Big Bird Bike Travels

You can imagine my surprise as I rolled up at the viewing platform overlooking a fjord to be greeted by a German with the words “Where is the elk, I miss the elk”!

“Err…..in the pannier drying off after yesterday’s rain” stuttered my response.

It seems that this particular moose is becoming a bit of a star across Scandinavia! It transpires he’d been spied on the island of Sommarøy, sunbathing, swimming, having a couple of beers in the bar. No seriously though, these Germans, two on BMW GS’s (obviously) and two in a Land Rover Defender, had seen the now infamous moto moose at the last hotel!

As we left Senja the weather started to pick up so Sven was back out as rear gunner.

Whilst waiting in the reception area of tonight’s hotel a large motorcyclist came in and approached me “Is that your Rocket outside and you’re from England”? The fact I could say yes to both kick started full on biking and travel banter. He and his wife were on their way to ‘The Cape’ and I was the first Brit he’d seen, and also the first Rocket!

Tomorrow it’s 150 miles to my accommodation deep into the Lofoten islands, I’m again relishing the prospect as I just know that some of the scenery will be magnificent!

After a few days and nights of shift work the easy option would have been to stay another ‘night’ on Sommarøy to just chill and recharge, that’s what my body was telling me, but my mind had other ideas.

Continue reading “The Easy Option”

A lot of reading here but you got the easy stuff (photos) yesterday.

One of my biggest concerns over this trip was availability of fuel in the remote areas of northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, during my ‘night ride’ to the North Cape. It was never a ‘given’ that I would get there, the distances are so great compared to closer to home. There were times that I imagined it was like riding through a vast country like Canada or America. If you think Kielder Forest is big?! My riding depended very much on getting fuel, Reg, or more accurately me, have previous for …….. let’s say ‘cutting it fine’. So it came as a relief that these areas of these countries mainly rely on unmanned or womanned or gender neutral petrol stations. As I got closer to the North Cape, and when I say closer I mean about 200 miles away, I found such a filling station. My tactics were also adjusted so I tended to fill up even with 100 miles left in the tank, providing there was somewhere. I was going to the North Cape now, and just had sufficient fuel to make it there. As I rode in the sunshine either side of midnight I pondered my return, I had no intention of staying up there unless……… unless I ran out of fuel! I would not have sufficient to get me back to that last petrol station and as the time got to one then two o’clock I had to find another fill up, fortunately I did, which allowed me back and eventually to rack up another 250 miles after hitting that target. 

That’s a very long description of the good, the bad will be a lot shorter!

As in England, automated fuel filling deducts a huge sum to cover a maximum permitted fill, but never actually comes out of your account. It nevertheless is classed as ‘pending’ on my banking app. 

It came as somewhat of a shock to me that my account had dropped £1,500 for the twelve fill ups on that epic journey! I’ll be relieved when they start dropping off! 😬

Continue reading “The good, the bad and ……………”

I was on half nights last night. Set off on a short fell walk at 10pm and got back to the hotel at 2am. Here are just some of the results:

It was their fault for speaking to me in the first place “You’re the guy with the Rocket”, as one of them stood and threw his hand out in a friendly gesture. I duly accepted the offer of a handshake and proceeded to scattergun them with all things motorcycling and travel related. That’ll teach them for talking to strangers! The two English bikers from York, were having a peaceful pre-ride coffee outside the hotel when I spoiled their peace. It transpires that we are returning along the same roads so maybe I’ll see them again, unless they see me first! 

Reflecting on our conversation, yes they did have chance to get a word in edgeways, it seemed that I was a bit hyper! Whether it was because they were the first English people I’ve spoken to on the trip, and that they were fellow bikers, I’m not sure. I don’t feel any need for contact, and certainly have no desire to ride with anybody else, maybe I was still buzzing from yesterday’s exploits and also looking forward so much to today?

Continue reading “Slow Down!”

If you have a few minutes this might be worth watching, it has about ten short video clips within it.

If you have a spare few minutes you may like this of the ride up to the North Cape, it contains about ten short videos.

I propose a candidate to challenge Barrow-in-Furness for the title of being ‘At the end of the longest cul-de-sac in the world’. My recommendation is The North Cape! A minimum 146 miles, that’s what needs to be ridden each way to reach the end of the most northerly road in Europe. It includes several tunnels ranging from the short, to a four miles long one under the Barents Sea. Three hundred miles of the same road was just the icing on the cake of a day (?) which started at 11.30am on Saturday and finished 26 hours later, after a total of over 800 miles. It was my aim to ride through the night, and with that now done it’s the end of crazy rides and I will absorb the best of Norway on my return south.

At 1.30pm today I managed to find a hotel in the small coastal village of Sørkjosen, the hotel receptionist went from “Yes we have a room, but it’s not ready for check in yet” to “Here’s the key, you can check in now”. Before you start jumping to any conclusions, the only extra included is breakfast, she obviously took pity on seeing this insect splattered disheveled biker!

After quickly relieving Reg of his heavy burden, the panniers, not me, I hit the sack as soon as I could. I’d only just snuggled down when I thought ‘bloody hell, this is more comfortable than lying on a road surface, this bed idea could catch on’! 

