Norway/Sweden 4-10th September 2007

The Background

One of my friends has had this plotting in the back of his head for a while, a long held desire to meet a forum buddy (TL forum) that he's known for years but lives in Stockholm (but never met in person), what does he do, asks me if I want to come, next thing we've conscripted a guy in Ghent to come as well, as well as another friend down in London.....

so the planning starts but it's not without it's ups and downs.....the friend from Ghent is going to ride from there to London (meet up with one of my London friends), together they ride up to the South of Edinburgh to stay at mine for 1 night, and then, the three of us head to Newcastle to meet the other friend who will be riding on his own from London to get on board the ferry

So should be easy enough, well both of the TL riders in London don't have MOTs on their bikes so there's been masses of work done to get things sorted out, one of the bikes today is still playing up, rear master cylinder someone thinks, but we've only got days to go . We're still an MOT short at this point

As for me, well I traded in my ZX10 a couple of weeks ago, my new Adventure is sitting in the dealership in Dalkeith, I've seen it so I know it's there but.....

I have 3 days to get 600 miles on the clock, take it in for a service on the Tuesday that I sail for Norway, plead with the dealership to let me have my bike back by 2 o'clock so I can load up quickly and the three of us ride to Newcastle to get an early evening ferry

So that's the background to my little adventure that's about to follow, but I'm about to head into the deep end, brand new bike going abroad with it, I'm gonna find out if I love it or loathe it very quickly

The threats have started though (to the 2 TL1000 riders and the V Strom rider), I may have the most beautiful bike in the group but I'm definitely not the support truck, if you brought it you carry it .


more to follow......

Planning

Getting myself ready for this trip hasn't been straightforward because I need to buy a fair bit of stuff for going away

The panic hasn't been to bad. My baglux tank bag arrived from nippynormans today, very happy with it, that's where the precious things will go

However, I'm waiting for my 46L Givi case to arrive from Italy (see another thread) and that's in the post today as well, but to add to the minor levels of stress that I'm feeling, they don't have the fixing plates so Heine Gericke in Edinburgh to the rescue.

Apart from that, I still need to buy a puncture repair kit and sort out my travel insurance (the free insurance from my bank doesn't cover you for riding anything above a 125cc. The logic I draw from this is a thirty something rider, 15 years under his belt, fully kitted up and so on is more of a risk than some twat in his flip flops on a nifty-50 in Greece, but hey ho)

There's a long running debate about tents going on between the group, so I'll have to get one this weekend coming, no one wants to share, I only hope their tents don't blow off the side of a Norwegian hill because they ain't sharing mine )

I was even totally surprised today to go the Dalkeith Post Office and find that I could get currency for Norway and Sweden this afternoon (some spending money for lunch and coffees - credit card for fuel etc)




But everything is falling into place according to my list (which I'll post up later so it can be sanity checked by someone). The only group thing to do is plan the route but it's going to be Stavangar to Stockholm with a chance to see lots of beautiful things (of which I'm sure)

It seems now that I'm moving from planning into doing now, 2 long days away from home with be punishing though (London tomorrow and Manchester day after [flying 2moro, then drive the next]), I only hope I have the energy for Friday because Saturday will be fun when I pick up the bike

so more to follow when I get round to it.......

I did a trip round Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and back again this Summer and it was brilliant. Okay, I did it in my 34-year old 2CV van instead of my bike, but I can't wait to do it again on two wheels.

It was 3,500 miles in two weeks (and for five days I was in one place) which was a lot of driving, but there's such a lot of scenery to take in.

Have you thought about staying in camping huts (hyttes) instead of tents? My van has a bed in the back for when it was too wet to bother with the tent but most campsites also have camping huts which might work out a better option if you all chip in and share.

I've just did almost the same, straight from firsttime service to a trip around south/west Norway. Did 1600 km in 3 days....
If you arrive sunday you will probably have some rain. At least the weather forecast say so... You should absolutely take the road number 45 towards Sandnes and Sirdal and take the trip down to Lysebotn. Watch out for sheeps and homemobiles
Continue over the mountain, but check the forecast or talk to the people at the camping in Lysebotn, it can be cold, 4-5 degrees. Shouldnt be snow yet, I hope...
If you want alternative routes at the south coast, take the coastroad (507) to Egersund and go road 44 to Sokndal and Flekkefjord. Take's not so much more time then going E39, but much more fun!

Here you can check weather: http://www2.nrk.no/nyheter/ver/?sprak=eng
Seems to be better at eastern parts.

The engine on my R1200 changed sound and caracter during my trip, I'm really starting to get a friend in it now!

Wish you a great trip!

