My name is Dave and along with my wife Jackie, we recently toured the Baltic. We're both in our late 40's and both love motorbikes, travel and gundogs (& food!)
The bikes - I ride a 2004 KTM adventure (known as Katy Em) & Jac rides a 2005 Aprilia Pegaso Trail (known as Peg).
The original plan was to ride round the Countries of the Baltic Sea. Once we took into account, time, distance, money, hassle, Norway will be done as a separate holiday, and as we only planned to visit St. Petersburg for a day (on good advice), cancelled the visa applications for Russia. Jackie is from a Jewish family whose origins are in Lithuania and Latvia, so a visit to these countries would be particularly poignant.
We didn't want to be riding all day, every day, so gradually an itenary took shape. The following is a brief journal of our travels.
Day 1 - Leigh-on-Sea to Eindhoven.
First day of "Cirque de Baltic". After some idiot decided to crash into Harwich quayside, our plans had to be modified somewhat. So, we find ourselves departing for Dover to Calais a day earlier than anticipated. Mad rush the week before getting everything done, but blissfully now 21 days off – happy days!
The joys of DFDS ferries – certainly not in P & O class. Onboard, there was the family from hell – if you know the film "snatch", you get the idea - "daaags".
Blatted through France & Belgium - horrendous traffic jam in Antwerp – time to apply London riding skills – quite pleased with myself, even with panniers. Once clear, 30 mins to Eindhoven. Lovely campsite, very chilled. Had a gourmet meal of rice & fish with a bottle of old Rosie & a fresh bowl of salad given to us by two other campers (they'd prepared too much) - result. Ready for some kip now. Long day tomorrow - target is get to Bremen or Hamburg (depending how the day go’s).
Loving it!
260 miles
Enjoying the Helinox chairs!
Day 2 - Eindhoven to Hamburg.
First night on the new self-inflating mattress - lovely nights sleep, no deflation - bye, bye airbeds! Fresh coffee and some porridge - yum.
Set off 11.30, quick trip to local bike superstore (our friend, Collo would be jealous). New super dooper earplugs for me & Jac. 1st stop, just north if Arnhem - fuel & food. Into Germany and the wonders of no speed limit autobahn's - how fast? Disconcerting when you're doing 90 plus, and an Audi/Merc/Porsche comes whizzing past at 140+!! Stopped at Bremen, decided to carry on for Hamburg. Big city, with lots of bike shops - handy. Found a campsite 7km from city centre which was a little compact, no, tiny in between houses and shops.
Walked to nearby restaurant schwineski - curried wurst and a beer. Lovely dessert shared with Jac, shredded pancake with sultanas & icing sugar with a hot cherry sauce.
Tomorrow - Denmark!
316 miles
576 total
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn30 ... G_0476.jpg
Day 3 - back to the plan! Hamburg to Odense.
After our unexpected detour via France, Belgium, Holland & Germany, we're now heading to Odense in Denmark which is where we planned to be. Before leaving Hamburg, popped into (another) motorbike superstore - everything you could possibly need & a bit more. Packed tent up (our next door neighbour was snoring again!).
Made good time out of Hamburg to the A7 / E45 to Denmark, quite possibly the most boring stretch of road ever built, and I mean more dull than the M11 - ramrod straight, and nothing to look at. Note to self - when we do this route back to Esbjerg - take the coast road - looks a bit more interesting. Entering Denmark, we stopped for fuel & lunch at Mc.D's £17 !!!!!!!! for a burger, 2 fries, 2 coffees & chicken wrap - won't be doing that too many times.
Got talking to a nice couple - he'd just retired, and they were taking 6 months round Europe in a camper van - retirement ambition for me & Jac. Arrived at Odense - lovely campsite, great facilities. Dined in style this evening with a “Look what I’ve Found” (LWIF) chicken korma with a Tilda rice - lovely. Going out for a walk into town.
What a beautiful city. Lovely park by a river, sculptures everywhere. Visited the house of Hans Christian Andersen - old part of town, very chocolate box. Had a sample of the local brew (like a pale ale) in an Irish bar (Ryan's). Strolled through town, very pretty, lots of shops, bars, cafe's. Met a lady with two spinones lovely dogs, who'd been to bike rally's in England!
186 miles (felt longer) tomorrow, a LOT less motorway
762 miles total.
Day 4 - 4th July godammit!
Breakfast of porridge & coffee. Set off back to Odense city centre to change money, grab a couple of souvenirs & some lunch - waffles with choc sauce and ice cream, mmmmm. Washed down some proper coffee.
