A ride to Iceland and back on the motorcycles with Fuzz (as you do).
This long-awaited trip (a door to door duration of 6 weeks) involved riding to the top of Denmark via France, Belgium, Holland and Germany to catch the ferry from the Danish port town of Hirtshals.
We had three days to ride some roads around the Faroe Islands (conveniently linked by tunnels) before continuing north to Iceland. Based at the Faroese capital of Torshavn on Streymoy, we visited places around Streymoy, and also Sandoy, Vagar, Esturoy, Kunoy, Bordoy and Vidoy.
In Iceland for 4 weeks, we landed in the Eastflords port of Seydisfjordur and headed briefly clockwise before travelling generally anti-clockwise around the whole of Iceland, with the only area we planned to visit not being possible to properly explore being the Westfjords, which was affected by severe gales during our time in that area.
Our route saw us staying in (or at) Egilsstaðir, Bakkagerð, Vopnafiordur, Kopasker, Myvatn, Husavik, Akureyri, Dalvik (from where we visited the island of Grimsey on the Arctic Circle), Blonduos, Holmavik, Stykkishólmur Reykjavik, the Westman Isles, Pakgil, Skaftafell, Hofn, Reyðarfjörður and back to Seydisfjordur.
Enroute, we saw fantastic birdlife such as Red-Necked Phalaropes, Eiders, Whooper’s Swans, Snow Buntings, Whimbrels, Redshanks, Golden Plovers, Snipe (drumming), Dunlin, Short Eared Owls and Red Throated Diver, we encountered dolphins and whales, got eaten by flies at Lake Myvatn, were mobbed by Arctic Terns, survived rides in gusting winds alongside big drop offs, climbed glaciers, discovered the Arctic Henge, rode remote roads and peninsulas including some of the legendary “F-roads”, visited geothermal pools, walked on cooling lava fields, stood above spectacular waterfalls, saw active geysirs and other geothermal areas, sampled varieties of local fish soup, supped local craft beers, and so much more.
I even went for a swim in the Arctic Ocean after a special day riding from Vopnafjordur to Kopasker under clear blue skies and temperatures of up to 25 degrees. If ever there was a day to re-bond with the planet, this was it. Too much to take in, really. All in, I put more than 5000 miles on the motorcycle.