Mr K
Registered user
Really enjoying this.
Great RR. Keep it coming. 
NLC
Registered user
David enjoying your journey so far. I have visited Kittala for work which is 832km North of Helsinki. Only place I have ever been to (and I was born in Canada) that had three sets of double glazing for each window (i.e. three individual windows in a frame). Can understand why your cold! Look forward to the next installment.
Ropey
Registered user
Good RR David, thanks for sharing.... Been in Umea a few times with work and know of Sundsvall, Lulea and Alta.... It's on my 'Bucket list' to visit Nordkapp.... Jr
David Lee
Guest
Thanks for the kind words Guys, it's much appreciated.
David Lee
Guest
Up at 0600hrs. It had not been the greatest nights sleep due to a party of 5 young guys turning up at 21.30 the previous night and taking all the available space left in the bunkhouse. They had dinner, showers a nice chat etc etc etc until finally going quiet about 02.00hrs. its difficult enough going to sleep in permanent daylight but I would have got my own back with some decent snoring (at least so I am told by people who know me). Did not worry too much about having a quick coffee, getting packed and leaving by 07.10 and heading for the ferry due to depart at 10.30.
It was a beautiful morning and it was a joy to be out on the bike.
Pootled down to Moskenes taking some pictures on the way. This part of the Lofoten Islands was absolutely gorgeous.
Rolled in to the Harbour at 08.30, parked up at the front of the queue and looked around for somewhere to have breakfast.
Then I found out 2 things:
Everywhere is closed until 11.00 and the 10.30 ferry was cancelled due to a bow door problem. The 14.00 ferry would combine the two loads and booked vehicles have priority.
Had a chat with the ferry guy, who like practically everyone I met on this trip spoke very good English and he said that 8 bikes were booked already but they could take 10, so I was definitely on.
There were picnic benches around the side of the waiting area, so I cooked up what I had:
Cant beat a big tin of Cowboygrytte and a couple of tortilla wraps !
Spent the next few hours chatting to fellow travellers. Met this mad French guy who had been pedaling from Paris to Nordkapp and was now on his way home. Been on the road, camping every night and eating two big meals a day for 60days already,
Other people were telling him the best route South to Oslo missing tunnels that cycles are banned from. He had already lost 12 kgs in weight and thought he had another 30days until he was back in Paris again. Personally, I prefer something with an engine to get me around. Hats off to him.
1400hrs ferry turned up on time and they squeezed on as many vehicles as possible.
Some were left behind though, for the last ferry at 17.30hrs.
It’s a 3.5hour crossing to Bodo,
Coming into port
and I rocked up at this place, great value at 650NOK (about £72.00) a night including brekky. I had paid 450NOK for the noisy bunkhouse the night before.
Booked in for 2 nights, so I could have a look around the city the next day.
Only 22 miles covered today.
It was a beautiful morning and it was a joy to be out on the bike.
Pootled down to Moskenes taking some pictures on the way. This part of the Lofoten Islands was absolutely gorgeous.
Rolled in to the Harbour at 08.30, parked up at the front of the queue and looked around for somewhere to have breakfast.
Then I found out 2 things:
Everywhere is closed until 11.00 and the 10.30 ferry was cancelled due to a bow door problem. The 14.00 ferry would combine the two loads and booked vehicles have priority.
Had a chat with the ferry guy, who like practically everyone I met on this trip spoke very good English and he said that 8 bikes were booked already but they could take 10, so I was definitely on.
There were picnic benches around the side of the waiting area, so I cooked up what I had:
Cant beat a big tin of Cowboygrytte and a couple of tortilla wraps !
Spent the next few hours chatting to fellow travellers. Met this mad French guy who had been pedaling from Paris to Nordkapp and was now on his way home. Been on the road, camping every night and eating two big meals a day for 60days already,
Other people were telling him the best route South to Oslo missing tunnels that cycles are banned from. He had already lost 12 kgs in weight and thought he had another 30days until he was back in Paris again. Personally, I prefer something with an engine to get me around. Hats off to him.
1400hrs ferry turned up on time and they squeezed on as many vehicles as possible.
Some were left behind though, for the last ferry at 17.30hrs.
It’s a 3.5hour crossing to Bodo,
Coming into port
and I rocked up at this place, great value at 650NOK (about £72.00) a night including brekky. I had paid 450NOK for the noisy bunkhouse the night before.