Set off for Copenhagen, sat nav seemed to know we didn't want M-ways, 1st 20 miles, all nice sweeping A type roads. Back onto the E 20 -to cross from Fyn to Zealand - now that's a bridge! 10 miles! & a bigger one to come.
Arrived in Copenhagen at 3.15 - huge site. Hundreds of campervans. Checking the bikes over (whilst drinking an agreeable chianti), Jac noticed that Peggy's rear brake caliper had broken in two (not a lot of pad left either). Wonders of Internet located a list of three Aprilia dealers in this part of Denmark. Too late to do anything today, we agreed first thing in the morning.
Topped up Katy Em with some more coolant - she's been thirsty. Keep an eye on it. This evenings meal consisted of 2 bottles of Chianti, lwif chilli con carne (which is yum).
99 miles
861 total
Day 5 - day off riding (some hope!)
Set of for the first of the Aprilia dealers shown on the Aprilia website - got there, there is a scooter shop (wtf?). Kiwi-fit type tyre place opposite, so I ask them, where's M C Hjornet? "Don't know, think he closed down or moved", but there's a Honda dealer close by - so off we go. Get to Honda dealer, definitely can't help us, but gives us directions to the Italian bike store about 3 kms away, again off we go. We get to the store, Ducati's Aprilia's, Vespa's, big brembo sign, we could be in luck here!
After searching his workshop, (& giving us a free coffee - very welcome), we again drew a blank. However, he gave us directions to the nearest BMW dealer 20 kms away. Try again.
Pulled up at the BMW dealers, usual BMW greeting - I.e. why are you here? It appears that even in even in Denmark, Beemer showrooms are trained in showing disdain to customers. Once we got to see the grease monkey, he was very helpful - searched his entire stock, but alas no caliper for an Aprilia Pegaso. Beginning to feel like J R Hartley. He then suggested M C Hjornet, "they're about 20 kms from here" - we replied "we'd already tried them and were told they didn't exist " - "no, no, they just moved", with which he gave us their address & off we went (again).
Got to M C Hjornet about 12.15. "Leave it with me and come back at 5, I'll look and see what I can find". Ok, so we can at least ride into central Copenhagen and do some tourist stuff. Parked up near Tivoli gardens - very pretty, but nearly £10 to get in just to view the gardens - don't think so. If you wanted to go on the rides £30!!!!!.
Stopped for lunch at "Herefordshire Stew" - lunch menu fixed price £10 - yes please - rump steak, jacket spud, garlic butter, very nice. Strolled round the city, very nice, very laid back. Looked at palaces, open air concert, went Jewish museum of Denmark, and a lovely park:-). Tried to ring dealers, no answer, sod it lets go. Got there 5.05, Jac's bike outside, quick look, brand new shiny good brembo caliper.
Now the bad bit - how much???? In English, it translates to £585!!!!! I nearly hit the roof. "Ouch, I exclaimed, why SO expensive?" Sadly that's the price of the parts in Denmark once you include the import tax, even taking the time to show me the catalogue and Aprilia web page. Not happy, but it had to be done, thank f@*< for Visa. After chatting, we discuss pricing – a new RSV4 works out at £26,500!
Stopped at Netto on way back - filled the top box with all manner of nice munch for tonight and lunch 2 mow - very reasonable:-).
Tomorrow - Sweden!
190 miles (inc. 80 more for me, as I had to pillion Jackie)
1,051 total
One new shiny Caliper!
Day 6 - Copenhagen to Kalmar.
Quick brekkie, then packed stuff. Set up video cameras for big tunnel / bridge. It goes under the airport, then emerges onto an Island, where you then have this enormous bridge. Great engineering!
Re-programmed sat nav to avoid M-ways, followed the cost road round Trelleborg, then sopped at Ystad for packed lunch (made from the remainders of last nights dinner). Stunningly beautiful, crystal clear waters, watching the cormorants sitting on the rocks, and the Terns jockeying for the remaining spaces. Lovely ride, warm air on your face, nice dry heat. Apparently this is where Wallander was fiilmed.
Got to Kalmar, excellent site by a lake, with camping in the trees. LWIF chicken tikka tonight with some Rekordalig cider in cans - living the high life eh?
Off to Stockholm tomorrow - long ride.
206 miles
1257 total
Day 7 - Kalmar to Stockholm.
Set off from the picturesque lakeside campsite in Kalmar. Perfect riding weather, and the road was more interesting, think like a UK A road - long sweeping bends, nice.
