Scotland to the Nordkapp

Day 1 set out from the sunny southwest of Scotland ,bike onto trailer for the haul down to the channel port.( good arrangement all round as the camper is going into storage down on the south coast for use down there later in the year, anyway riding on uk motorways is pretty crap anyway and it will save 500 miles of the bike tyres.
Lovely stop over in a pee smelling truck stop overnight, with fridge trucks running all night.
Earplugs in and a good kip was had.

Day 2 Get down to Dover ,drop of the camper with the lovely Deanna at g&d storage and head off down to Dover on the paraffin pony ! ( she thinks I am probably certifiable when I tell her what I am doing) Find a camping site on the shore road north out of Calais (not before going up a one way street the wrong way). I think the trucker had seen it all before judging by the look!!! Ho hum
Nice quiet place on the coast but with lots of static caravans , but it's only fr a night halt jeez the tide goes out along way there it looked like I could walk back to England !!!

Day 3 Hack up through Belgium (usual loony suicidal driving but in serious pissing rain this time oh JOY!!!!! ). Took it very steady away ,as there is no ABS or Posh brakes or torque control on this wee Honda Transalp .Found a nice camp site. Called Camping Ideal ( which it actually was) .
Camp cooking just a ready meal tonight And none the worse for that when you are hungry!!!
Serious buckets of rain through the night ,but quite nice lying here dry and warm listening to it!!

Day 4 I am just winging it here and had not planned any further than the end of the crossing of the Elbe river to the west of Hamburg to save me dealing with all the extra traffic at the city . BIG BIG RIVER very surprising !
Stroke of luck, I had already met a group of. Brits in the car park of a LIDL supermarket when I was in filling up the nose bag,(German summer cherries amongst other stuff YUM )And they were heading to the Jampot international rally for old AJS motorcycles
So while I was on the ferry one of their group invited me to camp at their campground
On presentation to the organisers they seemed delighted to have an extra bod ( mid you they were not too keen on ye Transalp lowering the tone of the place what with their bikes being all working antiques that most folks rode in on. The lad on the ferry had ridden his all the way from Scotland!! They found me a ideal wee spot
Anyhow a most welcome wee stopover with a really nice group of folks
Did I mention that it has pissed it down EVERY day since Scotland Ho Hum luck of the draw I suppose.

Day 5 Sun streaming into the tent this morning. Yea!!!!!
Rush up and festoon the Transalp with every bit of damp stuff I have ( Really useful things motorcycles, goes in a quick shift from transportation device to an expensive clothes horse !!!!
After saying my goodbyes to my new friends , head of in the general direction of Denmark, nice rural roads up the north west part of Germany
Cross the border into Denmark to the first spots of rain which were a precursor to the real deal
Hours and Hours of it !! on the motorway, decide that discretion is the better part, and hang in at a a safe distance behind a big tanker ( No posh abs or computer controlled stuff on the wee Alp ,caution Deffo required here !!!!!).
It does Go off eventually and the pulled pork burger and salted chips for dinner never tasted so good!!! God bless America (some of their imports are good.
Hirtsals at the top of Denmark tonight and the booking office for the ferry to. Norway is closed till. 6.30 pm ( funny hours they do work!!)
Joy ! No camping. Tonight !!!!! A motel with a nice room and hot and cold running fluffy duvets !!!!!
Ferry booked ( HOW MUCH!!!!!!!!! ) oh well in for a penny and all that
CHILL out n use the motel wifi to catch up with the real world!
Day 6 made FULL use of the motel brekkie ,saves all the camp faffing
Met a couple of lads in the motel car park one a German and one an Austrian in the motel ,these. Guys also heading on various ferries to. Norway an absolute cracking bonnie morning ( which has stayed all day and it's still warm and sunny as I am blathering on here at 9 pm
PS struck by how clean every thing is

Couple more pics (ye I pad seems to be on a go slow today)

The ferry que took an age to get done about 2 hours !!!!!! Colour line want to send some one over to Dover to see how it's done they would have had 4 ships out in the time this lot faffed around
Good sailing flat calm and just a bit over 3 hours the prices on the ferry are eye watering
No messing with customs and passport straight off and away!!!!
The low speed limits are going to take a bit of getting used to if i am going to keep a hold of my kroner supply!!!
Day 6. Found a fine wee camp site just a bit up the road and decided to finish early today ,still tired after almost the whole length of Denmark on the motorway in the rain yesterday.
Dinner done and am now having a wee sundowner to round of a very good day.

