Gwilym's Adventure Blog

6.45 on the road and yet again very cold at 6 degrees. After about 50km of Czech roads and another 100km of German countryside, I pulled over, stuck a few extra PSI in my tyes and hit the Autobahns heading for Brussels. After 6.5 hours and 3 fuel and toilet stops, I entered Brussels and rode through the centre and past the EU Commission building on my British bike, however being 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon, no one was there anyway. I met up with Andy (who I met on my last tour) at the hostel and after a quick shower, we headed out into town to get some food and chat about our different journeys. The 2 of us have had some amazing adventures and successfully navigated our way around Europe on two wheels. The Brussels underground system however was somewhat challenging but we managed to get back to the hostel with only one stop in the wrong direction.

…. is pretty poor. I would describe it as 200+ km of Butlins holiday camps interspersed with belts of trees so thick you can't see the sea and roadworks that have half the highway missing so even if you could see the sea, you wouldn't be looking at it as you are too busy trying not to fall off your bike into foot deep gravel pits. From the campsite in Germany I headed north straight to the coast and then turned east and crossed into Poland by land. A ferry was required to get across a river. A free ferry at that! My plan to have a breeze and keep cool also failed with temps low to mid thirties again. Those trees and camps stop any wind making it to the road. This may sound very negative but it was also 9 hrs of riding and exploring a new country so still fun in its own way. On the positive side, the roads have more corners than northern Germany and the prices are low (and I mean super low). Yesterday's camping was 11 Euro. Today's campsite here was 2...

I don't normally carry passengers but today, when I stopped for breakfast in Belgium I noticed a grasshopper was on board. I tried to remove him but he dropped into a gap in the fairing. So off we went through The Netherlands and he re-appeared as we entered Germany. By now we were on first name terms and I called him Graham. Unfortunately Graham made a very poor decision as we were on a derestricted part of the German Autobahn. His obituary is at the bottom of this thread. Nearly 900km through Germany (700km motorway and 180 km b roads) today to put me here close to the Polish border for the real adventure to start. The first of some new countries and defo no trunk roads for a while. The sat nav took my down some interesting b roads though. I have seen better surfaces. It was very hot today with temps around 32 so it was visor up, screen down and jacket half unzipped just to survive. The next few countries have much cooler forecasts so it is heading North and Ea...

Camping at around 1000m last night was great as it was a cool night. I may even say it was almost cold but I was very happy with that. A full 2 hours of rain this morning as I made a quick exit from Switzerland via a small bit of Germany and into a warmer and drier France. A number if coffee and patisserie stops to break up the very flat and extensive French countryside but I refuse to pay money to get bored on a motorway. The most excitement was the 600m Col du Bonhomme which at least was hilly and had a few nice bends. Nice campsite i choose due to location but sadly a swimming ban in the river so can't have my dip as planned. Last night's campsite in Andermatt cost me more than the Macedonian, Bosnian, Serbian and Romanian ones put together but I guess that is about right for Switzerland Lucky to get a campsite on low season here in France though. They go to high season prices  on Friday.

Early start planned before it gets too hot and to avoid the scheduled afternoon thunderstorms in Austria. 05.30 Wake up (for the third time - more on that shortly). Trapped in tent until 6.45 by torrential rain squalls and thunder/lightening but spend the time programming the GPS for no motorways and some of the roads I intend to ride in Romania. On the road by 7.15 already a long way behind the plan. However, I also now have a scheduled detour (20km) to a Decathlon store as my self inflating mat has reversed and is now self deflating hence the 3 wake ups to re inflate during the night. Decathlon closed. What. Should open at 9.30 and now 9.35. Waited until 9.50 then gave up. Tried to go and get coffee. Nowhere open.?  Is it a Sunday? No. A quick Google reveals Thursday 20th June is Corpus Christi, a Bavariam Bank Holiday. Arrrgh. Back on the road by 10.10 and heading for Austria who also have a bank holiday meaning a lack of coffee shops so fuel sta...

Not much on today as just going south to start my adventures properly in Austria. Although I have been there before, the bike whas not, so once over the border it will be twisty roads only. Breakfast in Belgium and lunch in Luxembourg before dinner in Germany. 550km of Motorway, motorway, motorway, fuel x 2 and now stopped for the night somewhere in Germany (near Munich).

Back Home after a painless ferry crossing. It was taken over by 200+ bikers with The Chopper Club on their way back from a meet in Germany Only 250 miles needed today but after an epic 5500 miles (even google maps can't show it all on one plan and doesn't account for some of the extra roads I did - this just shows the shortest possible route) I am back home, tired but happy. Going to Nordkapp via motorbike has been one of my goals for some time and it did not disappoint. Of course, being on the M25 at 8am was a bad as expected with a lot of filtering and sitting in queues. I have ridden through England, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. I have experienced cold (4 degrees), horizontal rain, gales (50mph + crosswinds on bridges) and heat (28/29 degrees). I have spent over 110 hrs on the bike, used 12 ferries, over 200km of tunnels and spent 13 nights in a tent. Roads were a mix of motorway, A r...

After saying I was looking forward to warmer weather after my time up north, it was 29 degrees today and I felt like I was a Boil in the Bag meal. I had 600km to cover today and although I did most on the motorways, I did come off for a few hours through The Netherlands for some fun. Back on the motorway, was horrendous traffic and I must have filtered for best part of 50km until I arrived at the ferry port in Hook of Holland. I was very pleased to have been able to dry my tent this morning so one less thing to do when I get home tomorrow. It is fair to say that I am pretty worn out now, I have covered well over 5000 miles and have spent over 120 hrs riding the bike. I will be sleeping on the ferry tonight (no more tent for me for a few weeks) and then should be home by lunch time tomorrow.

Another three country day today and 600km. Breakfast in Sweden, lunch in Denmark and tea (dinner) in Germany. What a lovely morning in Sweden so I chose to take the bridges to Denmark rather than the ferry. Shame the weather changed about 10km before the crossing and it was a wet and windy experience to say the least. That weather continued through most of Denmark along with congestion and roadworks so I just stuck to the motorway to get it done.  However, just before Germany it started to clear up. Now Germany is one of those countries that I have driven through a lot on the way to Italy, Austria and at the start of this trip and always on the motorways so as soon as I was over the border, I stopped, shed a few layers as it was up to a nice 23 degrees, hit the "curvy road" button and had 2 hours of amazing back roads (inc a small ferry). I even got the bike into Sport mode for the first time this trip which firms up the suspension and gives me...

A slightly damp and overcast start in The Netherlands saw me munching a quick breakfast bar before hitting the road. 440km later, in Germany I was having lunch (and filling up for the second time). Another 320km I arrives in Kolding in Denmark where I have pitched at a campsite and will be cooking dinner shortly. Not the most interesting of days as this was just about getting North so I can make the ferry tomorrow so it was motorway all of the way. There is very little difference between driving in The Netherlands and Germany (in fact, I have no idea when I crossed the border but a some point I realised the signs had changed). Germany to Denmark was a little different with a bored chap in uniform waving cars though a chicane. I didn't see anyone get stopped though. Although I am heading North, it has got warmer and warmer all day and is a very pleasant evening here in Denmark. One of my longest journeys on the bike for this whole trip (in distance) of 760 km but ...