Stopped off lunch at a lakeside restaurant (figured it must be alright, judging by the amount of bikes parked outside). Lunch Dagen (fixed price lunch - £9, eat really well!). Got chatting to Dutch lads both on old BM boxers - one complete with bathtub fairing - smoked like an old diesel engine when started. Had to laugh as they each had action man figures tied to their bikes - joke from their mums! We crossed paths twice later at fuel stops.
Must be some classic American car thing on somewhere, keep seeing loads of old yank tanks (ironically some of the cars are almost twice the length of he Caravans they're towing). Sign for tom tit experiment - wtf?
Arrived in Stockholm, riding around the various harbours - how pretty? 30C on arrival. Checked into Scandic Ariadne - lovely. Nice shower - Viking kebab pizza. Jackie butter in bumbag - fail.
260 miles
1,517 total
Day 8 - do the tourist thing!
Buffet breakfast at the hotel - DIY muesli with a vast array of ingredients. Superb filter coffee (by the gallon), and sausage, egg & bacon - ready!
Swedish history museum 3 hours in there. Brilliant - Scandinavian pre-history, archaeological finds, Viking gold & silver jewellery, modern Swedish history - Educational, good to learn something. Stopped for a couple of coffees in a lovely waterside cafe - bit of a stereotype, but we appear to be in the land of tall, blonde, beautiful people.
On Jackies insistence, we then went to the Abba museum, which initially I wasn't too keen on, but hey, could be good - and it was genuinely interesting. Whether you like them or not, you can't deny their influence on today's music. I also respect them for not jumping on the reunion bandwagon.
Back via the supermarket next the hotel to stock up on supplies - becoming a dab hand at cooking with dried stuff that can be packed down!
Early night as we have stupid o'clock start.
0 miles.
1,517 total.
Day 9 - Stockholm to Turku.
Alarm set for 5 am! Jac not happy
bikes loaded by 5.30. Quick "grab & go" brekkie in the hotel, then it's in the queue at 6am for the ferry to Turku, Finland. I say ferry, more ship really. 10 decks, huge. Left at 7.20 am. Chatted to couple on Ducati's - him 848 streetfighter, her - Diavel, dripping in carbon. All of us exchanging comments, as the ferry staff don't tie the bikes down? Eventually, we find out its down to us to secure the bikes - wtf? Find a supply of oversize rubber chocks and a couple of ratchet straps. Reassured by a Finnish guy on a Honda, that as the ship is so big, these crossings are super smooth.Settle in on the sun deck on the stern - 11 hours to go! Plus another hour forward as we are now on Finnish standard time.
Arrived at Turku about 7.30 'ish. Ride up to a dog breeder we know called Teija, who via facebook has kindly offered us her summer house to stay in. We’re met by her good friend, Petra. Met all the dogs Petra has a Bracco called Marttin & a Perdiguero de Burgos called Barack. Teija also has PdeB called Kinkku. 1st time me & Jac have seen PdeB's, they are stunning. Several Bracco's - Fatima & 3 others as well as a couple of Bassetts & two cats. Fed and watered, off to bed about 00.15 - it's STILL light - we knew to expect this, but it's still weird.
What a lovely house - log cabin in the middle if the countryside. We re staying in the summer house - it's idyllic.
65 miles
1582 miles total
Day 10 - day with the doggies.
We both slept long and late - good 10 hours! First day its rained! light drizzle now for most of the day - glad we're not riding. Breakfast with Teija & Petra, then off to practice some water retrieves with 4 of the dogs. Lovely training lake - perfect.
Back by 3'ish for a late lunch of roast chicken, then off to local stores. Only shop for miles, so it stocks everything! & I mean everything. Girls had fun pissing about with silly sunglasses.
Light supper, then chilled out watching Tarantino once upon a time in Mexico - comic violence at its best.
Great to chat about dogs, compare life in the UK & Finland.
0 miles
1582 total
Day 11 - Urjlaya to Lahti
Left Teija's - had a lovely time there, great people, lovely house, super dogs.
Set the GPS for avoid motorways, and had a leisurely bimble to
Lahti. Shot some video footage. Arrived in Lahti about 4.30. First thing you see are the ski jumps (how high?) Eddy the eagle? You have my respect
Pitched tent at yet another “horrible” (not) campsite by a lake, then went to Ace corner - the only other official Ace cafe outside London. It's attached to the Finnish motorcycle museum. Was lucky enough to get a guided tour from the owner (cool). Lots of Porsches and Mustangs on a Thursday night.
