Welcome to my KZread channel!
My goal is to drive through and record dash cam footage of all the Icelandic F-roads as well as to visit and provide information about all the main attractions of Iceland.
My name is Ervin, I am living in Húsavík and join me on my journeys through the Icelandic wilderness!
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très beau
Fantastic drive, and great music too! Any idea what's up with all the bleached logs? Most unusual!
Où sont les arbres ! !😢
How long does this drive take?
Can't get over the fact that a fairly narrow road is two-way in Iceland. I guess I'm rather spoiled here with massive 4 lane roads.
Very usefull. Thanks!
Hi Ervin, I tried to find your route on en.ja.is/kort and am quite sure I got it correct. So I assume there would have been the possibility of a crossing at 12:10 to the right (en.ja.is/kort/?x=508018&y=402351&nz=16.67&type=aerial) or 12:57 on the left? Was it too deep there or did you just not want to drive back that way?
Thanks for sharing this!
Going to Westfjords in May. Thanks for your videos. When you say 2 hours 15 minutes both ways, do you mean the total trip took 4.5 hours, or the whole trip took 2 hours and 15 minutes? thank you!
ok with a duster?
Very helpful. Thank you
What kind of drone did you use? And can drone flying be learned quickly 😉? I'm considering a drone but don't know which one (not too expensive) as the Westfjords winds may be too much for a simple DJI basic model I guess? PS: absolutely love the footage and the accompanying music. Very well done.
So helpful. I'm going to the Westfjords in a couple of months (summertime) and this is very helpful to get me over my anxiety. Those gravel roads and mountain dirt roads seem kinda scary 😵💫😊. Thanks again for documenting the roads of the Westfjords. I'm excited, anxious and terrified all at once 😇🙃😉
I found the music and drive mesmerizing. Who is the artist?
Hi, I'm planning to visit this road and was wondering if it's doable in a Suzuki Jimny? I haven't seen any deep wheel tracks, so I shouldn't get stuck, but was wondering about the river depth. Any advice?
Hi! I'm pretty sure this loop is doable with a Jimny. There was one river that I was kind of suspicious about before driving that road (due to a video I found myself on KZread), but in reality it turned out to be quite shallow. However, the conditions can be different every year. Lets just say that during my drive through this road was 100% driveable with a Jimny (including rivers). Most likely the rangers staying at the mountain hut next to Laki craters can give you information via phone in advance regarding the depth of the rivers. Good luck with your trip!
@@ervindrivesaround1607 thank you, I'll check of course with the rangers.
Hey, I'm curious. Every time you have done a sizeable crossing you stop for 10-20 seconds, why do you do it? Is it to let the water drain from the car? Or some other reason, other than letting your passenger back in?
Yes, indeed there is always a stop before and after the crossings and there have been different reasons. First one is to switch the car into 4-low mode (as in order to do that I have to stop and put the gearbox into neutral first. I did that before the deepest crossings, usually I just used 4-high... and then switching back to "normal" mode after the crossing). Secondly to assess the river (where is the flow going and what trajectory to choose specifically). And yes, sometimes if it was possible, my wife went to record the crossing outside and then I waited for her to get back in the car. But I was lucky that never did the water come inside the car, so there was no draining needed. :)
What economic purpose does the road service?
That's a good question and to be honest, at the moment in my opinion the only purpose is attracting tourists to drive through it... There used to be some farms or at least I saw one or two buildings there. But I don't think there is anyone living there now permanently, most likely just summer homes. Of course if I'm wrong then all the Westfjord residents feel free to correct me. :)
Perhaps its a road to access the lighthouse at the tip?
Hi Ervin, thank you for posting these great videos. They are very informative and show how the roads are as opposed to google maps or google earth. I was in Iceland this past June (2023) for the very first time. I had a SUV but decided not to visit the rougher parts of Iceland and stuck to the Ring Road. This year I plan on returning and visit the Westfjords and possibly the Highlands as well. I also attached a Gopro to my windshield while I was driving, to capture footage from the road. Mine was a GoPro7, wired via a USB cable to a car-charger for extended filming times. I had mine attached in the upper middle part of my windscreen with Wide View. As i'm watching your video it seems to me that your camera was attached more on the righthand side. Is that correct? What type of camera was it? In any case, your videos are great. Thank you for sharing and Happy New Year.
