No more freeze dried for me

Fish and chips Dutch style

On way back for real now

Now at the port in holland waiting for the ferry.

Stopped off on the way to see yet more windmills.

No freeze dried food tonight

Ooooooops

Drove into someone's garden by mistake following this section of the trail.

TET Netherlands

But there are dirt tracks :-)

Now I thought it was all going to be neatly kept roads.

What a strange place

So, near the campsite is an old 14c fortified town.   Really really small and really curious.

https://www.bourtange.nl

It has two restaurants, eaten at one tonight, think I will try the other tomorrow.

I have been offering libations to the Gods all evening for looking after me and directing me to this campsite.  Well that my excuse anyway for spilling my beer all over the place.

Tomorrow we set off on the first stage of the Netherlands TET.

I must be in Holland - windmills

It's either very small, or far far away.

Everything just a bit wet this morning

Don't think it rained last night but everything is wet from a heavy dew.

Tent soaking on the outside, so decided to pack it outside rather than in the yellow waterproof dry bag. Problem is it now messes up my colour coordination. Ho hum....

Change of plans

One of the good things about this camping lark is being able to change plans and not having to end up re-arranging a load of hotel bookings.   So as the weather is so changeable I decided to zoom out of Sweden and into Denmark.    I will Zoom through Germany tomorrow and head to North Holland and find a campsite there for 2 nights.    The logic being is that I can explore Northen Holland, I have never been there, and be within striking distance of the Ferry port for Friday evening if the weather turns bad.   This will also allow me to explore some of the TET Netherlands.

Picking campsites at random has worked out well, apart from today.   The first two campsites I found were next to major roads and were quite crowded.   So I headed off to the cost and found a nice one that has its own beach and is quite empty.   Don't know, don't get it.  Ones next to busy noisy roads, packed, one next to the beach and dead quiet, empty......  

So, I am now settling down to my evening meal,.  Excuse me, could I have a small bottle of wine with my curry please.

Rode more than I thought I would today.

Got off the ferry at Stockholm quite tired, even though I had a good night sleep.   I thought I would camp at Motalan as it sounded a nice town.   Actually was a nice town with a good mix of old buildings and right on the lake, but the camp site was a way out of town and actually the town was a bit boring, nice but boring.   So after lunch, feeling refreshed, decided to press on.

Stayed off the motorways for a bit and headed to a campsite.  Found a really nice little town that was quite buzzing.

Appeared quite strange that such a small town in the middle of nowhere would be so busy.  Then I found out the reason why, an industrial size Camp Site for campervans,  caravans, and tents. Absolutely huge.   So, move on, nothing for me here.

Charged on and I had set a time of 16:00 to find a campsite.  Logic being lots of daylight and time for the tent to dry out as it was a bit wet from when I last used it.

Found this nice camp site by the lake at Lagan, Sweden.  Quite busy but all laid out in the woods  and quite quiet.

Now going to enjoy a freeze dried vegetable tikka with rice, let's see if I turn this to soup as well.

Fooooood

Lucky find, Hotel, restaurant and motor museum.

Hotel Nostalga
Motala

That was lucky.

I was enjoying myself so much on the winding roads I was not paying attention to my fuel tank. Ahhhhhh, flashing reserve light........... Garmin to the rescue.

Need to burn off that sugar rush

So off onto forest tracks.

A wonderful morning in Sweden.

Overslept on the early morning ferry that arrived Stockholm at 07:00 and missed breakfast. Thought I would zoom through Stockholm and get some breakfast at a cafe. Been driving for an hour, stoped at 4 cafes and all closed. Getting hungry so pulled over at this nice lake to have a Snickers bar.

Have you ever been to duty free and.....

 Have you ever been to a duty free and thought "I'd like to buy some, but how will I get it home ?" As ever, the best solutions are so, so simple. On the Swedish / Finish ferries the alcohol comes pre-loaded on a trolley!!!!!!!!

I checked the wheels on the trollies and unfortunately they are not road legal otherwise I would have towed one to the campsite tomorrow.

Those crazy Scandinavians .

At Turku ferry port waiting for the ferry.

Good my bike did not knock over the Swedish bikers bikes on the way over, I am parked up behind them waiting to check in.

