The Circle is Complete.

Well that's it. Job done. I'm back home, though Steve still has another 300 plus miles to get back to Dunfermline. I hope his run home is as uneventful as were the last 160 miles from Harwich.

What a time we've had. Met loads of friendly, interesting people and experienced some fantastic scenery. What's more, there were no major dramas and we're still great mates!

The memories we've gathered will be with us forever. I loved visiting the cities, but for me, nothing compares to travelling and camping in some of the most magnificent landscapes in the world. The west coast of Norway, in particular, is a must do again experience. Ab Fab!

The bikes were perfect for the job, Steve's choice of tyres aside, and apart from that and his crap chain, they never missed a beat. I did about 4500 miles on the Tiger and it returned just over 50 mpg. The bike used no oil and the chain needed adjusting twice (Scotoilers are brilliant). My tyres could just about do the trip again. Apart from the occasional numb bum, the bike gave me no aches or pains. It handled and ran perfectly (cam chain tensioner issue is due to it needing an oil change - they're a hydraulic tensioner apparently) and is clearly a quality bit of kit. Great choice Pikey!

4500 miles of grime. Bet she'll come up like new:

I'm also well chuffed with my choice of kit. My Mountain Equipment Dragonfly tent was ace. Light, stable and quick to erect (phnar, phnar). A Marmot Sawtooth down sleeping bag is as warm as you'll need. The Trangia spirit burning stove is a brilliantly designed bit of kit that'll boil a kettle in a gale! It's not surprising that on a trip like we've had, that you get a bit attached to your gear, but it was in all honesty pretty faultless.

If you're motivated to do something similar.......just do it!

So that's all folks. Thanks for coming along for the ride and I'll keep you posted on the next one. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone to attend too......;-))

The Slow Boat home.

Monday 25th June:

Some big heavy clouds about as we emerged from our overnight shelter and rode straight out onto the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. There was a strong, gusting, wind that made the 20km crossing quite 'entertaining', but we managed to get to Odense despite a bit of impromptu synchronised lane swapping.

We had plenty of time to get to the ferry, so rather than sit on a motorway, we picked our way through Odense and headed north to Ottup and then Bogense, just because the Michelin map showed it as a scenic route. An interesting concept 'MapNav', don't you think? Wonder if it'll catch on.

After a very nice run through the Danish countryside and having succeeded in avoiding the showers, we stopped for a coffee in the very nice village of Bogense, before making our way back to the E20 for a short run to Kolding. Then we were off north west again on another Michelin green run up to Billund and Grinsted.

Riding through the quieter parts of Denmark, you could be in rural England I thought, perhaps unsurprisingly. It's definitely cycling country and I reckon that'd be the best way to explore the country's back lanes and byways.

We had a lunch stop in Grinsted, finding a quirky little cafe (at least I think it was a cafe - it was opposite a church and might have been a day centre judging by the clientele) and had a suspiciously cheap smorgasbord.

After a couple of hours wandering around Esbjerg town centre, we arrived at the docks and joined the line with about 30 other bikers of varying nationalities. We ended up chatting to a Cockney, who lived in Gothenburg, and his Swedish mate. They were riding a couple of post-war Harley's, obviously via the UK, to a rally in southern France. A late Knuckle-head and an early Pan-head for those interested? Both hand change, foot clutch jobbies, the Knuckle-head was ex NYPD and the original cable operated siren was still fitted, which works by being forced into contact with the rear wheel (watch a 50's Yank B movie for the sound they make). You should have seen the looks on the faces of the loading crew when he engaged it driving onto the boat :-)

 

 

With me mate, while he was still ginger...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We managed a great steak dinner on the Dana Sirena, accompanied by a very friendly, slightly posh, elderly English couple and two Norwegian guys who, it turns out, we're both into their Ducatis in a big way....so you can imagine how the next couple of hours went!