Got a few souvenirs! Plus a superb burger & chips & the first mug of tea I've had in 11 days - gorgeous, miss a mug o' Rosie.
Settled in by the lake with a can of local cider (rather good actually).
Off to Helsinki tomorrow to catch the ferry to Tallin!
Most North-easterly point of the journey!
136 miles
1718 miles total (we're a long way from home!)
At one stop, there was a pet superstore, I was unaware, Rukkka also produce a nifty line of dog collars - Rossi is now Rukka'd!
Bit nicer view than the North Circ
Day 12 - Lahti to Tallin
Loaded the bikes up. Quick brekkie of coffee only, then off we go. Got into Helsinki in plenty of time - pretty city. On our ferry ticket, it didn't specify which terminal - East or West, so 50/50 chance lets go to the East terminal - Stockholm only, errr, no. Grabbed a map to find west terminal - got there in time. Another super ferry. Finnish booze cruise, free wine & beer with the buffet (could you imagine Brits?) - lots of bikes.
Ride to address where campsite should be - well a building site. A German couple (each on bandits (1 x 650, 1 x 1,200). Also looking for the same site, said they had an address for another site 3 kms away - would we like to follow them - ok. Harbour side camping where they held the yachting for the 1980 Olympics. Mark & Iris are from Ludwigshaven! – twin town of Havering where I grew up – do I know it? We share beers and bike stories. They head into town, we go for a stroll and a paddle along the beach - beautiful.
Watched a free concert - local bands, quite good. Strolled back to site - Salmon and noodles washed down with a nice merlot. The local shop only sells booze (they like a drink here!). Much cheaper than Scandinavia. Petrol is 1 euro, 10 (about £1) a litre yay!
Met up with Mark & Iris again for a nightcap, turned in about
84 miles (nice & easy)
Day 13 – Free day in Tallin
Bloody hell it's hot! 10.15 and it's already 28c. Croissants and coffee.
Tourist day today!
Nice long walk along the coast road into Tallin city centre. Lots of faded
Communist era concrete architecture contrasting with modern glass & steel construction. First stop around the old marina - very pretty, lots if cheap tourist tatt (prob all made in China). We decide there may be better shops in the old town.
Take a walk up into Toompea - the highest part of the old town, a lot of it dates from the 14th century, I can only assume, that every invading force (& there have been a few) thought it was too nice to trash it. Lovely artisan shops - lots of amber. Bought a coupe of nice little bits to take home.
Stopped for lunch @ 2'ish. Lots of local cuisine. Pickled herring with egg, served on rye bread with red onion to start - excellent. I then had pork cutlet in a mustard sauce with juniper berries, with roasted new potatoes and green onion. Jackie had fried Herrings on Creamy mash with veg. Both mains were lovely. Baked apple with cinnamon & honey with rye bread ice cream (sounds weird, tastes lovely). 2 large beers, 2 ciders - all for 55 euro / £50. Which sounds a lot, but for a three course meal for two plus drinks inc. 10% tip, I thought that was alright - and it was worth it.
Strolled round the town for the rest of the afternoon - what a great compact city, full of Finnish people on the lash - booze is cheap, and seems to be available almost everywhere!
Back to the campsite we meet a Cyclist (who used to teach in Basildon!) cycling round Europe for 3 months. Already been to Nordkapp, working his way now down to Ukraine.
Now to sit back and chill for bit, bottle of Westons each (wahey!) got chatting to three guys from Czech republic who works for Skoda – also rides a Pegaso. Went for a pizza, very nice (6 euro). chatted to a lovely German couple, who had an off road 4x 4 Motorhome. In 2011 they toured Iceland, 2012 Ukraine, Mongolia, China. Next year they plan to tour South America for a year- retired? Hell yeah!
Tomorrow - Riga in Latvia!
0 miles
1802 total
Day 14 - Tallin to Riga
Up nice & early, breakfast of croissants & coffee, packed everything up, set off @ 10 am. 20 minutes later we get into the middle of Tallin, Jac signals to me to pull over. We fund a shaded spot near the US embassy. Rear brake has seized! F*** it! I was not impressed, especially considering the cost of replacing the caliper. We break out the tools to release the main bolt on the banjo, but it won't budge. I ride back to the campsite to see if anyone has a 13 or 14 mm socket; no luck. I try the local supermarket, again no luck.
