29 July Vaasa to Rovanieme

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Got away from my campground site at about 8 am after a very cool night. Vaasa is a pretty city situated on the water with lots of boats in lots of bays. The day was cool with some cloud which cleared later but in the shade the temperature dropped 5 degrees which made for cool riding as it was only 22 c.
The roads are good and the countryside is well wooded and well used by the grain producers and vegetable growers.
I stopped on the road north for some breakfast and was met with a call from a Finn " if you are from down under I will buy you a coffee". So he did and we shared motorbiking stories. He is a pig farmer and rides with his wife for 4 months a year on a Gold Wing Honda. He says he does about 25,000k a year. He claims to know all the good riding roads in Europe. Lets see. Anyway he was proud of his Finnish bike riding family as they will "allways give you a vave" except he said the Harley Davidson rider of more dan one year "day vave der foot". We enjoyed the conversation, he returned to his 1000 pigs and I to ride toward Rovanieme which I made about 7pm putting another 500k on the clock. I enjoy attempting to pronounce the place names as I pass so here pictured are a couple to test you. Accommodation is plentiful as it seems tourism is about all they have in Lapland, so many Hotels for a small city. I met with a couple in a bar and she works for the Department of Industry, she makes grants to assist business, so the Finns face the same problems we all do, how to find things to do that have some value. I do like their facilities to encourage outdoor activity however. Many of the towns I pass through have cycle/walking paths beside the roads, through the fields, to the rivers and lakes and there are lots of people using them. Its a very European practice and one we could well adopt. They consequently have a greater use of pushbikes for commuting. There are people everywhere cycling and the traffic is very courteous toward them. I recall, wish I had a picture, father and son on bikes taking all the road, behind them a farmer on his tractor, behind him an 18 wheeler and innumerable cars utes and trucks.......seemed like this should be the order of things.
nzl04

28 July Turku to Vaasa

Slow start after a night attempting to got nzl04 "on line", so I hope it worked and I am now visible to you all. I started with a visit to Turku Castle. It is old but rebuilt several times. It has history including the occupation by the Swedes who made Turku the capital, and later the incaceration of King Eric of Sweden in the late 16th century, apparently he was insane. Its not much of a castle either.
So I left via Naantali where I saw the "big" seagull. Not much of a threat for the big pineapple or the big banana but there it is.......
The coast was pretty, lots of boats, inlets, rocky points, all good stuff for a boatie. So I made Vaasa in time to find a camp ground, talk to a couple of locals and try my first night of camping. Despite the sun shining in at 10 pm it got very cold.
The Finns love to ride motor bikes, I have never seen so many motor bikes on any road and that includes the US. and they love to go camping.
nzl04

Tallinn to Finland 27 July

The ferry ride across to Helsinki is simple and pleasant. There are two ways to go, fast ferry or cruise ship. The latter takes an hour longer and is a very pleasant trip.

Spoke to some Finnish bikers that had been riding the Baltic countries and they suggested that I go straight to Turku. So I did. A very pleasant ride through a very attractive country.

Went out for dinner after I arrived to the local restaurant and music bar. What a fun night out. The Finns enjoy to laugh. They had a lot of fun doing skits that I suspect would be politically too insensitive anywhere else.

So I am looking forward to my ride to Nord Cap.

Destination Tallin 25 July

This was a simple ride in reasonable conditions. I managed to get through Latvia in a day, and ended up in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. It is as I was promised a very attractive city. It is very old very unique and very central. It all hinges round an ornate square where the numerous visitors go to eat drink and be merry. And visitors there are a plenty. Russians, English, Americans and not least of all Finns, lots of them but as it is a short ferry ride from Helsinki they come from in boat loads and go home loaded down with alcohol.

So it was good to be in Tallin.

I stayed two nights here so no post for the 26th.

nzl04

Warsaw to Lithuania 24 July

Well it was a grey day in Warsaw. It threatened rain, but I was sure it would not so I rode on getting wetter, but soon was vindicated and it got grey and dry then light grey and blue and ended in a beautiful summer day in wherever I am in the heart of Lithuania.

What an odd country. Flat and boring, with the usual wheatfields. The towns are less attractive. For a moment thought I was back in Germany with the usual cowdung smell from housed cows in the villages. I do not know how they put up with the smell. It outdoes Rotorua.....in fact in any other PC country they would be stopped, but it is at least re-assuring to see someone saying thats how it was and thats how it is... they have that right.

