Well done Chris, looks as though you did indeed have an adventure......
A Peek Behind The Iron Curtain
- Thread starter grez
- Start date
grez
Registered user
Set off to go north by heading south to look at the 15th century castle at Savonlinna set on a rock in a lake. Apparently the soldiers were partly paid in beer, 5 L a day and 7 L on Sundays. This they say may explain its frequent changing of hands. After that off in the sun north through the national forest to a lake and a free ferry ride.
Once over the road wound its way north and over a bridge by a lock where a boat full of timber was passing so stopped for a look. Then onwards to a place a few miles north of Oulu (Haukipudas) and a Best Western hotel, not the best location ever but at least it wasn’t outrageous in cost as most in Oulu were. Nothing much in the town but a lot of pizza places, the Finnish seem to like pizzas, so a bite to eat and bed. Tomorrow off to see Santa.
Once over the road wound its way north and over a bridge by a lock where a boat full of timber was passing so stopped for a look. Then onwards to a place a few miles north of Oulu (Haukipudas) and a Best Western hotel, not the best location ever but at least it wasn’t outrageous in cost as most in Oulu were. Nothing much in the town but a lot of pizza places, the Finnish seem to like pizzas, so a bite to eat and bed. Tomorrow off to see Santa.
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grez
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Next day it was raining as I set off to Rovaniemi to see Santa. The Finnish have been taking lessons from the Russians and had ripped up about 15 miles of road to leave rock and gravel, such joy in the pissing rain. Found myself on a very wide stretch which I assume to be an emergency runway and then into Rovaniemi and out again on the E75 to the Arctic Circle. The place is as expected for a tourist trap with wooden souvenir shops, restaurant and piped Santa music. Santa was keeping out of the rain so had the obligatory photo north of the Arctic Circle, one more tick on the bucket list. Rode a bit north and thought sod this it’s raining hard and turned for a scenic (honest) ride home. Rained all the way but Mr Klim kept me dry, apart from the bottom of the sweatshirt which was longer than the jacket and being a dope left in the rain.
Back to the hotel to book the next stop and look for food (other than pizza) which was a challenge. Shower, ate, bed and tomorrow head south.
Back to the hotel to book the next stop and look for food (other than pizza) which was a challenge. Shower, ate, bed and tomorrow head south.
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grez
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Well left an overcast Oulu and headed for Vaasa. Weather got better, the sun came out and, with time to spare, the planned route was abandoned in favour of interesting looking roads and stops whenever interesting stuff appeared.
All the roads were extremely busy as you can see from the photographs, even though they did not end where expected.
All the roads were extremely busy as you can see from the photographs, even though they did not end where expected.
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Loving reading this.... keep the pictures coming
grez
Registered user
grez
Registered user
The hotel in Vassa was just a place to sleep and the next morning I headed inland on a meandering route to Tampere. Mixture of buildings on the road, which you can see was very busy !
Stopped off at a wooden building for lunch which was nice and then hit the road again with no particular pace to keep up, just riding along enjoying the views until I hit town.
What a cracking hotel it turned out to be - Hotelli Ville, Tempere, Finland. Pulled in and though bugger next to a couple of garages not good. Went inside to find a cracking bar, friendly staff and a great room. About 10 mins walk into town so had a look round and got back to see the bar pretty full. Food was done but the guy behind the bar gave me some Finnish sausages (free) which, together with a few other folks, we cooked in the open fire in one of the rooms by the bar and drank beer. Turned out to be a good night chatting with some Finnish guys and had a great night’s sleep. Breakfast was across the road in the restaurant above a car show room – not so good but then turned out to be all you wanted for the price so pigged out on bacon and sausages. Rain as I left but with a full belly didn’t care, next stop the Town of Turku and a ferry over to Sweeden.
Stopped off at a wooden building for lunch which was nice and then hit the road again with no particular pace to keep up, just riding along enjoying the views until I hit town.
