Gael warning in the Baltic

Great trip, report and photos as usual.:beerjug:

It clicked with me when you made reference to the difficulties of sourcing dietary needs ie, vegetables when on the road.
But I do believe a single beer count's as one of your five a day.:D

Possibly true, Brut, but not much use to a non drinker


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Excellent report - a great part of the world.
I got married in Latvia in June. It's a wonderful country.
I do love the Baltics!
 
So belatedly, and after returning today from a 3 day ride in Wales in the heat, let me bring my mind back to the Baltic!

The Tallink ferry was due to arrive in Stockholm at 10:30 and duly did so, after several hours navigating past skerries…definitely not a route for an amateur.

There aren’t a lot of photos of the very straightforward arrival process, just straight off the boat and sending my way to a massive mid morning traffic jam…10 kms of congestion, fortunately flagged by Googlemaps on my screen, which called for serious filtering.

I made good progress across Southern Sweden and revised my plans to overnight in the Helsingborg area and instead tackle ‘Das Broen’ (the bridge, IIRC, of murder mystery fame) that day.

It was inspiring, although my few photos don’t do it justice….and then it was exceeded again by the spectacular bridge that links the ‘Copenhagen island’ to the next one
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Sadly no photos of the next bridge but it was an idyllic evening and I pulled over to seek out lodging for later that night on Booking.com.

Whilst I was not worried about running out of daylight, I found the prices shocking and eventually settled on one of the very few that just shaded under the 100€ level…

It turned out to be a beautiful location, just by the next bridge which would take me to Jutland in the morning. This was the breakfast room (I think it was some sort of deluxe educational campus, with rather bare bedrooms but spectacular views).
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From there I walked down to the base of the bridge….excuse all the piccies but I was smitten…
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I was planning another long ride the next day (from memory, the ride from Stockholm to my campus accommodation in the delightfully named town of Middelfart, West of Odense, was just a shade under 900 kms).

However I was told breakfast wasn’t served until 7.30….however I noticed everything was out when I packed the bike at 0715 so in breach of all protocol I helped myself from the prodigious buffet, scoring a good lunch for later as well as a generous breakfast).

The potential route for the day:

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I should have mentioned the rather pleasant surroundings to my Spartan accommodation:
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I planned to see how far I could get en route to Calais, bearing in mind this was a summer Friday so traffic would be unpredictable.

As a result of my head down, keep going ride there are no photos, as the phone was tucked into the trunk providing Google maps guidance on the screen through Apple CarPlay - very useful, I soon found, as it gave me a good idea of the traffic ahead and the amount of delay (for a car driver).

I had decided to follow the land route, even though many navigation systems suggested going on the Rodby- Putgarten ferry which was rather expensive.

So to cut a long day short, after epic filtering in Germany and (as always) in Antwerp, I made enough progress by 3 pm to risk booking a Tunnel crossing ticket for 7 that evening.


Here is the heroic Goldwing, queued up at Coquelles to board the ferry. Sadly, I had a long wait as the UK Border Authority systems were taking time to churn the information- somewhat unwelcome after a hot and congested 1,000 kms ride.


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I thought this was an appropriate time to let my beloved wife know I would be home that evening (I was booked on a DFDS ferry the following Tuesday).

I will spare you all the tedium of the ride along the M20/M25, and just say it passed without incident (despite all the dimwits who insist on using the 2 right hand lanes on an empty motorway !).


The bike performed splendidly, although the rapid riding on the last day knocked the fuel consumption up a bit - 55 mpg over the 4,000 miles of the trip.

It was all day comfortable, filtered with ease, sat safely in city centres. My only regret was not to be able to explore the gravel roads of the Baltic states - but in fairness, even in the GS I would not have done that riding solo.
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And the broad shape of the route is this blue line (ignore the other statistics!).
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I reckon over the last 2 days I rode 2,200 kms which is a tribute to the Goldwing’s comfort!


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Wow, that’s a fair run in 2 days :thumb
Thanks for taking us along, really enjoyed the write-up & the photos :beerjug:

Thanks Jochen…thinking the Wing should just about manage the run to Leenane in a couple of weeksso look forward to seeing you soon


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Another great ride report, Simon... many thanks for sharing it with us. That final two days was impressive - testimony to the comfort of the Honda. We will be certainly incorporating some of your trip in our future plans for a visit to the baltic region.

Phil
 
Great RR, as always, Simon. Glad you’re over Covid.
 


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