The Arctic Rider

Hello there!  Thanks for tuning into my Arctic Ride Iceland blog, riding my motorbike to the Arctic Circle to raise money for Tiny Lives Trust & Cerebra.  Day 12... wow. What a day! I started the day waking up inside a national park and a stones throw away from a glacier, where I’d camped last night. I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast so just grabbed an apple and started packing up my gear. I was on the road early knowing I had a long day ahead of me, with over 250 miles (a long way on these roads) to do to get me back to the port where I’d catch the ferry tomorrow morning.  The scenery along Iceland’s south coast (just like yesterday) was again truly stunning! You almost get immune to how beautiful it is as it’s constant. From one mountain range to the next, it’s just epic.  I stopped a few times to snap some photos, then I pulled into the ‘Iceberg Lagoon’ on recommendation of Olafur. Wow. This place was even more remarkable than the rest of ...

Hello! Welcome to the latest instalment of the Arctic Ride Iceland blog. Apologies for missing last nights blog! A double issue awaits this read.  Day 10 - I packed up the bike first thing from Bogarnes planning to ride South to Reykjavik then up into the mountains to visit Giyser and Gullfoss waterfall (two of Iceland’s biggest attractions). Whilst it was a breezy start, I did see some blue skies and thought my weather luck was changing. As soon I got on the road I realised I was mistaken. The dark clouds drew in and the heavy wind blew me across the road once more. Only a 6km tunnel gave me any relief and I was starting to wonder if I’d ever experience Iceland without a gale force wind.  I got close to Reykjavík and found the road to the mountains that led to the attractions. I knew I had about 60 miles to do but after only 20 miles of the being blow around the road I pulled in. This was getting dangerous. The roads were narrow, there were lots of tour buses, and...

Welcome to day 9 of Arctic Ride Iceland Today was a very interesting day in which I finally got to see the best of Iceland.  I started later than planned after I got chatting to quite a few folk at the campsite post-blog last night and didnt get my head down until after midnight. There was an old German couple who were touring Iceland, some young German hikers who were also bikers whom I was giving the V-Strom sell too, and an American guy called Kevin. All this while I was charging my phone at the wash hut so I could post my blog.  Back to this morning, I had some porridge, refueld the bike and the headed North West towards Isafjordur, the ‘capital’ of the West Fjords. I had some touches of rain and light wind but nothing compared to previous days. Before long I was climbing my first mountain pass that was spectactual. The roads over the passes tend to run parallel with river and waterfalls which makes the ride over even more of a joy.  I then started...

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 takin...

Welcome to the latest Arctic Ride Iceland blog. Day 7 was another early start. I had to be at the ferry port by 8am to load the bike, so I was up at 6 getting my kit packed away, and making some porridge.  I arrived at the port, a few miles from my hostel, expecting a queue of cars, after being instructed to be there an hour before departure when buying my ticket, but there were no other cars just a few folk milling around. I was invited to bring my bike onto the ferry (ferry in the loosest of terms) and it got strapped down. I don’t think they get too many bikes and the V-Stein was placed  against the wall and just sort of belted to it. I grabbed my stuff and headed onboard.  Before long another few dozen passengers had arrived and we set sail. There wasn’t a particularly strong wind but as soon as we got out into the Fjord I knew I was going to be an interesting crossing. I kept my mind off the swaying of the ship by listening to some podcasts and looking ...

Hi everyone! Welcome the blog for (day 5) and Day 6. I’ve combined again due to poor internet connection and the fact that Day 5 wasn’t that interesting.  Day 5 was an odd day. I awoke about 0530 in my shared bunk room. I had a pretty bad sleep as the doors on the room were saloon style (with no lock) so every sound and light came into the room. I waited until 0800 when the restaurant opened and got myself a banana and a cup of tea to start the day. I pretty much just plodded on as per the day before. Being stuck on a ship for two days, podcasts and reading become your best friends.  U Fareo Islands in the background with Jon and Ming. I bumped into quite a few other bikers onboard including Jon and Ming who were on the Harwich - Rotterdam ferry. We had a bit chat in their cabin about music and bikes, and they invited and treated me to dinner in the evening too which was very kind. Apart from that I took some photos of the Faroe Islands when we passed through a...