Day 7 what a day of contrast,s
Woke up to nice morning, too hot in the tent,! the flies/ midgies absolutely horrendous ,gave some insect repellent to 2 families last night that arrived late, but the insects drove them out quickly in the morning poor souls ,no packing here just heaved everything into anywhere in the cars ad off !
Rain again! This morning ( knew it was too good to be true)
Lunched in a nice wee wooden bus shelter gas station sandwich and coffee just the thing for a road trip!!!!!
The day goes from too hot in the morning to Arctic going over some mountains (people skiing )
Drop back down to sea level and find a good campsite for the night.
Met a few bikers ,one lad so busy checking out the scenery that he tips the brake on the corner and bins his ST sprint ( has it well gaffer taped by the time I meet him)
The scenery is so spectacular that I decide already I want to return with my old camper van to take more time for simply looking, decide to run a felt pen track on the map ( no high tech stuff here!) so that I can revisit
Pork steaks ,corn n a chock hazelnut dessert for dinner!!
Good day
Day 8
Big country this! The wee bit on the map that I had looked at last night which would go East and join the main E6 to go north ,well this wee link took nearly the whole day, to be fair I kept stopping to take pictures , how could you not stop!!!
Had morning coffee with a nice German couple that I had previously met on the road
Interesting to hear that we can easily come here to work after the European shenging (not the right spelling
) agreement . This couple have a standard of living by working in Norway that they say is impossible in Germany.
Really beautiful morning ,and the cross country road goes higher and higher until it's like riding in the winter Arctic (would NOT have wanted to beak down up there)
Talking of break down I managed to flatten the battery on the Transalp (Pratt !!!)
I forgot to switch off the ignition after coming to a halt and Putting the side stand down
The proprietor at the camp reception lent me a bit of rope so I could find a tow start from some one.
The first group of bikers I asked one of them triumphantly produced a set of jumper cables .and gleefully told his pal (SEE!! I told you so that they would come in handy one day) oh well at least I made someone's day.
Burnt onions and steaks for dinner tonight
Sky does not look too clever to me tonight (hope I am wrong!)
Have parked the bike at the top of the hill in the camp so I can bump start it in the
Morning if need be !
Day 9 (already !!!!!)
Good job I parked the bike on the top of the hill because it needed it to get going!
( I was going to feed it 3 cups of coffee usually works for me !!)
Anyhow it started on the downslope and I left it running while I packed up (could not have done that
With my big GSA 12 without cooking the engine what with it being air cooled )this wee Transalp is turning out to be something of a surprise . It whirs away all day like a wee turbine at these low speeds in Norway,you get the impression it could go on for ever, It did burn a tiny drop of oil after the first hard motorway run but not a drop since (engine has probably bedded out it has probably had never had a proper long run before as only had 2 k miles on it!!!! when i started out.
Hopefully going to cross the ARCTIC circle tomorrow which is just a bit north of
Mo I Ranna it seemed a long long way off when I was in Scotland (what am I saying it IS a long way off)
Nice camping place down by a fjord tonight not too many insects (so far)!!!!!!!
Pan fried salmon fillet tonight, dishes done and chilling with a beer (feckin sport bike howling in the distance disturbing the tranquility , nae wonder folks,s backs get up if I had to listen of that every evening I Would probably get anti bike quite quickly ,can't really blame folk!!!!)
Had a bit look at the map and a think about time, days, and distance tonight,
Still a long way to go to the top!!!!!!
Any time I see a Nordkapp sticker on a bike from now on RESPECT !!!!!! Would be well in order