Hi and sorry for the long delay replying your questions! Thank you for the kind feedback. Well, my GoPro is realllllly old, it's 2nd generation. And yes, it's mounted towards the right, as I have a 70mai dashcam in the middle. So I record with 2 cameras to be sure that I get at least some footage if one of them happens to fail and both of them are connected to a car charger via USB cables. Fun fact - I could not find a proper car mount for that old gopro... so I just glued the normal gopro stand (that is used to place it on a table) onto the windshield... and then carved a hole at the side of the case to access the charging port... :) This also means that my gopro is always recording upside down and I flip the picture during the editing. Since it's 1st of February, it's too late for me to wish you a "Happy new year", so I shall wish you the best of fortune in 2024 and good luck with your trips!
Thanks for the video. I would like to drive to Kverkfjoll. What can you do there? Are there hiking trails etc? I just want to hike around for a bit then drive back. Thanks.
Hi and yes, close to the mountain hut was the starting point of at least 3 different hiking trails across the mountain next to it. All of them had different distances, we just took the shortest one which was straight up the mountain and back. During the summer there is a ranger in the hut who can provide you the information about the trails.
The most terrifying thing about driving in the Westfjords is coming across a guard rail. They are always twisted and mangled, and you know they've been placed there due to a previous incident.
hey ervin, what is the most infernal and hard f-road that you have driven?
I think F910 starting from the east towards lake Askja is pretty long, twisty, slow paced and demanding. Sadly I haven't done it yet, but apparently F910 from Askja to Nyidalur is the toughest (or so they claim...)
I drove this way last year at the end of spring. There was still a lot of snow at the sumit and the road was not so good fitting for my Duster. I climbed the last hill befroe the end of the road and than the way was going down for a few 100m and was coverd with ice and snow. To drive it down wold be no problem but will i be able to come back than? Better stop here and try to fly to make good pictures. Impossible to start, so strong is the storm. A good reason to try it again in the end of summer. Sun and reached the top for pretty pictures. I made a lot of actice-trac vodeos with my Mavic3 when i drove up and down. My baby did a perfect job and never lost my car. At least 1h of perfect advertising videos for Datcia. Unfortunatly non of the pictures or videos can reperoduce the feeling when i stop to look over the fjord to the sea.
So cool.
I know Gromitt, I've got this really great idea for folk who'd like to see what the F333 is like - we'll do a video at night! Smashing idea Wallace, they'll love it!
😂
I drove the road last year, one of teh most beautyfull fjords in iceland. I was verry lucky and hat wonderfull weather. In the fjord have seen 2 whales.
Hello, ich habe diese Tour im Juli 2023 das 3. Mal gemacht. Wunderschön! Bolafjall wurde touristisch erweitert. Ein Steg befindet sich direkt am Berghang. Aufregend!
Thank you, your video is more useful
kzread.info/dash/bejne/rHic25h8Ys_PYNo.html&ab_channel=hawksmut Here is an old tv program of the people who lived there and the guy who made the road..
Akurayri is a place that interests me greatly. Thanks for showing us around a bit!
Another excellent drive - and such an abrupt end!
That's a particularly excellent drive and spectacular road. Well done!
UPDATE: From North NO FORDS at this moment.
Thank you Ervin. Currently planning a trip to the fjords and your videos have been very helpful! I'll be going with a Ford Ranger with body kit, making it almost 2m high. I'm gonna take my chances and hopefully be able to cross that narrow beach carving :-)
Thanks! I'm going to Iceland in a few weeks and road 635 looks interesting, though I wish you'd turned left instead of going back to the main road. I'm most interested in that last part of 635, up towards Dalbær Snæfjallströnd campsite. Maybe I have to shoot it myself. :) But a big thanks for this video!
Hey, how in the end because I don't know how far you can drive to F208 because on the maps it shows that it is closed and it's the perfect weather for such a trip. Our Toyota LC will definitely do it, but what if the road is closed...
I am actually from Búðardalur. So it is funny to see it in the video
I want to see Dynjandi but must leave from Akureyri. Is it possible to get from Akureyri to Dynjandi in one day? How much of 60, going to Dynjandi, is gravel road? I am nervous about driving on gravel roads.