Hamarpanzer said:

I've just did almost the same, straight from firsttime service to a trip around south/west Norway. Did 1600 km in 3 days....
If you arrive sunday you will probably have some rain. At least the weather forecast say so... You should absolutely take the road number 45 towards Sandnes and Sirdal and take the trip down to Lysebotn. Watch out for sheeps and homemobiles
Continue over the mountain, but check the forecast or talk to the people at the camping in Lysebotn, it can be cold, 4-5 degrees. Shouldnt be snow yet, I hope...
If you want alternative routes at the south coast, take the coastroad (507) to Egersund and go road 44 to Sokndal and Flekkefjord. Take's not so much more time then going E39, but much more fun!

Here you can check weather: http://www2.nrk.no/nyheter/ver/?sprak=eng
Seems to be better at eastern parts.

The engine on my R1200 changed sound and caracter during my trip, I'm really starting to get a friend in it now!

Wish you a great trip!

Click to expand...

thanks for the tips .....I'm getting really excited about this trip and am looking forward to forming a great friendship with my new bike

Jacqueslemac said:

Have you thought about staying in camping huts (hyttes) instead of tents? My van has a bed in the back for when it was too wet to bother with the tent but most campsites also have camping huts which might work out a better option if you all chip in and share.

Click to expand...

yeah might come to that if the weather is poor....will wait and see but not averse to camping it up.......

Getting Packed

Everything is coming together quite nicely for the trip (Givi top box arrived today), friends are heading North to me tomorrow, I get the bike tomorrow as well (just got my 600 miles and first service to have done over the next four days)....

So in terms of getting ready.....I've started packing tonight....

In my tankbag I'll have:

Passport
Driving Licence
EU Health Insurance Card-E11 and Specific Medical Cover for Riding Bike
Breakdown Cover
Vehicle Ownership & Insurance documents
Ferry Booking details
Camera and spare batteries
Sunglasses and Spare Shoei visor (clear for poor light, wear black normally)
iPod (20 hours on a ferry )

Givi Top Box will hold:

a few bits of clothes and such like
sleeping bag
disc lock
chargers for mobile phone and iPod (and adaptor)
warm bike gloves

with the ground mat and tent strapped behind me on the seat.....I've also written out my emergency contact list (lost credit card numbers etc), which I'll keep very safe

I'm travelling light, it's only 5 days away after all....hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, someone please shout if I have

more to follow and the photos of the trip

TUESDAY

After lots of running around finishing off work and the like we finally hit the road (A68), had a close call with a rogue sheep which thinking back was a bit of a portent for the rest of the journey

There's something quite romantic about a group of kitted up bikes riding together, whether it's the small children who point, or the old man waving at the side of the road and ultimately, the guy giving us a power salute (romanticism around lawlessness!!)

We meet 'Snoopy' at Newcastle who fitted the Garmin to the bike and it was into the queue for the ferry



The ferry soon arrived and once aboard had me wishing I had brought more money, DFDS prices are pretty outrageous!!



Night soon fell and we were underway

WEDNESDAY

Had a quiet day on the boat, got 15 hours of sleep which was good

Packing the bike up and getting ready to disembark I spoke to Keith fellow GSER (HOWYABOSS) who was taking his bike over to Norway for some fun

Anyway we soon docked, but with Stavanger being a bit wet and busy, and the wrong side of the road thing it was all a bit too much. We decided to bash on for a few hours though (dodging lots of sheep who were fairly well behaved with their little bells on) and nearly getting a Toyota badge imprinted on my head in a corner!!!











After a few hours riding we finally arrived in Dalen and set up camp for the night

THURSDAY

I slept well in Dalen and we decided to hit the road early and soak up lots of those beautiful Norwegian roads



the mornings ride from Dalen through Amot to Rjuken



was a sheer joy, climbing and falling 100's of mountain feet. In Rjuken we meet a really old fella on his Harley who turned out to the town cop, felt a bit like Rambo for a while, sensing the questions were in part, 'when are you leaving?"

He was chatty and gave us a few tips about speed cameras and the like

From there the Rjuken to Kongsberg road was heaven, one of the nicest rides I've ever had

In the end we covered 500 miles on this day to make Stockholm. I loved the tunnels as we went, eventually going through the longest tunnel of my life 7.2km at Drammen





destination reached after 13 hours of riding.....phew!!!

Friday was at my friends house relaxing and have fun

Saturday was a big day, 1000km to cover.....we did it at such a pace that we attracted the attention of the Karlstad Chopper Coppers who followed us for a while



We hit our target of Oslo by lunchtime allowing lots of playtime around Norway











We got back to our Ferry in good time which was ridiculously delayed, hey ho, home by 2 in the morning today



So after 2000km around Norway and Sweden, what can I say, both are beautiful, Norway is stunning, a bikers paradise, if you haven't been before GO (although very pricey).

Leaving the boat I chatted with Ally from Dundee on his 07GSA, who had been on a mental trip himself....so many GSERS, it's brilliant!!!!

As for my bike, she's sitting in the garage right now, needing a wash, but 2,100 miles on the clock in 10 days, she's been an absolute joy to be with, I can only look forward to the rest of the journeys we have planned, Scotland, Norway and Switzerland next year