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DAY 10
Misread the watch this morning ( Pratt!!!) only noticed AFTER I was up showered ,shaved and breakfasted!
On the road for 6.30 but it did not seem early as there was traffic on the road and it was broad daylight!
Managed up past the arctic circle today, which was interesting if not a bit unsettling as the place was well snowed around the edges and it was very cold, got me to thinking if it,s like this here ,I wonder what it will be like after another 2 full days basically going north (it,s June fr gaudsake!!!)
Any hoo just a few clicks down the road there's a sign which said "summit" highest point
So it was presumably just the altitude making the climate very harsh at that point!
That's really the first point on this trip that I have felt "a bit away from home"
Not helped by the sudden weather change to COLD and the fact that the fuel level
On the bikie was getting a bit thin with nought much in sight
Alls well that ends well found fuel and a nice wee cabin for the night ( makes a change from the Hilton hilliberg tent!!!
Had bought a couple of bits of steaks in the morning and cooked them up with some mustard and a bit of sweet corn , living like a wee king me!!!!
Having a room in the dry / warm has given me a chance to spread the map out properly for the first time in a while , 2 more full days to the top I recon!!!!!
DAY11
A right comfortable wee cabin that was right enough!! I was fair reluctant to leave it this morning
( probably also got to with the rain that's coming down in bucket fulls!)
Anyhoo on the road again (sounds a bit Willie Nelson that does !! )
Put my heated jacket on for the first time today ,and was very pleased I did so!
Going to put on my sealskins socks on tomorrow as my left foot was a bit damp
Scenery gets onto a seriously grand scale today ( in the odd breaks in the rain)
Did my first ferry crossing today ,which felt QUITE weird ,as in , the road just puts on a speed limit and stops at a wee port area /jetty
Get on ferry (quite a decent newish vessel) and am over in about 30 minutes .
Decided to take another wee cabin for the night because it's quite cold and it saves a bit of time and effort Putting the camping gear up and down.
Doing this deliberately just so I can get a wee bit extra chill time ,
Quite intense being "on the road with NO days off fatigue set,s in and I want to avoid that if possible
Depending on how the time looks ( and the weather) I will maybe take a day off some days on the way south.
For dinner tonight we have for sir,s delectation
Avocado,
Coleslaw
Fried fish.
Bike still running like a wee Swiss watch!!!!
Had another look at the map tonight WON,T make the top tomorrow either
What a country !!!!!!
Day 12
Very cold today even with the heated jacket at almost full up
Odd bits of rain but not too bad , the mountains are even more spectacular today
A few animals about on the road today but they keep of the carriageway
( need to get our Scottish sheep to take lessons from them !!!!!! )
The end point for today was the town of ALTA but I stopped just a bit short of it as I came across a
Camping called Alta Fjord an it looked just the thing ,turns out it is!!
I ask a man sitting beside the reception where the fresh water is and we fall into
Conversation , am invited to join him and the campsite owner for a beer.
Turns out they are great friends ,the chap is the retired chief of police for the whole Northern district.
He has some interesting views on foreign policy ( the British drama series heartbeat is a fave of his)
They invite me to join them to dine as the police chap has brought some fish with him to cook for his friend I thank them but decline as I had dinner already in hand ( some nice looking steaks) and
At the price of stuff here!!!!! I was not going to let it go to waste in spite of the fact the conversations would have been good !
Really cosy quiet wee cabin this one .
DAY 12
Hardest day so far with wind and rain ,ok as far as Alta but then turns very wet
And extremely blustery ,just keep it steady away and it gets done!
12 o'clock (lunch time came and went ) with no shelter any where to be found from the wind
And rain , so by 1.30 needed to stop n eat something, got the helmet off n hunkered down with my camping hat to keep the rain off
Started to make a brew, and for the first time ever the jetboil struggled to get going and stay going ,but I found
A technique by kneeling right down and keeping it in close ( a man needs to have his coffee at lunchtime!!!!)
Too wet n windy to sort out food properly so a couple of wee finger rolls dunked in the coffee
And a wee bag of nuts n dried fruit BRILLIANT lunch when ye are just needing it!
I see a a camping site just before the road turns steep to go up to the cape so I stop to reserve a wee cabin ,turns out they have no
wee cabins left so I have to shell for what they describe as a bungalow ( how much ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I only want it for a night ,I am not wanting to buy it!!!!!)
Plod on up to the Nordkapp for the obligatory photo opportunity, not exited or ought at getting here
As I have always seen it as a turning point on this road trip ,however the scenery on the way up and back is fairly spectacular in its self.