I have been there today. The road has deteriorated extremely since your video. The first river crossing has been destroyed and is not doable for any normal 4x4 car…
The first crossing; Are you talking about 1:24?
I've driven this road once - in the opposite direction. Though I'd mostly forgotten the landscape the cairns stuck in my mind - they are very well built and closely spaced, I guess fog is common in the area 🙂I'd love to do it again - but perhaps on a mountain bike to maximise the enjoyment. BTW, there's some great blueberries to be had just past the abandoned farm on the Kollafjörður side - the are is literally crawling with them 🙂
Awesome! At 4:16 there is a sigh (Skyggnisvatn) on the right side. Skyggnisvatn is a big crater lake! But I didn't notice if you can turn right and drive to there or need to go hiking!?
Thanks for not go illegal off-road driving
Tolles Video. What kind of music? titel?
Wow! That was one of the most exciting adventures on KZread recently! Many thanks for sharing your awesome experience👍
Thank you for the kind feedback, glad you enjoyed it!
hi will2w drive car be able to drive through west fjords? am planing to drive to west fjords from Sauðárkrókur or hosfos to Dynjandi waterfall. and also is there any toll payment for the tunnels? how do we make payments ? what if we missed to make payments?
Hi! Yes, 2WD should be able to handle most of the roads in Westfjords. Definitely all main roads that connect the towns as well as some mountain roads (except some very specific roads like F66 or 622). All the tunnels in Westfjords are free. At the moment I think there is only one tunnel in entire Iceland that has a toll fee and that is located in the north after Akureyri (on the route 1 going towards Húsavík).
Thanks for taking us with you! The road appears to be in much better shape than when I drove it 7 years ago. At that time it was badly washed out with lots of exposed rocks. I really hope to go back one day and take the detour up to the abandoned radar station, which I missed last time. And thanks to you I’ll know which turn to take. ;)
Hi! Thanks and yeah, the road has improved during the last years. In 2020 it still had the "mountain vehicles" sign on www.road.is, implying that a 4WD vehicle is needed. But in 2022 (maybe even in 2021) this sign was gone on the webpage and now it's doable with with simple passenger cars. :) Good luck with your next trip!
I agree with you regarding the road condition, I went there (Skálar, Fontur) in 2007. the weather was excellent and I didn't meet anyone all day, mass tourism was still unknown in Iceland 😊
I did this drive alone in 2015 when there was no choice--this WAS the 60. More cloud cover that day. Really driving in fog, no views of the far sea at all. So beautiful at 3:40 and your other pause near the 5:00 mark... thank you for those. At the switchbacks it was impossible to gauge how steep the slopes were at sides of road. I assumed a sheer drop and just crawled along in the thick fog with my flashers on, thankful there was no-one else on the road the whole time, in either direction. Quite the adventure!
Yeah the fog can seriously mess everything up on these mountain roads! For me were the roads to Látrabjarg and Rauðisandur that were completely ruined by the fog. I was hoping to make drive-through videos of these mountain roads as well, but dropped the idea as only a very thick fog and the hood of the car can be seen on these clips... :)
Merci pour ces images. Vos vidéos m'aide à choisir les routes que je vais emprunter lors de mes voyages dans ce superbe pays. Le seul petit reproche c'est qu'il n'est pas toujours évident de savoir si le parcours est envisageable pour un petit Jymny ou un Duster.
Salut! J'utiliserai Google Translate pour ce commentaire, donc j'espère que ça ne sonne pas trop faux ! Merci pour vos commentaires, je vous souhaite un bon voyage en Islande et j'essaierai de garder cela à l'esprit lors de la mise en place de ces vidéos pour inclure plus d'informations sur les véhicules capables de passer. Mais dans la région des Westfjords, un 4x4 basique comme un Jimny ou un Duster devrait pouvoir traverser la plupart des routes. Je dirais qu'un 4x4 plus gros n'est nécessaire que sur les routes de montagne difficiles comme la F66 ou la route 622.
