Denibus
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Tarina on englanniksi, koska osa lukijoista on englanninkielisiä. Kertokaa ihmeessä pidittekö tarinatyylistä. Suunnitelmissa viedä Snella ensi kesänä uudelle reissulle...
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18.7. Ok, all the bags are checked, everything is weighted (except me of course, being lady
and loaded. Just few things more to do, the last meal and then off to go! First step is to gain Iron Butt certification, 1000 miles in 24 hours. For my trained butt it's of course not a problem, but for Samuli and Oskari it can be a real challenge... well, it's time for them to do some excercises too Anyhow, next time I'll hopefully write in Nordkapp... thumbs up guys! I'll try to upload some photos as well.
Sorry guys, we have been in trouble finding an internet connection. However, now we are in Tromsø... but how we got here? Well, first things first, about the Iron Butt... I have to addmit, guys did pretty good job in the first 800km, but then Oskari tried to ride a bit of off road... Luckily enough, nothing serious happened, Oskari was pissed off of course but feeling ok and I didn't even lose a hair in my fur! but the bike... the steering wheel was wrenched, motor was leaking some oil and the gear pedal was a bit jammed... not to speak about all the scratches etc. However, guys managed to fix the bike in to a condition they were able to continue to the Rovaniemi, after doing some tests while driving. And atleast I learned something: new swears from Oskari, such as #¤!ø* and &#%!!*@.
..... In Rovaniemi they rechecked the bike, and as it seemed to hold together, those crazy guys decided to continue driving Iron Butt, even after losing a LOT of time...
..... One thing came clear for me during the trip: I have been wrong in a one thing. The most stupidous animal is not a dog (for some reason I've always been a cat person) but reindeer! They were just standing on the road no matter wheter there came a bike, motorbike, car, bus, truck or a giant. They just continued eating grass or something.
..... Finally, after around 24 hours, and only one hour of rain, we came to a Nordkapp region. But some bad luck continued, even if we had our required kilometers for Iron Butt we had some troubles finding a gas stationg to get the last receip. Finally we hit a road toll! Never been so happy to pay a toll! (with a time stamped on). But, the time was 5min over the 24h... oh no! Well, we did as well as we could (with the accident and everything) and hope that they understand the conditions in the association.
..... After some hazzles, we found a place to sleep too, namely minimotel and even with the Sun still up (1pm local!) it was easy to fall in sleep after staying up around 37 hours.
26.7. Fine, I have to admit, Norway just got a new nick name: A country with no public Internet connections! Anyway, were now in a Borås, Sweden and a lot has happend. Let's begin...
..... The day after Hitting Nordkapp started with a sunrise... since 00.00 of course. Time to find a place to fix Oskari's leaking, a bit wreched "not so nice to drive" bike. He went to a tourist information to ask about the nearest Suzuki service center, hoping that they would know at least remotely what a motorbike is. However, the girl in the information desk knew the answer directly, and as the nearest one was in a wrong direction, she just made a call for her friend and found one in Alta, only 240km south. So, few more kilometers hoping that the bike holds together.
..... As being sunday (20.7), nothing was abviously open in Alta, but we set up a tent in a camping site nearby to wait next morning. We also found out that Samuli's rear break pad was "expired", healthy...
Guys packed the tent 07.30 monday (21.7.) morning and headed straight to the Suzuki service. Being as lucky as one can be, Osku managed to get his bike to be checked 08.30 because the guy how originally had reserved the time didn't show up and the guy who operated the motorbike have owned similar before. Great! So after few hours, Osku got his bike fixed, and the steering wheel is now happily blue! We also met a Irish guy with a 600cc enduro Honda, looking for some spare parts, but he didn't seem to have a much luck there.
..... Samuli on the other hand wasn't that lucky, no break pads in Alta. The fastest option was to order them to Tromsö for Wednesday, 300+km more! So we hit the road driving on sunlight... In Tromsö the sky starts to seem darker and guys seem to get more and more pissed of as no place sells beer!
..... And as the sky promises rain, we try to get a cabin from a camping site... only grand super luxurious everything included plus mega cabins left, costing per night more than a hotel Kämp in Helsinki, no thanks. So we head to an another place 25km North hoping better luck. The road is almost as bad as no road making driving an unpleasent experience... and the reward: no reward, the last cabin was gone already! So heading back to an original campsite to find a place for a tent... except that Osku's gas was about to run out! So driving solid 70km/h (about the optimum efficiency) no matter the road condition we head back for the nearest gas station... and Osku founds out that he can drive without gas at all! Or atleast that's what the meter shows...
..... So we went back to the camping site, setting up a tent and were lucky enough to get some extra overpriced beer (about 8€ for a half a litre)!
Next morning (Tue 22.7.) we were full of rain and headed back to city centrum to find out whether there would be a decent priced INDOOR place to sleep... and... yes there is! Only 80 euros in a dorm in a christian bible school, although all the students were in a summer holiday. But moreover, the staff was really helpful and we ended up drying our clothes, tent and basically everything in a dorm. The shower was hot and nice and after feeding ourselves with a huge pot of noodles we decided to go to a nearest supermarket. Guys were of course looking for overpriced beer (cheapest one was about 3,5€ a can... IN A SUPERMARKET), but I managed to concince them it'd be a good idea to buy some food as well for a few next days. We also found a nice place in a central Tromsö, called Blue rock cafe.
On wednesday morning (23.7.) everything is washed, dried and packed, so were ready to... go? No, to Finally get the bikes in condition!