I’ve never felt like falling asleep holding handlebars before, but then I’ve never ridden like this before. I had to grab myself two 15 minute power naps, one at 5.30am amongst some rocks in a hollow just off the road, and a second about 9.30am in a lay-by. I would’ve slept longer both times but for some loud grunt that woke me! Strange because there were no animals around, just a ‘Big Bird’. 

The day started back in Storfossen, Sweden, it was sixty miles to the Arctic Circle followed by another 190 to Finland. A temperature in the high twenties combined with all the trees and lakes made a perfect recipe for the wee beasties to engulf me every time I stopped for more than 15 seconds. Either they loved the extra heat rising from Reg’s motor, or they were trying to get revenge for Reg and me murdering their relatives? It made me reluctant to stop other than for fuel, no issues in that department this time, just call it an expert strategy!

The towns I travelled through in northern Sweden and Finland were a bit ‘different’, maybe because it was Saturday that they were ghost towns? Many buildings were bleak and stark, almost as if influenced by the old Soviet Union. Generally the people seemed to be standoffish, not warm or welcoming, but I’d experienced this back in the old Yugoslavia in the 80s, and think it’s more curiosity than unfriendliness.

In Finland I refuelled Reg (bought extra mozzie repellant) and also needed a break myself, so had an ice cream in the small cafe area of the garage, this was a huge mistake! By the next fuel stop in Norway I topped off the ice cream with a coffee and local sausage delicacy, boom! The ice cream was the fuel, the Norwegian fare the blue touch paper! Bloody brilliant, this is all I need, baking hot insect infested countries and me having the….. !🤦🏻‍♂️ Before leaving the garage in Norway I gave their facilities a good seeing to, twice! I’ll spare you the details, but the next two hours were very uncomfortable and painful! Suffice to say that Norway’s excellent ‘long drop’ toilets were a life saver!

Midnight was approaching when I was about a hundred miles south of the North Cape, it would take me another three hours to do that 100 miles but this was the moment I’d come over 2,500 miles to experience. The following photos cover from 11.30pm to 4.30am.

The following photos are from 4.30am until 12.30pm

I have quite a bit of video footage to wade through and the short clips will be contained in a Relive app when I get around to doing it!

The next blog post may be a couple of days, all is well, I’m now in north Norway having passed the Artic Circle in Sweden and a small amount of Finland. Hoping to make the North Cape tonight. Polarsteps updated as I travel and one or two entries on FB but the blog takes more sorting. Will get onto it probably late tomorrow.

That pretty much sums up today’s ride, but as usual with me, things aren’t quite as interesting as first appearances suggest. To be more accurate it should be 50 shades of green, but that title wouldn’t have been quite so enticing.

The blue was the sky, the green the trees and the grey the road, that’s pretty much all I saw today.

Riding through Sweden is really strange, big blue skies and a feeling that an expansive view (beyond the trees) will open up as the next crest is reached, but no, hardly ever. Although it seems like the top of a mountain, today I rarely climbed much above sea level. The most expansive view will be the rare occasion when a lake, or the Baltic Sea appears. It didn’t detract from the enjoyment, it’s just different and unexpected, and that’s a reason to travel, the unexpected.

Easy Rider

Today the motorcycle gods were smiling on me!

450 miles of wide open smooth roads, a cloudless blue sky, 25c and no traffic! The only mosquito in the ointment is the oppressive speed limits the Swedes have, but hey, it helps me chill, reduces the impact with a moose (sorry Sven) and gives us a few extra miles from a tank.

I drank in the experience, it was everything I’d hoped for and more! I certainly wasn’t expecting this weather, and so, living a motorcyclist’s dream I’m glad I came, no doubts, not this time.

In the words of Freddie “It’s a tricky situation and I only have myself to blame”

Not quite as ‘sticky a situation as Sticky the stick insect getting stuck on a sticky bun’, but things looked to be going decidedly pear shaped when I was meandering around the previously unheard of town of Alvsbyn in northern Sweden. I’m a novice at ‘winging it’, but was happy to give it a go, to add a bit of spice if nowt else. I’m not used to rolling up at a hotel reception and saying “Do you have a room for the night”? The buzz from “Yes” (without delving into Pamela Stephenson’s American Express sketch) makes me smile inwardly. But not only did I not get a “Yes” in Alvsbyn, I couldn’t even find any accommodation open! Booking.com and Airbnb had nowt in the area. This was the moment it dawned on me that riding through the forested wilderness of northern Sweden Premier Inns do not lie around the every corner! Unlike McDonalds, it seems that Sweden has sold its soul to that food chain giant, and personally I think it flies in the face of much of what the country represents.

The next place any app could guide me to was a further one hour twenty minutes ride north, not a big problem, we already had about 400 miles under the wheels and I was feeling fine. The unusually named town of Jokkmokk, where booking.com reliably informed me of two establishments charging about £80 a night and one £450, was programmed into the satnav. Going by ‘Booking’s’ previous attempt in Alvsbyn I was pondering a night under the stars, but this far north they aren’t visible. So it was looking like no sleep or lying by the bike swatting mozzies off. Undeterred I ventured in the direction of the Scottish named town, whereupon I spied a stunning waterfall! I’m stopping to take a photo of that, and as I got closer I saw a campsite…… then hotel! OMG, the hotel gods are now smiling on me! I didn’t have American Express, but that will do nicely!