# stunned by Iceland - and we met Hagu!



## lalala (Aug 13, 2009)

We are just back from our camper trip to Iceland and the whole experience was wonderful. 
We managed to do everything we wanted to, probably because the long days meant that we were on the go from early until late. Some mornings I was up and about at 4am to get photos with the morning light, and sometimes up until 3am to get the setting sun. We went north from Seydisfjordur to Vopnafjord then on to walk the cliffs at Raudanes which was a great introduction to what Iceland has to offer. We sent time in Siglufjordur and the Western Fjords. Everyday brought new wonders and magnificent scenery. We visited the major sites and if you go early or late then the tour buses aren't there, so we had a full hour at Gullfoss on our own because we went really early. And what a beautiful sight it was!
Food was very reasonably priced, e.g. Heinz baked beans were cheaper than in the UK. There were very well stocked supermarkets, The Bonus and Netto were the best value but all were ok. However things were much more expensive in Denmark (as we expected) and in the Faroe Isles.
Travelling around was good on the whole but there are some very bad roads. However there were motorhomes using all the roads, people just went more slowly when conditions were poor. The ferry faret from Denmark was expensive but food on the boat was very reasonable. Campsites were all inexpensive and there are some very good free sites.
So once you are there it is actually quite a cheap destination.
We shall return, we enjoyed it so much.
And, a huge bonus, Hagu had told me the registration number of his motorhome as he was travelling around Iceland. Unbelievably on our second last night we stopped at a quiet out of the way site and the first m/h I saw was his. What a coincidence. It was lovely to meet him, his wife and his friends and this really added to our holiday.
Having our camper there made everything so much more relaxed, we went where we wanted when we wanted. It is definitely, for us, the way to see this country.
Lala


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## mags52 (May 9, 2010)

That sounds great. It's a country I've always wanted to see.


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## pandalf (Oct 29, 2006)

Great! Tell us more. I have been a couple of times on business, and simply loved the place. Ever since, I have nurtured a standing wish to take my MH there. I know they used to have a ferry service from Scrabster via the Faeroes, but I think that is now discontinued. 

How long were you there, and how feasible was it to drive all the way around the island?

How long did the ferry crossing from Denmark take?


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## Blizzard (Sep 21, 2009)

Lala, 

It sounds superb and thanks for sharing  

One of our intended destinations for when we get rid of the kids and downsize MH.


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## lalala (Aug 13, 2009)

pandalf said:


> Great! Tell us more. I have been a couple of times on business, and simply loved the place. Ever since, I have nurtured a standing wish to take my MH there. I know they used to have a ferry service from Scrabster via the Faeroes, but I think that is now discontinued.
> 
> How long were you there, and how feasible was it to drive all the way around the island?
> 
> How long did the ferry crossing from Denmark take?


The only crossing now is from Denmark. We took a week to drive up to the top of Denmark to Hirtshals. The ferry, Norrona, left mid afternoon and got to the Faroes late the following day after passing the Shetlands. We had three nights on the Faroes then back on the Norrona for another night, arriving Seydisfjordur early the next morning. The routes out of the Faroes and into Iceland were very scenic.
We were there about three and a half weeks. This was plenty of time to go all round the island and into many of the areas outside the Ring. I would say you have to get away from the Ring ... and there are lots of opportunities to do so.
lala


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

pandalf said:


> How long were you there, and how feasible was it to drive all the way around the island?


We did the whole Route 1 loop in 1997 and it took a week with no long stops (i.e. more than 1 night in one place) but that was in a car, not a m/home or camper.


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## davesport (Nov 12, 2006)

Could I be nosey & ask what the "damage" £ was for the ferry please ? This is a trip I'd seriously like to undertake but I'd heard figures of 4K to get a 7M MH there & back on the ferry. If that were the case I wouldn't be going  

Feel free to PM me if necessary.

TIA Dave.


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## an99uk (May 12, 2005)

http://www.smyrilline.com/Iceland/Transportation/In_your_Camper.aspx

Found this link.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

Unless roads have improved drastically (and I really do mean DRASTICALLY) anywhere other than in the south west corner between Reyjavik, the airport and Geysir I wouldn't even consider taking my coachbuilt motorhome.