About 10 pm, the boat started to properly rock n roll on heavy seas. The 'G' in SGD became green, so he quickly made for the cabin to suffer in isolation. I sat up and enjoyed the ride.....it's like being pissed, but without spending the money :-D

 

To Oresund and Beyond.

It rained quite heavily in the night, but it didn't bother me much. Being back in the tent suited me and I had a good nights sleep. I hadn't even heard the racket caused by a group who'd returned at 2.30am and been driving around the site and arguing with each other, as reported by a very nice middle aged German couple who we'd been chatting to the previous evening. They were cycle touring and camping through southern Sweden, something they do for a couple of weeks every year.....mmmm, there's an idea....!

Despite the overnight rain, the morning was kind to us once again and we packed away dry tents...possibly for the last time and prepared for the off. We set off under a heavy sky and shot down the E6 motorway for about 60km and then turned onto the 24 towards Hassleholm, intending a scenic detour to Malmo. We'd not been on the 24 long when it started to rain rather persistently, but it didn't spoil the run too much as we turned onto the 108 and went into bend-swinging mode, passing through Ljungbyhed and Kavlinge en route to Malmo. Nice run.

After a break near to Malmo, we took the Oresund Bridge (£20 toll) back into Denmark. Another impressive piece of civil engineering. I think the bridge and tunnel section that immediately follows is approximately 15km long.

Old meets new:

Denmark welcomed us with heavy rain and it stayed that way for the next 80 miles. It became torrential as we pulled onto a campsite at Korsor, just before the Great Belt Bridge crossing, so we jumped at the remaining camping chalet and dived in to dry out. Have to say though, that my kit had done its job though.....nothing was wrinkled :-)

The downpour continued for about three hours, keeping us penned in, with only a view of the bridge and Danish TV for company....Tak...So I rang me best mate and had a good chat with her :-)

The gastronomic delights of the last of the packet soups and a cheese sandwich........and he wonders why he gets heartburn:

Quite an uneventful day really, although I did notice that the Tiger is developing a camchain rattle at start up, which could be related to the noise I'd heard earlier on the trip. So, it's now feeling very much like the long run home that it is. We're both looking forward to getting home and seeing family again.

There's fire in the sky tonight:

 

Blue Grey Days, Hats, Darts & Ass.

Woke in the night and lay awake for an hour or two. It was hissing it down outside and felt quite muggy, plus the animal in the bunk above was doing his usual night-time impression of a steam driven beam engine. Conscious of the 'tour' coming to an end, but mainly missing the missus.

So when I got up, I felt a bit blue and lacked a bit of enthusiasm. Steve was his usual even tempered self and, sensing I wasn't 'on it', quietly went about sorting himself out. We readied the bikes straight after breakfast and prepared to set off for Gothenburg. Neither of us much fancied riding straight down the E6 (mostly motorway), so I was quite happy (though you wouldn't have guessed it!) when Steve suggested cutting in land through Askim and Halden on more minor roads in order to miss a chunk of the motorway out.

It had stopped raining and was drying up nicely, but it was pretty flat grey when we set off. Once on the detour route, the roads got more and more interesting. The weather held until we got to Halden and stopped for petrol and coffee in order to get rid of our remaining Norwegian Kroner. When we resumed, the heavens opened and for about an hour we rode through the only storm we've encountered so far. The road was a bit of a twister, so it was making for a challenging ride and, oddly, my mood improved as we made progress. By the time we got back on the E6, the sun was out again and the roads almost dry. We blatted down the E6 to Gothenburg and having made good time, elected to continue further south and pick up a campsite on the coast somewhere.

We got off the E6 at Varberg and stopped in the town to pick up supplies for tea. It was spitting with rain again and the weather looked ominous, so we rode to the towns main campsite on the coast, intending to stay for the night. It looked big and corporate. 'Butlins' springs to mind. We thought It'd have to do though, so I approached the receptionist, "We have two small tents and would like to camp for one night please?".

"No problem", she replied, "That will be 350kroner (£35) for each tent".

