The next three days were a slow jaunt to Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, the last being the highlight.
By Tallinn, I'd also got my appetite back.
From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
Given the hurricane going on in my guts, I canned the plan to ride to another Belarusian forest next morning, and headed straight for the border. 3.5 hours to get out of Poland and in to Belarus, 35 minutes to get out of Belarus and in to Lithuania. You know why? Women in charge of the border. Courteous and efficient every damned one of them, unlike the pompous arses in the big hats on the way in. Well, except for that one guy.
The next three days were a slow jaunt to Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, the last being the highlight.
By Tallinn, I'd also got my appetite back.
The next three days were a slow jaunt to Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, the last being the highlight.
By Tallinn, I'd also got my appetite back.
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
And so to Helsinki. As Daniel said, we had a great evening hosted by FinlandThumper from ADVrider. He cooked up a great brisket and Bongolia, ex-of ADVrider after his permaban, showed up with some fine potato salad and a few bottles of excellent wine. A super evening was finished off with some 32-year old Lagavulin.
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boboneleg
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Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
Excellent stuff, I'm very jealous of your ability to fit in the park runs.
one-legged adventurer
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
Borders are always a pain, but not speaking the lingo doesn't help either 
One thing that I learned on this trip, which may or may not be true at all Eastern European/Russian borders is that although it appears like a scrum to hand in the papers at the the little booth that is not the case. There is a system where the last person to walk up just asks who is the last in line, and then they're just the new last in the queue and so on. If that makes sense.
As for the runs Bob, they're a nice way to sort of make plans as otherwise I'd just meander. There was a plan to fit another one in on the trip in Denmark, but as you'll see later, it just didn't work out time wise which was a real shame. I also missed the first ever Norwegian parkrun by a week so that was a bummer. On the bright side, it gives me a reason to go back.
I'll add another entry to this shortly, work has just been keeping me busy, sorry.
One thing that I learned on this trip, which may or may not be true at all Eastern European/Russian borders is that although it appears like a scrum to hand in the papers at the the little booth that is not the case. There is a system where the last person to walk up just asks who is the last in line, and then they're just the new last in the queue and so on. If that makes sense.As for the runs Bob, they're a nice way to sort of make plans as otherwise I'd just meander. There was a plan to fit another one in on the trip in Denmark, but as you'll see later, it just didn't work out time wise which was a real shame. I also missed the first ever Norwegian parkrun by a week so that was a bummer. On the bright side, it gives me a reason to go back.
I'll add another entry to this shortly, work has just been keeping me busy, sorry.
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
We left Mike's house after a nice breakfast and headed off north. We'd (Well Paul) tried to planned for decent Finnish roads and we spent the day heading through pretty much wilderness with hardly any cars to be seen at all.
We saw lots of Honda's coming the other way, supposedly the annual Honda Pan Am conference. Not my cup of tea but nice nontheless.
The weather was decent despite the clouds and we made good time. Although Finland wasn't as strict as Sweden and Norway on speeding, we didn't take advantage at all.
Obligatory post of my bike with a helicopter.
Perhaps an old Russian one going by the cyrillic text?
We carried on heading north and found a camp site. It also had the little log cabins which were dirt cheap, so we opted for one of these
Don't let the images fool you, for £29 you get the one in the bottom right hand corner, about 3m-sq It was ... cosy! What was also amusing was the following morning when I went to the shower block, walking past two blonde girl teeneagers who worked there. Then, once in the shower I hear them talking to one another in the shower blocks too as they're cleaning the shower cubicles either side of me! Unfortunately it didn't end in the same way it does in the movies ....
We kept making tracks the next day, there wasn't much to see apart from trees, forest, occasional deer/reindeer in the road and hardly any cars. It was really relaxing riding.
Not bad view for a lay by from the road.
At one point we spotted this off to our right. It was very spooky!
We went off and had a look, turns out it's some or other art thing
Spot the missing person
No cars anywhere!
That day once again we found an apartment, this time it was mega, a 2 bed place with kitchen, sauna etc! Did you know, Sauna's are a great place to dry clothes I even tried it for a brief time, not my cup of tea though ...
Paul even cooked us dinner. It was just like a date, but I didn't put out!
More riding the next day again, it really was easy going. The bikes were fine, nothing strenuous at all but I can't make it sound very exciting because it wasn't. Paul left his expensive reading glasses at a stop and we spent a few hours that morning just popping into the local town, Rovaniemi looking for a new pair which he found at a pharmacy for cheap. We celebrated this achievement with a coffee. Doesn't Paul look fetching in his new glasses
Not long after that, across a little bridge and a sign welcoming to Sweden, we saw more and more reindeer. They're not small, but they don't half sneak up on you if you're not paying attention!
We rolled on, enjoying the lovely scenery.
I then ate Rudolph!