So its hard to get a picture that represents todays ride. Poland and Lithuania. And on that point I again rode through a deserted border post, and Lithuania is not in the EEC as far as I know so that was a suprise. I didn't even get a stamp in my passport.

The trucks started again soon after the border and I was expecting a bad ride but Garmin sidetracked me....in fact right into the Capital ( I think) and as there was a bridge closed for repair, on my way out, so spent 40 minutes trying to find the road north. No signs, no diversion signs, just closed. And no sgns that meant anything to me, so seat of the pants navigation and some compass, and we were going north again. Ride today 520k so a bit tired.

The picture is of a town square and their heraldry.

nzl04

To Warsaw 23 July 2008

The trip today was pleasant polish countryside, overcast and cool however I had to "take to the motorway" in order to make some miles and that was less fun, however I did make Warsaw by 5pm and that enabled me to take a picture of the town hall, find the theatre and attend a Motzart Opera. Quite a fascinating musical evening.

Warwas seems a pleasant enough city. So far it lack the worst of everywhere else but no doubt it will come. More the pity. I did not get a picture of the famous trams. But they are plentiful, and by their frequency and speed pretty efficient, or so it seems. So another 345k in the saddle, across the seemingly endless plains of Europe, where they grow a great deal of wheat and other vegetables.

Germany to Poland

Its odd to ride through a huge border control complex and it is totally empty. No one home ! Then remember the hours spent waiting at one just like it, literally hours. We are a wierd mob us humans.
So the day started with bright sunshine, then clouds then rain so I waited it out and left late in the day. The river Elbe has a ferry which can be summoned by a bell, which was a quant feature. It has no motor and swings from bank to bank on a long wire rope. Then I was away through lots of villages, all very quaint and all the same; flat wheat lands; lots of beautiful tree lined roads; and then it was Poland. The difference was marked. Less ornate, less tidy, less intensive, and back to some "eastern" roads. The ones with huge truck ruts in the seal !
Never the less I was into 365 k before I tired of the ride and found a Motel that could have been anywhere in the world. I hate these places, all the same, the menu the same, French soup, Greek salad, Italian pasta, New York steak, and on it goes. The Polish beer is pretty bad, very much like every other mass brewed beer in the world, barely drinkable.....however if I do have a comment it is, travel before it is too late and everywhere is exactly the same ! Its hard to tell the difference by Shell stations,( all the same) with a McDonalds next door....etc etc.... , and the people all look the same, jeans and plaid shirts, or low cut blouses and short skirts, not that there is much wrong with those..... however the landscape is still different and great. Its a pity the charachter of these places is being "internationalised" to the extent that local flavour is hard to find.
nzl04

A night on the Elbe

Left Kessel late after arranging a green card for nzl04 and headed into some wonderful riding in the hills. It is clearly a ski resort in the winter, dont know the altitude but it was 10° c and very cold, however once out on the plains it warmed up and I managed 275k before I was 'stopped' by a river and a ferry. Picture to follow as the Hotel on the riverbank does not have WiFi. Never mind. I will either stay here another day or head for Warsaw. What a picturesque spot. nzl04

Belgium into Germany

I left Maastricht this morning in what looked to be good weather. Found Cologne about midday and walked by the Cathedral which is undergoing repairs.........looks like a big job.......had some lunch and headed East into some very cold weather. Managed 350 km through some beautiful rolling woodlands and villages, make no mistake the north of Belgium and Germany (south of Berlin) is very attractive riding and there were a huge nmber of bikes out despite the cold, but perhaps they didn't expect it to be summer !
So tomorrow more east as I head toward Warsaw. Next time I will be prepared and have a picture ready to attach. nzl04

Welcome to the NZL04 bike blog

Despite numerous requests that I write a book, yes I know I can't write and no one would read it, so I gave in to a lovely lady and her boyfriend on the chunnell who said "of course people are interested" because they just don't get to do what you are doing. So I gave in.

This blog will when I get sufficiently proficient will record my trip from the far north, which I trust will be the arctic crcle to the southernmost city in the world which I understand is Invicargill in New Zealand. Well thats the theory anyway. So lets see how we get on !
Did I say I went to London. Well I did. nzl04