Preparing for Iceland

We love Lionel and there will be other big trips in him but we also want to go to places Lionel can't get and so we decide to buy an overland vehicle that can take us anywhere with no problem. Then the research starts!

We consider de-mountable campers which are essentially pods on retractable legs which sit on the bed of a pickup truck; we go to see a few and they do offer a pretty good option but we're not sure.

We travel to Germany to the famous Abenteuer & Allrad overland show in Bad Kissengen, the show is full of overland trucks of all shapes and sizes, even trucks for over 1 million Euros!

We um and we ah and eventually we decide on Rocky a pickup truck with many, many bells and whistles as well as being fully equipped for camping.

Nick is delighted and immediately starts planning a trip to Iceland - and not only Iceland, but a trip after that to Africa. Janette takes a bit more persuading that sleeping in a tent up a ladder on the roof of a truck is a good idea a few months after a hip replacement!

Nick prevails and we start to plan in earnest for Iceland. We are getting the ferry to Calais and travelling up to Hirtshals in Denmark to catch another ferry to Iceland via the Faroe Islands. Even though Rocky is much smaller than Lionel, finding places to stay en route will be less straightforward as we can't stay in aires as we aren't in a motorhome so we need to stay in campsites. We're not keen on too much booking ahead so we decide to wing it, we'll see if that proves to be a foolish idea.

Nick and Janette put in hours of work getting Rocky ready. Rocky is very well equipped when we get him but there are adaptions that we want to make so that we can travel off-grid - Nick has a lovely time tinkering about, adding a solar panel, water tank, a second battery and all the electrics for the fridge and domestics!

We make a short trip down to a campsite in Purbeck as a test run and that proves very helpful in making last minute adjustments.

So.....we have travel insurance, vehicle insurance, breakdown insurance, emergency satellite communication capability and we're all set.

We've researched the weather, the terrain, the campsites in Iceland and of course the places we want to visit and the off road tracks we'll be taking to get there. We have the apps to satisfy Nick and the books and paper maps to satisfy Janette.

Rocky won't be the comfortable home from home that we have experienced with Lionel but we will be able to take to the F-roads in Iceland which are only accessible for 4x4 vehicles at certain times of the year when the roads are clear of ice. We'll be able to get off the tourist trail, ford rivers, climb mountains and see more of the amazing landscapes that this country has to offer.

Iceland is a way off yet though. We've got to cross the English channel at Dover, drive through France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark yet! Then it's a two day/night ferry journey from Denmark to Iceland via the Faroe Islands.

So, we hope you'll follow our weekly blogs as the journey unfolds.