Hi everyone, Thanks for tuning in again for Day 4’s blog. I woke up early to get myself all packed for the ferry. I had another bad night, the ground is rock solid with the heat wave across Europe and my rollmat isn’t giving me much protection. As per yesterday, I set my water boiling for porridge and a cuppa while I packed the tent away and got the bike sorted. Then it was off to the port to catch the ship. There was a lot of queueing. Firstly to get checked in. Then to get onboard the ferry. Then to get onto the upper deck, then to wait for a space to put the bike it. During these waits I did my bit for Brexit negotiations  chatting to other bikers from Italy, Germany, and Denmark, all heading for Iceland too.  When I final got my space on the ferry I was thrown some straps by the deck hands and told to strap down my bike. Not what the shipping company had advertised but I got on with it anyway. It took me a good 10 mins to work the straps out and get my bike...

Hello, Welcome to the Day 3 blog of my Arctic Ride Iceland, raising funds and awareness for Tiny Lives Trust and Cerebra.  Last night wasn’t the best sleep, the ground was hard and I was a little warm in my 4 season sleeping bag, but I got some rest none the less. This morning was a fairly relaxed one, not rushing to get gone super early as I had only 220ish miles to do. So I popped to the local supermarket to top up my supplies then boiled some water for tea and porridge while I packed the bike away. This was a really efficient use of time considering how long it takes to boil water on my mini stove. I set off about 10am and headed into Flensburg city centre. As I was close by I wanted to pop to the spot that my wife and I first met, almost 10 years ago to the day, while we were both on deployment with the Royal Navy Reserves. It was nice to be able to fit in a personal moment into the trip and reminiss.  After this I got back on track and road into De...

Welcome to The Arctic Rider blog, I’m pleased to say that yesterday I set off my house bound for Arctic Iceland, my latest charity motorbike challenge. Firstly, apologies I wasn’t able to blog last night . I got to the ferry later than planned and the WiFi wasn’t  working onboard so I’ve had to defer to tonight. Day 1 I set off from my house just after lunchtime on Saturday afternoon. Unlike my last 2 Arctic Rides, there was no fanfare or big send off. I decided to keep it low key due to the short preparation time I had for the Iceland trip and to make sure I focused on getting packed and not forgetting anyway (I still managed to forget tea bags and a few first aid kit items, but heyho). My destination on Saturday evening was the port of Harwich in Essex to catch the 2100 ferry to Rotterdam, some 325 miles... not bad for an afternoon. Before I left however I did have to say bye to my wife and kids. It’s always hard leaving your family but I found this goodbye particular...

Hi everyone, Due to the very short time-frame to my rearrange ride to Iceland I've got a lot of blogging to do to update you all. This blog will be all about the route I will take to get to Arctic Iceland. Overall I've got 3,700 miles to ride across 18 days although 6 of those days I'll be at sea in transit between countries. This means my average daily road mileage will be just over 300, which is almost the same as my Arctic Ride 2014 to Norway. This gives me confidence that I can do these miles but I also know having done my Iron Butt that if the unexpected happens I have it in my locker to put in some big days to catch up. Days 1-3 In order to get to Iceland I need to catch a ship from the port of Hirtshals in Northern Denmark, so the first part of my journey is to get from my home in Newcastle to Denmark. On day 1 I'll head 320 South from Newcastle, leaving early to afternoon, heading to the the Port of Harwich in East Anglia. I've decided to catch t...

Greetings, Welcome to the latest Arctic Rider blog. Further to my blog a few days ago announcing that I've had to postpone my Arctic Ride Alaska, I'm very pleased to say that (in quite short order) managed to sort my next adventure which I will take on in July 2018... That's right (as you probably guessed from the blog title) I'm please to present... ARCTIC RIDE ICELAND To find out more about how I came to my decision to take on Iceland, please check out my below Facebook live announcement video. I'll be back on my blog with more details of the route and challenges on Iceland very soon but I just wanted to share this news for those of you who hadn't caught up with the Facebook live video. Thanks again for all the support! Ride safe, Gordon