"No, no, I'm sorry. I think you misunderstand me. I don't want to buy the pitch, just erect my tent for the night...". I grimaced. She smiled. I picked Steve up off the floor (he'd fainted at the 350kroner bit) and we quickly left.

Moving a few miles down the coast towards Falkenberg, we found an ace little campsite and hostal called Rodlix. The tents went up in short order and the sun came out as we cooked tea.

I'm feeling much happier now and even wore me new 'at for the late evening walkabout:

We were going to have a game of darts, but I refused to play on the board they'd installed for Steve and he couldn't reach the other two..

ps. Forgot to mention yesterday.....the beer in Oslo does taste a bit funny....

 

A Tale of Two Cities

What a contract; Oslo by night and Oslo by day.

Thursday 21st June:

I was very impressed with the Hostal we were staying in, but the same can't be said of our first encounter with downtown Oslo in the evening. We caught the tram into town and, on recommendation of one of the hostal staff, initially checked out the Gronland area having been assured that it attracted the more 'mature' set and was relatively inexpensive (and I mean 'relatively'!). Frankly, it's a decidedly unattractive area and looked a bit seedy, but we persevered with a beer and watched the 'wildlife' pass by whilst waiting for a connecting tram to the Vigeland Sculpture Park.

Good move visiting Gustav Vigeland's creation in the beautiful early evening sun. The light was fabulous and it brought the sculptures alive I thought. I loved the whole thing and it brought back a few memories of my previous visit. In particular, I recall being photographed standing beside the central monolith wearing an orange polo necked jumper that my mum had knitted :-) (Must root out that photo). I think he was an incredible artist. Loved his work (hark at me...).

After a couple of hours, we were back in Gronland for a burger and a beer in a courtyard bar that had attracted us because of the music. After being fleeced, we gave up on the area and made our way to the much more attractive, though no less expensive, Grunerlokka area, where we ended up an an Irish bar (yawn) and had a better Norwegian dark beer and watched a bit of football.......didn't have a choice on that, there was about 15 TV's! Then it was a walk and bus ride back to our digs in the warm late evening light.

Friday 22nd June:

The hostal served a fantastic breakfast. Would put many a B&B to shame. Then we were on the bus downtown again, to have a proper look around and get to know the place a little better.

We walked to the harbour area and noticed the Nobel Peace Centre, so decided to check that out first. This wasn't on my things to do list (the SGD doesn't have a TTDL. He has a BTDL.......Beers To Drink List), but it was quite an experience. The photographic exhibitions of the work of Tim Hetherington and Lynsey Addario in Afghanistan were incredibly moving. Also, the use of technology in the displays was impressive.

A short ferry ride later and we wherein the Viking Ship museum. Boyhood memories of seeing the preserved Viking Longboats.....

It was a short walk to the 'Kon Tiki' museum. This housed the balsa raft that Thor Heyerdahl and crew sailed across the Pacific in 1947, basically to prove a theory. It was a famous endeavour of the time and has recently been made into a feature film.

Then it was on to the Fram museum. Nansen's ship 'Fram' was an extraordinarily advanced ship of the time (late 19th century) built to withstand polar ice crush. It was later used by Amundsen during his successfully 1911 expedition to become the first to reach the south pole. The building it stands in was constructed around it and you are able to walk on and in it.

Potted history lesson over.

I reckon I could have done the exploring thing.........

Museumed out, we headed back to downtown Oslo for a coffee and bun. It was late afternoon by now, so after a walk through the city, which I was by now beginning to warm to, we ended up back at Grunerlokka for a beer and a people watch... ;-)

Top day for me (I think Steve enjoyed it, but nothing was in Ewok, so he just looked at the pictures).

Tomorrow we hit the road south again. Check out Fredrikstad for a coffee and then on to the Gothenburg and a campground. It looks like its gonna rain though....

 

Hello Oslo.

