My Great North Run

[David Lee]

This trip had been a while in the planning. I had wanted to have a decent ride to somewhere achievable but not that easy but as I was going by myself, somewhere not too remote or deep into the wilds.

Family commitments required me not to be absent for too long but a 14day pass was negotiated with SWMBO and the bike checked and serviced with a couple of weeks to go. I had new tyres fitted, Dunlop TR91’s, which I had read good reports about.

As for the style of travelling, well after carrying all my camping gear on my last trip and hardly using it, it was the luxury route for me, cheap accommodation.

One of the issues with getting to Scandinavia these days is the lack of ferries serving the North Sea routes. I booked up the Channel Tunnel well in advance and got a return ticket for £67.00 which I was more than happy with. So, its just a case of getting to France, hanging a left and getting on with it.

Ready to go, my wife got up early to see me off and took this picture.

Wet ride down to Dover and the Chunnel.

It's the time of year when lots of bikers are off abroad. I had good company for the short rail trip under the water.

Off the train and turned left. It just got wetter and wetter. This is me having a break at a service station somewhere in Holland. My Garmin Zumo was playing up now as well, so back to maps.

Really bad spray on the German Autobahns but pushed on until near Bremen and called it a day. 515 miles covered and stayed at this place,

The A1 Hotel at Stuhr.

Food was good and I could see my bike from the room window.

End of Day 1

 

[claw]

Hope the weather picks up a bit for you

 

[David Lee]

Hope the weather picks up a bit for you

It does !

 

[David Lee]

After the wet weather yesterday, it was much better today. I had got caught up in two big jams as well, the one in Belgium as a car accident and big roadworks in Holland.

About two hours after leaving the A1 hotel I arrived at Puttgarden, which is where the ferry to Rodby in Denmark leaves from.

These ferries are pretty frequent and it was not long before I had company.

A bunch of Danish Harley riders rolled in sounding nice. There is a good place to leave a sticker behind if you have them,

The ferries are quick and efficient,

It cost Euro52.50 and they give you a voucher for a free pack of cigarettes.

Off the ferry then the E47 route to Copenhagen and the bridge to Malmo.

There are a lot of impressive bridges in Scandinavia. Personally I don’t like them much as they are high and windy ! I have never been that good with heights. Here’s another big one.

Lots of wind farms in this part of the world too.

I carried up on the E04 towards Stockholm, taking a break at a truck check stop on the way.

Stopping for the night at the Hotel Miskarp in Mjolby. It was very quiet, just one other guest and next to the Golf course.

But the good news was they had beer

530 miles covered today and end of day 2

 

[Sniper1]

Lookin' good, great piccys keep it coming

 

[niko]

im enjoying this , thank you for writing it up

 

[Greger]

Cheers, nice pics, keep it coming.

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Enjoying the report and very clear photos . Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[David Lee]

Next morning I rejoined the main E4 road heading towards lots of places ending in Koping………Linkoping, Norrkoping and Nykoping.

Saab aircraft facilities are located around these parts and they put a few examples up along the road:

I had a problem with not being able to charge my phone, even with my ‘universal’ adaptor, so after pulling off the road in one of the Koping’s and chatting to a couple of locals, I found this place,

These shops are all over the place in Sweden and sell everything electrical plus adaptors and leads. Very handy if you have a problem. Being Scandinavia its not cheap though. It cost SEK199, about £20.00 for an Iphone charger with Swedish plug fitting. Still it solved the problem.
Into Stockholm and found an exchange place in one of the suburbs. Again asking around saved a lot of time and everyone speaks English. Well stocked up with Kroner, I passed through the busy traffic and headed North, still on the E4 along the East coast of Sweden. Lunch was taken at a familiar place by Stockholms airport, Arlanda.

More bridges:

and places to pull off the road for a break:

It was hot today, I saw 26C on the bikes temp gauge.

Plenty of tree’s and lakes along the way. Roads all very good but tend to be 3 lanes. Sometimes you have 2 lanes on your side, sometimes one. They give 400metre warning signs when this is going to happen. Make sure you are not overtaking one of the many trucks on the road when this happens. They also like tensioned steel ropes for crash barriers as well.

This photo of my map gives you an idea of my route,

Ploughed on through Sundsvall until I called it a day at Ornskoldsvik, stopping for the night at the reasonably priced Hotel Sari (SEK550 or £53.00 incl breakfast). Ate at the Thai restaurant next door and spent the evening chatting with two English blokes, Norm & Tom, on Triumph Sprint 1050’s who had been motoring South after one of them had run the Midnight Marathon in Tromso a couple of days before.

