North Cape by GTL

Corretion: Hannu Koski should be doing just fine. Atleast a year ago he was trying to sell his Atlas to a guy I know. There must be some confusion, our former president was also Hannu, and he passed away few years ago. And in addition, there is one Hannu more, fixing his Laverdas and building a Porche.
 
I mean Hanu Koski with the black 1000 SFC. Really hope he is still with us, doing fine and not gone to Walhalla... :oops: Anyone can confirm? He is/was just a great guy, not very talkative, but when the right moment came, droped a line filled of his big, big sense of humor... He is the guy with the mountainbike mounted to the 1000 SFC...

I fear though Paul is right...: https://www.hs.fi/muistot/art-2000010041052.html

He and my brother produced a CD with Laverda Sounds in 1998 (https://jyu.finna.fi/Record/jykdok.810376?lng=en-gb). Sad to hear he passed away...
 

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Corretion: Hannu Koski should be doing just fine. Atleast a year ago he was trying to sell his Atlas to a guy I know. There must be some confusion, our former president was also Hannu, and he passed away few years ago. And in addition, there is one Hannu more, fixing his Laverdas and building a Porche.
Well, Hannu Koskis wife announced his death on Facebook on Novemberc16th 2023.
 
I'm honestly shocked, got a confirmation some minutes ago (not the messages above) that Hannu Koski is not with us anymore. This did not happened years ago, rather more than a year ago.
It's not much longer than that when I visited his garage last time, the SFC was still there but painted orange. I think he said he painted it years ago after an accident with a car. I remember some motorcycle trips and discussions with Hannu, often Laverda trips but some not.
The former president is the Hannu who passed away years ago, or I think it is probably rather 10+ years ago.
There are at least two Laverdists in Finland named Hannu still alive. It's not that common name but not a very rare either.

There's a lot of deer nowadays in Southern Finland. I almost hit a deer several times during some last years, a couple of times with my SFC, a couple of times with my car and once by a bicycle. Two of these happened almost middle of town.

There are Laverdists, for example, near Turku, Tampere and the capital area.
At the moment at the capital area there are at least me and my father. We use to ask Laverdists to visit us at the local car museum if it fits into schedules.
 
No updates yesterday due to www issues... seems to be my notebook at fault.

Left Raahe and almost immediately, the monotony of the E8 set in. A little detour/shortcut over Voitby and Rimal saw us on gravel again, 11 km this time. Looked good at first... ;)

Övermark B&B is a former hospital, built in the 1920's, nicely restored to an exceptional standard (no, not as a hospital!) with a charming host. We learnt that we slept in the former operating theater.

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For a bite we ventured into the village where apparently the annual village fest was taking place. Tractors and old stuff on show, etc, etc. We met Harley rider Fred Bäckstrand, who not only operates the local hamburger joint, but also produces lemonade as a hobby. He secured the rights and old recipes from the heirs of a long-defunct lemonade factory in the village and started production in 2009. No artificial flavours or colourings, most flavours are seasonal as they become available and no preserving agents are used, the main reason that larger regional supermarkets aren't interested! He supplies the village and sells out of his burger joint. A tour of his tiny factory was captivating!

Freds' products

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Hard-workin' Ford

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Freds' factory is in an extension at the rear of the house in the background!

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Big church for such a small village!

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Todays ride was also quite uneventful, now in Hyvinkää. We did leave the beaten track again and took in some gravel, making sure the bikes remained grubby.

Along the way

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Now in Hyvinkää, planning to catch the 11:30 ferry to Tallinn tomorrow morning.

piet
 
Been watching these 2 for a while. They have done lots of road ks but resenty with ZERO camping or off road experiance there suddenly gone of road Adventure traveling and heading to the same place as Piet. Really fun watching there antics, they're doing brilliantly for newby.
 
Short ride yesterday, a dash to Helsinki for the boat to Tallinn. Actually arrived too early, so we booked onto the 10:30. Arrived in Tallinn in humid heat, making navigating in the heavy traffic a chore, especially with Miss Garmin not fully co-operating. We called it quits at14:00 and spent the afternoon resting before going out for a lovely dinner.
Raining this morning, scheduled to stop soon… heading in the general direction of Riga.
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piet
 
I went to Riga quite a few years ago, quite liked it, I was shown around by a local.
Some of it was rough as dogs and some of it was lovely but all of it was interesting.
 
When I was living in the UK I had a Latvian mate who could have been described as ‘rough as dogs’ but was also a lovely fella and guaranteed never a dull moment. He owned a 1200 for a short time but decided he preferred a V Max. 🤷‍♂️ Sadly, he contracted dementia before he died a few years ago.
 
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Pissing cats and dogs this morning, so we simply stay put at the breakfast table for a while. No pressure, as we hadn't yet booked anything for the evening. Rain stopped around 9:00 and because it was warming up quickly, roads were mostly dry by the time we had packed and were ready to roll. Headed in the general direction of Riga, only one major road... Took a couple of little detours along the immediate coast line through some quite nice villages, always returning on the 4/A1 after a short while. Enjoyed a drink in a beach bar shortly before arriving at the hotel that we booked midday and were surprised by a rain shower on the way.

Power line art...

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piet
 
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