Booked in for 2 nights, so I could have a look around the city the next day.
Only 22 miles covered today.
silvio
Registered user
Thank you so much for sharing,
I am working in the middle east for the next two weeks, garden spots like Saudi and UAE. Average temp is 45 in the day. So believe me I am dreaming watching your pictures.
Nice looking bike by the way
Ciao
I am working in the middle east for the next two weeks, garden spots like Saudi and UAE. Average temp is 45 in the day. So believe me I am dreaming watching your pictures.
Nice looking bike by the way
Ciao
David Lee
Guest
Thanks Ciao,
Knocking up the miles now - up to 35k but bike just keeps getting better and better,
Sorry for the break but i will get my finger out now and get it finished
David Lee
Guest
4th July
A day in Bodo today, so I started off with a lie-in until 0900hrs.
After a nice buffet breakfast I left the hotel armed with a local tourist street map and set off up the hill.
First place I came to was the Cathedral:
and then carried on to the Norwegian Aviation Museum
plenty of British interest within these walls:
I found out there were two squadrons of Norwegian flown mosquito aircraft based in the UK during WW2, mainly used for air to ground work over the North Sea and for having a go at enemy shipping and submarines.
The Museum is split into two parts, military and civil. They have bikes in there as well:
Over to clever people for some info on this one……..
It’s an interesting place with guided tours every hour given by knowledgeable young ladies and it was quiet during my time there, so we had a good chat about Norway and WW2. I also found out that the German army retreated through Scandinavia after being pushed back by Russia and gave the Bodo region a pretty hard time of it before departing by sea.
Some more modern exhibits as well,
They have a control tower as part of the facility which you get great views of today’s commercial airport from:
The other interesting exhibit is the U2 spy plane, which is in the civil side of the facility. I think this location was driven more by space limits in the military side than anything else,
Turns out that the U2 that came down over Russia quite a few years ago (Gary Powers incident) was heading for Bodo, so there is quite a long association with U2’s from this town.
5 hours disappeared very quickly here and as I walked back to the hotel I looked in my tourist booklet and read about “The Worlds Strongest Maelstrom’
With a title like that, it must be worth a look. I hopped on the bike `and headed for Saltstraumen. About 35km up the road.
Have a read of this:
This is what it looks like. I don’t think it was in full flow at the time I visited:
Still made for a nice little ride out.
Back to town for a pleasant meal at a Tapas restaurant on the harbour front, couple of beers and a good nights sleep.
46 miles covered today.
A day in Bodo today, so I started off with a lie-in until 0900hrs.
After a nice buffet breakfast I left the hotel armed with a local tourist street map and set off up the hill.
First place I came to was the Cathedral:
and then carried on to the Norwegian Aviation Museum
plenty of British interest within these walls:
I found out there were two squadrons of Norwegian flown mosquito aircraft based in the UK during WW2, mainly used for air to ground work over the North Sea and for having a go at enemy shipping and submarines.
The Museum is split into two parts, military and civil. They have bikes in there as well:
Over to clever people for some info on this one……..
It’s an interesting place with guided tours every hour given by knowledgeable young ladies and it was quiet during my time there, so we had a good chat about Norway and WW2. I also found out that the German army retreated through Scandinavia after being pushed back by Russia and gave the Bodo region a pretty hard time of it before departing by sea.
Some more modern exhibits as well,
They have a control tower as part of the facility which you get great views of today’s commercial airport from:
The other interesting exhibit is the U2 spy plane, which is in the civil side of the facility. I think this location was driven more by space limits in the military side than anything else,
Turns out that the U2 that came down over Russia quite a few years ago (Gary Powers incident) was heading for Bodo, so there is quite a long association with U2’s from this town.
5 hours disappeared very quickly here and as I walked back to the hotel I looked in my tourist booklet and read about “The Worlds Strongest Maelstrom’
With a title like that, it must be worth a look. I hopped on the bike `and headed for Saltstraumen. About 35km up the road.
Have a read of this:
This is what it looks like. I don’t think it was in full flow at the time I visited:
Still made for a nice little ride out.
Back to town for a pleasant meal at a Tapas restaurant on the harbour front, couple of beers and a good nights sleep.
46 miles covered today.