480miles covered today.

 

[David Lee]

A good nights kip, even though its not really getting dark at all now. Through Umea and Lulea with a break here and there. Roads pretty featureless, just the normal trees and lakes. Sometimes the towns put a fountain in the lake, just for a change:

Quality lunch stop at a petrol station

And then, the Border into Finland at Tornio.

followed by a left turn onto the E8, which has a bit of history to it:

After about 80m or 90km, just South of a town named Pello, I came across this:

I thought I still had a way to go before this as my maps still showed plenty of Finland and then Norway still to come. First big step on the Great North Run had been taken

Spent the night in a truck stop, which was really good. EUR90.00 for bed, breakfast & evening meal. Quiet and comfortable.

Had a bit of rain later in the evening and a Harley had pulled in, though I did’nt get to have a chat with the rider. It struck me that I had seen more Harley's than any other bike in Scandinavia so far.

493 miles covered today

 

[David Lee]

Left the Kolari Hotel by 08.30, this was the first full night of no darkness, so it was a bit strange. Blue skies and sunshine. Carried on the E8 until Palojoensuu were I turned left onto the 93.

This is the Finland-Norwegian border, you only need to stop if you have something to declare, otherwise like every other border (except when I left the UK) you could just ride through.

Bumped into a Finnish guy on his new Triumph. He thought it better than the BMW’s,

The most noticeable thing after crossing the border was that there were corners and hills…………. I was also very aware that speeding fines in Norway are huge !

Refuelled in Alta then took the E6 to Skaidi. There were large road works on this stretch and it was one lane only, so there was a”Follow Me’ car which lead you to the otherside slowly and safely. I had never done this sort of transit before in Europe, so it was a first. Good job traffic is light up here.

Just as I pulled into Skaidi two policemen were setting up a speed trap. My lucky day ! I was 30 seconds early.
I stopped at a café just beyond them for a warm up, it was getting quite chilly by now and after a couple of minutes two more 1200GS’s pulled in. Both on GB plates. One looked quite battered and the rider explained that they had left the last town before Nordkapp (Honningsvag) earlier in the morning and he had been blown off the road by the wind. Rider was OK but had a few bruises, the bike was a bit banged around after rolling down the slope beside the road with him. A few cable ties and a large wrench had got it back on the road though.

He was one of seven bikes that had been dropped or damaged due to the winds.

Great…………………………. I looked forward to the last 100miles with enthusiasm rather dampened !

 

[CuzGS]

Great stuff David, thanks for taking trouble to post, watch out for the wind dude

 

[2 wheel humvee]

I'm enjoying reading this, thanks David

 

[David Lee]

After leaving the café the winds got severe, gusting from my left hand side. Tunnels started to appear as well. The good thing about these was it gave a respite from the wind but a couple were really quite dark, wet and had patched road surfaces which threw you around a bit. Not much you could do though, except reduce speed down and keep going, riding out the bumps until getting out into daylight again.

The temperature was about 7deg C now and with the wind chill factor it felt a lot colder. I had my thermals on and heated handlebar grips. Dark and cloudy with rain at times.

Norkapp is on an island, Mageroya, which you get to via a long tunnel which there is a toll for. This is a picture of the exit.

All I can say is, that it felt like the coldest place I had ever been. 9km long, 4 down, 1 straight and 4km back up again, it was like riding in a freezer, sucking any body warmth that I had left.

After leaving the tunnel the small town of Honningsvag is not far, then the final 35km to the Cape itself.

The winds were at their worst on this stretch and it was bleak and exposed.

When you finally reach the end of the road and the Nordkapp visitor centre, it’s a NOK235 admission fee, about £27.00 and I parked behind the only structure between the toll booth and the Centre, just to get out of the wind and cold.

There were a few more bikes already there and these old chaps were parked. I don’t know if they had been ridden there or had been inside the trailer behind them. Interesting anyway.

Anyway, I walked up to the Visitor Centre and stepped inside, out of the wind into a nice warm building.

The one thing that I had wanted to have from the start was a photo of me at the Globe statue here, so here it is:

 

[David Lee]

You don’t realize how high the Cape is above the sea until you have a look over the edge. The walk from the Visitor Centre to the Globe monument was so windy that I just put my head down and trudged across.

There are a few other things to see there:

I brought a couple of very expensive stickers and the obligatory T Shirt from the shop. This is the view looking back to where I had parked the bike,

I jumped back on the bike, paid for the privilege of using the Freezer tunnel again
And headed back to Honningsvag.