Around 14.00 it was time to go, finally! Weather was nice, only dropping slighly. So it was pretty pleasant to drive next 250km without problems. Right... it seems that we forgot to show any respect to a god of oil bult, because 50km after Narvik we lost it (the bult I mean) and all the oil dropped from Oskari's bike on the road causing the engine overheat! After several new words I learned from Oskari, it was time to solve the problem. We managed to get a tracktor oil bult that fitted somehow (still dropping oil) and Samuli get new oil from nearest gas station. After short consulting with Esa (Samuli's girlfriend's father) we started the enging again. It seemed to run ok, although it was not sure whether the engine was damaged.
..... Next we drove slovely to a Harley Davidson workshop in Ballangen, where after a hard bult tryout I managed find a proper one: A Harley Davidson spark plug! So now Oskari's bike had instead of a oil bult a spark plug
Lucky guys having me with them (see the pic, I'm all in oil and everything... what I wouldn't do for these guys). As the spare part is not designed to be a oil bult, we drove very slowly back to Narvik where nearest non Harley spare parts could be found. As being late and the garage closed we just headed to a camping site to have a good sleep after the day...
It's thursday (24.7.) and time to get a proper oil plug... too bad, nothing they have in Narvik doesn't seem to fit and even in the Suzuki service they don't have one (except in the bikes they sell of course). But the weirdest thing was, that in this Suzuki point the mechanic had a summer holiday, during the best motorbike driving season!!! Outside the Honda-Kawasaki garace we met the Irish guy (Andy) again, and while listening Oskari's engine sound his opinion was that it sounds as healthy as it can. Being traveling "quite" a lot and knowing the engines better than his own pockets we were happy to continue our journey to find a fitting oil bult. Next possible place was luckily only 250km south, called Fauske.
..... We found a house there with a sign "Parking for Suzuki motorbikes only, other will be toed", sounding a place we were looking for. After parking Samuli's bike safely outside the area, we call the owner, who promised to come soon to check the situation. However, we couldn't fix the bike there neither, as the possible places with spare parts were already closed, but also this guy said that the bike sounded ok and it'd be fine to keep going with the spark plug, possible all the way to Finland.
..... Of the south we went, until being too tired to continue. So we just set up our camp in a resting place somewhere near Snåsa.
Early cat licks the milk, so we just packed our stuff (on friday 25.7.) and headed to the Trondheim where it supposed to be sure to find a spare part. However, they didn't... but after consulting with the mechanic, he just advised to tie harder the spark plug and keep going... that's exactly what we did, finally feeling ok to keep going
..... AND... after 25km during a short stop to refill our gas tanks Samuli notices that his rear tire has a bad fabric day (so sip that the inside iron net could be seen). Time to find a new one then... It seems that these guys have some problem always!
..... In Melhus we find a place to have a new tire, and during the change we refill ourselves too, as next to the place there is a restaurant with decent food with decent prices (only slightly pricier than in Finland). Lasagne for me! And even better, in this remote place they had a (used) oil bult for Suzuki! After all those licenced Suzuki service points... But as the spark plug had done it's job well so far (even better than the original bult as it hasn't dropped yet), we decided to change the bult during the next service of the bike.
..... Rest of the day goes driving with small roads in the mountains until we hit the E3 and keep driving towards the Sweden. Around 150km before the border Oskari starts to have problems seeing wheter the road is going up or downwards and Samuli stays focused only when looking the back light of a truck, clear signs to stop to set up a camp again to a resting place!
New day (26.7.) and time to leave Norway behind. First thing is to find a place to have a shower, as being driving in boiling weather (fur is nice during the winter, but on summer I´d prefer shave it if I wouldn´t burn so easily) guys smells so bad that even mosquitos awoid them. After a short stop in a camping site there are just few kilometers to a small town called Eda in Sweden. We decide to travel south using small roads through the country side and late afternoon we hit a place like a small mansion or so near Vänersborg with the best coffee in 4500km (after Fiskars). Being refreshed we keep going, hoping to Find a place to sleep. Finally after dark we end up a place called Boras, where we set up our camp up, this time in a camping site
Oh, one thing I don´t like these guys is that they wake up so early every day! My fur needs daily attention to stay in a good shape... mrrr...
Anyway (27.7.), new morning, new early wake up and we should make a rendez-vous with our engine expert Esa (see above) and Arja in Värnamo. While waiting them there, we got exceptional good service in the city´s design hotel, where the girl on reception let us use the internet for free! After lunch we head again towards south to Denmark and Esa & Arja kept going back to Stockholm and Finland.
..... Rest of the sweden was quite boring, mainly because we just took E4 to Helsingborg (guys should really get a helmet for me, so it´d be easier to see around... not to talk about the safety!) and the ferry to Denmark.
..... In Denmark guys were pissed of about the turns and traffic lights that seemed to be everywhere (in the map the road was just straight) and Samuli got cold shivers in the spine after seeing a motorbike police... luckily made of paper (no, we´re never speeden, never).
..... One thing I like about the country, is all the windmills there
After maybe a zillion of them, we found ourselves in a camping site in Maribo, just before the sunset! There I found out a weird thing: In Denmark there is a law that if you use a public internet, your personal information is took up for a record used by police.
It´s monday (28.9.) and it´s time to have a new ferry ride! First things first, so guys got a map about Germany to find out promising routes. After driving several times into nowhere (this time they insisted to read the map, and this is the result...) we finally get to Lübeck, where an bee stings Oskari´s arm... biting teeth they keep going and after a while the pain starts to go away. Good boy, no need for tears here! Next step was to find a place to fix Oskari´s bike (brake pads, back tire, chains, chaingears, oil lamp, string, oil bult, oils... you name it!) After a while following wrong instructions, we found a place called Louis, with a good variety of different stuff for motorbikes... but no service! Luckily a guy named Udu helped us, showing a way to a Suzuki service about 30km outside Lübeck driving ahead with his own bike (I have to admit, sometimes it was hard to hang on the bike in Autobahn!)
