Week 32 -33 The Finish

When I first thought about the trip up the length of Africa (and although a third of the journey was in Europe that is always how I will think of it) it seemed an impossible dream.  But like all dreams its all too suddenly over.

27 June 2016 - Bike delivered to London and ready for shipping back to Australia - its now really all over.  But now is also the time for a rebuild and preparations for the next trip.

Mumbles Head, Wales - where I grew up and the end of this trip.

 Before I actually finished the trip and heading home I had one small task to do finish this trip - an east -west crossing of mainland UK to complement the north -south one done at the end of my Russia trip in 2011.

St Davids Cathedral, Wales.  The most westerly point of the UK reached on this trip.

Lowestoft - most easterly point of the UK.  The town was as dismal as the scenery.

Saying Goodbye to Duncan in Paris before the final crossing to the UK.

Week 30 and 31- Sauntering south

A quiet, often damp fortnight as I made my way south through Germany, Nederlands and Belgium on my way to France and Paris where I met up with my youngest son, Duncan, and his girlfriend, Laura, before heading over to the UK. And as I'm overdue in putting this post up, but currently not in a writing mood (end of trip ennui?) this week just a few photos just to give the flavour of it (and the damp of the fortnight had meant there's not many of them)

Bremen 

Bruge

WW1 Western Front - Near Ypres, Belgium

Duncan

The Paris flooding led to people taking desperate measures to protect their precious belongings

Duncan and Laura

Leaving a damp France

And arriving in an equally damp England

Cambridge

Spitfire midden which I came across by chance

Lincoln Cathedral ...

Where I managed to join a tour into the structure of the building - amazing being up in the roof space surrounded by 1000 year old timbers 

Xxxxx

Week 29 - Norway - the conundrum

Norway I find a challenging place. It has some of the most concentrated beautiful scenery in the world  - every corner you turn seems to give you another wondrous sight, and with much variety; beautiful snow covered mountains and glaciers, villages hiding in gaps between the crags, wonderful fjord side roads and glorious ferry crossings, tunnels and bridges to marvel at (my favourites being the bridges that leap from tunnel mouth to tunnel mouth barely giving you time to see the valley or fjord below), idyllic villages each with seemingly not a thing out of place and every item freshly painted sitting in lush valleys,  waterfalls, forests - scenery- wise, you name it, Norway has it and in abundance. What it lacks is people;  most of the places I pass through the locals seem missing, hidden away out of sight, often the majority of people visible are tourists be they Norwegians or foriegner. I know Norwegian hospitality can be fabulous (witness last weekend) but it can feel very hard to connect with people. I assume it's the impact of the harsh climate for most of the year, people just get used to doing things indoors, out of sight.  After Africa, and to a lesser extent southern and eastern Europe, where life is lived on the street, this is all a sharp shock (and I feel for the African immigrants here, of which there are a surprising number, they must find it very hard to adjust and settle ).

Maybe I'm here just a little to early in the year when the memory of winter lingers too much, I suspect come June,  July,  August I'd see another Norway, one where many of the locals are living outside in all the cabins I see in forests and especially fjord side, plus in the tens of thousands of small boats that must be about to occupy the currently largely empty moorings dotted in every shoreside village.

This week's travels took me initially to Bergen and then all the way down to the southern tip - wild camping most of the way before ending the week by catching the ferry to Denmark.

Bergen in spring - beautiful mix of quaint old town and working harbour 

Travelling further south there still plenty of snow up high

Norwegians build tunnels everywhere to avoid the snow - they vary from very short and simple to this one at 10 kms long and containing two roundabouts (and its no good looking at your GPS to work out which way to go, no satellite reception in here)

In contrast, the older simpler style - a black unlit hole of unknown length - these can be nerve wracking as often they contain corners and one I found one even cork screws up a mountain

One of the most visited spots in the south,  Pulpit Rock - only 690 metres down. 

Not getting too close to the edge

Down south the landscape got softer

2518 kms from Nordkapp - the southern tip of Norway

Sometimes you meet interesting people as you travel.

Gaby from Switzerland - she'd just walked the 750 kms from Oslo to Trondheim in under 4 weeks. That's serious going

And finally in this rather grab bag of a post, in case you were wondering what I've been eating as I've been wild camping down the length of the country. ..

Breakfast - a dozen quails eggs (I kid you not). A gift from a Norwiegan biker the previous day

And dinner, fresh salmon and pasta for tea (salmon is cheaper than the beer!)