David Lee
Guest
5th July
Time to get going South now. Out of Bodo on Route 80 which was full of road works and very slow until hitting the E6 at Fauske and heading South towards Mo I Rana until the junction with Route 95 and the Swedish border. This is yet another very pretty stretch of road,
Once you hit the border though, the roads become typically Swedish, good quality with lots of lakes and tree’s but nothing like Norwegian twists, turns and up’s n down’s.
Heading South on Route 45 now.
Around 1800hrs that evening I found myself in Ostersund looking for somewhere to stay. Tried a couple of place but everywhere full, so carried on towards Brunflo until I came across this hostel,
Turns out there was a junior football competition on in Ostersund with kids from all over Europe playing. No rooms to be had there for love nor money, so pushing on had been the right choice. Room was SEK200 a night, about £20.00. Result.
477 miles today and the E45 is turning into a good road for bikes.
Time to get going South now. Out of Bodo on Route 80 which was full of road works and very slow until hitting the E6 at Fauske and heading South towards Mo I Rana until the junction with Route 95 and the Swedish border. This is yet another very pretty stretch of road,
Once you hit the border though, the roads become typically Swedish, good quality with lots of lakes and tree’s but nothing like Norwegian twists, turns and up’s n down’s.
Heading South on Route 45 now.
Around 1800hrs that evening I found myself in Ostersund looking for somewhere to stay. Tried a couple of place but everywhere full, so carried on towards Brunflo until I came across this hostel,
Turns out there was a junior football competition on in Ostersund with kids from all over Europe playing. No rooms to be had there for love nor money, so pushing on had been the right choice. Room was SEK200 a night, about £20.00. Result.
477 miles today and the E45 is turning into a good road for bikes.
David Lee
Guest
6 July
Away by 07.30hours and back on the E45. This turned into a great road during the course of the day, fast, with some bends and gradients but safe for getting a bit of a lick on at 70-85 miles an hour.
Had to stop for lunch. It’s those nice sausages again on a bed of piped mashed potato.
Quality eating.
I could bore you all with more pictures of tree’s and lakes but I won’t. Lets just say that it was a slog South into Gothenburg. I did not want to re-trace my route up through Sweden, so the ferry from Gothenburg to Frederikshaven in Demark was the plan.
The E45 takes you all the way to the ferry terminus, straight through 40kms of road works just before Gothenburg as I found out,
Had a chat with the chap on the barrier and it was 30minutes until the last ferry of the day sailed. Brought a ticket,
Bigger boat than the northern Norwegian ferries
Food was good though,
The ship has a small tourist info section with details of places to stay in Frederikshaven
So as soon as we docked I rode the km or so to the Best Western in the city centre and checked in.
It gets dark again at night for a while now which is nice
483miles covered today.
Away by 07.30hours and back on the E45. This turned into a great road during the course of the day, fast, with some bends and gradients but safe for getting a bit of a lick on at 70-85 miles an hour.
Had to stop for lunch. It’s those nice sausages again on a bed of piped mashed potato.
Quality eating.
I could bore you all with more pictures of tree’s and lakes but I won’t. Lets just say that it was a slog South into Gothenburg. I did not want to re-trace my route up through Sweden, so the ferry from Gothenburg to Frederikshaven in Demark was the plan.
The E45 takes you all the way to the ferry terminus, straight through 40kms of road works just before Gothenburg as I found out,
Had a chat with the chap on the barrier and it was 30minutes until the last ferry of the day sailed. Brought a ticket,
Bigger boat than the northern Norwegian ferries
Food was good though,
The ship has a small tourist info section with details of places to stay in Frederikshaven
So as soon as we docked I rode the km or so to the Best Western in the city centre and checked in.
It gets dark again at night for a while now which is nice
483miles covered today.
David Lee
Guest
7th July
Hot and humid night in a stuffy room. Being a city centre hotel there was plenty of people walking outside talking and laughing until the early hours. Not a great night.
What the hotel did have was wi-fi though and whilst waiting at the port for last nights ferry, I had been chatting to a Dutch truck driver who told me about the ferry from Esbjerg to Harwich.
I was aware of this ferry but it had never been on my radar to use it as it only operates a couple of times a week.
A quick google later and I found out there was a ferry sailing later that evening and Esbjerg is about 300kms away from where I was. Catching this would save me a couple of nights in hotels and 800 miles through boring Northern Europe.