..... Too bad, they didn´t have the tyre there, but were able to order it for next morning. So we decided to stay somewhere around and come back early morning. Easier said than done! No ok priced hotels nearby, so we head towards Razeburg with a comping area... again several turnarounds and everyting, guys finally let me look at the map. However, even if we now found the camping site, no cabins or apartments left and guys insisted to sleep inside for a change (mumbled something about a bed, hot shower, cold beer and stuff like that).
..... Luckily while bypassing Ratzeburg, Samuli notices a hotel, with free rooms! it was about a time, and we even got a room for three with a price of room for two! We drew a short stick for the shower and, of course, I got the shortest one... and you can be sure that these guys know how to stay under a hot water for a loooong time! But the best thing about the hotel was that they did laundry free of charge (I guess they would have deserved a big tip, because guys forgot to say the laundry of them should have been classified as "biohazard").
Second day in Germany (29.9.) and even earlier wake up, GRRRRR! However, after a short breakfast it´s time to head back to the Suzuki service center. Being a bit late, they challenge the German roads, winning perhaps a minute and a lot of great feeling.
..... Oskari said that it was just like in the army: You have to horry to wait... so the repair took about four and half hour, although the main mechanic Peter did pretty great job (and rode a short test drive... we were already wandering whether he´d ever return... ).
..... The guys spent the time planning trip ahead. Original plan was to go to somewhere mid-Germany to mountain routes, but as being already pretty late, they decided to stay in even more original (these guys have far too many plans...) plan to drive along the coast towards Poland.
..... Plan well done, until hitting a tremendous tourist area! Learning fast what word "belagt" (fully booked) meant, they tried to find a place to stay over night... after around 5 hours, 80 extra kilometers covered and sun setted ages ago they hit a closed camping site. There were a guy named Peter on the gate, writing something with a laptop. He gave us the best tip so far: to wait the night guard to show up and talk him over or if he doesn´t show up, just sneak in and solve the problem tomorrow when the reception is open. While waiting the night guards, Oskari sneaked in to find out where to put the tent up so it´d be easier to convince the guards to let us in as there actually is enough space. So with some German-English conversation (and Peter´s translations) we finally made in and started to put up our tent under the stars... with a common decision of no early wake up this time.
A new morning (how surprising!) came upon (30.7.)and time to settle things with the reception. After explaining who we are, how we got in and why our bikes are parked in “reserved” slots, they were cool about the situation and let us just pay and leave.
..... The day went easily cruising along the coast line just stopping for a lunch. No hazards or anything, just sweating in the sun shine. Today we decided to stop to the very next available place to stay overnight after five.
….. And 17.05 we found it! A pleasant looking camping site right next the sea in a shade of pines. After setting up the camp, we head to have some beer… and with food, some more… and after that some more… and in a local bar some more while talking with Robot (oh, and my nickname is android… you can say something as stupid as that only after having at least 5 beers)… and some more in a kite bar with German guys. Even I drunk too much and finally passed out… how embarrassing.
Ohhh… what a hang over I had (31.7.)!!! The guys seemed to tolerate the beer better and I was just able to watch how they packed everything. Well, finally they were handy and not just messing everything (like while reading maps). After a huge mug of black coffee and a poppy seed cake I started to finally feel ok.
….. Otherwise the day went easily, apart the problem guys wanted again to read the map: sometimes we got into a small “enough asphalt for one car only” roads, sometimes founding ourselves in “bikes only” roads and sometimes we lost road completely! However, even with these navigation problems we managed to travel towards the Polish border.
….. But today we once again had a troubled time to find a place to stay overnight. After around 10 hotels, half a dozen camping sites and several guest houses Oskari was ready to set up a camp into the forest near by. Luckily I managed to talk him over with Samuli to try the very last camping site. We went around the road block (some could think that it’s a sing the place is full, but for us it was just a way to keep customers in) and found a completely dark place next to a lake with a lot of tents and trailers. The owner must have heard our thoughts whether it is ok to camp here, as he came to ask if we are in a need of a tent place… No need to ask twice!
It’s August already (1.8.)!!! Now it was time to start the Eastern-Europe part of our tour. So after having a breakfast in a bakery we crossed the border. And guess what? No need to show passports or anything anymore, locals calling it a “Schengen-miracle”. Poland seemed to be… quite European at least in the beginning: Surprisingly many roads were in excellent condition. Surprisingly many also had “paid partly (25-87%) by European Union”. Money well spent however, I’d say. We soon found out that even if the roads were where the map said them to be, the colour code couldn’t be trusted. If map showed that we should be driving on a main road, it could still be covered with rocks instead of asphalt. And sometimes while passing a small willage, the country road passing it might be as wide as a highway.
….. The first stop in Poland (after refilling gas tanks and wondering which pistol is surely non-leaded one) was to taste local food: some grilled meet and sausages. Pretty good, I’d say. After a short lunch break we went to a city called Poznan where supposed to be a legendary four star camping site! Again, we hit some wrong turns, like a ski resort, but after all we managed to find the place. And nice it looked, plus the staff even spoke English. Well, Polish is not a problem for me of course, but the guys had to use their hands every time they had to talk with the locals. Although it worked pretty well, a lady in a gas station managed to give instructions to Oskari through the city for example.
