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:
I should have mentioned the rather pleasant surroundings to my Spartan accommodation:
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.
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.
And the broad shape of the route is this blue line (ignore the other statistics!).
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk