There you go Wildman, PM sent.

Just for the benefit of others, I have from about 17 Jun till 23rd August where I have no plans. I'll have 10'ish days leave due to me (Possibly a few more) so can do almost any dates during this time, unfortunately some of this means it falls in school holidays so I hope I can avoid at least some of this, I hate school holiday tourists

Now, time to go and read up on tents ... mine isn't really ideal being one of those big pop up ones

My vacation gets hopefully approved by the end of the month and I would then continue booking the ferry, preferably for 2 weeks on Iceland itself in late July to early August - just because this season should hopefully have the easiest water crossings and best weather.

I am looking for company for the trip or only for some parts in the highlands. My steed is a XChallenge with about 400+km fuel range on trails and my tent is my castle. Most camp grounds on Iceland have huts and cooking facilities, so there are alternatives, too.

As written above, this would be my 2nd Iceland trip. The first trip in 2011 was also my first trail oriented experience. I'm not planning a fixed route, but would be especially interested in the highlands, i.e everything east of route 35.

@Modman, if time is your concern, I'd look into rental bikes and fly there. Even at 100EUR per day, a 7-10 day rental + flight might be cheaper than riding to the ferry and it will save you time.
By the way, thanks for reading our report.

Pip

Pip, thanks for that info. I agree regarding the renting a bike thing, but well, that's not the same for me, I want to do it on my own bike (Sometimes I make no logical sense , but I'm a bloke)

Wildman has sent me some useful info and inadvertently probably a bit of motivation to get out and about and actually do stuff instead of just talking about it.

Do you know if the ferry ever get's fully booked or goes up even more? Right now it's looking at about €1000 for me with whatever a berth is? I want to just get it booked as that way I have no excuses However I'll wait for a couple of others to book first as I don't want to be billy no mates.

Cheers - Dan

I'm not sure if the price is falling, normally people recommend to book in Feb or March at latest to get a place on the ferry.
Cheapest option is a berth in a couchette. Do a google image search on 'norrona couchette' to see how it looks. The couchettes are far down with the car decks. In 2011 these were about 700EUR for a round trip (incl. bike).
I went for a berth in a 4-berth shared cabin which gives you a bit more space and privacy. In 2013 these are slightly below 1,000EUR with bike.

If you find a trustworthy buddy, you could go for the biker special. There are some other requirements, too. In the end you may get a bit more comfort at about the same price. Smyril Line - Travel to Iceland and Faroe Islands by Ferry

Regarding going solo: We met about half a dozen solo riders on the ferry and teamed up for the first days which was a hoot. 2 weeks later we met a lonely biker who said he'd been the only one aiming for the highlands on the ferry just a week after us.

<edit>
One more thing: We also met a couple Belgians who had their bikes shipped from Rotterdam. Unfortunately, I have neither the name of the shipping company nor any other contact, but they claimed that it was about 500EUR per bike for the round trip. So including flights they paid roughly the same as we, but saved a few days getting there.
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Crikey, I'm getting claustraphobic just looking at the norrona couchette pics!

It does seem like it's a little hit and miss with finding chaps to travel with en route, so I think I'll wait to see if anyone from here books up and isn't against having someone tag along.

I've been looking at tents, sleeping bags, stoves, tools and I can see it adding up already! My existing stuff just won't do as I'm used to chucking it all in the car, not worrying about size or weight and driving places. On a bike I think I'll be changing my mindset.

Ok, I have a new (to me) F800GS parked in the garage as of a few hours ago and I need an adventure!

You mean like this?




Congratulations!


(PS: nothing happened, the 800 feels just fine on its side ...)

Haha, I have a feeling mine will be having lots of lying down in that sort of sand too. At least it's soft

And the areas with soft sand are well known and marked in the maps (at least in mine). If you don't want to ride through soft sand, you don't need to.

__________________
Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

Now, I think I need to get my Feb and possibly March paycheck in the bank and get the ferry booked.

If anyone wants to share a room/berth/cabin thing let me know. Warning, I snore sometimes so will apologise in advance

I was once nicknamed "Earthmover" for my snoring prowess.

I'm in.

__________________
Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

Well things are off to a slow start. I thought I'd buy some spare tubes today and a few spares and I've noticed my Heidenau front tyre is on the wrong way around. (Apparently it's been on for about 5k miles)

Oops.





and the directional arrows (With my bit in red as they're not too great on the pics) Both pics are taken from the right hand side of the bike.

Uh, that's a nice rim in the background! Do you have the car it came with?

Just for you Pip The weekend/trackday toy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/djsayle...eat=directlink