The Polish highways were by and large single lanes with intesting scenery and colourful towns and they took us quickly to the German border. We decided to try and get to the western side of berlin to try and miss the worst of the commuter traffic going in the following morning. I was sure that we would be able to find something like a formula 1 to stay in so we could get an early start.
Needless to say, we couldn't find anything really, let alone a formula 1. At around 1 in the morning we found a hotel near Brandenburg. Will decided to go for it. I decided to keep going for home. I headed back to the autobahn and west towards Hanover, Will headed for bed. Unbeknownst to us both when we parted, the hotel was closed.
I kept going for about another hour before pulling into a rest stop, draping the outer from my tent over the bike and getting in to my sleeping bag underneath it. I had 2 hours of fitful sleep - very itchy due to the mossie bites - and I was back on the road at 5am.
I didn't look back, stopping only for fuel and food, I rode another 500 miles through germany, holland, belgium and france in torrential rain. I had a little celebration on crossing in to france just east of dunkirk and I was on the pride of dover by 4pm. I grabbed another 30 mins sleep on the ferry and then settled in for the 200 mile ride from dover to clevedon. I stopped once for a celebratory kfc at membury services and juxtaposed it with the russian roadside experience just a few days before.
So all in all an amazing trip. Some fantastic highs and aweful lows - the hallmark of a real adventure I think! I'll echo Mikes sentiments - I learned a lot about people I thought I knew (myself included).
The bikes were great, my buckled wheels seems to have repaired itself and the only other thing that went wrong was an auxilliary light bulb blew on the last day. It even withstood being crashed in Lithuania without even breaking a sweat. I don't think I'll be able to part with it easily.
A few places really made an impression on me: Norway for its natural beauty, Russia for its apparent contradictions and craziness and Parnu, Estonia for its laid back grandeur. In fact the baltics states in general for the feeling of a more innocent and generally joyful way of life. Poland surprised me - I expected a grey and uninteresting country but saw quite the opposite.
I have a number of issues that remain unresolved. The one that I will share now is "so where next?". For the others, buy the book.
Its been great riding with you? Cheers Simon
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
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