ColinTheCop
Adventurer
From Wikipedia,
Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grímsey off Iceland's northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not of North America, though geologically the island belongs to both continents. Because of cultural, economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia. The closest bodies of land are Greenland (287 km) and the Faroe Islands (420 km). The closest distance to the mainland of Europe is 970 km (to Norway).
Located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is volcanically and geologically active on a large scale; this defines the landscape in various ways. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterized by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many big glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment and nature.
It's somewhere i'd always wanted to go, and in the Summer of 2008 I went along with some friends from ORRP.com.
We went in the July/August as it's the warmest time of the year and all the roads are open, although the F910 an offroad route through the interior Highlands only opened the week before we arrived.
We spent 2 weeks which was enough time to drive around the Island, although some days we were driving 200 miles. At a guess I would say over 50% of our drive was Off Road.
The Off road tracks varied, sometimes it was hard gravel that felt like it was shaking your truck to bits and other times it was deep black volcanic sand that slowed you right down.
This was our Convoy,
A 2002 110 TD5. A home built 100" Defender. A 1970 Series2. My Mitubishi Pickup and the East German military communications truck converted to a campervan.
The Military truck cut the tour short, he suffered a blowout and didn't have a 2nd spare. He was unable to locate one in Iceland and the thought of leaving himself stranded didn't appeal. The ferry to the UK leaves once a week so he dashed to the port and caught an earlier one.
The route we took could only be undertaken by 4x4's.
A god set of All Terrain tyres was aslo essential. As a break down miles from nowhere could leave you stranded.
The main feature in Iceland seemed to be water, and lots of it. Either jaw dropping waterfalls,
or glacial rivers to drive through....
And being an Island, at certain places you look get to see sights like this,
There are 2 types of camping, either wild camping where you just stop where you want,
Or camping at a Ranger Station. These are properly run campsites, usually in the good spots that have an area to camp and a bunk house. Prices ranged from between £5 - £15 a night depending on location and facilities.
This one was about £5 a night and had a geothermally heated swimming pool and 2 hottubs. The Pool was like a hot bath - fantastic.
Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grímsey off Iceland's northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not of North America, though geologically the island belongs to both continents. Because of cultural, economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia. The closest bodies of land are Greenland (287 km) and the Faroe Islands (420 km). The closest distance to the mainland of Europe is 970 km (to Norway).
Located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is volcanically and geologically active on a large scale; this defines the landscape in various ways. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterized by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many big glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment and nature.
It's somewhere i'd always wanted to go, and in the Summer of 2008 I went along with some friends from ORRP.com.
We went in the July/August as it's the warmest time of the year and all the roads are open, although the F910 an offroad route through the interior Highlands only opened the week before we arrived.
We spent 2 weeks which was enough time to drive around the Island, although some days we were driving 200 miles. At a guess I would say over 50% of our drive was Off Road.
The Off road tracks varied, sometimes it was hard gravel that felt like it was shaking your truck to bits and other times it was deep black volcanic sand that slowed you right down.
This was our Convoy,
A 2002 110 TD5. A home built 100" Defender. A 1970 Series2. My Mitubishi Pickup and the East German military communications truck converted to a campervan.
The Military truck cut the tour short, he suffered a blowout and didn't have a 2nd spare. He was unable to locate one in Iceland and the thought of leaving himself stranded didn't appeal. The ferry to the UK leaves once a week so he dashed to the port and caught an earlier one.
The route we took could only be undertaken by 4x4's.
A god set of All Terrain tyres was aslo essential. As a break down miles from nowhere could leave you stranded.
The main feature in Iceland seemed to be water, and lots of it. Either jaw dropping waterfalls,
or glacial rivers to drive through....
And being an Island, at certain places you look get to see sights like this,
There are 2 types of camping, either wild camping where you just stop where you want,
Or camping at a Ranger Station. These are properly run campsites, usually in the good spots that have an area to camp and a bunk house. Prices ranged from between £5 - £15 a night depending on location and facilities.
This one was about £5 a night and had a geothermally heated swimming pool and 2 hottubs. The Pool was like a hot bath - fantastic.