Went up had a bit look around the actual Nordkapp center and got the pics ( lucky the rain moderated then went off for the time I was actually up there.
It was serious windy on the way up and care had to be taken but I ended up overtaking a couple
Of German bikers as they were making very heavy going of it ( maybe they are not so accustomed to the wind as us West of Scotland Riders ) I felt a bit bad overtaking them and clearing of into the distance ,felt it made them look a bit incompetent, still the day was wearing on!
When I got back to the camping and picked up the key the bike would not start !!
Battery has packed in .
The chap on the reception has a bike and sounds very competent to me , he has offered to help get me sorted out , he has phoned a contact in Alta the big town about 4 hours south of here
It is now well past closing time for biz on a Saturday ,and tomorrow being Sunday it looks
Like I am stuck here till Monday earliest.
He has a friend who has a store with a large stock of batteries and they recon it is likely they will have one.
When I came through Alta on the way up nearly every street lamp and fixture had flags advertising
The rhythm n blues festival to be held in Alta this weekend and guess what !!!!!!!!the battery man is on the organising committee and is not able to check stock until tomorrow ( And that will be after the effects of the weekends partying at the festival wears off !!!!!!)
Anyhoo I decided to shell out and keep the cabin for Sunday also as it has been full on virtually since I left home and a chilling out day will be quite healthy methinks!
Dinner made dishes done
Feet up with a wee sundowner. Oh I forgot the sun does NOT go down up here
Ach well I am having one anyway CHEERS!

