Gwilym's Adventure Blog

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...

Around 550km done today using the "curvy roads" function of the GPS. I woke up this morning cruising into Stockholm past another groups of islands and rode off the ferry at 6am straight through the city before rush hour and so had plenty of time to play with today. Some fast A roads and some very twisty C roads gave me a great journey as I headed down to Kristianstad though I really had no idea where I was most of the time as I really was in the depths of the countryside. The blue route above follows a major road that I crossed a few time so was in the right vicinity. I am staying here on the coast tonight and had a little paddle but it was too cold to swim. I think it is called the Baltic Sea for a reason. Three more days riding and I will be home. This part of the journey is just about getting to the ferry port but if I have time, I can play in the twisties and enjoy it as much as I can.

OK, I will be honest, I have no idea where I went today. Last night after I had blogged I was joined in the campsite by a German couple who were also on tour and we had a good chat about our respective routes With plenty of time to get from Kokkola to Turku for my ferry, I used the "curvy roads" function of my GPS and I was generally heading south. I have made a map on google maps from the places I remember but I certainly wasn't on any big roads. Most of them had 3 or 4 numbers but it took around 8 hrs and covered about 450km. I went to a place called Nokia just because it was only a small detour and I remember the 5210 fondly (that is a phone not a road number). Anyway, a quick visit to a bike shop to get a couple or circlips that either I had lost or never had. Awesome, as they didn't charge me anything and then it was onto Turku to wait for the ferry. Great to meet a couple on a Tiger 955i at the ferry ports. I had one of these so...

I heard a rumour it was warm and sunny in the south of Finland so today, I just jumped on the E8 and made progress. The rumours were true. About 15 degrees, wandering around the campsite in a T-shirt and was too hot on the bike. Thermals will be packed away now then. Only about 340km done today to get me to Kokkola which seems to be pronounced just like the drink and down some straight roads and even dual carriage way at times so no pic cam pics. Some great stop offs on route though. However, Finland, you have a few inconsistencies. For every roadwork sign there were a set of roadworks so that would be 100% success. For every Moose sign, there was none so that is 0%. Come on, get your act together. Mine you coffee for 1 Euro made a nice change. Once on the campsite, I met a great group of Finish bikers who had ridden their motorbikes to Kokkola to hire push bikes and cycle round the city. Only 1, Sammy spoke English but that was enough for some in...

Reindeer and Roadworks were the them for today. 550km done today. 100 odd km in Norway and then another 450 km in Finland. Don't worry, I haven't got pictures of roadwork's! As soon as I was over the border, the speed limit went upto 100kph which helped cover some ground. A lot more trees than Norway but fewer nice stopping places. Loads of Reindeer about today and although the Moose signs were about, I didn't see a single one. I spent most of the day cruising through Lapland and didn't see Santa either so he must have been in a factory making some toys. I got somewhat confused as to the difference between google maps and what my GPS was saying about travelling time but this was easily sorted as once I was over the border, none of my clocks matched and I realised there was a 1 hr time difference. Once this was changed on my bike everything match up again. I am no longer in the Arctic Circle as I am here in Tornio but it is still ch...

I made it, the road ended, there was no more north. I was at Nordkapp or The North Cape at the very top of Norway and indeed the top of Europe.  11 days riding, covering 4474 km (2796 miles) plus ferry travelling and  here I was, stood in a place nearer to the North Pole than to home. Although I did really want to get here, this was as much about the journey as the end point. I expect at least 150km was underground as I have lost count of how many tunnels there were but there were loads. A round trip of 470 miles today with some great roads, finally all the warnings of Reindeer came true and they were everywhere, mainly off the road but as you can see from the bike cam pic, some were not so sensible. I also saw a couple of Red Squirrels today but no pics of them. I was really pleased to see as I was heading back to Alta, the 2 guys from The Ukraine (that I met on the Denmark Ferry) and the lady from Italy (that ...