Some envious watchers at my last nights campsite anxiously waiting for any leftovers

Week 28 - It was one heck of a party (Norwegian biker hospitality)

Leaving the high of Nordkapp I started to head south. The guidebook says when you're that far north you have to visit the Lofoton Islands which are famed for their dramatic scenery of high, snow covered, jagged crags with dramatic fjords and tiny villages jammed in between them. I could see the praise is justified- but maybe I should have started with "When I could see" for unfortunately literally as I turned onto the islands the weather broke. For the two days I was there it was in equal parts snowing, raining and sunny (but still freezing).

The journey south has continued with the same weather pattern but in between the showers I've seen some wonderful scenery (and also when going over the high passes I've seen virtually nothing as thick sleet has blown continuously - always glad to get down safely from those, especially as the back tyre now has a lot less tread left than I like).

Throughout Norway you can legally wild camp, within reason, any where you like. So for a mixture of budget control and the fact I simply like it, that's what I've been doing, and have had some wonderful spots, usually alongside a deserted fjord all to myself.

The view from the site above - and all to myself

But there can be a downside (I was warm enough through the night but packing up was tough)

By the end of the week I'd made it about halfway down Norway and I visited Alesun in theory to have a look at the Art Nouveau buildings of the town centre. It didn't quite work out that way. As I arrived in town I found a local bikers day was happening. I was enthusiastically adopted by the crowd, interviewed by the local paper and generally had great fun.

An advantage of instant fame - pretty girls want to talk to you (thank you Lina for making my day)

Then I was invited to a party. Let's say it was a long night - we started with the pre-party, moved onto the party proper, and when that finished moved back for the after- party. Norwegian biker generousity was extreme. All night I had beers thrust into my hands (often faster than I could drink them) by complete strangers and lots of wonderful conversations. Fortunately my tent was pitched just outside the clubhouse door so the stagger home at 5:30 in the morning was mercifully short. No traveling that day.

Headstones Motorcycle Club - scene of most of the hospitality (and whose membership is an exceptionally friendly group).

George - whose invitation started the downward spiral of the evening.

Week 27 - Mission accomplished.

I started this trip by going to Cape Algulhas, the southern tip of Africa and right at the end of this week I reached Nordkapp (North Cape) Norway and now feel this journey is complete; a south - north of the Africa/Europe/Asia landmass to go with the east - west of the Russia to UK trip. For those interested this journey has so far covered 33,000 kilometres and taken 192 days compared with the 27,000 kilometres and 145 days of that first trip.

Haven't got the tree shirts, but did get patches for my jacket

I was surprised by how elated I felt when I got to Nordkapp, much more than when I reached the top of Africa. I was on a huge high when I arrived. I forget how goal orientated I am and it caught me out when I got there and suddenly realised that I'd achieved all that I'd set out to do on this trip (that is all except the critical last step of getting home safely).

Nordkapp - latitude 72 degrees north (Cape Agulhas is 38 degrees south)

I arrived at Nordkapp at 8pm on one of the first nights of the midnight sun so I camped there and lay in my tent watching the sun come down but never dip below the horizon with the light so strong you have no trouble reading. I was also extremely lucky with the weather, a comparatively mild 5 degrees at night and cloudless sky to enhance the experience.

1am and the sun is just starting to rise again

Scenery approaching Nordkapp

And more scenery

Reindeer just free range - with a about as much road intelligence as the averge sheep

Prices in Norway are scary. This typical burger works out at $13 (or £7) and another $2 for cheese. 

The part of the week before Nordkapp was a bit of a blur of travel, bit more rushed than the earlier months of the trip but I knew this was going to be the case - from Druskininku, Lithuania where I started the week it was a whirl of Latvia then Estonia then ferry to Finland followed by 1600 kms riding pretty much straight north, crossing the Artic  Circle on the way. Part of the rush was because the weather was dry and the forecast was for it to change to rain the following week.

The Artic Circle crossing point has been turned into a tourist trap where you buy your Santa themed everything. Fortunately it was closed when I passed.

Starting to get cold- that's ice on the water

Latvia had some great gravel roads - it was wonderful to be back off tar for awhile. 

Did the plan change?  - we have the railway bridge, but nothing but a 10 metre drop each end. 

Lithuania was full of beautiful little villages glowing in the spring sunshine