Iceland

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my latest blog post for Arctic Ride 2014 - my solo 6000 mile motorbike ride to the Arctic for charity Cerebra.

This week's blog is coming all the way from Iceland!!! And no I haven't started my ride yet (that's not until May) but I am getting acclimatised to the cold and looking at what I might be experiencing when I ride through Norway, Finland, and Sweden. 

Contrary to popular belief Iceland's mainland isn't inside the Arctic Circle, only part of a tiny island of Grimsey north of the mainland has the Arctic Circle pass through it.

However Iceland really lives up to its name, it's covered in snow and ice almost everywhere you can see even if its not been snowing for a few days!

I've spent the last few days in the capital Reykjavik and its truly stunning. The country only has a population of 330,000 people and 110,000 of them live in Reykjavik so there it's plenty of space to look round and enjoy the scenery. 

This is the view to the mountains for the harbour in Reykjavik . I really wish I was here on the bike in summer to go and enjoy the roads. I've already been planning a trip with my mate Ant (SV650) to get the ferry from Denmark to Iceland and go touring for a week.

Whilst its still the dead of winter in Iceland the weather is the same as what I could potentially come across when I get into the mountains in Norway.

The challenge of my ride is starting to dawn on me more and more and the more experts I speak to the more they warn me off riding my bike through Norway in May because of the weather. But I'm determined to plough through and take every challenge as it comes and make it to Nordkapp!

Even though Ill be riding 6000 miles I want to explore the countries I go through away from the bike too.

I've already seen how harsh the weather can be too. Yesterday while walking up a hillside path to get to a museum I saw an American chap wipeout on the Ice landing on his head and shoulder. I could hear from his voice the pain he was in but luckily I was there with my wife and friends Christine and Ant to get him medical assistance and keep him comfy while it arrived.

Fingers crossed I come out unscathed from my trip to Scandinavia but I know better than anyone from  my last visit that the weather will hold the key to me making it to Nordkapp.

That's all for this week folks. Please keep supporting my trip and if you can the charity Cerebra by donating (with 100% going to the charity) at www.virginmoneygiving.com/arcticride2014

Ride safe everyone.

Gordon