I ride back to Jac, who in the meantime had got chatting to this guy called Andre who provided us with what tools he had, no luck. "No problem, I take you to my friend who mends bikes". So I jump in the car with this guy (got use gut feeling here). We travel to this guy - Neeme, who indeed has a full workshop. I borrow the right tools, and we head back to Jackie. With the right tool, the bolt releases the caliper, though no fluid????
We both ride back to Neeme's, where along with his friend, Andrej, they strip the whole rear end. Turns out there was a spacer washer fitted the wrong way round! Anyway, we deduce that the caliper is fine (so it should be),but the rest if the brake assembly is "kaput". We decide to carry on with just a front brake - no other choice. We offer Neeme some money for a beer as way of thanks - he point blanked refused, as he just wanted to help - how bloody good is that. My faith in human nature restored, we make a mental note to send something good.
Back on the road, we head for Riga! Great weather, roads nice & empty. Stopped off for fuel & a quick snack about 3.30, back on the road at 4.30. We pass into Latvia and the road changes immediately – I didn't realise you could ride ruts on a Tarmac road! (whilst dodging potholes). Huge traffic jams coming into Riga, once again the magic, middle motorcycle lane reappeared!
Entering the city, it's very oppressive, though the closer we get to the centre, the better it seems to get. Given the time, we opt for a B&B. 42 lats (about £33) for B &B. stunning room. We both shower, and head out to the town and find a Wok to walk
in town, yum.Back now for well deserve rest.
198 miles
2,000 total
Day 15 - Riga to Vilnius
Lay in to 9 am brekkie in bakers. Walked to museum of Jews in Latvia - not open til 12 midday. Walked back and packed the bikes. We went back at 12 - very moving.
Left Riga at 2.00 to try and find hill of crosses just over he border. Road surface is awful, however as soon we cross to Lithuania it improves rapidly. No luck in finding the Hill of Crosses. So head for Vilnius.
Arrive about 7.00 pm. Tent pitched and a filling supper if cous cous with tuna in a tomato & chilli sauce - quite impressed, very tasty. Campsite is underneath the Vilnius TV tower where 14 people were shot by Russian troops in 1991, prior to independence.
239 miles
2,239 miles total.
Cruising in Riga
Day 16 - Vilnius to Sopot (avoiding Russia!)
Woke early, showered. BIG mileage today - according to google miles, it says 8 to 9 hours :-0! We get chatting to an American couple who live in Kaiserslauten, Germany. Turns out John is a Drum Corps fan! Much talk of SCV, Devils, Cadets etc.... They have family in Lithuania. We swap e-mails / web pages etc and head off. Given the mileage we have to do today, we decide to skip going into Vilnius old town
note to self, must come back to have a better look.We set off about 11.30. 1st stint- geography changes rapidly - hills, which means bends
Excellent, some involved riding. I'm enjoying myself and this ride. GPS states limit is 90 km/h, so I'm doing like the locals - about 100 km/h (62 mph in real money). As I crest this hill into a nice left hander, bollocks speed trap. Cop with a gun, I get pulled over - shit, here we go, remember don't fail the attitude test. Lid off, I approach cop #1 he shows me his radar gun - 102 km/h, whoops. "You have to Go to bank, pay 120 euro". At this point, cop #2, then asks "tourist?" "Yes, I reply, we head from Vilnius to Sopot in Poland". Cop #2 then nods to no.1. & I'm sent on I'm on my way - phew. I thank him profusely. The rest if this stint is mostly sweeping A roads.We stop for lunch about 2.00 pm. Warmed baguettes, very welcome. Set off again at 3.00 pm. 2nd stint. About 15 minutes into the ride, we hit a traffic jam - wtf? Complete stop, must be an accident. We then move again to a complete stop - sod this, we're on bikes, lets go round. A couple of miles later, it's roadworks with two way stop/go board. Jeez, for the volume of traffic, Lithuania & Poland badly needs some dual carriageways. We have fun overtaking lorries though. We cross over into Poland, and go back an hour in time difference.
We stop about 4pm for fuel and coffee, we seem to be making good time. So, GPS is then programmed for our destination. What then followed was 3 hours of B roads, bumpy as anything - think Latvian road surface. Lots of twists - Great riding - Katy Em's WP suspension earning her pennies. Loved it. Stopped to take pictures of storks, they nest on all the building tops. Reached the outskirts if Gdansk about 7.15. Fuel stop and press on.
We reach Sopot at 9pm - phew. Huge campsite, very haphazard, pitch where you like. Tent done in 20 mins! We find restaurant - fish & chips and a bottle of red wine - excellent. Crash at 11.30.