….. So the guys took showers and drunk some beer while waiting me finally being able to make-up and set my fur correctly. The lady in the reception guided us to a nice Indian restaurant and after eating too much, we decided to check two places where might have some parties. The first showed some movies, so no thanks this time, but the second place seemed interesting: A Polish karaoke!!! What a perfect time to practice my Polish skills. Unfortunately guys level of language was only enough to laugh for the impossible sounding words…
After a nice breakfast (2.8., yes, in this camping site they offer it) we headed deeper to the Polish country, towards the Warsaw and beyond. The first part, before Warsaw, went pretty easy along a EU paid highway, and after that we started to use some smaller roads. Some in good condition some in “your bike should be off-road capable” condition. Most of the villages and small towns we bypassed there were weddings going on, and in we even got a police escort. Near border of Belarus, we stop in a town to sleep in an old Soviet style (and time) hotel, pleasant enough.
….. After having a pizza in a local restaurant (we just hoped to order something good as Polish menu was quite challenging, even for me…) we find a club to visit. As there are no people yet inside, we ask the doorman another place. Being delighted about foreign visitors, they gave us a ride to a club where music is poorer but a lot of people. We stayed there a while just dancing and wondering the local party style (and drunk some beer, of course).
….. On our way back to the hotel, we decided to visit the first place again, now having more people in. While leaving in early hours, we start to leave finally back to hotel. The doorman however thinks we should be driven back to the hotel even if the distance is short as the area is quite dangerous, or so they say. Short discussion and we managed to convince them we will be ok, but they anyway insist us to take a pepper spray with us just in case and wanted us to send an email so they could be sure we managed to get to the hotel alive… how sweet… but I’m sure two guys is an escort enough for me… well, from this on, we had the spray in our tank bag, just in case…
This time I felt a bit better on a morning (3.8.) as being drinking less I am fine to have a good breakfast in a hotel with scrambled eggs and stuff (not a good thing for my fit, but sometimes something a girl needs). We headed to the border of Belarus to check a famous national park Bialowieza. Too bad, we didn’t have time to look it closer as the time was running out, but it seemed to fabulous!
….. Next few hours we just drove up north, planning to visit in a place map stated as an “abandoned settlement”. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to find any, my guess is that they were resettled… but after some poor navigation (again, again…) we found ourselves in a dirty road heading to a farmland… and while trying to turn around, Oskari broke his clutch! Soon the diagnostic is ready: it was not possible to fix it, so we needed a spear part somewhere. Samuli drove a farm where he had seen some motorbikes to ask some, and the guy there gave him some used ones that might fit (after some hand signs and showing the broken one). Some more fixing, bypassing some electric measures and Oskari was ready to continue… with a clutch from a moped! Haha… well, things do happen.
….. Rest of the day went fine and we headed straight to the Kaunas in Lithuania to find a hotel there. After setting down, we try to find out a place to eat. We found out that it wasn’t that easy and end up to have the most expensive one so far: to have a cab to a McDonald’s and back to the hotel… well, sometimes it ends like this…
Mmm… new morning (4.8.) and a time to find a place to fix Oskari’s bike… After being frustrated about the Kaunas traffic arrangements (you simply can’t turn left… not because it would be dangerous or something, just simply because it was against the rules… well, after hitting our bikes few too many times “turn only right” signs, we decided to follow locals and just drive left even against the rules), weird roads (only way to find a right one was to go through someone’s backyard) and traffic circles (where the one who is in the circle have to give road to those who are coming in) we finally found the right place. They didn’t have a right spare part in the shop, but luckily the mechanic (a guy from Netherlands) gave one from his own bike so we were able to keep going according our plans towards North and Latvia.
….. Some people say that the traffic culture in the Via Baltic is horrible. For our opinion, the opposite is true: if you are faster, virtually everyone gives room for you to bypass and they expect you to do the same. Of course some people take this as a liberty to bypass anything at anytime, so be ready for surprises! For us this meant that we managed to navigate our way pretty smoothly only stopping for a “light” (Latvian hot starter seems to mean a full meal) lunch in a some small town before crossing the border to Estonia.
….. In Pärnu, Estonia, we found a place to sleep in the guesthouse of Alexandrj Pub, a place that welcomes motorist, an issue you can see from the place itself (guarded inner yard with a place for motorbikes), from the details (pictures about bikes, posters about bike movies and even real bikes here and there) and from the customers (only a real biker can sleep under stairs...). Otherwise the town was quite nice, and we even found a place to smoke water pipe (sisha, nargile, hookah). My first time, but guys were nice to advice how to use the thing. Only the (stormy) wind was bothering, and every now and then guys had to hold me not to fly away (I really should gain some weight I guess).
Last day (5.8.) of our trip, buhuu… Just a bit over 100km to the Tallin, and that’s it. Well, not sad enough, it also rained so much I felt I’d be in a shower. Seriously, I promise, I saw some fishes swimming in the rain! Well, after around two not so enjoyable but definitely wet hours we hit the Talling Harbour to buy some tickets for the ferry. Only after then guys began the most challenging and grey hair affecting part of the trip: they had to find some souvenirs for their girlfriends! Of course, guys could have been as wise as I was and buy all of them along the road, instead of complaining that “there was nothing interesting along the road” or “we didn’t stop any big place to find good souvenirs”. Well, after going through all the shops at least twice (ok, now I’m telling a big fish, they went to the cigar shop only once) they managed to find some pretty good ones (no, they bought the cigars just for themselves) although as being a girl I know we always have to complain a bit so there is a change they bring something even better next time!
