Riding Iceland: Icebergs & Volcanoes, Oh My! - Ducati.ms - The Ultimate Ducati Forum
http://www.ducati.ms/forums
» Insurance
» Sponsors
Go Back   Ducati.ms - The Ultimate Ducati Forum > General Discussion > Ride Tales

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old Dec 4th, 2011, 2:36 pm   #1 (permalink)
Member
 
mym0ry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Posts: 49
Riding Iceland: Icebergs & Volcanoes, Oh My!

Hopefully it's ok to post a non-Duc ride report here...

A couple of months ago, my wife and I rented a BMW F650GS and a Triumph Tiger 800 and spent two weeks riding around Iceland. Here are a couple of entries from our photojournal. More pictures and writeups at: http://www.RideDOT.com/iceland

==========================================


Tue Aug 23 2011: Ice? In Iceland?!?


Hofn (A) to Glacier Lagoon (B) to Vik (C)

We only covered about 600 kms the last couple of days, from Seydisfjordur, through Hofn then onto Vik. Most of it in the rain. Note the Vatnajokull glacier that our route passes by. We spent most of today riding up to a few of the tendrils that reach the road and the water.

This is the first time I've ever tried Gore-Tex riding pants - definitely not as good as a dedicated rainsuit. When you sit on wet Gore-Tex, the pressure squeezes all the water through the fabric onto your skin. 10 hours of soaking butt in 5C rain.


In the background you can see one of the tendrils running off Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Iceland. If Vatnajokull is the size of a hand, the visible part from the ground is only about the size of a fingernail.


Glacier Lagoon

We stopped to view quite a spectacular sight at Jökulsárlón aka "Glacier Lagoon". This part of the Vatnajokull glacier gets pushed out into a lagoon where pieces of ice regularly break off and create icebergs. These pieces are huge, only 10% is visible, the rest is underwater. They slowly melt and drift out of the harbour. We saw a piece break off while watching in awe.

You can see some dark banding on some of the icebergs. Normally they are pure white, but the big eruption last year threw ash all over the glacier, giving the icebergs here a marbled effect. Beautiful!


Close-up of an iceberg at Glacier Lagoon

The largest icebergs must have been well over 60 feet high, and that's only the part that's above water!

Someone just asked me why the ice is so blue. I had no clue, But Wiki came to the rescue:

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of a glacier that winds its way toward a body of water (river, lake, ocean, etc.). During its travels, air bubbles that are trapped in the ice are squeezed out, and the size of the ice crystals increases, making it clear.

The blue color is often wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering. Rather, ice is blue for the same reason water is blue: it is a result of an overtone of an oxygen-hydrogen (O-H) bond stretch in water which absorbs light at the red end of the visible spectrum]


Looking over Glacier Lagoon. Two James Bond movies have been filmed here, as well as Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.


Just like at Timmies: Posin' with an Ice Cap.


We spent such a long time here, just staring in wonder at these mini-icebergs!
__________________
http://www.ridedot.com
mym0ry is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Advertisement
 
Old Dec 4th, 2011, 2:37 pm   #2 (permalink)
Member
 
mym0ry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Posts: 49

On our way up to yet another one of the glaciers that runs off Vatnajokull. There are tons of them all along the south shore of Iceland. You can see another one off to the left.


Neda is probably looking for more flowers to take pictures of


Mini Glacier Lagoon

After hiking around we find a secluded mini glacier lagoon all to ourselves. Great view of Vatnajokull up ahead. The leading edge of the glacier (terminus) has a very "Fortress of Solitude" look to it.


Close-up of the glacier. Just to give you an idea of how gigantic it is, those dots in the middle of the picture are ice climbers


A taste of Iceland...




Riding away from our own private glacier lagoon


Mossy terrain on the ride to Vik

==========================================

This blog and more are continued at http://www.RideDOT.com/iceland
__________________
http://www.ridedot.com
mym0ry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 4th, 2011, 2:43 pm   #3 (permalink)
SP3
Senior Member
 
SP3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Canton, Ohio, USA
Posts: 1,787
Images: 6
must have been a fantastic trip. certainly looks like it. great pics/writeup/blog, thanks for sharing!
__________________
1991 851 SP3
1966 250 Monza
1999 Moster 900 City (not so much City anymore)
SP3 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 4th, 2011, 4:35 pm   #4 (permalink)
Extended Member
 
CAlexio's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: somewhere between atlanta & n.cali, ITALIA->UK->MI->GA->CA, USA
Posts: 5,351
I love riding in Iceland, I love Icelandic people, I love their nature, their women... everything!!!

