Neil's in…

I just had a hectic day moving my last few bits out of my uni house today and getting a few preparatory things for the trip. Signing over my keys and arranging the last few utility bill/telephone bills to be cancelled. To be honest I’m quite tired from it all. Read the rest of this article »

Between one thing and another I’ve been fiddling with some of the gizmos I’ve got myself for this trip, and basically trying to get ready. Yesterday I gave the bike a polish looked for things I could break fix; I noticed the ignition switch was buggy and so was the passing/flash (headlights) button, the horn… as well as the rear brake pedal being loose. They all got fixed today. I also went and bought the bulb spares (just in case) as it’s a legal requirement apparently. Read the rest of this article »

Going by the title, I’ve spent the best part of today looking for things… and indeed that means: I’ve tried to pack.  I did some more tweaks to my bike earlier.  Everything should be ship-shaped, just the tyre pressure needs looking at now… oh and after spending a long old while on the AA website I’ve discovered I need a triangle and a hi-vis vest for my trip, between the countries combined I cant go without them. This does not make me happy.

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Well, just got here and can’t wait to leave. It’s horrid.

Spent the night at Brugge ode to Luke’s bike being problematic. I would have liked to have been here already but oh well. I would like to have spend more time here and write something interesting about my experience so far but having a nagging Nigerian woman asking me for help at this internet place I am urging to leave here instantly.

Note, the little roads and lanes off of Belgium and France are lovely, they’re really tiny and flat and no hedge-rows spoiling the view of the lovely scenery. It’s a must-see!

Off to Germany… ciao!

Heya from Hamburg.  I spent like 485485o2349853 hours on the road and finally got to hamburg today… and it was well worth it.  I am in the main hostel in the port and made friends with two of my room mates and will be staying here 2 nights so i can take some of Hamburg in. Also I need a break from riding.

I can’t wait to have a break from the riding. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have the chance to take some photos and upload a couple tomorrow.

Yesterday was quite depressing, the ride was hellish after leaving Antwerpen, took me 2 hours to get out of the damn place and then Duisburg which i had high expectations was impossible to navigate around and nowhere for me to stay the night so I carried on to Wesel and found a campsite city. What seemed to be expensive €18.5 worked out ok because in the morning i got €10 back for tidying up.

It started raining today whilst on the road, it made it interesting. I discovered my jacket is NOT waterproof without the waterproof lining.  Anyhow I’ll write something more coherent tomorrow when I’m more clear in mind.

Ciao

This morning got up at 6 something and honestly can’t remember when I was so hot.. it was horrid. Anyhow, stacked up on the buffet breakfast and made myself lunch with it. Then left for a walk.

So on my walk around the city this morning I went to see the botanical gardens and suchlike… as you do. I find myself looking at a ginger squirrel!

Anyhow I wandered around the park and found myself taking poxy pictures of myself…

…but in other news there were lots of things to see!

I ended up sat down outside the congress hall looking at my map of the city to see what else there was to see that I’d like, and out of nowhere a lovely German girl came over and speaking in fluent English came over and helped me out. Suggested that I walked down the canal and check out the old warehouses near the dock. (photos for when I get back… it takes forever to upload anything on here.

Well there we have it. See what tales I have from Denmark tomorrow…. I just saw that Copenhagen is over 400KMs away from here. I want to start slowing down the pace that I’ve been doing, afterall I’m arriving at Scandinavia already.

I had the coolest cruise into Ribe this morning, 3 hours that felt like half an hour and the roads were absolutely heaven as soon as I entered Denmark.  I took the B roads and did about 100km on these vast straight, smooth well signposted roads leading me all the way to my bed tonight.  Sadly the youth hostel I booked is closed between 12 and 4pm so I have to wait around. The town/village of Ribe is really quaint, and lovely and the internet is free in the information centre so here I am writing this entry.