….. The last 100km From Helsinki to Karjaa went easily and smoothly and we even stayed dry (luckily the forecasts in Estonia seem to be poor…). End of this story this time, but I believe there will be more trips ahead with guys to write about! Thanks for all of you who have found some time to read this all and sorry for the delay of the travel diary. Next time there will be a laptop for (almost) real time updates.
Alla teksti kesän reissustamme. Alunperin päivitimme kertomusta Facebookiin kuvien kera matkan aikana, ja kirjoitimme tarian mukana kulkevan pehmolelun näkökulmasta huumorimielessä. Tapahtumat ovat kuitenkin täysin tosia. Juttu löytyy myös Facebookin ryhmästä "Travel with Snella" ja jos ette ole Facebookissa, niin osa kuvista löytyy osoitteesta
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45724891@N00/sets/72157606313288124/
Tarina on englanniksi, koska osa lukijoista on englanninkielisiä. Kertokaa ihmeessä pidittekö tarinatyylistä. Suunnitelmissa viedä Snella ensi kesänä uudelle reissulle...
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18.7. Ok, all the bags are checked, everything is weighted (except me of course, being lady
and loaded. Just few things more to do, the last meal and then off to go! First step is to gain Iron Butt certification, 1000 miles in 24 hours. For my trained butt it's of course not a problem, but for Samuli and Oskari it can be a real challenge... well, it's time for them to do some excercises too Anyhow, next time I'll hopefully write in Nordkapp... thumbs up guys! I'll try to upload some photos as well.Sorry guys, we have been in trouble finding an internet connection. However, now we are in Tromsø... but how we got here? Well, first things first, about the Iron Butt... I have to addmit, guys did pretty good job in the first 800km, but then Oskari tried to ride a bit of off road... Luckily enough, nothing serious happened, Oskari was pissed off of course but feeling ok and I didn't even lose a hair in my fur! but the bike... the steering wheel was wrenched, motor was leaking some oil and the gear pedal was a bit jammed... not to speak about all the scratches etc. However, guys managed to fix the bike in to a condition they were able to continue to the Rovaniemi, after doing some tests while driving. And atleast I learned something: new swears from Oskari, such as #¤!ø* and &#%!!*@.
..... In Rovaniemi they rechecked the bike, and as it seemed to hold together, those crazy guys decided to continue driving Iron Butt, even after losing a LOT of time...
..... One thing came clear for me during the trip: I have been wrong in a one thing. The most stupidous animal is not a dog (for some reason I've always been a cat person) but reindeer! They were just standing on the road no matter wheter there came a bike, motorbike, car, bus, truck or a giant. They just continued eating grass or something.
..... Finally, after around 24 hours, and only one hour of rain, we came to a Nordkapp region. But some bad luck continued, even if we had our required kilometers for Iron Butt we had some troubles finding a gas stationg to get the last receip. Finally we hit a road toll! Never been so happy to pay a toll! (with a time stamped on). But, the time was 5min over the 24h... oh no! Well, we did as well as we could (with the accident and everything) and hope that they understand the conditions in the association.
..... After some hazzles, we found a place to sleep too, namely minimotel and even with the Sun still up (1pm local!) it was easy to fall in sleep after staying up around 37 hours.
26.7. Fine, I have to admit, Norway just got a new nick name: A country with no public Internet connections! Anyway, were now in a Borås, Sweden and a lot has happend. Let's begin...
..... The day after Hitting Nordkapp started with a sunrise... since 00.00 of course. Time to find a place to fix Oskari's leaking, a bit wreched "not so nice to drive" bike. He went to a tourist information to ask about the nearest Suzuki service center, hoping that they would know at least remotely what a motorbike is. However, the girl in the information desk knew the answer directly, and as the nearest one was in a wrong direction, she just made a call for her friend and found one in Alta, only 240km south. So, few more kilometers hoping that the bike holds together.
..... As being sunday (20.7), nothing was abviously open in Alta, but we set up a tent in a camping site nearby to wait next morning. We also found out that Samuli's rear break pad was "expired", healthy...
Guys packed the tent 07.30 monday (21.7.) morning and headed straight to the Suzuki service. Being as lucky as one can be, Osku managed to get his bike to be checked 08.30 because the guy how originally had reserved the time didn't show up and the guy who operated the motorbike have owned similar before. Great! So after few hours, Osku got his bike fixed, and the steering wheel is now happily blue! We also met a Irish guy with a 600cc enduro Honda, looking for some spare parts, but he didn't seem to have a much luck there.
..... Samuli on the other hand wasn't that lucky, no break pads in Alta. The fastest option was to order them to Tromsö for Wednesday, 300+km more! So we hit the road driving on sunlight... In Tromsö the sky starts to seem darker and guys seem to get more and more pissed of as no place sells beer!
..... And as the sky promises rain, we try to get a cabin from a camping site... only grand super luxurious everything included plus mega cabins left, costing per night more than a hotel Kämp in Helsinki, no thanks. So we head to an another place 25km North hoping better luck. The road is almost as bad as no road making driving an unpleasent experience... and the reward: no reward, the last cabin was gone already! So heading back to an original campsite to find a place for a tent... except that Osku's gas was about to run out! So driving solid 70km/h (about the optimum efficiency) no matter the road condition we head back for the nearest gas station... and Osku founds out that he can drive without gas at all! Or atleast that's what the meter shows...
..... So we went back to the camping site, setting up a tent and were lucky enough to get some extra overpriced beer (about 8€ for a half a litre)!