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DAY 13
First day off since leaving home ( enforced) because of the battery issue
The guy at the campsite BERNT has been an a treasure helping me like this!!! WAY
Above and beyond the call of duty!! upshot is there is supposed to be a battery sitting
Filled with acid and charged up back at Alta
Spent the day doing the washing and a few wee jobs on the bike
From not seeing a Brit since Germany the car park is now full!!! Of them A big group of motor-homers and caravanners
One of them has lent me a start pack to get the bike going ( very kind)
So all set for the off in the morning !!
EXEPT that it has snowed Awe well it was always going to be an adventure!!!!!
DAY 14
Well I got the bike to start with the borrowed starter pack ( thanks !!! nice lady that lent it to me) now starting my run back home ,South initially then I will have to think about ferries etc
The change to the landscape beggars belief !!!! With the whole place covered in snow
I simply cannot get my head around this IT,S JUNE !!!!!!
I guess we are not culturally set up for this !
Anyhoo I start off on the run south to Alta where the new battery is supposedly waiting for me
But I keep having to stop to take pictures the beauty in the landscape is simply breathtaking
I feel extremely privileged to be doing this , it's also a very unusual scene because they do not usually get snow this late in the year, every one I meet is talking about it and how this time last year they were enjoying 25 degrees C
I hope some of my pics are at least ,usable! I am conscious that I am NO photographer!
The down side of the day is the run down to Alta is being made with no heated gear switched on
Either jacket or heated grips because I do not want to overload the generator on the bike, as it will be doing more than enough trying to charge up a faulty and depleted battery without the added load of the heated gear
I am freezing in spite of the fact I have on nearly every stitch I possess (and there is no more room under the suit anyway
EDZ MERINO BASE layers
DAMART ARCTIC THERMALS
EDZ MICRO FLEECE
ROHAN SHIRT
GERBING JACKET
And I am still freezing!!!!
Eventually find the shop in Alta and as good as their words the battery is filled and is fully charged
I get it fitted and pay the chap the (eye watering !!!!!!!!! ) bill and get on my way.
Still have a job making progress as the scenery just demands picture taking!!
Have my first fuel crisis since leaving on this trip ,but I did not need to use the back up because a station appeared just in time!!!!!' Norway seems to have. Habit of coming up trumps just when you need it!!!
Fully fuelled up I am pushing on a bit later than normal because the only way it is going to get warmer / better is to go south!!! And the more distance I make the less chance I have of being stuck with weather
I eventually call it quits and drop in to a wee campsite and am instantly accosted by the proprietress ,which is ok , I ask if she maybe has a wee cabin for the night and she takes me at my word so I am currently in a wee custom built cabin which was clearly once part of the toilet and shower block and there is about enough room to swing a vertically challenged mouse!!
What a contrast to my abode for the previous 2 nights still mustn't,t complain it is cheap, clean and warm ,even If I am serenaded by the various campers bowel habits!!!!!! next door in the lav,s
Right time for a wee scotch and kip
Ps the folk have only bought the place last year and are definitely doing the best they can with what they have , the chap spent quite a long time talking with me describing their life's here, what I had not in ANY way appreciated was that the transport logistics change entirely in the winter ,it seems a great deal of the time here that you are margined in on roads that are hacked out of the rock BUT in the winter the fjord in front of the camp site freezes to about a meter thick and they just use them like big flat motorway with nothing on them, they snow mobile over to Finland from the campsite over the lake and mountains easily ( apparently ) they tell me they often snowmobile up into the mountains to lie and watch the northern lights. One of their great pleasures in life is that they can fish for salmon out of the back window of their caravan/cabin thing watching a float while sitting in the warm having coffee ( now THATS living) .
Right head down time.
DAY 15
Grimm is about the only accurate way to describe the riding today
It IS dry when I pack the bike this morning but as I turn out onto the road the rain comes on
So that,s the pattern set for the whole day ,it never lets up and it is really cold with it
At about lunch time I recognise a land mark road sign from the way up that shows an information type place ,I was in it on the run up and remembered that there was some covered seating area
So in I go to park under it , but discover a German biker guy has already parked his bike in it, no matter ,room enough for more ,he seems to me decent sort ,but he is seriously cold,( no heated jacket!!!!! ,I am having a bit of a brew and a " push past" lunch of coffee ,trail mix n chocolate because I can't be bothered cooking up , it's too cold
I share out what I am having with the German guy ,and we part company on good terms,( I pass him a lay by about 2 hours down the road waving his arms. Behind his back n stuff to warm up
I push on till about 5 ish then get fed up and find a camping sign off the main road
The road turns into a smaller road then , a track but there is still no sign of camping so I keep going .
Eventually find a campsite but there are no other campers ( don, t you just hate it when you are first at the party! )
Anyhoo the proprietor materialises and I ask him if he has a I wee camping cabin
He says he has " an apartment" would I like to see it?
Going from last nights wardrobe sized wee room this is the other extreme and is really too large and posh ( AND EXPENSIVE) for the likes of me on a 1 night stopover ,I ask him how much and then tell him it is too much for me on my own so he instantly chops 20% off and I agree to take it
Colour telly, and a bidet in the huge on suite , be all right for washing me feet then,,,,,,
Dinner of breaded veal steaks ( at least I think that,s what it was) rye bread ,and the ubiquitous sweet corn
Dinner sorted , get the map out for a wee look
Must be at least another whole day south before I am back at the arctic circle (well northern the Nordkapp !!!!!)
Anyhow I will not be late out of me kip tonight as I am beginning to feel generally fatigued now , maybe take a day of further south if the weather is good .

