Saturday 29 June 2013

Day 1 Just leaving Harwich - 29/06/2013

Aboard the boat now in Harwich. So far so good. Tomorrow Holland, Germany and Denmark - only minor ass ache so far.

Friday 28 June 2013

1 Day to go!

Konrad is currently at his end of school prom. Hopefully he'll be in a fit state by tomorrow afternoon to survive the ride down to Harwich!

As you can see the bike is now fully packed and ready to go (I even pumped the tyres up and checked the oil)! We're riding pretty loaded-up with cans / de-hydrated food / trakker bars shoved into every available space including our pockets. With the high prices we expect to endure in Scandinavia - it seemed like a good idea to be as self sufficient as possible!

Checked the weather forecast - seems that we're in luck and shouldn't see much (if any) rain all the way up to the North Cape. Even the temperature forecast suggests high teens in Nordkapp itself when we arrive there. Doesn't seem likely as we'll be about 750km North of the Arctic Circle, but fingers crossed we may be in luck.

170 miles to Harwich and the beginning of our journey to the land of the midnight sun. Yippee!!!




Tuesday 25 June 2013

Preparations almost over, 5 days to go and counting......

Konrad and me have started packing. The bike is serviced and prepped. We have a planned route (statement of intent that is likely to change significantly during the course of the journey) and we're keen to set-out.

So what's the plan?

1 x Yamaha XT660Z Tenere
2 x Human Beings
1 x Tent
10,000km to cover in 14/15 days

We're catching an overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook-of-Holland and then blasting through the Netherlands / Germany to Puttgarden where we plan on catching a boat to Rodby in Denmark. From Copenhagen we intend to take the Oresund Bridge over to Malmo in Sweden and then head North to Stockholm. After that we'll hug the Baltic Coast and get up to Nordkapp (apparently the most Northerly point you can get a normal vehicle to) crossing through Finland and into Norway.

Coming back the pace will be slower (will still be doing ~600km a day) as we'll be taking the twisty roads through Norway, following the Western coast where practical. Once safely at the bottom of Norway, we'll be catching a ferry from Kristiansand over to Hirtshals in Denmark. From there, we'll blast through Denmark, Germany and Holland to catch the relaxing ferry back to Harwich.

Quite a challenge - 2-up on a 48hp single cylinder bike, especially as we intend to be mostly self sufficient and wild-camp as well as covering a daft distance in a very short period of time.....

Bring it on. 5 days and counting.......