Just been over to chat with them and a nice bunch of guys actually.

See, a serious conference with Power Point presentations and graphs and things.

How many presentations have you been to where the presenter is drinking beer while he talks!  

See, computer game conferences are fun.

The odd one out question.

What is not normally found in a drinks fridge.

The answer is Surgical Spirit.

It is an ingredient in the Golem Captains Booz and Robot Oil to boost the alcoholic strength. Yes, this appears quite normal to do in Finland. No wonder they never developed a word for "please". They have hangovers all the time.

Thinks are getting desperate

Curiously nice. Now we know what powers the Cylons.

Communications will resume Sunday

One of the reasons for the trip was to attend a small computer games conference in Helsinki. The game is very niche and you would never of heard of it - Planets Nu, which I have been playing in and off for 30 years. Only 20 odd people attending form across Europe.

So, to prevent painfully boring posts I will start up posting in the Main on Sunday when I start heading back.

I will now rejoin the other Commanders.

Now who would have guessed

Gin and Grapefruit and sparkling water, very nice.  

You have arrived at your destination

All a bit deliverance like.

Nearly there

Bit of a zig zag route

After stopping for coffee, no, I am not addicted to coffee, I can give up any time, I can, really I can. Any way, joined the wide awake club so thought I would try some Finish dirt tracks.

And...........

The bike stayed upright. Inspecting the stand weld it still looks good. Quite a relief not to be beaten up by Swedish bikers for breakfast.

Had to move cabin last night as I was above the disco. The chap on reception said I was in Economy and I would need to upgrade to a quite room. He was a little perplexed when I states that "your joking, I need to upgrade to be able to sleep". Then I threw the "I am riding a motorbike, I need a good nights sleep otherwise I am in danger of crashing". He moved me to another room, with a view this time. I need to make sue I am not above the disco on the way back.

Another time. Zone change, so feeling a bit tiered. Going to take it easy today, get to the lodge and have a nap.

Picture of me on the Trans Euro Trail

If we had met 5 mins earlier then there was no way we could have passed each other. That track was a bike tyre wide with rocks either side and ditches. Riding solo on those sorts of track really focuses the mind. I think I need more training at the Honda Adventure Centre. Ha, just seen this on the TET Facebook page. The chap, Erik, that I met posted it.

Bikes stowed on the Silja Line ships

Now my bike is the first one right at the end. Ever seen a wall of dominoes fall? Well if my side stand goes then all the bikes may end up on the deck. So I guess we are going to see how strong German welding is.

The 5 bikes at this end are all Harley Davidson Chops. They are ridden by very very very large and hairy Swedish bikers. All in leather waistcoats with big club patches on the back with every inch of skin covered in tattoos.

I think I am going to need a few beers to steady the nerves. Actually a large dark rum I think is needed for this, may be a couple, actually how much rum do you think they carry onboard?

I will let you know if the bike and I survive. Most curious, all other Ferries I have been on have straps that go across the bike seat and to the deck. You have to watch that the crew does not over tighten, if they do you can end up with a broken seat or side stand.

No straps here, just blocks under the rear wheel.

Woke up to a very sunny and hot Sweden

A really nice day today, not a cloud in sight.

A slow and easy pack up at the camp site and then charged off to Stockholm.

Arrived at the ferry port a bit early, so going to have to wait a bit.

Best thing about Stockholm : loads of motorways actually under the city. Not a simple tunnel but miles of road and loads of junctions. Crazy.

Have so far covered 1,296Km so about 800 miles.

Next stop Finland.

 So charging through the Swedish forest is great fun on the TET.  Have to be care though and stay focused as after a night of rain the tracks were quite wet and greasy.   So glad I did the 2 day training at the Honda Adventure Centre in Wales, it has given me great confidence in what a bike like this can do.

The Continental    TKC80 knobbly tires worked well for me.  I am not pushing them to their limits, my fear glands are too well developed for that, but I never ran out of grip.
The back wheel did do some squirming around on the wet loose dirt but the front drove true.  Standing on the pegs really does allow the bike to move freely beneath you.

So glad though I stayed two nights at Hjo, meant I could do this section of the TET with a light bike.














