At home, Sweden August 24, 2003 On Monday I ride, or rather drive (there's a big difference) back north. As I see it I have two options. Road F26 and road F35. Road 26 runs to the east, just north of Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajökull (8.400 square kilometers), and that means that I'll have to pass many deep and long fords. As I'm riding all by myself I hesitate. I'm pretty sure I could do it, but if I should fall over in the water I could have a lot of trouble getting the bike back on dry land. I spoke to an Italian guy who fell over with his Honda XR 650 in one of those places and it took him eight (8) hours to get the bike going again, and I don't have that much time right now... Instead I take road 35 which is supposed to have bridges. After a brief look at Geysir and Gullfoss I head north. Now there's about 300 kilometers to the next gas station and I think to myself that if I'm going to fall over at some point, I'm not going to fall to the left because then the fuel tap will break. A note for the KTM engineers: What were you thinking? One curve follows the other and the weather is really good for a change. But after about 150-200 kilometers I'm starting to get bored, the road is too good. I look at my map and find a track that looks fun. There are a couple of streams to cross, but is there anything on this island that me and my KTM can't handle... Now it's fun again! The surface changes the whole time and the speed is getting dangerously high. In a couple of places, where I think the turns are a bit too sharp, I make my own "track" right next to the existing one. I stop and move my satellite phone and GPS from the packing bags to the backpack. Now, I think to myself, I can reach the phone and call for help if I should fall and get injured... After passing a few smaller streams I get to the biggest one I've seen during the whole trip. The current isn't too strong, but it's deep. It looks like one meter, or more, from a distance. I look at the trip meter, and considering the fact that I've been pushing the bike pretty hard the last 100 kilometers, I figure I have about the same chance as a snowball in hell to get back to the big road with the fuel I have left. And noone's likely to come by this way in quite some time... I go back about 50 meters and think, I'd rather die than hesitate. If it works, great. And if it doesn't, well, at least I'll get a couple of good pictures. 100 meters later I'm soaking wet, but both me and my bike have reached the other side. Two hours later, after ten more rainfalls and passing about a million sheep, I reach Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri, and find a guest house where I can dry up a bit. The next day I drive the last 300 kilometers to Seyðisfjörður and board the ferry back home. According to the original travel plan I should have stopped by the Faeroe Islands for three days on my way home. One of the reasons I didn't was because you must have a so called "green card" or you could be fined about $200. Unfortunately I don't have a green card. Another reason is that all the roads in the Faeroe Islands are asphalted. Asphalt may be nice, but not with a single-cylinder KTM... David Reykjavik, again August 17, 2003 Instead of waiting for the Monday to arrive and switch the rear tyre I continue towards Laugarvatn. I bump in to the BMW club again and together we head out on the tracks* (see explanation below) around Landmannalaugar. Several deep fords are crossed. The KTM is like a fish in the water, but the big and heavy BMWs are having some problems, and suddenly a GS 1150 takes a dive in one of the rapids (I won't mention any names Christian). After pulling the bike to shore we all get a crash course in how to drain a water-filled BMW engine. After emptying about a litre of water from each cylinder and letting the rest of the rapid out of the air can the engine ignites. The water sprays several meters from the exhaust pipe, but it's soon spinning like clockwork again. Before the day is over we get to go through the same procedure with a 650 Funduro too. From now on I get to drive first to check out the deeper streams, for a fee of course. A beer in the bar tonight if I succeed, and five if I take a dive... The next couple of days are pretty much the same. On Iceland the landscape is varying about as much in one hour as it does in Sweden during a week-long drive. Sand, gravel, mud, grass, mountains, rocks and asphalt. The surface changes just as you're about to get your driving technique right. After a couple of days I'm leaving the BMW gang in Seyðisfjörður and head back to Reykjavik. After 750 kilometers of asphalt and a number of benumbed body parts I pull over at the KTM dealer Karl in Reykjavik www.ktm.is. The KTM is a dream to drive off road but if you're going for a long ride on asphalt there are probably better alternatives... Karl gets me a new rear tyre as the old one is pretty much worn to the rim. He asks me if I want to join them for a day of enduro on Hekla the next day. Of course I do! You can tell that Karl has had a big influence on the biking community on Iceland. 