WH(WK) Expo to Iceland with family August 2013

[graynomad]

In 1978 I was in NY, I had a ticket to London and was about to change it to go via Iceland but on the way to the airline office I saw a nice second-hand Canon F1 with motordrive in a shop window for $400 (IIRC), that was the end of my Iceland trip and I never went back.

A classic manifestation of swapping a once-in-a-lifetime experience for material stuff.

One day...maybe.

 

[jeepgc]

A classic manifestation of swapping a once-in-a-lifetime experience for material stuff

I hope that the camera purchase made you happy

 

[jeepgc]

Fjarðarheiði mountain pass road 93 to Egilsstaðir:

 

[graynomad]

I hope that the camera purchase made you happy

It did at the time, and was a very useful tool for the next 25 years. Still I never got to Iceland...no way to quantify the relative values.

 

[pixelcodex]

Fjarðarheiði mountain pass road 93 to Egilsstaðir:

Great stuff! I can feel the excitement when you were arriving, as if I was driving there. Incredible sightseeing. I also like your choice of music. Initially, I thought you were integrating more icelandic music like you had before, now with Bjork. But had to use Shazam to figure out what it was: Of Monsters and Men. Good stuff. Keep it coming so we can live vicariously through your videos.

 

[jeepgc]

It did at the time, and was a very useful tool for the next 25 years. Still I never got to Iceland...no way to quantify the relative values.

Wow, useful for 25 years is an excellent purchase, you know there's still time for you to visit.

Great stuff! I can feel the excitement when you were arriving, as if I was driving there. Incredible sightseeing. I also like your choice of music. Initially, I thought you were integrating more icelandic music like you had before, now with Bjork. But had to use Shazam to figure out what it was: Of Monsters and Men. Good stuff. Keep it coming so we can live vicariously through your videos.

Thanks Fernando, it's helping us relive it too, still being (pleasantly) haunted by our memories and yes Of Monsters and Men, we played them a lot while we there, hope they don't mind me using their music in the videos, you can hear Iceland in their music. I'll post up as often as I can between work and family stuff

 

[pixelcodex]

W
Thanks Fernando, it's helping us relive it too, still being (pleasantly) haunted by our memories and yes Of Monsters and Men, we played them a lot while we there, hope they don't mind me using their music in the videos, you can hear Iceland in their music. I'll post up as often as I can between work and family stuff

My thoughts exactly on the Icelandic vibe. So much so, I thought it was Björk initially. We'll wait patiently for more, when you have the time to edit/post...

 

[jeepgc]

The view from where we were parked:

On the way, we stopped at Möðrudalur for a break and some refreshment at the only cafe/restaurant there, the one with the turf covered roof. The cafe was very busy as a coach had stopped there also. I managed to enjoy a cup of coffee and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich there even though the little old lady sitting right behind me kept managing to repeatedly elbow me in the back, normally I'd be irritated by this but I was on vacation and managed to smile and ignore it

Time to hit the road again. These pics were taken by my wife while we were driving:

I hope that the mods don't ask why there's so many pics of Land Rovers in the Jeep forum

 

[jeepgc]

A while later, we stopped for another break, the kids ran and played in the lava fields, we asked them to stay where we could see them as the lava rocks were large and they could disappear amongst them quite easily.

Of course, they ignored us and we took about 2 mins calling and looking for them to find them, when it was time for us to move on.

 

[jeepgc]

The gravel roads gave way to volcanic ash, just like sand, I'd never driven on ash/sand before and it certainly kept me on my toes as sometimes the Jeep would just slide. The road frequently changed from gravel to ash, back to gravel, then a mix of the 2, sometimes covered with rocks – just to keep us entertained .

If you look closely at the "road" in the following pic, you can see the corrugated surface:

 

[jeepgc]

We arrived at the Sigurdarskali camp ground in the early evening after a long day's drive through some of the most amazing landscapes we've ever seen.

We had some trouble putting up our tent as the wind was wild. We put some large rocks over our tent pegs in the hope that they would keep the tent secure.

We had a quick meal and left the campsite with the group to visit the Kverkjökull glacier.

We were more than a little worried whether our tent would still be there when we got back.

You can get a feel of how light it was as the glacier pics were taken just between 2100hrs and 2200hrs.

We got back to camp site, relieved that our tent was still there standing proud, the wind had died down and we were a little more relaxed. We parked the Jeep alongside the tent as close as we could to shield the tent from the wind and settled down for our first night in Iceland.

 

[graynomad]

useful for 25 years is an excellent purchase,

Yes, from the days when you expected a quality tool to last for years or even decades, as opposed to now when a few months is considered a good deal I traded all my Canon film gear in on a digital kit in 2004, that was 26 years of service for that body and longer for another, about 23 years for two more F1n bodies and 20 years for my T90.

I hope that the mods don't ask why there's so many pics of Land Rovers in the Jeep forum

There's a Jeep windscreen in most of them

 

[jeepgc]

There's a Jeep windscreen in most of them

Yes indeed .

Leaving the comfort of the tarmac and getting into Iceland's interior.

Apologies for the shaking in this video, but this is how it was when driving on the rutted roads.

All of the anti-shake video effects I've seen look a bit strange to me, so I've opted not to use them:

 

[Rufus T. Doofus]

After discovering this topic a few days ago I started contemplating a trip of this type. I was surprised to learn that Eimskip is now running container shipping services from Portland, Maine to Iceland. I don't have any rates yet but this might be a good option for people in the Northeastern US and the Canadian Maritimes to get their expedition vehicle to Iceland and nothern Europe.

 

[Dan Grec]

After discovering this topic a few days ago I started contemplating a trip of this type. I was surprised to learn that Eimskip is now running container shipping services from Portland, Maine to Iceland. I don't have any rates yet but this might be a good option for people in the Northeastern US and the Canadian Maritimes to get their expedition vehicle to Iceland and nothern Europe.

That sounds very interesting. Please post back when you find out about rates! Thanks.

-Dan