I stopped to take the above photo because I saw the track ahead turned sharply to the left with a down incline.  So being captain cautious I stopped to  get a look of what was around the bend, plus I needed a bit of a rest, it was starting to get hot and humid.

It does not look it in this photo but the road is a bit steep going down.   But it was ok and 2nd gear standing up made light work of it.  Really steep round the bend at the bottom going up, zooooom, back wheel sliding around, zoooom.















Hmmm, this is where a double track trail turns to a single track, obviously cars do not go any further.

 And the track gets wetter and narrower.

You saw my post "Careful what you wish for", this turned into a really challenging track for me.  No opportunity to stop for photos as it was full on concentration.   The track deteriorated to rocks and rubble and branches across the track.  I prayed to random Deities along the way hoping that I would get lucky that at least one was listening to me.  

So after the challenging section I needed a rest.   Soon popped along another motorbike.    Erik was also doing the Swedish TET but in the opposite direction.    If we had met on the single track rocky section there would of been no way we could have passed each other.   Erik is a hard core trail rider and been all over Norway.   Depressingly he then entered the section of challenging trail x5 the speed I did it, ho hum.

But now I have met someone on the TET I feel justified in ordering a TET sticker for the bike.

 Back at the camp site and the sun is out.  Half a day left and I need a beer.  The camp site sells Near Beer, you know the stuff that is alcohol free, but I need a beer.












A 10 min walk later and in Hjo town square.

Now at a bar drinking Sol and the sun is still shinning.   Better still it looks like a nice day tomorrow for my 5 hour ride to the ferry port in Stockholm.

Barman, another Sol please............

Be careful what you wish for

That was tough

Trans Euro Express (best said with a German voice)

After a night of rain it sort of stoped at about 9. So about time we did some forest tracks. I am going in part of the Trans Euro Trail. 25k miles of motor bike trails across Europe. This only went live a few weeks ago.

So here we are on a small section in Sweden.

Today will be high winds and rain in the morning

Good job I decided to stay two nights here.

The Moto Tent proved its worth last night in the high winds and rain. Though I have discovered one short fall with camping is that there is no ensuite. Plucking up the courage to put on the waterproofs and make a dash for the loo. Perhaps Sheperd's pie soup was a bad idea after all.

This is going to be view of a room for the most of today I suspect.

A room with a view

This evenings meal is a bit of a disaster. Think I put too much water in the freeze dried Sheppard's pie . But it makes a passable soup. Town is only a 10 min walk away, so I think a nice steak tomorrow night.



Sent from my iPhoneAfter staying one night each at the previous two camp sites I thought it worth while staying two nights at this one in Hjo. Sweden is not a comfortable place for some one like me who is slightly dyslexic. So route finding to Hjo was a welcome relief.

Hjo is on the banks of the Vattern lake and looks to have quite a nice traditional town which I will explore tomorrow.

Staying two nights here will also allow me to ride the local forest tracks without worrying about the time. So should be fun tomorrow.

Got lucky with this camp site. It is right on the lake and I have a room with a view.

Set the Garmin to windy roads

Sent from my iPhone

A lot easier today - on the nerves

That's German craftsmanship for you. Better and stronger than new. You would not know it had even been fixed.

With the side stand fixed it was a less stressful journey, knowing I could stop when I wanted and just started to chill. Unfortunately the side stand issue has put me half a day behind where I wanted to be, but the next ferry (Stockholm to Helsinki) is not until Thursday pm. So still a few days to explore off road in Sweden.

I did not want to push it too much today, so when I started to get tired at around 16:30 (6. Hours on the road) I decided to look for a camp site. And not 10 mins later I came across Rostanga Camping and Bad. Now I thought to my self "I can do with some Bad", but there are no hells angels, wild Sweeds, or actually anything that could be considered Bad at all. Actually quite pleasant. They keep the families away from the rest, so quite nice. So not sure what Bad means in Swedish.

Day 2 of camping and I am far more organised.

Tomorrow I head up to the two large lakes between Gothenborg and Stockholm.

Fingers crossed that the weather remains good.

Sent from my iPhoneWhat a great start to the day, getting the bike fixed.

Here is a picture of his work, and he painted it.