366 miles (with only the last 75 or so on M-way)
2,605 total
Day 17 - Sopot to Berlin.
Woke to coffee and a nice shower. Hmmm, the pleasure of clean underwear and fresh t-shirt.
Before leaving, we decide to head into Sopot for brunch. Wow! What a lovely town. Obviously very popular with locals as well as visitors. Immaculate boardwalks, and a lovely pier. Jac & I make comparisons with Southend - Sopot is a LOT bigger, and much nicer. We find a cafe, and have egg & bacon! Great value again.
We get lazy and take a cycle taxi back - how decadent?
Pack the remaining pieces and set off at 1.30. Traffic out of Gdansk & Gdynia is awful - there is way too much traffic for the capacity of the road. Stop at 3.15 for 30 minutes for fuel & a quick drink.
Ah, this is better E28, lots of curves, changes in terrain & elevation - I'm enjoying this. I keep myself amused doing mental calculations - distance, average speed etc. it get's to about 6.10 pm, we pull over for fuel - Jac says are you hungry? There's a restaurant to the side of the station, lets give it a go. Pork schnitzel & chips plus drinks £9! How good us that?
We cross into Germany and hit Autobahn - one overtake I hit 180km/h on Katy Em (111 mph), which considering she's carrying two full panniers & topbox, plus tent & roll bag, I'm very impressed with - God, that bike's fun.
We hit Berlin at 8.30 & then spend 30 minutes dealing with City traffic, think west end London - you get the idea. We're staying in wooden cubes - cool. No tent to pitch & in the middle of town. We get changed and go for a couple of well earned drinks at a local bar.
303 miles
2,908 total
Day 18 - free day in Berlin
Woke up early (6.30!) looks like it's gonna be nice today! Looking forward to having a quick look at Berlin - place I've always wanted to visit.
Breakfast at Scube park - strong coffee. We then get lazy and take a cab to Alexanderplatz. Gawp at the TV tower, then decide against the cycle tour ride, opting for the, hop on, hop off bus tour - proper tourists! Reichstag, Brandenburg gate, Holocaust memorial (huge), checkpoint Charlie - did them all. Jewish museum in the late afternoon - fascinating. Stroll back. Evening meal Turkish restaurant - excellent.
Finish off at the same bar, quick beer. Busy day, mixed feelings for Jackie - so proud, at the end of the day, you're here, they're not.
0 miles
2,908 total.
A chilling piece from the Jewish Museum, Berlin
Day 19 - Berlin to Esbjerg
It's gonna be a big mileage day today - 370 'ish. Have to be in Esbjerg by 5.30 'ish - DO NOT want to miss ferry back to Harwich.
We set off from Berlin at 9.30 and the traffics not too bad. We clear the city by 10.15. I underestimate the time to the first fuel stop, and we pull over to fill up from the jerry can. We find a fuel stop and then continue.
We stop about 1.15 for lunch just outside of Hamburg - ah, the joys of Burger King, set off again at two, making good time, and then........
As we turn to take the A7 north to Kiel - road closed, diversion. Shit! This isn't so bad, as it takes us round some nice A roads, and misses most of he boring bit - (see day 2). This diversion pops us out 20 kms south if Kiel. We stop for fuel, and I tell Jac we're going to have to blat it. Luckily all the roads have a 130 kp/h limit, so we stick it at 140, between here and Esbjerg. Check in at 5.50 pm. Gate closes at 6! We are the last vehicles loaded on the boat.
Get settled into cabin, and get some munch. Lovely retired couple who organise cycle tours round Vietnam. Swap touring stories. Have a couple of drinks in the bar, ah we’re back in Brit territory – with a group of very pissed up Mancs, in the bar trying (and failing) to heckle the music act.
Tomorrow Harwich to home!
380 miles
The not so Glamourous North Sea ferry
Day 20 - Harwich to home
Arrive in Harwich at 12 midday. Katy Em and Peg are filthy. I make a note to give her good wash (and remove her bug collection of n. Europe).
We arrive back in Harwich at 12 midday (UK time). Quick fuel up, we get home about 1.45. I go and pick up Rossi & Hayden from the kennels.
61 miles.
3,349 total
Katy Em did not miss a beat the whole journey doing everything asked of her. Peg has a whole new rear brake assembly on order. We both loved every minute of it including the mishaps! (although the cost of the caliper was a bit of an ouch). Looking forward now to the next one!