I don’t know if it was the change of direction or the fact that the wind was hitting me from another angle, but it felt a lot easier going south.

The first place I came to was this Hotel. I was really quite chilled by now so it was an easy decision.

Warm and with food, the world seemed a much nicer place after Dinner.

End of Day 5. 384 miles covered.

 

[David Lee]

So, the main objective of getting to Nordkapp had been achieved and I had covered nearly 2400miles in 5 days. Time to slow down a bit and enjoy the Arctic North of Norway.

My other desire had been to work my way down through the Lofoten Islands.

I did think of popping back to Nordkapp for a longer look around but with this view from my window and the winds still strong, I gave it a miss.

I turned South and headed back to Alta.

Don’t think that these chaps have disappeared though ! They are there just waiting for you....

On and off rain during the morning until I pulled in here, just after the town of Alta.

Very interesting place inside but no photo’s allowed.

I snuck this one anyway. It’s the VC’s for the Captains of the midget submarines X6 & X7 who against all the odds managed to badly damaged the Tirpitz by setting off charges underneath the ship before they were captured.

Moving on, the weather dried up a bit for lunch but still was not great,

Still on the E6 after Burfjord, the road climbs over a mountain pass, no photo’s but believe me ,being inside wet clouds, with snow either side of the road and 10mtr visibility climbing over a winding alpine pass, is no fun.

Carried on to Skibotn, where I stopped for the night in a Hytte.

These are very common in Norway and are a good compromise between camping and a hotel. Basic, but warm and normally with cooking facilities.

This one was beside the beach with a great view.

For 450NOK (about £50.00 or $80.00) is was cheap by Norwegian standards

317miles today

 

[David Lee]

Covered the remaining 75miles or so to Tromso.

Breakfast was sausage shaped and very tasty too:

After arriving in Tromso I went to check out the Tourist Info facility. This place turned out to be a real gem, mainly down to Kyle the Kiwi who was behind the counter.

He referred me to a good value hotel:

and gave me a great route through the Lofoten Islands which I would follow the next day.

These are some of the sights of Tromso:

The other good thing about the Quality Saga Hotel was that it had an underground carpark, so I blagged a bucket and cloth and cleaned the bike.

After lunch I took a ride around Tromso using the tunnel system to cross to the other side of the island. This is the only place where I found a roundabout in the middle of the tunnel !

Came to this Island

which is where the Tirpitz was actually sunk. There is not much too see these days as the Norwegians cut the vessel up for scrap after the war but there are still the craters remaining from the ‘Tall Boy’ bombs designed by Barnes Wallis of bouncing bomb fame next to the remains of the platform from which the Tirpitz was scrapped.

There is a memorial here too. 1200 men died on this ship.

Even a dirt road….

Back to town. It’s nice having some time in town for a change and after sorting out a better map of the Lofoten Islands, I had dinner in an Italian restaurant.

106 miles today.

 

[roadrider]

Enjoying this, nice photo's.

 

[Nutty]

Keep it coming David, I'm looking forward to the next instalment

 

[David Lee]

After my chat with Kyle in the Tourist Info office, this was the route I would be following today

Three ferries involved:
Brensholmen – Botnhamn
Gryllefjord - Ardenes
Melbu – Fiskebol

This route lets me travel the length if the Lofoten Islands and end up Moskenes for the longer ferry journey to Bodo, back on the mainland.

Got to the Brensholmen ferry earlier than expected and managed to catch the first sailing of thre day with 8 minutes to spare. It was not very busy but I bumped into a couple of German guys and had a chat with them. They were both retired helicopter pilots from the German airforce. Good blokes to talk with.

Once off the other side, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, so I pushed on as the next ferry departed in about an hour and 20 minutes and was the best part of 70km away. You cannot really push on Norwegian roads like these, slow and steady wins the race. Rain all the way, so not much chance of seeing too many sights !

Arrived at Gryllefjord with nearly 10 minutes to spare and the two German guys had rolled in just before me.

Ferries seem to be very punctual here and we were quickly loaded and away.

This ferry is a longer one, taking 1hr 40mins to get to Andenes.

Luckily, the weather improved over the course of the sailing,

and I took a scenic ride down through the Islands on Route 82 via Sortland to the third and final ferry for the day from Melbu.

Here are a few pictures.

Onboard and heading for Fiskebol, this is another short crossing:

Scenery was quite impressive, my camera does not do it justice.

Stopped for the night about 30miles away from Moskenes in a bunkhouse on a campsite. It had a very environmentally friendly roof:

265 very pleasant miles covered today.