brother Robbie, and Tiny Lives Trust,
who were there to help my wife and I
when our daughter Islay was born pre-
maturely (and only days after return-
ing from Arctic Norway) and spend
time in the Special Care Baby Unit.
I battled on to Dalvik where I
stopped for the night to catch the ship
the next morning to Grimsey. After a
very choppy passage I had made it to
Grimsey where I literally only had a
few miles to ride before I crossed the
Arctic Circle. With only a few miles
of paved roads on the island, I took to
attempting some hiking trails. While
the fully loaded V-Strom 1000 I was
riding was more than up to the job,
my own confidence and realisation
that there was no doctor or mechanic
on this tiny island, combined with the
continued gale-force winds stopped
me from making all the way to the
North tip of the island. The views of
mainland Iceland from the Grimsey,
and the huge numbers of puffins liv-
ing undisturbed, made up for the lack
of riding opportunities and six hours
in choppy seas.
I’d completed my assignment to
cross the Arctic Circle however I still
had 5 more days in Iceland as the ferry
to Denmark only runs once per week.
The next few days saw me riding
west across the Northern Peninsulas
through some of Iceland’s most rug-
ged landscapes. As I travelled into the
western Fjords, the roads deteriorated
in width and quality. So-called paved
roads littered with potholes and loose
gravel, and off-road sections a real
challenge to make any progress while
staying upright. I went into combat
with Route 68, 70 miles of exciting
unpaved gravel roads including an in-
timidating pass with 12% incline both
ways that lasted for 6 miles. From start
to finish the views of fjords and moun-
tain ranges were in constant sight. I
continued my circumnavigation head-
ing south from the western Fjords to-
wards the south east and Reykjavik.
My final two days in Iceland involved
riding the south coast from Reykjavik
TRAVERSE 99