YellowFever
Race Dog
- Joined
- May 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,143
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Cape Town City Bowl
- Bike
- Piaggio (all models)
A little further north than normal...to Viking country
A cruise along Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia
I haven’t done any ride reports on this forum for a while. This one could however add some value. To start off with please keep in mind that this is not a motorcycle holiday, it’s a holiday by motorcycle. There were no gravel roads (or at least very little) there was no camping and now tuff guy type of stuff. It was holiday after all and time to chillax. I didn’t even take a tent as I concentrated on hostels and backpackers where I could meet interesting people. What this ride report will have is a few kickass photos of some of the most beautiful cities in Scandinavian and northern Europe, some of the most rugged landscapes in Norway, some shots of what the locals look like all around (I promise the purists won’t be disappointed) and a few shots of my ugly face and my trusty steed.
My appetite for exploring and doing different things shifted in the last few years. Maybe I should take things back a fair bit to bring it into context. Only started motorcycling a few years back, after riding 50 cc bikes at school. Not even remembering really how to ride a bike at the end of 2006, I quickly took part in a few really interesting rides. A mostly tar pillion ride all the way to Zanzibar and back crossing 7 countries, 2 x awesome rides to Namibia including touching the kaokoveld, a pillion ride up Sani pass and last year a disastrous attempt at Angola where I broke my rear shock... There were many other smaller rides around but I soon felt that I was running out of interesting places to visit in Southern Africa. Where to go next?, being a bachelor of trade I saved enough to provide surplus cash to look at interesting destination a bit further away. The year 2009 ended up to be one of my best ever vacation years. A trip back to Zanzibar which I felt needed more time since my previous bike ride there, and an awesome train ride on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow all across Russia into Mongolia and ending in Beijing. Thanks to my friend BigEd for planting the idea of this in my head, one day I will go back
Anyway...on with this story. While in Zanzibar end of 2009 we went on a snorkelling trip, sailing for a couple of hours back and forth to a good reef. On the boat with us was a Dutch couple from Amsterdam, and we got talking as they are also into motorcycling. The lady is called Marjos, and during the same period when I was on the Trans Siberian in 2009 she was doing the same route by motorcycle. Not only that but she returned to Europe through all the Stans, ON HER OWN!!! She is a true inspiration for any adventurer, and was so friendly to offer me one of her motorcycles whenever I come to Europe. And so it was done, I had a bike in Amsterdam, a wallet with enough cash to see me through for a month, and a healthy appetite to ride north into Viking country.
A cruise along Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia
I haven’t done any ride reports on this forum for a while. This one could however add some value. To start off with please keep in mind that this is not a motorcycle holiday, it’s a holiday by motorcycle. There were no gravel roads (or at least very little) there was no camping and now tuff guy type of stuff. It was holiday after all and time to chillax. I didn’t even take a tent as I concentrated on hostels and backpackers where I could meet interesting people. What this ride report will have is a few kickass photos of some of the most beautiful cities in Scandinavian and northern Europe, some of the most rugged landscapes in Norway, some shots of what the locals look like all around (I promise the purists won’t be disappointed) and a few shots of my ugly face and my trusty steed.
My appetite for exploring and doing different things shifted in the last few years. Maybe I should take things back a fair bit to bring it into context. Only started motorcycling a few years back, after riding 50 cc bikes at school. Not even remembering really how to ride a bike at the end of 2006, I quickly took part in a few really interesting rides. A mostly tar pillion ride all the way to Zanzibar and back crossing 7 countries, 2 x awesome rides to Namibia including touching the kaokoveld, a pillion ride up Sani pass and last year a disastrous attempt at Angola where I broke my rear shock... There were many other smaller rides around but I soon felt that I was running out of interesting places to visit in Southern Africa. Where to go next?, being a bachelor of trade I saved enough to provide surplus cash to look at interesting destination a bit further away. The year 2009 ended up to be one of my best ever vacation years. A trip back to Zanzibar which I felt needed more time since my previous bike ride there, and an awesome train ride on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow all across Russia into Mongolia and ending in Beijing. Thanks to my friend BigEd for planting the idea of this in my head, one day I will go back
Anyway...on with this story. While in Zanzibar end of 2009 we went on a snorkelling trip, sailing for a couple of hours back and forth to a good reef. On the boat with us was a Dutch couple from Amsterdam, and we got talking as they are also into motorcycling. The lady is called Marjos, and during the same period when I was on the Trans Siberian in 2009 she was doing the same route by motorcycle. Not only that but she returned to Europe through all the Stans, ON HER OWN!!! She is a true inspiration for any adventurer, and was so friendly to offer me one of her motorcycles whenever I come to Europe. And so it was done, I had a bike in Amsterdam, a wallet with enough cash to see me through for a month, and a healthy appetite to ride north into Viking country.
