First Expedition Plan's and Prep

Hi Everyone,

Me and my mate Ed are currently in the very early stages of planning our first proper expedition north up to the arctic circle Via Denmark / Norway / Sweden with a potential de tour to Iceland as I have always wanted to go there.

Naturally there is no other vehicle to choose than a land rover, however which one is providing quite a debate, I love the old series 3 but reliability, comfort and general speed don't seem to be in its favour. With about 2k to spend plus £600 to service / fix anything it might be pretty tight to get a decent example. We are also considering an early disco as there are plenty about for this sort of money! Worlds apart I know.

Has anyone got any advice / tips for not only the vehicle choice but for the expedition as a whole If anyone has gone this way before it would be great to hear how long it took, where you stopped off etc. We are thinking about 6 weeks (depending on Iceland) and budgeting about £3,500 (excluding the vehicle) for everything else. Our current experience stands at two weeks camping, a half decent mechanical knowledge and loads of enthusiasm.

What do think then guys are we in with a chance?

Cheers

In a series 3 I reckon that frost bite would be a major problem.
For your budget it has to be a D1 or maybe even a 5 door Freelander 1 TD4 auto.
Or maybe some kind soul on this forum may rent their fully prepped expedition vehicle for the price of your budget.

Hi Vince,

Now you mention it frost bite doesn't sound that appealing and with out installing some diesel heating system that rules the series out.

I have owned a freelander before (my first car) i had an unreal amount of problems with it but it was a petrol, 2wd and a very cheap one... I would consider a td4 as i have a soft spot for the old hippo, but not to sure on the space inside for storage etc insurance is cheap though.

Loving the selections of disco's just finding a solid one - i plan to keep the landy for a fair few years so don't mind putting money in it. Don't know if its worth picking up an MOT failure and sorting it out that way i know what i am playing with??


Cheers

taking your car to Iceland will blow your Budget it cost me 2400 euros to get there and back plus that was 2 days in the Faroes.
I spent 2 months in Iceland and did not see all I wanted as the mountain roads were closed untill middle of July as it was a late snow melt.
It is an awesome country but very hard on tyres so take a couple of spares as they are about twice the price they are here;
Camp in the wild as even Hostels are expensive but there are some free camp sites around but they seem to be getting scarcer and dont open till June If you want some reading on Iceland our blog is
http://www.travelpod.com/members/bennybeanbear

There are still some decent Discovery 1's fairly rust free kicking about, with modifications for about £1500-2200, but expect to have to go through it, swivel seals, bearings, gaskets etc, and that will swallow £600 real quick. I think what will bugger up getting to Iceland is the ferry from Denmark to Iceland return is £2000, incidentally you can ship to Iceland from Harwich return for about £1500 in a container, I was gong to do it next year, but I enjoyed Morocco this year I'm going back there instead.

Well 2 grand for a ferry will definitely put an end to things! Probably going to save Iceland for a trip all of its own! Sounds like it needs it!!

We are decided on a D1 not sure whether to buy very cheap and fix / mod ourselves or buy something sorted! Any opinions?

I will check out your Iceland blog!! Morocco sounds fun but the wildermess of the north is calling to me!

Cheers

John93 said:

Well 2 grand for a ferry will definitely put an end to things! Probably going to save Iceland for a trip all of its own! Sounds like it needs it!!

We are decided on a D1 not sure whether to buy very cheap and fix / mod ourselves or buy something sorted! Any opinions?

I will check out your Iceland blog!! Morocco sounds fun but the wildermess of the north is calling to me!

Cheers

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Do Scandinavia, I will come ...... Always meant to do it... but its easier as its a fuel grunt up north rather than a costly ferry. Some civilised Western Europe to get supplies then up and around Norway finland demark etc.

Yeah for the cost of the ferry I could drive round Scandinavia for a fair few miles...

Yes stock up then dissappear into the wild for a few weeks, months... years sounds great!

SWMBO and I are thinking of a Scandanavian loop next year, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and back via Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania et al.

That sounds like quite a good route back, we are planing to via Denmark to Oslo then into Sweden, hop into Norway near the top spend a few days up there then head south down the coast and back into Oslo and home the way we came...

John93 said:

Hi Vince,

Loving the selections of disco's just finding a solid one - i plan to keep the landy for a fair few years so don't mind putting money in it. Don't know if its worth picking up an MOT failure and sorting it out that way i know what i am playing with??


Cheers

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Odd that I ended up not selling mine which is solid an 74k miles because goons kept mucking me about.

One of the great four wheel drive places to go is Georgia there are some awsome passes and quite reasonable fuel prices and cheap living

ovalandrover said:

One of the great four wheel drive places to go is Georgia there are some awsome passes and quite reasonable fuel prices and cheap living

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Don't forget Georgias' Southern neighbour Armenia. Absolutely stunning scenery and loads of high altitude, unsurfaced routes and even cheaper prices. Excellent food and drink too with very hospitable people.

MrIFan said:

Don't forget Georgias' Southern neighbour Armenia. Absolutely stunning scenery and loads of high altitude, unsurfaced routes and even cheaper prices. Excellent food and drink too with very hospitable people.

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also went to Azerbaijan and Nogorno_Karabakh on the same trip all very much the same stunning scenery.Also went to Moldova but decided to give Transnistria
a miss