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DAY 16
Dry for packing the bike which was good
10 minutes on the road and the by now, usual rain!
However it is not too heavy as it starts them it goes off after about 2 /3 hours ,(time starts to lose the same meaning on the road !!
Any hoo I have definitely had worse days
No need to shop today as I bought extra meat the other day figuring that seeing as how it was cold enough for the olive oil to freeze the meat would be perfectly ok out in the top box
( seem to be proved right as I ain't died or ought overnight!) (written morning of next day)
Had a long stop today at road works and ,as I was near the front the traffic control roadie was chatting away ( in very good English) apparently they were doing stuff with tunnel emergency back up systems or something but for whatever reason the gas levels in the tunnel had risen and we simply had to wait ( all seem quite stoical these Norwegians , if this was in Italy it would have been a right carry on)
Went to stop at the same camp place as I did on the way of and the price for a wee hytter had gone from 450k. Up to 890k. I THINK NOT. And left pdq
Got another hour in and over the high plateau where the polar circle center is ! The run along the plateau is like another planet ,!!!!!!! It is desolate so I am quite glad to get it done and drop down the other side , seems warmer already.
Found a campsite and got a good wee basic hut which is perfectly adaequate for my needs feel
Quite homely .
I set to work
on the bike as this is the first time it has been dry /warm enough to touch it , strip out the Chain oiler that's not working to see if I can improve the situation dunno if the oil has thickened with the cold (note to mention that to any one that's going with a chain and. Is using an oiler to use very thin oil)
Also try to fix the wiring issue that's been intermittently failing to put power up to my I pad/ phone
All done, dinner on and crack a tinny. Been a good day!
Day 17
Nice dry morning for packing the bike but COLD,
So decide to stick with the full 6 layers
Get on road glad I was not fooled with a wee blink of early morning sun ,Crank the heated jacket up another notch!!!!!
Push on quite steady today to try and get some of the distance done as it's really too cold to chill out getting a rest at a campsite,
I am hoping it will warm a bit as I get south ( nice rainbow as I look out of this evenings lakeside cabin window) I was going to go back to camping when I dropped out of the polar circle line, but it is still very cold here, and the rain came down in buckets not long after I got in so I am quite pleased that I shelled for a nice wee lakeside hytter ,had a bit wander round in between the showers there is an old (ish) church at the back of the campsite with a graveyard all around it
Note that the stones are generally much smaller than at home.Still bucketing as I look out there appears to be good weather gear all around the campsite . One of the things which is striking in Norway is the amount of good weather leisure equipment all around the place so I am guessing that I have just hit a patch of inclement weather ,and that they do get quite decent summers usually otherwise there would be no point in all the leisure equipment littering the place awe well such is life!!
Stir fried chicken in mustard n spice with corn veg ( again!!!!!(I like corn))
Chill out n we will se what tomorrow brings
There is a couple from Holland just up the camp from me, and the battery on their car has packed too , must be the cold!!!!
Pushing on for Lillihammer tomorrow ,see how it goes as there is loads of road works ,must be a bit like Alaska where the window to do road works is quite a narrow time in the summer ( for laying new asphalt anyway)
Day 18
Dry to pack the bike , on the road guess what ,yep rain again!
On the upside it only rains for about 50% of the riding day!
Plodded on steady again today ,glad I decided to go back down the E 6 route (the way I went up)
Because it mostly looks quite different going south.
Gone back to one of the campsites I used on the way up quite decent place ( wee bit near the road for noise but I will put plugs in and won't hear it)
Nice Dutch couple camping next door tonight.
My skin was getting into an awful mess for some reason or another ( wonders about the shower gel?)
Anyhoo I bought a wee tube of 1% steroid ointment n that seems to be sorting it out ok
Doing the mapping for tomorrow , I do NOT want to go down around OSLO because it's all just urban motorway so I have spent quite a while twisting the arm of the wee zumo 660 to do what I want ,so it is going to be a full cross country route , ,probably add on another 5 hours or so , but there will be enough motorway to do without going looking for it!!!
Tea done! Skinless salmon fillets tonight, need to remember to shop a bit tomorrow or it will be a camping ready meal, I still have a fair few left as I have been keeping them incase I have to cook up in the tent porch ( I can use the the jet boil in there with a camping meal in the container but there is no way the msr petrol stove I usually do the evening meal on could possibly be used in there )
Think that's all me stuff done for today so I am off to crack a tinnie cheers!!!
Day 19
Been a good day!!!!!!!
Hardly rained at all just an odd spot, most of the day has been spent going more or less straight south, cross countrying
Been very good some of the scenery is jus staggering , I have NOT stopped all the time to take pics because I feel that the wee camera won't do it justice in any meaning full way ,
Bottom lime is I WANT to come back already , and I haven't even left yet .
The motorhome is the way to do this country , of that I have no doubt at all ( very probably why there are so many of them around!!! )
A guy passed me earlier on while I was just tooling along looking at the scenery
Much later in the day a bike appeared behind me on a long twisty section where there was nowhere to let anyone pass so rather than hold up the traffic ,I got up to full road speed n the bike behind started to drop back a bit so I eased off and rolled at a good steady pace .
Must have gone on like this for 40 /50 miles , eventually I stopped for fuel and the bike chap does the Same ,turns out to also be a Honda Transalp that he had just bought the day before .
Chap is from Kristiansand and had flown up to Trondhime to pick it up and this was him riding it home, NICE guy ,spent at least 40 mins gassing up the bike and gassing to him,
Passed him the details for the Honda xrv forum because he is clearly a Transalp enthusiast ( this is second one!! So he is away delighted with that!! ( He was telling me that he is an excavator operator and up in the north in the winter they have to have the engines running 24 hours a day because it's so cold that if they are stopped they simply won't start again!!!! now THATS cold!! )
Norway seems to be awash with campsites EXEPT today on the cross country run south there were very few in evidence, ( must be well off the beaten track here)
Eventually find a place BUT it is shut this weekend !!!!!
All is not lost because just as I am resigned to a bit of wild camping a place appears and is ideal downs by a nice lake too!'
Dinner done , had a wee yarn with a nice elderly couple behind in a Hymer camper van (they love the thing, must be a hymer owners thing!!!) got on myself YE see!
Going to have the last tiny wee drop of scotch that's left tonight then turn in !

