Driving West - Simon's final thoughts

So after waking up in Gdansk, running out of petrol on the outskirts of town and going on a 3 hour orienteering exercise around the shipyards ( and losing Will in the process) I headed west out of town on the 27. I waited for Will on the 27 and we eventually found each other again.

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

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The Scores on the Doors

The route according to Simon's GPS

Total Distance: 4,886 Miles (Excluding Ferry to Norway)
Overall Average Speed: 28.9mph
Moving Average Speed: 46.7mph
Total Trip Time: Too big for the display, but a calculation says 169
hours!
Moving Trip Time: Too big for the display, but a calculation says
105 hours!
Maximum Speed: A rather modest 89mph (due to the panniers)
Country country count: 13

TeekondHOME

After an uneventful ride from Folkestone I met the kids from school as planned which was nice, lucky for Gus there WAS a calendar!

Bike was awesome, considering its gone 4K miles over the last service interval. Leaky rear shock and shagged back brake disc seem to be the only slight niggles.

Punctures - none
Breakdowns - none
Drops - none
Crashes - none
Near misses - several
Miles - lots

Apparently I smell like someone from the great unwashed, although I did shower this morning my bike clothes didn't!

Back to the real world now!

Mike

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Eurotunnel

Well now safely on the Eurotunnel, bit the bullet and paid the extra as opposed to taking the ferry to Dover. Got another drenching between Antwerp and Gent, had to empty my 'waterproof socks' in Bruge and swop them for plastic bags and dry socks. Barring any major disasters I should get back as planned to meet the kids from school this afternoon which will be a surprise for them as they aren't expecting me until at least Friday evening. I made the decision to gun it home on Tuesday when in eastern Poland, I could have headed south to Slovakia but speaking to Gus on the phone he told me he was going to make a special calendar that would tell him how many days it was until he saw me (obviously he will be in the shit if there is no calendar and I rode the thick end of 1800 miles to see it!).

The last 19 days have been a bit of a whirlwind, it seems longer than that ago that we battled the gale force winds on the way to Newcastle to catch the ferry to Norway.

Notable highlights, Pulpit Rock in Norway, the second and third day riding through Norway, fantastic scenery and technically challenging roads. Arriving at the Arctic Circle, gravel tracks in Finland, the whole experience crossing the border into Russia, the shocking roads (or lack of), the shocking driving and the chaos that was driving into St Petersburg!

Disappointing not to go through Kaliningrad 'just for the hell of it' and sorry I didn't get to Slovakia or Austria, its unlikely I will get the opportunity to undertake a trip like this again in the foreseeable future due to family and work commitments but hey not everyone can say they have ridden their motorbike to Russia!

Hats off to Will, for someone who has only been riding for less than 12 months to take on some of the riding conditions that we experienced and still stay on two wheels takes some doing, especially on a big lump of German metal that has all the agility of an elephant!

I think we have all learnt a lot about each other - perhaps too much! :-) we met some great people along the way and at the time of writing haven't had any major problems with the bikes considering the hammering that they have taken! No trouble to speak of anywhere with the exception of the minor squirmish in Finland. We didn't get ripped off (knowingly) and we didn't have to bribe anyone!

TeekondBELGIUM is now TeekondFRANCE and in about 35 mins should be TeekondENGLAND!

Mike
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TeekondBELGIUM

TeekondHOLLAND lasted for a trundle around Amsterdam and a meal then hit the road to Belgium.
Got dumped on tonight and got the first real soaking of the trip, got pulled by the Police in Antwerp wasn't sure what I had done, was more intent on navigating the wet cobblestones, whilst trying to look for somewhere to stay. Pulled in and a plain clothes cop got out of his car, explained he was a biker and that I looked like I needed something. Explained was looking for somewhere to stay - 'expensive or sheet?' He asked, 'quick and dry' was my reply, 'follow us' with that they led me through antwerp and out the otherside for 5 or 6k's and deposited me at a Campanile, 'if there are no rooms tell them the police sent you', luckily there was room, with a bit of luck I will be on the Eurotunnel before noon with the aim of picking the kids up from school tomorrow afternoon.
Mike
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TeekondHOLLAND

TeekondPOLAND is now TeekondHOLLAND and is in Dam Square, Amsterdam.

Obervations from Germany
They drive very fast and there is lots of wind turbines.
Mike
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German roadside accomodation is simple yet effective

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