What a cracking hotel it turned out to be - Hotelli Ville, Tempere, Finland. Pulled in and though bugger next to a couple of garages not good. Went inside to find a cracking bar, friendly staff and a great room. About 10 mins walk into town so had a look round and got back to see the bar pretty full. Food was done but the guy behind the bar gave me some Finnish sausages (free) which, together with a few other folks, we cooked in the open fire in one of the rooms by the bar and drank beer. Turned out to be a good night chatting with some Finnish guys and had a great night’s sleep. Breakfast was across the road in the restaurant above a car show room – not so good but then turned out to be all you wanted for the price so pigged out on bacon and sausages. Rain as I left but with a full belly didn’t care, next stop the Town of Turku and a ferry over to Sweeden.
Reggie P
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Enjoying this report and the fab photos. Thank you !
grez
Registered user
Well the ride to Turku was OK arrived early for the ferry. Only a few bikes this time but a 4 berth cabin to myself no less, the decadence. The ship landed and I was still asleep as they didn’t do the piped music, got woken by a cleaner opening the door and telling me to get up as we were in Stockholm.
My chariot for the night.
Got off in Stockholm ok and rode over the bridge then turned around and rode over it again, this time heading the right way. Lots of tunnels under the city but managed to navigate onto the right road and headed for a fast blast to Helsingborg alternating main highway and lesser roads.
Got to the city and looked for the hotel, just off the harbour and in a semi-pedestrianised area. Thought it was a bit posh but bugger me it was the right place so off I went. Its the white building on the right with the big E flags outside.
After a shower and change of clothes, looked up the next place to stay and booked the hotel then off around the harbour and town before finding a place to eat and chill with a few beers before heading back for a kip as managed to give myself a 750 km ride the next day. Decided I wanted to go south to Malmo then over the bridge into Denmark, oh little did I know.
My chariot for the night.
Got off in Stockholm ok and rode over the bridge then turned around and rode over it again, this time heading the right way. Lots of tunnels under the city but managed to navigate onto the right road and headed for a fast blast to Helsingborg alternating main highway and lesser roads.
Got to the city and looked for the hotel, just off the harbour and in a semi-pedestrianised area. Thought it was a bit posh but bugger me it was the right place so off I went. Its the white building on the right with the big E flags outside.
After a shower and change of clothes, looked up the next place to stay and booked the hotel then off around the harbour and town before finding a place to eat and chill with a few beers before heading back for a kip as managed to give myself a 750 km ride the next day. Decided I wanted to go south to Malmo then over the bridge into Denmark, oh little did I know.
grez
Registered user
Up early, the sun was shining, birds were in the air and all was right with the world. Packed the bike, set the sat nav and headed south. It’s a bit of a main road route but as the kilometrage was quite high I didn’t mind and their main roads are nothing like plodding down our motorways.
Found the bridge and bugger, almost £25 for a bike, still cheaper than £55 for the ferry in Helsingborg and I had to go south anyway. Paid the toll then up over the bridge with the camera in the left hand taking pictures as I went being passed by Swedes and Danes no doubt wondering what this British cockhead was doing. It is a very impressive piece of construction and then once over dives into a tunnel before depositing you into the fresh Danish air.
Bloody hell managed to rotate pictures the right way, you can teach and old dog new tricks.
Rode on across Denmark and into Germany doing the motorway/rural road alternating to keep things interesting and before I knew it, it was 6:00 and I had arrived at the hotel just outside Garrel in Germany. Another good hotel although no air conditioning and dinner was a little slow but made up for it by good beer. Had a good night’s sleep and a lazy breakfast as the ferry was only a few hours away and I had time to burn.
Found the bridge and bugger, almost £25 for a bike, still cheaper than £55 for the ferry in Helsingborg and I had to go south anyway. Paid the toll then up over the bridge with the camera in the left hand taking pictures as I went being passed by Swedes and Danes no doubt wondering what this British cockhead was doing. It is a very impressive piece of construction and then once over dives into a tunnel before depositing you into the fresh Danish air.
Bloody hell managed to rotate pictures the right way, you can teach and old dog new tricks.
Rode on across Denmark and into Germany doing the motorway/rural road alternating to keep things interesting and before I knew it, it was 6:00 and I had arrived at the hotel just outside Garrel in Germany. Another good hotel although no air conditioning and dinner was a little slow but made up for it by good beer. Had a good night’s sleep and a lazy breakfast as the ferry was only a few hours away and I had time to burn.
grez
Registered user
Only a few hours ride to the Hook of Holland so sat nav set to avoid highways and go for curvy roads and away I went. Had a decent afternoon with a few nice buildings and a road sign (Not sure if it is an instruction as to what speed you need to do to knock over trees).