Well, we got to Oslo. Back here after 40 odd years and looking forward to rekindling a few memories of the time I had here with my Dad. He was leading his schools (he was primarily a Woodwork & Tech Drawing teacher - you may have to explain both concepts to your kids!) lightweight camping expedition during Easter 1969 and he took me along (probably to the relief of my Mum!).

After a proper rest at Gol last night, we had no urgency in getting away, with only about 200km to cover and left about 10am. Brilliant weather again, probably the warmest day of the whole trip, as we made our way south east towards Oslo on the 7. Great road through a wonderful landscape, spoiled only by numerous roadworks due to the route getting a complete upgrade. We took a couple of leisurely breaks and arrived at our digs for the next two nights about 2 hours ago......2.30pm.

We've got a room in a newly built section of the Youth Hostel in Haraldsheim, a suburb on the east side. It looks to be a great location out of the city, but with excellent transport links; the tram or bus stops almost outside.

Thinking I'm going to get an 'Oslo Pass' for 24 hours. Gives free access to all museums and public transport, so the bikes can stay put. We're going to drift into town in an hour or so, make our way to the Vigeland Sculpture Park then return and hit the Gronland district for, hopefully, a reasonably priced meal and a few beers. Then it'll be time to find some live music.....

 

 

This is how to serve a cold beer..........as shared with my fantastic missus in the States earlier this year. Hope they measure up in Oslo.

 

 

 

 

 

That's it today. Details of what we got up to tomorrow evening.

 

More Fjells & Fjords.

We had a pretty relaxed evening at the Lom campsite. It's a pretty good site with all the usual facilities that we've come to expect, which meant that after we'd cooked a fish pie and risotto and downed a couple of beers each, the best we could manage was slouching in the lounge in front of the TV watching Ingeeerlund slip one up the Ukranians. Or rather I did, being Scottish, the SGD doesn't understand football!

One of the main reasons for visiting Lom was that it was featured in the last series of the 'Hairy Bikers' Baking/Travel show, or rather the 'Bakeriet I Lom' was. I recall them getting stuck into making a batch of Norwegian 'Danish' pastries and, being quite partial to a nice bun, I thought that as we were going to be nearby we should drop in. Wow, if you like your bread and cakes don't come here. You may not want to leave. Anyway, we had 'second breakfast' and managed to prise ourselves away and waddle over to the bikes. I liked Lom :-)

 

 

"Did you eat'em both?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve had sussed the route for today. We'd decided to take to shorter days getting to Oslo, which is why we had the morning in Lom. Out on the splendid 55 towards Sogndal. A stunning 140 km of twisting tarmac, commencing with a beautiful, long and steady climb up onto Sognefjell, the ride across which was above the snow line and breathtaking. A tricky decent down to Skjolden followed and it was then a long run alongside the Lustrafjorden, negotiating several tunnels en route to Sogndal (tunnels and ferries abound in this region of Norway).

A Tiger in the Mountains:

 

A Scottsman in the Mountains:

 

After another short ferry crossing (they vary, but generally cost about £5 for a bike) we picked up the E16 and then the 52 towards Gol, passing through the Hemsedal ski area en route. Great roads again and no traffic. Blimey, it's going to be a shock for us when we get home.

Dropped on a big campsite just outside Gol and, despite the weather being excellent, decided that for about £10 extra, we'd stay in a cabin. They feature on all the sites we've seen in Scandinavia and are basically small (2 or 4 bunk), very well equipped wooden huts. These had table and chairs, all utensils, a fridge and two-ring hob, plus a small electric heater :-). Nice after a sunny, but very cold at times, day in the saddle.

A few memorable encounters today as well: saw our first idiotic Norwegian driver, chatted to a friendly garage owner about the fiscal state of his nation compared to ours and a guy from Oslo who looked about 50, had retired and now spent his time travelling around Scandinavia fishing (I could see what Steve was thinking...), oh and a Dutch motorcyclist who was pass storming on a V Max. Brave man!

Bye the way, it's a beautiful evening here...again...