We made good progress that day, straight through Sweden and into Norway where, once again, we found very cheap accommodation. An Italian biker crashed our party.
The next day some fun stuff would start again as we headed towards the coast.
We saw lots of Honda's coming the other way, supposedly the annual Honda Pan Am conference. Not my cup of tea but nice nontheless.
The weather was decent despite the clouds and we made good time. Although Finland wasn't as strict as Sweden and Norway on speeding, we didn't take advantage at all.
Obligatory post of my bike with a helicopter.
Perhaps an old Russian one going by the cyrillic text?
We carried on heading north and found a camp site. It also had the little log cabins which were dirt cheap, so we opted for one of these
Don't let the images fool you, for £29 you get the one in the bottom right hand corner, about 3m-sq It was ... cosy! What was also amusing was the following morning when I went to the shower block, walking past two blonde girl teeneagers who worked there. Then, once in the shower I hear them talking to one another in the shower blocks too as they're cleaning the shower cubicles either side of me! Unfortunately it didn't end in the same way it does in the movies ....
We kept making tracks the next day, there wasn't much to see apart from trees, forest, occasional deer/reindeer in the road and hardly any cars. It was really relaxing riding.
Not bad view for a lay by from the road.
At one point we spotted this off to our right. It was very spooky!
We went off and had a look, turns out it's some or other art thing
Spot the missing person
No cars anywhere!
That day once again we found an apartment, this time it was mega, a 2 bed place with kitchen, sauna etc! Did you know, Sauna's are a great place to dry clothes
I even tried it for a brief time, not my cup of tea though ...Paul even cooked us dinner. It was just like a date, but I didn't put out!
More riding the next day again, it really was easy going. The bikes were fine, nothing strenuous at all but I can't make it sound very exciting because it wasn't. Paul left his expensive reading glasses at a stop and we spent a few hours that morning just popping into the local town, Rovaniemi looking for a new pair which he found at a pharmacy for cheap. We celebrated this achievement with a coffee. Doesn't Paul look fetching in his new glasses
Not long after that, across a little bridge and a sign welcoming to Sweden, we saw more and more reindeer. They're not small, but they don't half sneak up on you if you're not paying attention!
We rolled on, enjoying the lovely scenery.
I then ate Rudolph!
We made good progress that day, straight through Sweden and into Norway where, once again, we found very cheap accommodation. An Italian biker crashed our party.
The next day some fun stuff would start again as we headed towards the coast.
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
The next morning would see us start heading along the Lofoten Islands. This was our plan ...
Almost immediately we were seeing more lovely scenery. Norway is like this everywhere. I also forgot to mention that we had ticked another item from Paul's bucket list which was "Riding in the Arctic Circle"
Some people asked if we were going to Nordkapp, both friends and even a few who we met on the roads. We weren't too bothered going really as we'd only need to turn around and ride the bit of road again, for what, 30 mins looking around and willy waving (Not literally!) So we'd decided that the time would be better spent in different places.
The mighty GS was behaving fine, I was worried about the size of it but I was pleasantly surprised.
Paul's bike was fine as well and looked more 'adventure like' than mine
After a while I stopped taking photos of waterfalls. There are hundreds of the things. Just like Iceland in that respect,
We spent the day weaving down the islands. It was great stuff. However for the last possibly 2 hours the heavens opened and it well and truly rained. We were approaching the end of the island chain to a town called "A" and like anywhere like that, the traffic was a little heavier with a few motorhomes and caravans. The roads were narrow and bendy like a B road here in England so overtaking was difficult. All of this was a bit miserable for me, I don't think Paul minded as much, but I was happy when we arrived.
Camping was out of the question, we found a hotel, cried at the price, and then tried a campsite that had small cabins and got one of these for the night. Here's my bike on the end point of Lofoten looking out over the ocean.
This was our 208 mile route for the day.
We didn't do much that evening, in fact I can't remember if we even ate. I think I raided my bag for some pretzels or something and had an early night. It was properly pouring it down and we'd need to be up at 6am to catch the 3 hour ferry to the town of Bodo. Paul went online and booked us tickets so we wouldn't have to worry if it was full in the morning.
Almost immediately we were seeing more lovely scenery. Norway is like this everywhere. I also forgot to mention that we had ticked another item from Paul's bucket list which was "Riding in the Arctic Circle"
Some people asked if we were going to Nordkapp, both friends and even a few who we met on the roads. We weren't too bothered going really as we'd only need to turn around and ride the bit of road again, for what, 30 mins looking around and willy waving (Not literally!) So we'd decided that the time would be better spent in different places.
The mighty GS was behaving fine, I was worried about the size of it but I was pleasantly surprised.