Off down the 2 lane Danish motorways in the pouring rain. Luckily it only lasted about 20 miles.
These roads are quite fast – 130km/hr speed limit and had a nice stiff breeze blowing across them. I was also back into European driving after the more polite Swedish and Norwegian road users. Danes seem to like sitting a couple of meters of your tail whilst you overtake a truck or two. Plus as normal here in the UK, no lane sense, drivers plodding along in the outside lane with 25 cars or so stacked up closely behind them. I guess I had been spoiled for a while and this was a wake up call to revert to normal riding conditions.
Got to the port, ferry was in and I brought my (expensive) last minute ticket.
Had time for a little ride around before departure, there are some great beaches here and the weather was perfect, found these chaps sitting on the beach too
When I returned to the port I found some other bikers to chat with
There was also a group of UK Harley riders who had been touring southern Sweden and Denmark for a week or two.
The loading began and this was certainly a ship well sorted out for bikes. Individually marked bays and lots of straps.
nice cabin for me
Off we go. It’s nice and calm
Spent the evening having an expensive beer or three with these chaps, one on a Pan and the other on an 05 GS. Really interesting, well travelled blokes. One of my best evenings.
Then next morning, back into dull and damp Harwich
Docked at 12.10
Off at 12.37
Home at 15.40hrs using A120/A12/M25, the lovely North Circular, A316 and M3.
Certainly did not bother with any pictures of these,
4482 miles covered.
Cracking
Hot and humid night in a stuffy room. Being a city centre hotel there was plenty of people walking outside talking and laughing until the early hours. Not a great night.
What the hotel did have was wi-fi though and whilst waiting at the port for last nights ferry, I had been chatting to a Dutch truck driver who told me about the ferry from Esbjerg to Harwich.
I was aware of this ferry but it had never been on my radar to use it as it only operates a couple of times a week.
A quick google later and I found out there was a ferry sailing later that evening and Esbjerg is about 300kms away from where I was. Catching this would save me a couple of nights in hotels and 800 miles through boring Northern Europe.
Off down the 2 lane Danish motorways in the pouring rain. Luckily it only lasted about 20 miles.
These roads are quite fast – 130km/hr speed limit and had a nice stiff breeze blowing across them. I was also back into European driving after the more polite Swedish and Norwegian road users. Danes seem to like sitting a couple of meters of your tail whilst you overtake a truck or two. Plus as normal here in the UK, no lane sense, drivers plodding along in the outside lane with 25 cars or so stacked up closely behind them. I guess I had been spoiled for a while and this was a wake up call to revert to normal riding conditions.
Got to the port, ferry was in and I brought my (expensive) last minute ticket.
Had time for a little ride around before departure, there are some great beaches here and the weather was perfect, found these chaps sitting on the beach too
When I returned to the port I found some other bikers to chat with
There was also a group of UK Harley riders who had been touring southern Sweden and Denmark for a week or two.
The loading began and this was certainly a ship well sorted out for bikes. Individually marked bays and lots of straps.
nice cabin for me
Off we go. It’s nice and calm
Spent the evening having an expensive beer or three with these chaps, one on a Pan and the other on an 05 GS. Really interesting, well travelled blokes. One of my best evenings.
Then next morning, back into dull and damp Harwich
Docked at 12.10
Off at 12.37
Home at 15.40hrs using A120/A12/M25, the lovely North Circular, A316 and M3.
Certainly did not bother with any pictures of these,
4482 miles covered.
Cracking
I got the Esbjerg/Harwich ferry last sunday and met a guy and his wife who'd set off on a similar trip.
The final drive on his 1200GS failed in the very north of Sweden, bike's still there, they rode straight back on his wife's 800gs
The final drive on his 1200GS failed in the very north of Sweden, bike's still there, they rode straight back on his wife's 800gs
David Lee
Guest
I got the Esbjerg/Harwich ferry last sunday and met a guy and his wife who'd set off on a similar trip.
The final drive on his 1200GS failed in the very north of Sweden, bike's still there, they rode straight back on his wife's 800gs
My final drive (and the rest of my bike) was faultless for the whole trip. Never had a problem that,s stopped me since the day I brought it nearly 4 years ago now.
Great bike
roadrider
Registered user
Thanks for the report Dave, enjoyed that.
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