The car we hired (admittedly some years ago) had had it's front tyres ripped to shreds on the rolled lava roads, (almost all roads other than the 2 or 3 main roads outside any built up areas and there aren't many of those) in less than 5,000 miles. 
From the noise of stones hitting the underside and wheels arches I don't think many underslung tanks would survive long. I certainly (based on my experience) wouldn't go far off the main roads to do much exploring

If conditions have improved I'm happy to be told so, but the roads were much as my father described them from when he was stationed there in WW2. One stretch of Route 1 along the south coast (near Hofn) was just a level terrace scraped out of a cliff face and it was scattered with boulders the size of footballs you had to swerve in and out of.

If things have improved I'll be pleased to hear it for when I plan to go back, as at the moment all my ideas centre around a hired 4x4.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Hagu*

Who is Hagu?


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*ouchland*

How Much!

If pre-book the Chef meals, breakfast and wine tasting, these come out at an additional €800.

So close on €5,000.00 with Meals.

TM


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## lalala (Aug 13, 2009)

davesport said:


> Could I be nosey & ask what the "damage" £ was for the ferry please ? This is a trip I'd seriously like to undertake but I'd heard figures of 4K to get a 7M MH there & back on the ferry. If that were the case I wouldn't be going
> 
> Feel free to PM me if necessary.
> 
> TIA Dave.


We paid about £1150 each way, including a stop in the Faroes on the outward journey and a very comfortable 2 bed cabin (no bunks) with window. a deluxe cabin costs a lot more and a cabin with bunks, or couchettes, costs less. Food on board was very reasonable, especially the all you can eat breakfast. We didn't indulge in the a la carte menus or the de-luxe cabin.
As a sample comparison I would say that the whole 5 week holiday, including the Iceland crossing and the Stena crossing to the Hook of Holland, cost about the same as 10 days in a good hotel in Mauritius. 
It does cost more with a longer vehicle, charged per metre.
We actually paid too much as the booking assistant booked us as a vehicle up to 3.5m when we are only up to 2.5m. We only discovered this when informed at the check-in window.

Teenymob, you ask about Hagu. He is an Icelandic MHF subscriber. He was very helpful when we were planning the trip.
hope this is helpful,
Lala


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## lalala (Aug 13, 2009)

Stanner said:


> If things have improved I'll be pleased to hear it for when I plan to go back, as at the moment all my ideas centre around a hired 4x4.


Hi Stanner, conditions have improved and seem to be improving all the time with some excellent new roads well off the ring. We did use quite a few gravel roads in the North-east and the Western Fjords, and elsewhere and some were difficult but cars and motorhomes were using them. None had big boulders. it did take a little while to get used to driving on the rougher roads; we drove from Egilsstadir to Vopnafjord at a snail's pace the first day, but at the end of the trip we did the same road again and it seemed very easy this time to keep up to the speed limit. 
The worst road was going south to Dettifoss but you don't have to use it as there is a new road going north to Dettifoss which is really good and easy to access. Obviously you have to keep an eye on tyres but ours didn't suffer unduly.
We thought that for our next trip we would take the camper for general use but perhaps hire a large-tyred 4x4 for a week in the interior.
Lala


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## bill (May 10, 2005)

Hello All

We went to Iceland 12 June - 14 July 2011 with the C&CC Escorted tour. It cost a little over £5,000 which included ferries Harwich to Esbjerg with outside cabin (two singles beds), Hirtshals (???) to Iceland with same cabin, buffett dinner on outward ferry to Iceland, some meals whilst there and all campsites. This was for two people in a 6.5mtr vehicle. Oh, it also included whale watching and a trip to Reyjavik.

We stopped on the Faroes on the way back for three days which was good, except that the weather clagged in for the first part. There roads there were excellent.

Regarding the roads, I agree with whats been said so far about possible damage. In fact some people did suffer some but in the main I think this was due to speeds being pushed and trying to go places beyond the capabilities of our vehicles. I found it best to drive in the center of the rough roads to slow on coming hire cars and Icelanders only moving over at the latest possible safe moment. 

Examples of damaged caused to my vehicle are the holes that the two pins on the oven locking mechanism go into elongated with the viberation causing a squeak but is still usable and one of the Heki 2 hinges snapped (possibly because it had gone brittle) but I've managed to stick this.

Other people had things like the waste tank tap damaged by flying stones from the wheels, the odd dent from flying stones from other vehicles, damaged low under slung fresh or waste tanks whilst leaving ferries, Heki's ripped off in high winds (about three of these I think).

We don't have a particular interest in geology but the place absolutely amazed us once we began to understand it a bit.