Paul's bike was fine as well and looked more 'adventure like' than mine
After a while I stopped taking photos of waterfalls. There are hundreds of the things. Just like Iceland in that respect,
We spent the day weaving down the islands. It was great stuff. However for the last possibly 2 hours the heavens opened and it well and truly rained. We were approaching the end of the island chain to a town called "A" and like anywhere like that, the traffic was a little heavier with a few motorhomes and caravans. The roads were narrow and bendy like a B road here in England so overtaking was difficult. All of this was a bit miserable for me, I don't think Paul minded as much, but I was happy when we arrived.
Camping was out of the question, we found a hotel, cried at the price, and then tried a campsite that had small cabins and got one of these for the night. Here's my bike on the end point of Lofoten looking out over the ocean.
This was our 208 mile route for the day.
- Screen Shot 2017-10-02 at 12.09.06.png (441.94 KiB) Viewed 3036 times
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
It had just about stopped raining the next morning when we were awake and on our way by about 6am, it was still very wet though mind you, the cabin the previous night was a good choice as it had well and truly tipped it down overnight and it gave us chance to dry most of our bike clothes. It was a whole 1 mile, 2 mins to the ferry port.
The ferry reminded me of some James Bond baddie as the front opened up as it approached.
The views as we left the islands were spectacular. Beautiful places, I'm sure even moreso if it was sunny!
Paul and I hadn't had breakfast, I refrained, but Paul bought some or other sandwich and two coffees from the onboard shop. I know people comment about the prices in Norway, but just wow, I think this was about £20. The lady serving did mention that we got one free refill of the coffee so we made sure we used it.
Here's Paul after paying the bill!
As we approached Bodo we headed down to prepare the bikes. We were joined by a number of Italians. The only bikes on the bus, 5 x 1200GS' and Pauls' 800GS. A right bunch of GS wankers we were.
Soon we were on our way again and actually had some sunshine and warmth. The water is crystal clear, the roads pretty empty and winding, it was great fun.
We followed the scenic FV17 along the coast and has the roads to ourselves most of the time, some great riding. We were still being sensible though as we didn't fancy any run ins with the Swedish police and their speeding fines.
We stopped for some roadworks, here's Me looking at Paul, looking at me....
Throughout the day i think we had six mini ferries, ranging from 10 to 30 minutes across the various lakes, rivers, inlets as we carved our way down the coast road. We never had to wait long for a ferry and I think they on average were about £13 each although that's just a guess. A few bikers from Italy and Germany mostly enjoying the roads were to be seen often.
We also started going through tunnels, lots of them. Some about 6km long and boy did it get chilly as you got deeper. Bad blurry photo...
We even spotted this glacier along the way.
The last ferry of the day was the longest at about 40 mins I seem to recall.
We found a campsite next to where the ferry docked and headed to the closest village shop about 15 mins away for some dinner supplier. It was a great campsite, mainly used by fishermen and it was the perfect spot. to end the day, unwind and relax.
The ferry reminded me of some James Bond baddie as the front opened up as it approached.
The views as we left the islands were spectacular. Beautiful places, I'm sure even moreso if it was sunny!
Paul and I hadn't had breakfast, I refrained, but Paul bought some or other sandwich and two coffees from the onboard shop. I know people comment about the prices in Norway, but just wow, I think this was about £20. The lady serving did mention that we got one free refill of the coffee so we made sure we used it.
Here's Paul after paying the bill!
As we approached Bodo we headed down to prepare the bikes. We were joined by a number of Italians. The only bikes on the bus, 5 x 1200GS' and Pauls' 800GS. A right bunch of GS wankers we were.
Soon we were on our way again and actually had some sunshine and warmth. The water is crystal clear, the roads pretty empty and winding, it was great fun.
We followed the scenic FV17 along the coast and has the roads to ourselves most of the time, some great riding. We were still being sensible though as we didn't fancy any run ins with the Swedish police and their speeding fines.
We stopped for some roadworks, here's Me looking at Paul, looking at me....
Throughout the day i think we had six mini ferries, ranging from 10 to 30 minutes across the various lakes, rivers, inlets as we carved our way down the coast road. We never had to wait long for a ferry and I think they on average were about £13 each although that's just a guess. A few bikers from Italy and Germany mostly enjoying the roads were to be seen often.
We also started going through tunnels, lots of them. Some about 6km long and boy did it get chilly as you got deeper. Bad blurry photo...
We even spotted this glacier along the way.
The last ferry of the day was the longest at about 40 mins I seem to recall.
We found a campsite next to where the ferry docked and headed to the closest village shop about 15 mins away for some dinner supplier. It was a great campsite, mainly used by fishermen and it was the perfect spot. to end the day, unwind and relax.
Re: From Georgia, to Russia, Ukraine and Scandinavia in 4 weeks
Yes, we got stuck in the middle of a chain of about 8 bikes with that chopper thing ripping up the road ahead of us. If I recall correctly he had Swedish plates so I assumes he knew if there would be any police. After days riding at about 60kph the sudden increase of speed was noticeable!