Next morning (Tue 22.7.) we were full of rain and headed back to city centrum to find out whether there would be a decent priced INDOOR place to sleep... and... yes there is! Only 80 euros in a dorm in a christian bible school, although all the students were in a summer holiday. But moreover, the staff was really helpful and we ended up drying our clothes, tent and basically everything in a dorm. The shower was hot and nice and after feeding ourselves with a huge pot of noodles we decided to go to a nearest supermarket. Guys were of course looking for overpriced beer (cheapest one was about 3,5€ a can... IN A SUPERMARKET), but I managed to concince them it'd be a good idea to buy some food as well for a few next days. We also found a nice place in a central Tromsö, called Blue rock cafe.
On wednesday morning (23.7.) everything is washed, dried and packed, so were ready to... go? No, to Finally get the bikes in condition!
..... Next we drove slovely to a Harley Davidson workshop in Ballangen, where after a hard bult tryout I managed find a proper one: A Harley Davidson spark plug! So now Oskari's bike had instead of a oil bult a spark plug
It's thursday (24.7.) and time to get a proper oil plug... too bad, nothing they have in Narvik doesn't seem to fit and even in the Suzuki service they don't have one (except in the bikes they sell of course). But the weirdest thing was, that in this Suzuki point the mechanic had a summer holiday, during the best motorbike driving season!!! Outside the Honda-Kawasaki garace we met the Irish guy (Andy) again, and while listening Oskari's engine sound his opinion was that it sounds as healthy as it can. Being traveling "quite" a lot and knowing the engines better than his own pockets we were happy to continue our journey to find a fitting oil bult. Next possible place was luckily only 250km south, called Fauske.
..... We found a house there with a sign "Parking for Suzuki motorbikes only, other will be toed", sounding a place we were looking for. After parking Samuli's bike safely outside the area, we call the owner, who promised to come soon to check the situation. However, we couldn't fix the bike there neither, as the possible places with spare parts were already closed, but also this guy said that the bike sounded ok and it'd be fine to keep going with the spark plug, possible all the way to Finland.
..... Of the south we went, until being too tired to continue. So we just set up our camp in a resting place somewhere near Snåsa.
Early cat licks the milk, so we just packed our stuff (on friday 25.7.) and headed to the Trondheim where it supposed to be sure to find a spare part. However, they didn't... but after consulting with the mechanic, he just advised to tie harder the spark plug and keep going... that's exactly what we did, finally feeling ok to keep going
..... AND... after 25km during a short stop to refill our gas tanks Samuli notices that his rear tire has a bad fabric day (so sip that the inside iron net could be seen). Time to find a new one then... It seems that these guys have some problem always!
..... In Melhus we find a place to have a new tire, and during the change we refill ourselves too, as next to the place there is a restaurant with decent food with decent prices (only slightly pricier than in Finland). Lasagne for me! And even better, in this remote place they had a (used) oil bult for Suzuki! After all those licenced Suzuki service points... But as the spark plug had done it's job well so far (even better than the original bult as it hasn't dropped yet), we decided to change the bult during the next service of the bike.
..... Rest of the day goes driving with small roads in the mountains until we hit the E3 and keep driving towards the Sweden. Around 150km before the border Oskari starts to have problems seeing wheter the road is going up or downwards and Samuli stays focused only when looking the back light of a truck, clear signs to stop to set up a camp again to a resting place!
New day (26.7.) and time to leave Norway behind. First thing is to find a place to have a shower, as being driving in boiling weather (fur is nice during the winter, but on summer I´d prefer shave it if I wouldn´t burn so easily) guys smells so bad that even mosquitos awoid them. After a short stop in a camping site there are just few kilometers to a small town called Eda in Sweden. We decide to travel south using small roads through the country side and late afternoon we hit a place like a small mansion or so near Vänersborg with the best coffee in 4500km (after Fiskars). Being refreshed we keep going, hoping to Find a place to sleep. Finally after dark we end up a place called Boras, where we set up our camp up, this time in a camping site
Oh, one thing I don´t like these guys is that they wake up so early every day! My fur needs daily attention to stay in a good shape... mrrr...
Anyway (27.7.), new morning, new early wake up and we should make a rendez-vous with our engine expert Esa (see above) and Arja in Värnamo. While waiting them there, we got exceptional good service in the city´s design hotel, where the girl on reception let us use the internet for free! After lunch we head again towards south to Denmark and Esa & Arja kept going back to Stockholm and Finland.
..... Rest of the sweden was quite boring, mainly because we just took E4 to Helsingborg (guys should really get a helmet for me, so it´d be easier to see around... not to talk about the safety!) and the ferry to Denmark.
..... In Denmark guys were pissed of about the turns and traffic lights that seemed to be everywhere (in the map the road was just straight) and Samuli got cold shivers in the spine after seeing a motorbike police... luckily made of paper (no, we´re never speeden, never).
..... One thing I like about the country, is all the windmills there
It´s monday (28.9.) and it´s time to have a new ferry ride! First things first, so guys got a map about Germany to find out promising routes. After driving several times into nowhere (this time they insisted to read the map, and this is the result...) we finally get to Lübeck, where an bee stings Oskari´s arm... biting teeth they keep going and after a while the pain starts to go away. Good boy, no need for tears here! Next step was to find a place to fix Oskari´s bike (brake pads, back tire, chains, chaingears, oil lamp, string, oil bult, oils... you name it!) After a while following wrong instructions, we found a place called Louis, with a good variety of different stuff for motorbikes... but no service! Luckily a guy named Udu helped us, showing a way to a Suzuki service about 30km outside Lübeck driving ahead with his own bike (I have to admit, sometimes it was hard to hang on the bike in Autobahn!)