Other bits of info would be, you are only allowed to take 3kg of food in each, no meats, no dairy products, your allowance of alcohol of course. I know some people did take a huge amount of each and I don't recollect anyone being stopped at customs, although this is a risk you take of coures. 

Eating out was pricey so we didn't do much of it but I would recommend trying their traditional dishes though.

Are we glad we went? Overall yes very. Would we go back? No not now we've been. It will be somewhere warm next time.

All the best

bill


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi

We're currently in Iceland and finding we are at the very end of the season. Many things seem to close or slow down from the end of August. We will go on a whale watching trip in the next few days since we've just discovered the whales go too!

We left Denmark on the 24th of August, via the Faroes for the 3 days (which we wouldn't bother with again. One campsite was just a sports centre carpark but still about £16 without EHU. Wild camping is not allowed, and not too many laybys even if you wanted too, but not impossible perhaps. We didn't. There are tunnels onto other islands so you can explore more than we first thought but these are pricey too. Waste emptying facilities are only at the municipal dump with limited opening hours. The Viking long house remains were nice. The Chinese restaurant walking distance from the ferry does a good lunch buffet though!) and we leave Iceland on the 5th of October.

We bought the Icelandic camping card at a tourist info which was advertised for twice what it cost which is weird, but actually was about 85 Euro, meaning you then just pay for EHU at participating sites. A lot of the campsites close at the end of August, and by the end of this month I think only ten are left open and in the system. There are a lot more than that, but we won't know until we get to each one if they're open. The Bradt guide gives some info.

We found a great map before we arrived by Ferdakort 1:200000 ISBN 978-9979-67-209-8 and we've not seen it for sale here yet!

http://www.ferdakort.is/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=24&Itemid=87

One "superjeep" trip we looked at is http://www.geotravel.is/ because he helped us. From Myvatn to Askja as a day trip is 27500 Krona each.

Any road number starting with an F requires 4x4 which is a reasonable proportion or them. These so far for us have been badly corrugated with fords up to 2' deep and occasional deep sand, and cars are not allowed. Hire car insurance I don't think covers you on many of these roads. You can hire a 4x4 pickup with a "dismountable" camper on the back which seems a good idea, are popular and are OK on F roads, but I don't know what the cost is

http://www.holdur.is/en/page/4x4_campers_and_motorhomes/

Our camper is 4x4, and we have explored around Snaefell, to the ice caves at the north of Vatnajökull, and up to Askja. When we left the tarmac route 1 the forecast was for rain, but close to Askja that became a freezing blizzard and deeply drifting snow. (Just the time for a small breakdown caused by the bad roads vibration!) The road F910 where we got to is now closed.

http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/the-entire-country/island1e.html

This morning we went on a flight in a small plane from Myvatn to Vatnajökull then to Dettifoss which although 230 Euros each for about 2 hours was absolutely fabulous, especially with the recent snow sprinklings  This route follows the cracks, fissure systems and hot spots across a big chunk of the country, and the various shapes created by so many eruptions is amazing.

As LaLa said its not expensive here compared to the UK, the current campsite is 1000Kr each with EHU and fabulous view of Myvatn. Our camper is 7m long and 4m high, and the ferry cost 2400 Euro. We met someone who paid 2000 by getting just under 2.5m, unbolting their solar panel and letting their tyres down! We booked this in January, with a cabin obviously but no prebooked food. On the way here I managed to be sick for half of it which I hardly have been before, but there is a variety or food available at different price ranges.

The cabin photo in the advert at the time showed a two berth room with two singles side by side, but ours was a pair of bunks. Swapping cabins seems impossible, we overheard one elderly couple complaining having seen the same photo of the cabin, and booked since they couldn't get up into the bunk. Tough luck seemed to be the reply. We also asked for a room close to the middle to minimise the ships motion, the check in girl showed us the layout so we could pick, but the room on the ship was entirely different!

So with about 5 weeks here, and our slow highland wanderings, I'm sure we won't have enough time. I'm hoping to go diving too, as the water is clearer than just about anywhere in the world!

I think we will have to come back, probably in the spring when things are nicely melting and the big waterfalls must be really mental, if now they are at low water but still really impressive!

Our travel diary, not too speedily updated, but some is there so far;

http://www.iceland.moglet.co.uk/


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## eddievanbitz (May 1, 2005)

*Re: Hagu*



teemyob said:


> Who is Hagu?


You took the words out of my mouth!

Eddie :wink:


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