I rode in the far north west, which is very different countryside from the part you visited... here are some pics also:

2010 Iceland: Riding on the Moon
__________________
ECM IV is May 8-12th 2013, men in bikinis will wash bikes for free FFS. (And stop yelling or you'll wake up the sleeping asian bitches below)


2008 Ducshop Hyper S a.k.a. "Broke Beak Mountain" in a coma after 2011 ECM crash on Cherohala Skyway (w/ Mag-uhne-sium TA-TAS!),Ducshop engine w/ Pistal pistons, EVO slipper, Ducshop stack, Ducshop light flywheel, Ducshop suspension setup, DP cams, 2-1 termi, PCIII, 1123cc bore, shift-tech alum. subframe, DPseat, DP damper, DP 520chain, Bonamici rearsets, Titax levers, Driven CF handlebar, Rizoma beltcovers/mirrors/grips/reservoirs, tail-tidy, powdercoated parts, carbon-ed everywhere, and Xerox'd
2006 749R -the queen... (none shall touch her)
2005 749S -R.I.P.(homicidal left turning land yacht flyover)
2003 749 -R.I.P.(dog avoidance maneuver)
2003 KTM EXC 450 -(alive and revving despite mind-boggling abuse)
CAlexio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 6th, 2011, 5:49 am   #5 (permalink)
Member
 
moto9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: philly, pa, usa
Posts: 57
Thanks for sharing. The photos were amazing
moto9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 7th, 2011, 3:45 am   #6 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
rubber duckie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: OC, CA,
Posts: 319
that must have been breathtaking
rubber duckie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 14th, 2011, 6:41 am   #7 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
rapete's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Hamburg, Berlin, Germany
Posts: 222
Images: 5
Quote:
Originally Posted by mym0ry View Post
Hopefully it's ok to post a non-Duc ride report here...

A couple of months ago, my wife and I rented a BMW F650GS and a Triumph Tiger 800 and spent two weeks riding around Iceland. Here are a couple of entries from our photojournal. More pictures and writeups at: http://www.RideDOT.com/iceland

==========================================
Love your website...brilliant pics, excellent write up!
rapete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 14th, 2011, 9:41 am   #8 (permalink)
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Tulsa, OK, USA
Posts: 26
You sir are an adventure riding badass! I'd always wanted to do this, I do a lot of offroad riding but never had the guts to ride a heavy, tall bike off road. Those pics are absolutely breath taking...
Worm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Dec 20th, 2011, 11:12 pm   #10 (permalink)
Still needs a life.
 
Bill_Anderson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Edmonds (near Seattle), WA, USA
Posts: 9,116
Images: 19
Great photos and write up. I'll go back and check out your other trips later.
__________________
Bill Anderson & Darkwing Duc (06-ST3s, black) Edmonds, WA. USA
Bill_Anderson is online now   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Advertisement
 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
2010 Iceland: Riding on the Moon CAlexio Ride Tales 19 Jan 11th, 2012 9:32 am
trip to iceland July 4th weekend: ducatisti there? CAlexio Ducati Motorcycle Chat 31 Sep 14th, 2010 3:33 am
Hello from Iceland ! GizmoDog Welcome and Introduction 2 Jun 4th, 2010 4:42 pm

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.2

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:18 am.



Ducati.ms Web Community is powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0
Motorcycle News, Videos and Reviews
Ducati Forum Harley Davidson Honda 600RR Kawasaki Forum Yamaha R6
1199 Panigale Roadglide Forum Honda CBR1000 Vulcan Forum Yamaha R1
Ducati Monster Harley Forums Honda CBR250R ZX10R Forum Star Raider
Suzuki GSXR V-Rod Forums Honda Shadow Kawasaki Motorcycles Star Warrior
SV650 Forum BMW S1000RR Honda Fury Kawasaki Versys Drag Racing
Suzuki V-Strom BMW K1600 Triumph Forum Victory Forums Sportbikes
Volusia Forum BMW F800 Triumph 675 MV Agusta Forum Streetfighters