Skip to main content

Day 8 - Why does it always rain on me

Hello! Welcome to Day 8 of my Arctic Ride Iceland blog.

After completing my mission yesterday, today I started my tour of Iceland while I wait for my ferry home on Thursday. 

I started my day in Olafsfjordur where I camped last night. After a quick FaceTime with the family I got the tent packed up. The campsite owner came to take my payment and I asked what time the supermarket opened and he said 11... urgh it was 9am and I was ready to go. He said it was the same in the next town too and he tried to convince me to go to his cafe for breakfast. I wanted to get on so I left anyway. When I got to the next town it turns out their supermarket was open, so I think the campsite over was just looking for the trade. 


It was only 10 miles into my ride that the heavens opened and I was riding through rain again, and it didn’t stop for 2 hours. I got some petrol and food at the mentioned town then ploughed in through the rain. 

Unknown to me the route I was taking West had some unpaved roads, which I wasn’t expecting until the West Fjords. So, through the rain, I got up on my pegs and navigated my way through the pot-holes and gravel, somehow getting through unscathed. 

When I reached the other side of the Pennisula I was riding around, the rain eased and I stopped to do a quick Facebook live video and took some photos. Iceland is stunning when the rain goes away. I’ve not had much chance to see it without rain or fog, but when I have I’ve been blown away. The mountains are endless and the way the rock is carved looks like something out of lord of the rings. Truly beautiful. 



Before long the rain was back. I got back into the main ‘1’ road, which circles Iceland, and stopped for a break and some lunch. I also checked in with tourist info and found a town 2 hours away that had the England match on, so I hurried back into the road, fighting the showers to go watch the game. 

After England’s victory I headed off once more, again in the rain, heading West destined for the Fjords. I had planned to make it to Isafjorur in the far West which was only 400kms away, which I though I could do in 4 hours... how wrong I was. I turned off the ‘1’ road and it wasn’t long before I hit more dirt road. This dirt road was more special than the last though and included steep inclines, downhill bends, rogue sheep, and lasted for hours. 



The photos don’t do it justice but it’s was painful. After 3 hours riding on these roads, mostly up on the pegs, my body was aching, and I’d only managed to cover 100kms... urgh. When the road turned back to tarmac I found a town with a camp site and took refuge for the night. 

I still managed to rock up a solid 240 miles today, taking me up to 1,500 for the trip but it was a looooong day. I spoke to the tourist info who said the weather looks like it will continue to be windy and rainy for the rest of my stay. This is such a shame as I think Iceland would be amazing in the dry, but I’m destined not to experience that. I’ll head off further into the Westfjords tomorrow before starting East on Monday. 



The view form my campsite at 9.30pm... not bad. 

Thanks for reading and for following my journey. I’ve got loads of videos which will make their way online when I get home. 

Thank you too for all the continued donations. I feel humbled to have such great support. I’m struggling with internet access but everyone will get a personal thank you upon my return. We are only £150 off £4,500 which would be an amazing achievement for Team Arctic Ride. You can still donate at www.virginmoneygiving.com/thearcticrider

Ride safe. 

Gordon. 

Popular posts from this blog

Suzuki GSX650F review

Hello there, And welcome to another edition of the Arctic Ride blog! My trip might be a distant memory (last year in fact) but there is still plenty to come from me both for Arctic Ride 2014 post trip (like this blog) and future adventures. I'm pleased to announce that earlier this week my blog reached 45,000 views which I am both pleased and humbled about. So with this blog I wanted to share my thoughts on the bike I rode on my ride to the Arctic this year, the Suzuki GSX650F. I've had many people ask me to review the bike and, well, here it is. My GSX 650F and I at the Arctic Circle in Norway As a background in my 9 years of riding I've ridden a smallish cross section of bikes, but I feel it has been enough for me to put some context behind my views on the GSX650F. An example of some of the bikes I have ridden include my first bike, Suzuki Marauder 125, a Yamaha Virago 535, Kawasaki ER5, SV650S, BMW LT 1200, Harley Davidson Street Glide 1800, and a Kawasaki ...

Why is the Dalton so dangerous?

Welcome to The Arctic Rider blog, Its now less than a year until I start my quest to conquer The Dalton Highway in Alaska, one of the worlds' most dangerous roads. The new 'Arctic Ride Alaska' poster I've still got a lot of planing to do and I've been working away in the background to get a lot of things firmed up, but I probably won't know the key parts of the trip, such as the exact dates I'll be going and the bike I'll be riding, until the Autumn. Anything I know before then I'll be staring with all you loyal readers of my blog. In this blog, I'll be covering why The Dalton Highway is so dangerous , and why I'm hoping you will share some of your very hard earned Pounds (and other currencies for non-UK readers) in exchange for the danger and suffering I'll be putting myself in next year. Firstly though, I must say a huge thanks to an unnamed Devitt Insurance employee who very kindly donated their employee-of-the month priz...

Looking back: Arctic Ride Iceland

Hello, Thanks for tuning into another edition of the Arctic Rider blog. Wow, so its been a week and a half since I returned from my epic trip to Arctic Iceland. The dust has settled and I'm back at work.. it almost feels as thought it never happened, a long and distant memory but luckily I have lots of photos to remind me it was real :) Day 12 - Southern Iceland The weather in Iceland completely battered me and I feel lucky to have got through this ride in one piece, having met other bikers who been blown off their bikes in the wind, dropped them on gravel roads, and been soaked to the skin by the rain. The battle against the elements was 100% worth it though to raise so much money for two amazing charities in Tiny Lives Trust and Cerebra. At the time of writing, Team Arctic Ride has raised OVER £5,000 for this ride. I'm honoured and humbled to have had such amazing support from so many dedicated supporters! I will be closing my donation page at midnight 31st July...