Tuesday 2 December 2014

Dick "Icelandick" Phillips

In an earlier blog post I mentioned a man by the name of Dick Phillips (of the Rough Stuff Fellowship), who in 1959 crossed the Sprengisandur by bike. He and his three colleagues travelled from Stokkseyri to Akureyri.

Thanks to Al Humphries, I managed to get in touch with Dick Phillips and spent a highly entertaining hour talking about his experiences and what we're planning. Dick has spent the past 50+ years organising and running guided tours of Iceland, often to some of the wilder and more remote spots. Between times he's been a font of knowledge for people like me.

Through Dick I've learned about what our proposed route might actually entail. He described the landscape, his own experience of crossing the interior (river fording using shoelaces tied together) and Horace Dell's exploits.

Brilliantly, Dick has amassed a large selection of now out of print maps. Some of these show old routes used by horse-traders and sheep-herders which probably haven't been used by more than the odd person for decades, if not longer. Apparently some of them date back to their use in the 1890's, when the East-Fjords were better populated and the routes linked farms and homes (now all abandoned).

Dick was delighted that we were attempting our route, and even more so that we were shunning the roads and well-trodden trails. However he did suggest that these disused routes might be a good basis for our own path. Apparently they follow the natural lie of the land, they needed to be accessible by horse (so are probably okay for bikes) and they are likely to have cairns in some places. I briefly thought about complaining that this defeated the spirit of being off-road. But decided that this man's experience was considerably more valuable than my pride!

I wont bore you with much of the rest of the conversation, except to say that we both share a love of cartography, in particular of geological mapping. Yes-yes-yes. I'm a geologist. Get over it.

It's also worth noting that Dick sells his maps for about £7 a pop. Which is something like £20 less than Stanfords. He sells them for "the price they should be", with little consideration to maximum profit. So not only is he a fascinating man, but also one who is generous with his time and encouragement. I'm looking forward to speaking to him again once I have the maps spread out in front of me.