14 of the 15 bikes are KTMs. Most of the bikes are 525 EXE and a few 250, in other words 50 kg lighter than mine. Time for some rather advanced off-road biking. I have to work pretty hard with my 180 kg bike to avoid being left behind. This landscape is fascinating to drive in. The lava we're driving on is from Hekla's last eruption in 2001. The tracks we leave behind us are smoking. Not sure why, but it certainly seems to be quite hot. In some places the ground is collapsing leaving deep holes, certainly big enough to swallow my front wheel... After six hours my KTM has truly been getting a taste of the rough life on Iceland. A minor incident resulting in a broken fuel tap was also part of the experience. Someone said that you haven't crashed until you let go of the handle bar, your bike is just in the wrong angle... When you're in need of spre parts it's very handy having Karl around. He didn't have a tap in stock, but he has a KTM 660 Rally from which we "borrow" the tap. In Reykjavik I meet John and Erik from Tibro who have been hiking on Iceland for three weeks. We rent a cabin together and on the Saturday we go out celebrating Iceland's birthday. It's a huge party with close to 100.000 participants (not bad for a city of 130.000 people). Sunday is rather quiet. Me and John is off to the Blue Lagoon to relax in the 40 degree water the whole afternoon. Erik would rather chill out in the cabin... * On Iceland there are mainly three different types of roads. The first one is marked "N", and these are mostly asphalt roads and driveable throughout the year. Then there are those marked "F". They are mountain roads and are often (but certainly not always) properly marked and features some pretty nifty details such as bridges. The last ones are the "Tracks". They are marked with dotted lines on the map, and if you're really lucky they're also marked in real life. Unfortunately I won't be able to show you any photos until it's time for the next entry in the diary. The internet cafés on Iceland does not support my type of camera... David Reykjavik August 10, 2003 As most of you already know what a fantastic country Norway is to ride a bike in and how boring boat trips are, I will start this story in Seyðisfjörður in Iceland on August 7th 2003. The teperature is 13 degrees and the fog in the small harbour of Seyðisfjörður is so thick you could carve it with a knife. During the boat trip from Bergen I bumped into the Swedish BMW Club, about 40 people who are going to drive their bikes around Iceland for a week. As I'm travelling alone I ask them if it's ok for me to tag along for a while. Of course says Kjell who is their leader, but then you have to promise that you'll buy a BMW next time. Dream on, I thought to myself, but eventually agreed to at least get a BMW cap... I'm riding with a group of 7 people who has decided to go off the beaten track. I'm sure the landscape is amazing around here. Unfortunately you can't see any of it because of the thick fog and have be to glad as long as you can see the tail light of the bike ahead of you. A few hours later the fog starts to lift, and after stopping for a while to shove some burgers down our throats we head out on the smaller roads. The BMW guys are riding along faster than you would normally expect. Things are starting to get real fun, weather's improving and the roads are getting worse! At the end of the day no one had crashed their bike. This was taken care of the next day however, three BMWs bit the dust, but no KTM so far... In the afternoon of day two we reach a wide creek. I get off the bike and go into the water to check it out. It's just over a half meter deep, about 100 meters across and with a rather strong current. I'm prepared to give it a try, but the BMW guys hesitates. Quite understandable as their bikes are almost 100 kilos heavier than mine and their air intakes are placed pretty low. We turn around and ride the 100 kilometers back to road 1 and drive the remaining 400 kilometers to Reykjavik on asphalt. Right now I'm looking out at the rain that is following me, trying to decide whether to keep going today or if I should wait until tomorrow (Monday) so I can invest in a new rear tyre before leaving Reykjavik. David Sweden August 3, 2003 Today I embarked on my trip to Iceland which means that the diary will be updated shortly. Feel free to come back in a couple of days! David