DAY 20
Well what a night that turned out too
Be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was tired and turned in about 10.30 and was just falling over to sleep and was woken with this gaud awful shouting and noise, turned out to be a precursor of the evening with THE BAND
Now I like a bit of country and western as much as the next man but I could hardly hear myself think ,never mind sleep and that was with the earplugs in!!!!!!
They knocked off about the back of midnight but sleep had gone past by that time
There was no sign or any indication about a "do" to give the unsuspecting camper a chance to be be at another part of what was big site!
Cracking bonnie morning and am away early for the run south to Kristiansand
It seems like I have the whole country to myself!!!! ( turns out that the Scandinavians party big time at the summer solstice ( which of course what the band and the hoo ha was all about!!)
Any way back to the run south, I have to say that it was such a beautiful morning and having the country to my self, by the time I got down to route 41 along the lakes and rivers, it was as near to a religious experience as I have have ever come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Simply outstanding
All things come to an end and I end up back in the populated part of the country again and autoroute down to the port
Eventually manage to get my ,what was supposed to be a flexible ticket ( I thought ,cos I bought as such) revalidated, what a faff that was
Meet a German chap who is also now a Nordkapper and spend the entire crossing talking about our experiences on the trip and life in general ( sharp ,erudite family man who works as a salesman for a company that manufactures carbon composites). Nice guy!!! Mind you he told me he had NOT changed his socks since he left home !!!!!
Find the campsite at Hirtsals and get the dinner on ( entrecôte) nae less!!!!!
Nice young German couple camped along the way and the guy comes and offers me a beer from a brewery in His home town in the eastern part ,lovely people!
Nice sunset maybe a pic will come out!
DAY 21
Decide to have a proper look round the bike before setting out today as the plan is to run down to
Ijmouden in the Netherlands to get ferry to Newcastle
The gps says it is 990 kilometres , so the tyre,s need to be right and the oil, chain etc ,etc
That done I am off for 10.30
Do all but the last 250 In the one go today to get near the port as I cannot book the the ferry and then not be able to make it down on time,
I leave it until quite late in the day and it seems possible ,then my lovely wife Cath sorts it all out for me on the net ( handy having logistic support at home !!)
ALMOST out of fuel AGAIN!!!! Whenever I crank up this Transalp the tank just drains
( only 19.6L) so I seem to spend a lot of time in gas stations! (It's ok ,just different from having the big tank on my normal GSA1200 so it takes a bit of getting used to a smaller range bike)
Find a campsite on the gps ( how handy is that!!!)
Looking forward to going home now!!!!