Windy as hell in Holland, riding on top of an embankment to the port with the land each side well below the road it was entertaining keeping upright. Arrived at the port to find a whole heap of scooters from the UK had been over for a rally and got chatting to a Dutch bloke who had bought an old Kawasaki for £ 600 and was taking it back to London.
Crossing was OK until 5:30 alarm call of " don't worry, be happy". Got off the ferry to a reasonable day and all the bikes were sent to one lane for passport checks. Encountered the slowest living human ever who insisted each person removed their helmet and took ages checking passports and asking dumb ass questions. "Why did you go to Russia ?"....."For a holiday ".....followed by "I don't fancy it" where as I could only reply " Well don't go then". I was then waved on my merry way. By this time almost all cars had gone through but there were still around 15 bikes behind me.
Long ass ride home and then it was all over.
Windy as hell in Holland, riding on top of an embankment to the port with the land each side well below the road it was entertaining keeping upright. Arrived at the port to find a whole heap of scooters from the UK had been over for a rally and got chatting to a Dutch bloke who had bought an old Kawasaki for £ 600 and was taking it back to London.
Crossing was OK until 5:30 alarm call of " don't worry, be happy". Got off the ferry to a reasonable day and all the bikes were sent to one lane for passport checks. Encountered the slowest living human ever who insisted each person removed their helmet and took ages checking passports and asking dumb ass questions. "Why did you go to Russia ?"....."For a holiday ".....followed by "I don't fancy it" where as I could only reply " Well don't go then". I was then waved on my merry way. By this time almost all cars had gone through but there were still around 15 bikes behind me.
Long ass ride home and then it was all over.
grez
Registered user
Well after 17 days, 9 countries (Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Finland then back through Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands), and 4,531 miles what have I learned?
People are generally helpful no matter where you are. From the members of the bike gangs I met who offered assistance at ports and at the Russian border to the Russian truck driver who stopped to check I was OK and offer assistance when I took a breather on one of the roadworks sections.
Russian drivers are just plain f*@king crazy.
Border officials and customs officers are the same the world over, there must be a special central training school they go to learn how to be so officious and monumentally slow.
Bureaucracy loves paperwork, be it filling endless forms in (some the same as I filled in before) to still registering at hotels. If there is government involvement then somebody will invent a form for it and a civil servant will replace that form with 3 others.
Russian drivers are just plain f*@king crazy. (It is worth saying it twice).
St Petersburg is a great city, as is Turku in Estonia. Finland is also great but you need to sell a kidney to pay for it. Going to the Arctic Circle is a tick in the box.
When you are travelling across several countries try to remember which one you are in, thankfully MasterCard was handy after I tried to pay for food in Denmark with Swedish Kroner.
Sat nav is great to find your hotel but the ride is better when you ignore it.
Would I do it again, you bet your ass I would.
People are generally helpful no matter where you are. From the members of the bike gangs I met who offered assistance at ports and at the Russian border to the Russian truck driver who stopped to check I was OK and offer assistance when I took a breather on one of the roadworks sections.
Russian drivers are just plain f*@king crazy.
Border officials and customs officers are the same the world over, there must be a special central training school they go to learn how to be so officious and monumentally slow.
Bureaucracy loves paperwork, be it filling endless forms in (some the same as I filled in before) to still registering at hotels. If there is government involvement then somebody will invent a form for it and a civil servant will replace that form with 3 others.
Russian drivers are just plain f*@king crazy. (It is worth saying it twice).
St Petersburg is a great city, as is Turku in Estonia. Finland is also great but you need to sell a kidney to pay for it. Going to the Arctic Circle is a tick in the box.
When you are travelling across several countries try to remember which one you are in, thankfully MasterCard was handy after I tried to pay for food in Denmark with Swedish Kroner.
Sat nav is great to find your hotel but the ride is better when you ignore it.
Would I do it again, you bet your ass I would.
