


A lunar landscape. Fissure in the background.


More lunar buggy riding


Scenery is so unreal. Colours are unbelievable! I'm riding around like a bobble-head in a helmet, trying to take everything in all at once.​


Myvatn is part of the greater Krafla volcanic system - a collection of faults and fissures in an 80km radius surrounding the Krafla caldera. Today, the area is a source of "green" geothermal energy creating some animated discussions between Icelandic power companies and conservationists. However, we were there to enjoy the unique sights and smells, like the ones we experience in Hvarir, a large geothermal field riddled with bubbling mud pits and steaming vents spewing foul smelling plumes of smoke. Throughout our trip we caught the whiff of rotten eggs, whenever we were close to a hot spring, but the fumes in Hvarir were so strong you could practically taste them.


Walking up the side of a dormant volcano


Hot gases escape from the earth in Myvatn


Active fissures around the Myvatn area​


Bubbling mud (grey in colour) flow through mineral-rich sands, fed by boiling hot gases and water heated from the earth's core. Again, out-of-this-world surreal!


Many craters in the ground with pots of bubbling mud​


The sulfuric rotten-egg smell that permeated the air stayed in the back of your throat long after we left the area. I can recall that smell vividly, just looking at this picture.


Bubbling mud makes for a great 200C batik dip.


Icelandic art?​


Out in the middle of nowhere, an artist put up a shower and toilet right on a natural hot spring. If you wanted to take a hot shower, you could do it here. I only had to do a Number Two, plus catch up on some light reading. Passing cars were slowing down and waving at me. What's a guy gotta do to get a little privacy...? :)


On the way to Dettifoss​


Neda is leading this Iceland tour, having done all the research into sites to see and roads to ride. Today was a very dry and windy day, so I had to follow 3 seconds behind her because her rear tire was kicking up a pretty large gravel cloud behind her in some areas. Although most of the Ring Road that circles the island is paved, all the good sights are off the gravel roads that run off Ring Road. If you just stay on the pavement, you won't see anything that Iceland has to offer - like sightseeing in Toronto by staying on the 400-series highways.


A line of stone cairns​


A whole bunch of these were erected in a perfect line beside the road between Akureryi and Egilsstadir. Not sure what their purpose is. Looked very Easter-Island-supernatural though


"Some... may say... I'm wasting my days a-way...No way..."​


In the 60s, US astronauts visited the Askja caldera not too far away for GFT (Geology Field Tests), training future moon walkers to recognize important rock samples in the lunar-like landscape. BTW, they also visited Sudbury...


Neda, doing the supermodel sashay to a fissure leaking natural gases


Speeding away from Dettifoss


Dettifoss Waterfall. Europe's most powerful waterfall and the largest in terms of water flow.
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The winds must permanently blow towards the other shore because it was entirely covered in greenery. Our side was just covered in, uh.. rockery.
 
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Dettifoss flows out into the Jökulsárgljúfur (I had to cut and paste that one) canyon. Basically the Grand Canyon of Iceland.

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Postcards from the edge...​

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This blog and more are continued at http://www.ridedot.com/iceland
 
Wow. Thanks for this. Truly inspiring. Think I've got something new for the bucket list.
 
Great pictures great adventure! Iceland has been on my "to see" list for a long time, one of the years I will get there, when I work some of the others off the list.

Where did you rent the bikes?
 
"Just like at Timmies: Posin' with an Ice Cap."

LOL... Thanks a bunch for sharing your adventure...these are amazing pictures, and it must have been a great experience.
 
Looks awesome. Great scenery

-Just took a look at the site and woww thats a lot of travelling!
 
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You are living an exceptional life. Thanks for sharing. Awesome scenery.
 
Awesomes!! As usual Gene
 
'bout friggin' time you got this trip updated......LOL. I've been checking out your site every week or so since I saw the post for the Iceland trip. Looking forward to checking it out.

P.S.

No........... I don't have a life............ :(
 
Thanks for the comments, guys!

omnivore said:
Also interested in your feedback on the Triumph
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It was the non-XC version of the 800. Very street-oriented: street tires, street suspension, 19" front. I think my kidneys and fillings would have fared better with the XC's longer-travel suspension, especially on the rough stuff. The triple's power delivery is nice and smooth, but I am used to a bit more low-end torque. The seating position is a bit forward-leaning compared to the GS, and definitely not as comfortable. The stock seat sucks, like every other stock seat on every motorcycle out there. All in all, the Tiger is a fairly capable, but not memorable motorcycle. It handles pavement duty well, but there are better bikes out there (like the new Multistrada). I'd really be interested in pitting the 800 XC against the F800GS, which seems to be the gold standard amongst dual sports these days. I really like the looks of the Tiger 800 though, much more than the GS.

They had 800 XCs for rent, it's just I wasn't quick enough to book them, and they flew off the shelves when the rental company first starting stocking them. Supposed to be a terrific bike from what I hear and read.

wonderings said:
Where did you rent the bikes?
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Biking Viking. Good guys, awesome name for a Icelandic moto rental company.

sonnythebull said:
Did you hit the blue lagoon?
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No, we were saving that for last as there were other places we wanted to visit first. Ran out of time, but we weren't really in that much of a hurry to visit it. Perhaps next time! :)

SkyRider said:
looked like the middle of no where. what if the bike breaks down or flat tire?
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IAA? :dontknow:
 
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