I was stationed at the H-2 radar site from Jan to September 1959. The unit was named the 667th Aircraft Control and Warning Station. We watched for Soviet bombers approaching Icelandic air space. If one or more was identified, we contacted Keflavik Air Base who in turn would scramble two fighter jets to fly up and escort the Soviet bombers away from Icelandic airspace. Some additional information is needed. Construction of the radar site was actually begun in 1953 by the Iceland Road Authority. In 1954 further construction was assumed by the Iceland Prime Contractor. The site was not activated until 8 August 1956. However, it did not become operational until October 1957. After the radar bubble was blown down in Jan 1961, the undamaged radar equipment was taken to H-3 at Hofn, Iceland. But the H-2 site lived on - not as a radar site, but was manned as a US Navy detection site, tracking Soviet submarines as they crept past Iceland on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, a small detachment of US Air Force men were assigned to the site to detect any Soviet underground atomic or hydrogen bomb testing that might be in violation of the testing controls agreed to by the US and Soviet governments. Tall antennas replaced the two radar domes. By late 1969 or possibly early 1970, all US military personnel were withdrawn from the Langanes H-2 location when advanced satellite technologies were developed that made the Navy and Air Force detection obsolete.
Fantastic comment, thanks for sharing. How often did you need to contact Keflavík?
@@frajoladellagato Only on occasion - often we just detected a Soviet airliner that passed over Iceland without warning. Nevertheless, we would often scrabble two jets to come to our site so that we could keep our own controllers and radar men in good form (we did NOT intercept airliners.) After H-2 radar closed in Jan 1961, Soviet incursions into Iceland air space increased starting around 1962 and continuing into the early 1990s. During that period, about 3,000 Soviet bombers were detected by either H-3 at Hofn or H-1 at Keflavik and escorted away from Iceland by USAF fighter jets. The bombers would most often come in pairs. When the Soviet Union was no more by the early 1990s, Russians bombers were rarely spotted. But in 2003, in Dayton, Ohio, while we had our 1st reunion banquet of the radar sites of Iceland - during that precise time, two Russian bombers entered Iceland air space. Coincidently, the USAF Commander of H-1 and one of his operations officers, were our guests at that reunion. Both bombers were intercepted and escorted away from Iceland. Since 2002, Russian bombers were rarely seen near Iceland.
Thanks a lot for this information! It was actually pretty tricky to find any info about this station on the web, so your comments are very valuable. And also it was exciting to read your memories about it and I hope it was nice to see the old site in the video. :)
I haven't been to Langanes yet, but I really want to go there, because the landscape and the lonely lighthouse are so beautiful. The video also looks great! :)
This is a proper F-road, though the path from route 208 to the river crossing is quite easy. Note, route 208 - all the way from route 26 to the connection to this route F224 - is not an F-road! It becomes an F-road after F224 and southwards. In fact, route 208 is paved from route 26 all the way to the power station near Sigoldufoss.
I think they should just make an effort and make F224 into a "normal" 224 so that more simple cars could make it all the way from route 26 to Landmannalaugar (or at least until the river crossing). :)
Note, route 208 - all the way from route 26 to the connection to route F224 - is not an F-road! It becomes an F-road after F224 and southwards. In fact, route 208 is paved from route 26 all the way to the power station near Sigoldufoss. I travelled this route with a 2WD of an Icelandic friend, with no issue, in September 2022. And, we even went up to F224 (which IS an F-road), up to the river crossing, where we parked. In the parking area was a Chevrolet Spark, a tiny 2WD car.. Note: insurance never covers undercarriage damage, and driving on an F-road invalidates *all* insurance. So never drive an F-road with a car not allowed to. However, driving on non F-road route 208 and parking before F224 should be fine, and then the walk on F224 all the way to the Landmannalaugar camp area is just 25 mins, so not a big deal. Make your own conclusions. :)
Thanks for this information. I did these roads in 2020 and I guess they are trying to make Landmannalauger area more accessible, so they are taking more care of the road 208 and it has lost its "F" sign (at least until F224!) When I was putting this video together I was also confused myself that where does the F208 start exactly and until what point is it just 208... back then the road signs next to the routes still had the old "F" marking. Same confusion was with the (F)35, Kjölur route that I did one year later. All sources online say that it's not an F-road (and it officially isn't), but the road signs on the spot still claim so.