The 2007 Iceland tour part 3

I also tried riding on the beach...but I got stuck in the rocky surface..
The rear tire dig in, even with reduced airpressure in the rear tire..


When I left the Bird cliffs at Krysuvik (?), I was planning to follow a gravel road which were supposed to go past the Klefarvatn lake. This road was used in the Iceland car rally.
But I couldn't actually find what I was looking for, and the gps was out of batteries. They may have paved a part of this road since the map was made.. Well.. I followed a different route, as it looked like I could intersect the road I was trying to find.
Something tells me I'm in the wrong place when I only meet cars with the real big tires. And they give me the look of me being in the wrong place.
But it was not that bad, just a little bit softer and much more dustier.
The red lavadust was covering both me and the chief bluesmoke.. like a wonderful patina..:)


The small "Djupavatn" lake.


I found some trails which probably would lead me over to the other road.
But the trail was just some tire marks up a grassy hill.. so I found it best to stay on the road.. since I wasn't sure where I would end up.
At this point the rear bracket on the right tank had come off... so emergency repairs were needed..
One of the problems riding on these roads were the oil and gas exiting the tank cap vents...as the picture below shows.. :)



I didn't find any alternative route out of there...so I just followed the road..
And ended up where I was 1 hour before...




This time I just followed the "main" road and eventually ended up near Hafnarfjordur, not far from Reykjavik. The spare gas tank came to the rescue again. Rode down to Reykjavik in the evening to meet the Icelandic bikers again..now with a wonderful patina on the bike:)

On tuesday morning I put all my stuff back on the the bike and head for the "golden triangle".. the favourite tourist places.
The ferry was leaving early thursday morning..so I needed to speed up..

Well.. then I got stuck in front of a computer for too long.. and when riding up to the Harley dealership in Reykjavik to buy some thicker oil..
I was struggling with an almost empty battery and the clutch pedal was hard to move... and this in heavy traffic..
This made the clutch to overheat...
But the guys at harley let me work on the bike and charge the battery while I had lunch. The chief bluesmoke got his share of attention here also:)

So... 5 hours after my original plan for departure, I left Reykjavik heading for Thingvellir. Thingvellir is known for being the original location for the Icelandic parliament (from year 930), and being located near the crack between the european and the american continents(tectonic plates).


This is the actual crack between the tectonic plates


Near the Thingvalla lake ( I listen to music while riding, metallica is good for gravel roads:) )



Then it was time to ride over to the Geysirs...where one is still rather active.. the Strokkur geysir..


Strokkur blowing water and steam...


From there I rode directly to the Gullfoss waterfall...




And from there I found a route via some gravel roads towards route 1.
Saw another crashed car there.. after a blind curve with loose gravel..


... you may wonder.. how did they travel around back in the days before the combustion engine?
They used the Icelandic horse.. breed from several Nordic and european breeds. They are small, but extremely tough horses.. well suited for the environment and the cold climate..
There are somewhere around 80000 of them around Iceland.. but luckily most of them are behind fences (at least in the south of Iceland)..


Hello horse.. or hestur in Icelandic I think..




moooo.. ?



Oh.. well.. had to shoot some more pics of the ol' chief bluesmoke on my way south towards route 1



344 is also the model number of the 1944 Indian chiefs






I followed the route 1 down to Skaftefell... where I arrived just before midnight.. after a long day as a Turbo Tourist...