I feel bad that I paid no attention to researching Denmark at all… it has a real feel good factor to it. No industrialization so it seems. Although not removed from modernity, has information centres at every pit stop, seems quite inexpensive and the roads are fab.  I accidentally withdrew a bit too much money I think. I may have to use it in Copenhagen to buy some Swedish Kronas because 1000DKK will support me for a year so it seems. I thought £100 in danish krones would be a start.  Even the petrol is cheaper over here.

Anyhow, I better find something to do until 4 or I’ll go potty in this tiny village.

Did I say Denmark was cheap? …. [ding ding] ….WRONG!!!

I had a good drive to Copenhagen despite the driving rain. It was like driving underwater: not fun. I have spent the whole afternoon looking for somewhere to eat, drink and internet… THIS PLACE IS SO EXPENSIVE. I’ve walked about 6-8 miles around the capital and only just found the internet cafe. I had a take away coffee from the hostel and got fleeced at 25Kroner (just over £2.50)… keep in mind the hostel was the cheapest place to get a coffee in town. I’m not too happy about that.

By the looks of it it will be sunny the day I head off to sweden so I guess I’ll be camping again. This hostelling can be quite expensive… it’s hard to work out which is best.

I am also thinking about getting new tyres for my bike… well at least my rear, it’s getting a little bald… nothing like Simon’s but all the same only about 2-3mm left in the centre. Everything else is dandy. I’ve done about 1000 miles since London and all good.

Here’s a bunch of photos from the past couple of days.

I managed to get to bed last night with still not having met any of my room mates… from what i gathered in my sleepy-eyed state was that the couple who had put their beds together were italian… a gay couple. I thought it was a mixed sex room but obviously i was wrong. The person in the bunk below me snored like they were on their death-bed… such fun. As with Hamburg the dorm was roasting, except for in this instance they closed the windows and drew the curtains and incase you weren’t aware I am doing this trip without a watch…. so when I woke up this morning at 4:55 and saw light trying to creep in through the curtains I decided to get up…. got dressed… reached for my camera and checked the time on it… noticed it was silly of me… got undressed again and jumped in bed for another 90 minutes.

It’s not rained today although the weather forecase said it would… I hope that doesn’t mean it will rain tomorrow. I was kind of hoping to camp in sunny sweden.

Anyhow here’s some of the photos from today:

Hey, didn’t manage to use the internet yesterday. Sweden is brilliant, the roads are great and the women gorgeous and what else matters?

Ok so I had a hellish time yesterday fighting the invisible enemy… the wind was really fierce and freezing and wore me out, although the day was really sunny.  After a really rough night in a campsite last night, I’m fit for nothing.  I got to Norrköping and I’ve decided to give Finland a miss until next year.. and the Stave churches.  The bike is showing some signs of fatigue. I spent all day thinking about this carefully and the cost of crossing the Gulf of Bothnia by ferry plus, and then crossing back across the north of Sweden and Norway with the wrong clothes and a tired out bike doesn’t give me any confidence, not to mention the expense of all that… plus then assuming nothing goes wrong with the bike. The front brakes are already almost gone. I’ve found a bike dealer here in Norrköping going there in the morning see if i can get some pads.

I want to do this trip again on a smaller (and more maintainable) bike, starting in Norway and working backward to Denmark… dressed to impress…. and none of this crappy camping gear that’s really been a burden. Plus you meet cooler people in Hostels.

I feel pretty bad about the whole changing the route thing,  I really want to do the Stave churches in Norway… like crazy.  But at least it gives me something to look foward to next year.

Anyhow, good news is that I’ve had a great time in Sweden and I still have Stockholm and Oslo to look foward to. I will get to Stockholm tomorrow and spending there a couple of nights. I went past Emma’s village (Hårlöv) earlier and also went to that village Gränna (on the Vättern lake) that is famous for its candy-canes and suchlike.  I would show you pictures but this internet place doesn’t allow USB devices.

Anyhow, for now. Ciao!