Day22
Rained through the night again and it woke me about 5am ,but by the time I got out at about 7.30 there was no sign and the tent looked quite dry ,,,ODD !!!!! had a wee saunter around the campsite and environs last night it is very close to what is either a massive canal or river ,
There is a marina and restaurant attached and it also has a lot of custom laid out
motorhome parking
These Germans are really very organised people!!!
BUT there is no doubt in my mind that they are culturally different from us Brits
The German Nordkapp rider I was talking to on the ferry says (n get this !!!!! ) you need a licence to fish in Germany AND to get this licence you HAVE to attend a fishing school course (about 16 weekends) and then sit an EXAM with around 70 questions to answer ,chosen from a possible 1000 How Weird is that!!!!!
Anyhow IT,S ferry day so ,up and away in the morning (felt a right black git because it was shower morning and I did not do it!)
Quite a long wait for the ferry ,but it didn't,t matter as it was a right pleasant afternoon. Eventually get on and it suddenly sink,s in (no pun intended) that I am on the last leg of the trip , a wee sadness. However that only lasts a little while!
I was planning on having a good scrub and a full change of FRESH clothes on the ferry and jings Did that feel good!!!!!! I did not have to put a coin in or watch the time for getting washed off before the hot(or any )water runs out in spite of the fact I was keeping myself clean it still felt MEGA good
Dunno if it's the fact that I was having all clean clothes or the prospect of a nice dinner(and it sure was!!!!, bruschetta / braised lamb shank n a 1/2 bottle of Mouton Rothschild!!
Looking forward to being home now
Day 23
Good crossing ,slept quite well
Nearly first off ferry no delay on this trip !
Usual pattern to the day,, set out dry------rain comes on!!!!!! Quite normal now on the Norway Nordkapp road trip
Safely home.

CONCLUSIONS
:- The sealskiz waterproof socks saved a big problem ,had they not Been available my feet would
Have been wet for days and that would have been trouble. NEED waterproof socks
THE 2 camping stoves were a success , HOWEVER I carried much more gas for the jetboil than was needed
THE TUORO chain oiler was. Not very successful ,oil thickened and would not flow when it got cold
THE metzzler tourance tyres did the trip from the English Channel to Nordkapp and back to Holland ( ijmuden) for the Newcastle ferry
Don't forget the skin cream on next trip!,
The wee foot pump is rubbish something much better is needed
Better power socket
Forward panniers
Next camping trip pack a wee sponge for drying out the tent
Good trip well worth doing
See you on the road
SYMON

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Great trip ,nice people
Beautiful country
I will go back

Thanks Symon.

That's one trip I need to get done only thing I'd be driving all the way on the bike.. No fancy camper and trailer.

Fantastic report, really enjoyed reading that!!

thanks symon
enjoyed that very much

Cheers Boatman a reality trip Excellent enjoyed that a lot and gave me a wee want to go do it myself

freezin In June now theres something I hadn;t reckoned on

I think we'll be doing some research on whats what afore we go

columbus said:

Thanks Symon.

That's one trip I need to get done only thing I'd be driving all the way on the bike.. No fancy camper and trailer.

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I only took it on the trailer down to near Folkestone because I was needing iton the continent in late July .
After I crossed back on the Holland Newcastle to go home I had a week at home then
Wifie n me went on the GSA1200 with one of the tour groups out across Europe to Croatia n parts round there. When the tour finished back up at The Folkestone tunnel
We still had 3 weeks playing time left so we stuck the GSA on the trailer and went down to the Pyrnees for the remainder of the time
Got to be one of my best years ever
However back to the stuff in the bottom pic

Thanks folks, been overdoing it at me job n not feelin too great so I took a day off and had a wee look at my pics n thought it might cheer up a pissing Friday ( well it is here)
It,s sometimes difficult when you work for yourself, there,s good bits in that I was able to plan a big summer trip
But there is bad bits too , ain't no body else coming to do my work for me so ye tend to push on Maybe harder than you should some times to " get it done" and forget that you can't do at 55 what you could do at 35

Pics

More pics
Easy to forget how much mundane stuff ye need to do to get it all to happen

boatman said:

Thanks folks, been overdoing it at me job n not feelin too great so I took a day off and had a wee look at my pics n thought it might cheer up a pissing Friday ( well it is here)
It,s sometimes difficult when you work for yourself, there,s good bits in that I was able to plan a big summer trip
But there is bad bits too , ain't no body else coming to do my work for me so ye tend to push on Maybe harder than you should some times to " get it done" and forget that you can't do at 55 what you could do at 35

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Thanks Symon, great report and photos! Don't work too hard!

WHAT !!!!!

Beef jerky !!!!!!!!!!!