Taking her home - and a bit more

[TeeBee]

day 10

Waking up in Helsingborg, on the Swedish West coast, there is really only one sensible choice of route up to Oslo. It is the E6 motorway, it is straight, it is boring, and today it was very windy. Unfortunately, it also looked as a battle against time, as there was rain coming in from the West. After a quick breakfast I headed North.

In a car, the E6 is somewhat pleasant. There is scenery of mild interes, farms, forests, windmill-parks, etc. But for a biker, with the wind-buffeting from traffic and the total lack of corners, it is pretty dull. As 95 % of my journey (of 500 kms) would be on the E6, it was definitely need for short stops.

One of my favourite patisseries (bakery store) is in the city of Göteborg (Gothenburg), so I stopped there for lunch, a raspberry tart and an espresso. The selection of cakes is breathtaking.

Most of the day was light cloudy, but just North of Uddevalla I hit trouble. At first it looked like it would be possible to dodge the rain. Which it was for a while. But then it hit me like the Niagara. With no time to stop and don my raingear, it just opened up on me. Within ten minutes the arms and shoulders of my jacket was soaked. I even felt water coming down along the backside of my calfs! How it got there is a mystery. So the rains continued for about 80 kms, until just into Norway.

Today the customs officers had decided to check vehicles. Me they just waived on. Which means that I got in with a bottle of gin too many.

On familiar roads it did not take too long to get home.

 

[TeeBee]

Some observations

When travelling on a bike you actually can get to see a fair bit of wildlife. I saw deer in three countries, rabbits in two, a ferret?, eagles in two countries, a falcon?, an unidentified furry animal (like a very big, fat cat).

Most people are very nice and friendly to foreign bikers.

Travelling any other road than the Motorway is nicer (but obviously not as quick if you have to get anywhere).

Even a GPS can send you the wrong way. See what happens is that sometimes it recalculates your route, say if it looses the signal or if you go into a restaurant for lunch. When it does, it may have decided to send you a totally different route to your destination, than the one it originally showed you. It almost sent me to the wrong ferry from Germany to Denmark (much further East, and much slower).

Road surfaces are very different from country to country. Some places that means your tyres will wear much quicker (see above). Some places that means you need to be more careful. In Luxembourg the surfaces are excellent.

It is good to always carry a bottle of water and maybe a snack in a handy location.

In some countries the petrol pumps do not accept credit/debit cards. So that means you need OPEN stations. In Belgium it seems as if there are no open stations on a Sunday evening.

The ratio of bikers greeting other bikers vary hugely from country to country. The highest ratio was in Belgium, where approximately 95% of the bikers greeted. While in Germany it was down to a dismal 10-20%.

When riding on the "other side of the road" (such as in Scotland and England) bikers greet each other by nodding, or alternatively with the left hand (unless they have full fairing).

The highest percentage of crappy cagers are in Sweden. However, there was one trucker with a spot of humour. He had a bumpersticker saying: "If you don't like my driving, please email me at [email protected]".

Along the road there are always lots of charming restaurants, cafes, hotels, B&Bs. Just not when you need them.

When you get a tune on your mind, it tends to stay there for a long, long time. Generally, it would be a different tune each day. One day it was an ultra silly Norwegian song from the Seventies, which is a weather forecast for "Sun, sun, sun"

 

[Odysseus]

Congratulations again, TeeBee! A really fantastic tale with great pictures to boot. If I had seen those cakes I would have just taken all my clothes off and dived in!!
Ody

 

[TeeBee]

Summary

Today, the Bonnie got a well deserved wash. After the journey she was pretty dirty. And I have just ordered new front brake pads.

Spot the difference!

The total kilometers travelled was 4 325 kilometers (2 687 miles).
That is just about the same distance as New York to Los Angeles.
Or more than the distance from Perth to Sydney.

The use of Petrol is somewhat less when doing long distance, so I kept all receipts, and calculated the MPGs. Performance was pretty consistent around 48 MPG, with a drop for the leg through London (lots of stop and go traffic).

Finally, thanks to all of you who read this thread, and for those who contributed. Sorry, that I haven't answered, but using a smartphone sort of restricts the time that I want to spend online. Anyway, when travelling alone, it is cool to know that there are actually others out there who can share my experiences.

PS Odysseus, somebody told me about a ferry service between Santander and Plymouth. That must surely be a great way for you to get to Britain!

 

[Fr. Joe 07T100]

TeeBee, that was great. thank you for taking us along and keeping us so well informed. that was a lot of fun and educational to boot!

p.s. I'm glad you didn't go for that sad yet healthy fruit salad with all those tasty cakes there at the patisserie!

 

[MOSES]

Thanks TeeBee, Man I'm jealous ! Your trip is probably the closest i'll get to a Vacation this year.

 

[Odysseus]

I know the UK to Spain ferry route, TeeBee. In fact I bought my bike in the UK about three years ago and brought it back to Lisbon on the Portsmouth to Bilbao route. The only reason I didn't take the bike over this year was time. With luck, next year I'll be able to take the ferry, spend some time riding in Scotland, and then ride down through France to stay with a couple of friends before heading home via Spain.

Where did you stay in Scotland: did you pre-book hotels, stay in campsites, etc.? When I was on the west coast a few weeks ago, finding places to stay was ok until August arrived, and then there were simply no vacancies anywhere. I'd never seen an entire region's hotels totally occupied before. I don't like to tie myself down to staying at a specific place, but next year I'll have to book hotels in advance or take some camping gear if I want to avoid this year's experience.

 

[TeeBee]

Where did you stay in Scotland: did you pre-book hotels, stay in campsites, etc.? When I was on the west coast a few weeks ago, finding places to stay was ok until August arrived, and then there were simply no vacancies anywhere. I'd never seen an entire region's hotels totally occupied before. I don't like to tie myself down to staying at a specific place, but next year I'll have to book hotels in advance or take some camping gear if I want to avoid this year's experience.

Odysseus,

I did not prebook or plan any nights. I just stopped when/where it suited me. As the trip was so late in the season, that worked out very well. Two nights was spent at friends' houses. The others in B&Bs, simple hotels, and one night in a Holiday Inn (couldn't find anything). My backup-plan was to bring a sleeping bag, but it was never in use.

Thor

 

[Odysseus]

Thanks Thor. Next year I'm going to have to pick a different month - work permitting, of course!

 

[scolepdx]

Were do you have your TomTom at, I don't like the look of the Ram mount.