A trip to the North Cape of Norway has been on my bucket list for ages, I can hardly believe I'm now actually on my way! I know, it's been done to death, but I still think I need the sensation of actually achieving something like this before my time runs out. At 68, I am definitely feeling my own physical depreciation... Seeing the hordes of Beemer GS and Teneres, I think a Laverda classic will be a welcome sight at that skeleton-like globe at the end of the world.
My travelling companion is my long-time best-buddy Wolfgang, or Woki for short, who bought a bike exclusively for the trip (but mainly because neither of his modern Morinis could carry enough luggage properly!) A nearly new QJMoto SRT700, bought cheaply with almost an entire valid warranty and a low seating position to suit his somewhat too-short legs turned out to be his weapon of choice. Bike is fitted with the old Kawasaki ER-6 engine built under licence, bored to 700cc. Time will tell if the chinese firecracker holds up, so far it's performing faultlessly!
Left home on June 29. Only a few Autobahn km to get out of the congested Cologne-Ruhr area, A- and B-roads from there. Ferries over both the Weser and Elbe rivers to avoid the heavily trafficked main thoroughfares, reaching Rendsburg with 500km under our belts. Through Denmark on the second day, with a rather boring and uneventful ride through a beautiful country. A true shame that the roads are mainly straight as an arrow... all the way to the horizon. Early ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, just out of town the roads turned awesome!
Found a place for the night and headed to the southernmost point of Norway to begin our adventure the next day. Many roads were like a roller coaster, a true hoot to ride even at the moderate speeds that are allowed. Despite learning that the ferry was out of order, we decided to head to Lysebotn, which we reached around midday. Instead of boarding the ferry that would take us almost to Stavanger, we had to head back the way we came, only one spectacular road leads to the little hamlet. No harm done, these are 28km of some of the most exciting roads I've ever ridden, absolutely tremendous, unconditionally recommended! Weather was more than pleasant, ideal riding conditions. Found a room in Sirdal for the night.
Next day saw us head to Stavanger with the obligatory visit of the King Harald memorial, then on to Haugesund. Not only are the roads spectacular, the bridges and tunnels are sometimes quite breathtaking. Arrived early enough for a late lunch and a few too many (expensive) afternoon beers in a harbour bar. The Banken Hotel can be recommended!
Weather forecast for today was pretty dodgy, sure enough it started pissing about 50km into our ride to Vossevangen (a tip from Lee) and kept up till we reached our destination. Boots are currently under the dryer that we were kindly loaned, new gloves are surprisingly waterproof! Forecast for tomorrow is shite, so we've decided to sit it out and spend tomorrow here as well.
Monitoring fuel consumption has brought a surprising fact to light... both bikes use almost exactly the same amount of fuel from stop to stop with a 0.5l deviation at most over around 200km distance. A modern fuel-injected, 230kg, 73hp bike still requires the same amount of fuel as a 50-year-old, 230kg, 50-odd hp Laverda banger! Combined rider/luggage weights are also almost identical, I must admit though the QJ is far more comfortable. Well, progress has to make itself felt somewhere...
Apologies for the late start of this thread, my phone charging cable refused to transfer data to my note book, couldn't be arsed to do all this directly from my phone with my fat fingers.
Through some sort of magic, the cable now works and I can upload my photos.
Departure:
Lindesnes, southernmost point in Norway
Lysebotn, view down the fjord, where the ferry would have taken us...
Harald memorial, Stavanger
Bridge at Haugesund, image doesn't show how high it is, pretty spectacular.
More to come, I'm reckoning with around 4-6 weeks for the entire trip!
piet
My travelling companion is my long-time best-buddy Wolfgang, or Woki for short, who bought a bike exclusively for the trip (but mainly because neither of his modern Morinis could carry enough luggage properly!) A nearly new QJMoto SRT700, bought cheaply with almost an entire valid warranty and a low seating position to suit his somewhat too-short legs turned out to be his weapon of choice. Bike is fitted with the old Kawasaki ER-6 engine built under licence, bored to 700cc. Time will tell if the chinese firecracker holds up, so far it's performing faultlessly!
Left home on June 29. Only a few Autobahn km to get out of the congested Cologne-Ruhr area, A- and B-roads from there. Ferries over both the Weser and Elbe rivers to avoid the heavily trafficked main thoroughfares, reaching Rendsburg with 500km under our belts. Through Denmark on the second day, with a rather boring and uneventful ride through a beautiful country. A true shame that the roads are mainly straight as an arrow... all the way to the horizon. Early ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, just out of town the roads turned awesome!
Found a place for the night and headed to the southernmost point of Norway to begin our adventure the next day. Many roads were like a roller coaster, a true hoot to ride even at the moderate speeds that are allowed. Despite learning that the ferry was out of order, we decided to head to Lysebotn, which we reached around midday. Instead of boarding the ferry that would take us almost to Stavanger, we had to head back the way we came, only one spectacular road leads to the little hamlet. No harm done, these are 28km of some of the most exciting roads I've ever ridden, absolutely tremendous, unconditionally recommended! Weather was more than pleasant, ideal riding conditions. Found a room in Sirdal for the night.
Next day saw us head to Stavanger with the obligatory visit of the King Harald memorial, then on to Haugesund. Not only are the roads spectacular, the bridges and tunnels are sometimes quite breathtaking. Arrived early enough for a late lunch and a few too many (expensive) afternoon beers in a harbour bar. The Banken Hotel can be recommended!
Weather forecast for today was pretty dodgy, sure enough it started pissing about 50km into our ride to Vossevangen (a tip from Lee) and kept up till we reached our destination. Boots are currently under the dryer that we were kindly loaned, new gloves are surprisingly waterproof! Forecast for tomorrow is shite, so we've decided to sit it out and spend tomorrow here as well.
Monitoring fuel consumption has brought a surprising fact to light... both bikes use almost exactly the same amount of fuel from stop to stop with a 0.5l deviation at most over around 200km distance. A modern fuel-injected, 230kg, 73hp bike still requires the same amount of fuel as a 50-year-old, 230kg, 50-odd hp Laverda banger! Combined rider/luggage weights are also almost identical, I must admit though the QJ is far more comfortable. Well, progress has to make itself felt somewhere...
Apologies for the late start of this thread, my phone charging cable refused to transfer data to my note book, couldn't be arsed to do all this directly from my phone with my fat fingers.
Through some sort of magic, the cable now works and I can upload my photos.Departure:
Lindesnes, southernmost point in Norway
Lysebotn, view down the fjord, where the ferry would have taken us...
Harald memorial, Stavanger
Bridge at Haugesund, image doesn't show how high it is, pretty spectacular.
More to come, I'm reckoning with around 4-6 weeks for the entire trip!
piet