..... Too bad, they didn´t have the tyre there, but were able to order it for next morning. So we decided to stay somewhere around and come back early morning. Easier said than done! No ok priced hotels nearby, so we head towards Razeburg with a comping area... again several turnarounds and everyting, guys finally let me look at the map. However, even if we now found the camping site, no cabins or apartments left and guys insisted to sleep inside for a change (mumbled something about a bed, hot shower, cold beer and stuff like that).
..... Luckily while bypassing Ratzeburg, Samuli notices a hotel, with free rooms! it was about a time, and we even got a room for three with a price of room for two! We drew a short stick for the shower and, of course, I got the shortest one... and you can be sure that these guys know how to stay under a hot water for a loooong time! But the best thing about the hotel was that they did laundry free of charge (I guess they would have deserved a big tip, because guys forgot to say the laundry of them should have been classified as "biohazard").
Second day in Germany (29.9.) and even earlier wake up, GRRRRR! However, after a short breakfast it´s time to head back to the Suzuki service center. Being a bit late, they challenge the German roads, winning perhaps a minute and a lot of great feeling.
..... Oskari said that it was just like in the army: You have to horry to wait... so the repair took about four and half hour, although the main mechanic Peter did pretty great job (and rode a short test drive... we were already wandering whether he´d ever return...
)...... The guys spent the time planning trip ahead. Original plan was to go to somewhere mid-Germany to mountain routes, but as being already pretty late, they decided to stay in even more original (these guys have far too many plans...) plan to drive along the coast towards Poland.
..... Plan well done, until hitting a tremendous tourist area! Learning fast what word "belagt" (fully booked) meant, they tried to find a place to stay over night... after around 5 hours, 80 extra kilometers covered and sun setted ages ago they hit a closed camping site. There were a guy named Peter on the gate, writing something with a laptop. He gave us the best tip so far: to wait the night guard to show up and talk him over or if he doesn´t show up, just sneak in and solve the problem tomorrow when the reception is open. While waiting the night guards, Oskari sneaked in to find out where to put the tent up so it´d be easier to convince the guards to let us in as there actually is enough space. So with some German-English conversation (and Peter´s translations) we finally made in and started to put up our tent under the stars... with a common decision of no early wake up this time.
A new morning (how surprising!) came upon (30.7.)and time to settle things with the reception. After explaining who we are, how we got in and why our bikes are parked in “reserved” slots, they were cool about the situation and let us just pay and leave.
..... The day went easily cruising along the coast line just stopping for a lunch. No hazards or anything, just sweating in the sun shine. Today we decided to stop to the very next available place to stay overnight after five.
….. And 17.05 we found it! A pleasant looking camping site right next the sea in a shade of pines. After setting up the camp, we head to have some beer… and with food, some more… and after that some more… and in a local bar some more while talking with Robot (oh, and my nickname is android… you can say something as stupid as that only after having at least 5 beers)… and some more in a kite bar with German guys. Even I drunk too much and finally passed out… how embarrassing.
Ohhh… what a hang over I had (31.7.)!!! The guys seemed to tolerate the beer better and I was just able to watch how they packed everything. Well, finally they were handy and not just messing everything (like while reading maps). After a huge mug of black coffee and a poppy seed cake I started to finally feel ok.
….. Otherwise the day went easily, apart the problem guys wanted again to read the map: sometimes we got into a small “enough asphalt for one car only” roads, sometimes founding ourselves in “bikes only” roads and sometimes we lost road completely! However, even with these navigation problems we managed to travel towards the Polish border.
….. But today we once again had a troubled time to find a place to stay overnight. After around 10 hotels, half a dozen camping sites and several guest houses Oskari was ready to set up a camp into the forest near by. Luckily I managed to talk him over with Samuli to try the very last camping site. We went around the road block (some could think that it’s a sing the place is full, but for us it was just a way to keep customers in) and found a completely dark place next to a lake with a lot of tents and trailers. The owner must have heard our thoughts whether it is ok to camp here, as he came to ask if we are in a need of a tent place… No need to ask twice!
It’s August already (1.8.)!!! Now it was time to start the Eastern-Europe part of our tour. So after having a breakfast in a bakery we crossed the border. And guess what? No need to show passports or anything anymore, locals calling it a “Schengen-miracle”. Poland seemed to be… quite European at least in the beginning: Surprisingly many roads were in excellent condition. Surprisingly many also had “paid partly (25-87%) by European Union”. Money well spent however, I’d say. We soon found out that even if the roads were where the map said them to be, the colour code couldn’t be trusted. If map showed that we should be driving on a main road, it could still be covered with rocks instead of asphalt. And sometimes while passing a small willage, the country road passing it might be as wide as a highway.
….. The first stop in Poland (after refilling gas tanks and wondering which pistol is surely non-leaded one) was to taste local food: some grilled meet and sausages. Pretty good, I’d say. After a short lunch break we went to a city called Poznan where supposed to be a legendary four star camping site! Again, we hit some wrong turns, like a ski resort, but after all we managed to find the place. And nice it looked, plus the staff even spoke English. Well, Polish is not a problem for me of course, but the guys had to use their hands every time they had to talk with the locals. Although it worked pretty well, a lady in a gas station managed to give instructions to Oskari through the city for example.
