Some old pictures from our tour with our bikes from Norway to Iceland in 2001. The rain was pouring down when me and my lovely girlfriend started from Kristiansand and drove to Bergen on the Norwegian west coast. Had to change some gasket’s on the Panhead at a place called Hovden (more about that somewhere else in this Blog:-) Took the ferry to Iceland and drove half way around the island to get to my home town of Mosfellsbær, which is about 440 miles. About 100 miles from home the anchor in the generator on the Panhead short circuited and left my stranded with no battery power. Well knowing that the charging system on old bikes is a weakness I fortunately had an extra battery in the saddlebag. When safely at home, we went to my twin brothers wedding (he is divorced today even thou they used the ’69 FL from the church ;o). The wedding was of course one of the main reasons for the trip.
On the way back to Norway we drove the other way around Iceland (north side) and went back with the ferry to Norway with a tree day stop at the Faroe Islands. Drove around the Faroe Islands (which you can manage, without a problem, in 3 days ;-) The whole trip from approx. 100miles from Reykjavik and home to Kristiansand in Norway (about 2000 miles and 5 days of riding) I drove with 2 extra batteries and had the alarm on 2 times each night to switch over the battery charger so that I would have enough battery power for the next day. Came approximately 100 miles per 8 amp battery without lights (which was a bit scary in all the dark tunnels in Norway;o). The reason for this was that you couldn’t get parts for old Harleys in Iceland without waiting a few weeks! Well I didn’t have time for that ;o)
A little info on Iceland and the Faroe Islands:
The Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 310,000 and a total area of 103.000 km² (40.000 miles²) which is slightly smaller than the state of Kentucky. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to some two-thirds of the national population. Located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is volcanically and geologically active on a large scale; this defines the landscape. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many big glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment and nature
The Faroe Islands are an island group consisting of 18 major islands some 400 miles or 650 km off the coast of Northern Europe, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Iceland and Norway, the closest neighbours being the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland. Its area is 1,399 square kilometres (540 sq. mi), and it has no major lakes or rivers. There are 1,117 kilometres (694 miles) of coastline. The only major island that is uninhabited is Lítla Dímun. Population 49.000