….. So the guys took showers and drunk some beer while waiting me finally being able to make-up and set my fur correctly. The lady in the reception guided us to a nice Indian restaurant and after eating too much, we decided to check two places where might have some parties. The first showed some movies, so no thanks this time, but the second place seemed interesting: A Polish karaoke!!! What a perfect time to practice my Polish skills. Unfortunately guys level of language was only enough to laugh for the impossible sounding words…
After a nice breakfast (2.8., yes, in this camping site they offer it) we headed deeper to the Polish country, towards the Warsaw and beyond. The first part, before Warsaw, went pretty easy along a EU paid highway, and after that we started to use some smaller roads. Some in good condition some in “your bike should be off-road capable” condition. Most of the villages and small towns we bypassed there were weddings going on, and in we even got a police escort. Near border of Belarus, we stop in a town to sleep in an old Soviet style (and time) hotel, pleasant enough.
….. After having a pizza in a local restaurant (we just hoped to order something good as Polish menu was quite challenging, even for me…) we find a club to visit. As there are no people yet inside, we ask the doorman another place. Being delighted about foreign visitors, they gave us a ride to a club where music is poorer but a lot of people. We stayed there a while just dancing and wondering the local party style (and drunk some beer, of course).
….. On our way back to the hotel, we decided to visit the first place again, now having more people in. While leaving in early hours, we start to leave finally back to hotel. The doorman however thinks we should be driven back to the hotel even if the distance is short as the area is quite dangerous, or so they say. Short discussion and we managed to convince them we will be ok, but they anyway insist us to take a pepper spray with us just in case and wanted us to send an email so they could be sure we managed to get to the hotel alive… how sweet… but I’m sure two guys is an escort enough for me… well, from this on, we had the spray in our tank bag, just in case…
This time I felt a bit better on a morning (3.8.) as being drinking less I am fine to have a good breakfast in a hotel with scrambled eggs and stuff (not a good thing for my fit, but sometimes something a girl needs). We headed to the border of Belarus to check a famous national park Bialowieza. Too bad, we didn’t have time to look it closer as the time was running out, but it seemed to fabulous!
….. Next few hours we just drove up north, planning to visit in a place map stated as an “abandoned settlement”. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to find any, my guess is that they were resettled… but after some poor navigation (again, again…) we found ourselves in a dirty road heading to a farmland… and while trying to turn around, Oskari broke his clutch! Soon the diagnostic is ready: it was not possible to fix it, so we needed a spear part somewhere. Samuli drove a farm where he had seen some motorbikes to ask some, and the guy there gave him some used ones that might fit (after some hand signs and showing the broken one). Some more fixing, bypassing some electric measures and Oskari was ready to continue… with a clutch from a moped! Haha… well, things do happen.
….. Rest of the day went fine and we headed straight to the Kaunas in Lithuania to find a hotel there. After setting down, we try to find out a place to eat. We found out that it wasn’t that easy and end up to have the most expensive one so far: to have a cab to a McDonald’s and back to the hotel… well, sometimes it ends like this…
Mmm… new morning (4.8.) and a time to find a place to fix Oskari’s bike… After being frustrated about the Kaunas traffic arrangements (you simply can’t turn left… not because it would be dangerous or something, just simply because it was against the rules… well, after hitting our bikes few too many times “turn only right” signs, we decided to follow locals and just drive left even against the rules), weird roads (only way to find a right one was to go through someone’s backyard) and traffic circles (where the one who is in the circle have to give road to those who are coming in) we finally found the right place. They didn’t have a right spare part in the shop, but luckily the mechanic (a guy from Netherlands) gave one from his own bike so we were able to keep going according our plans towards North and Latvia.
….. Some people say that the traffic culture in the Via Baltic is horrible. For our opinion, the opposite is true: if you are faster, virtually everyone gives room for you to bypass and they expect you to do the same. Of course some people take this as a liberty to bypass anything at anytime, so be ready for surprises! For us this meant that we managed to navigate our way pretty smoothly only stopping for a “light” (Latvian hot starter seems to mean a full meal) lunch in a some small town before crossing the border to Estonia.
….. In Pärnu, Estonia, we found a place to sleep in the guesthouse of Alexandrj Pub, a place that welcomes motorist, an issue you can see from the place itself (guarded inner yard with a place for motorbikes), from the details (pictures about bikes, posters about bike movies and even real bikes here and there) and from the customers (only a real biker can sleep under stairs...). Otherwise the town was quite nice, and we even found a place to smoke water pipe (sisha, nargile, hookah). My first time, but guys were nice to advice how to use the thing. Only the (stormy) wind was bothering, and every now and then guys had to hold me not to fly away (I really should gain some weight I guess).
Last day (5.8.) of our trip, buhuu… Just a bit over 100km to the Tallin, and that’s it. Well, not sad enough, it also rained so much I felt I’d be in a shower. Seriously, I promise, I saw some fishes swimming in the rain! Well, after around two not so enjoyable but definitely wet hours we hit the Talling Harbour to buy some tickets for the ferry. Only after then guys began the most challenging and grey hair affecting part of the trip: they had to find some souvenirs for their girlfriends! Of course, guys could have been as wise as I was and buy all of them along the road, instead of complaining that “there was nothing interesting along the road” or “we didn’t stop any big place to find good souvenirs”. Well, after going through all the shops at least twice (ok, now I’m telling a big fish, they went to the cigar shop only once) they managed to find some pretty good ones (no, they bought the cigars just for themselves) although as being a girl I know we always have to complain a bit so there is a change they bring something even better next time!
….. The last 100km From Helsinki to Karjaa went easily and smoothly and we even stayed dry (luckily the forecasts in Estonia seem to be poor…). End of this story this time, but I believe there will be more trips ahead with guys to write about! Thanks for all of you who have found some time to read this all and sorry for the delay of the travel diary. Next time there will be a laptop for (almost) real time updates.