• Home time!

    11 augustus 2022, Frankrijk ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Norway was a billion times better than I expected. Genuinely one of the best places I visited in the last 4.5 months!

    But the fun and games has finally come to an end and I might actually have to have another go at being an adult.

    ... I wonder if work will let me take a sabbatical later this year 🤔
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  • Playing on the beach

    10 augustus 2022, Denemarken ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    So it turns out there are beaches in Denmark you can drive on!!!

    I bumped into another brother on the ferry over (also on a white CB500x) so when the ferry docked we both jumped on our bikes and went playing on the beach. He was slightly better equipped with his dirt tyres but we both scrambled through mostly without incident... I did get stuck... and I did crash... but otherwise it was without incident!Meer informatie

  • Mystery road to Lysebotn

    8 augustus 2022, Noorwegen ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    This was my last day to explore so that's what I did, there was a little road I'd seen on Google maps that looked like it could be worth a look so despite being an hour and a half off my route down a road that only gets to a dead end off I went.

    The road was spectacular, twisting and turning through mountains before reaching 8km of back to back hairpins working down from the mountains to a small town at the bottom.

    The sun was shining and it was a wonderful reminder of why seeing the world on my bike is undoubtably the best feeling in the world... I needed that reminder after 2 or 3 very miserable days.

    I finished the day hunting around this amazing road for a good place to pop the tent for a night. It was beginning to look like all the good spots were taken and I might have to just find a roadside patch of grass when I spotted a little road turning off, this then became a dirt road that steeply (scary when you can't switch off the ABS!!!) took me down to a little lake, with a little waterfall and a fantastic camping spot with incredible views!!

    I did end up with some company for the night, a German pair of lads and a German couple had both had the same idea as me. So we finished off my beers and their homemade banana wine around a fire.
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  • Lom to Bergen, Bergen to Eidfjord

    7 augustus 2022, Noorwegen ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    2 very very very rainy days so not many photos. I'll describe them to you instead. Mountains dropping hundreds of meters into fjords, but not like a soft slow descent, more like sheer cliff edges straight down into the water, each one with maybe 7 or 8 waterfalls all running down it.

    Amd when it wasn't that it was windy roads through barren snowy scenery in the clouds. the roads lined by 10ft wooden poles so when it snows you still know where to drive. It could honestly have been a different planet.

    However, due to being completely soaked all day for the last 2 days and too cold to move my hands I haven't taken photos of the good stuff, just occasional photos if I had to stop for a pee break anyway!
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  • Mardalsfossen, Trollstigen, Greiranger

    5 augustus 2022, Noorwegen ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Today was a good day of great roads and amazing views and best of all it didn't rain for about 40% of the time.

    Started off with a 1.5 hour drive out of my way and a 1hr hike to get up to a couple of waterfalls called Mardalsfossen. I didn't really know what to expect but my god was ot worth it! Looked like the kind of scenery you'd only find in a national geographic magazine!

    Amthen onto Trollstigen, a superbly brilliant windy road up into the snow, the kind of road dreams are made of, spectacularly ruined by the train of tour buses ensuring that it takes at least 30 minutes to do 5km. The views were good at least!

    Lastly it was a ride through the clouds and snow before my final climb... into more clouds and snow at Greiranger (you can just about make it out winding up the hill on the right in photo 5! Less busy but much wetter, much colder, and by this point I couldn't feel my face... but nothing was going to stop me being a big kid blasting up the road and zipping past all the cars that were trying to ruin my fun!
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  • Atlantic Ocean Road

    4 augustus 2022, Noorwegen ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    This was pretty cool!

    So many bridges all weaving and curving over the fjords, as with all these things traffic was pretty heavy so couldn't enjoy it quite the way I'd want to but none the less, pretty spectacular!

    Then onto my airbnb for the night, owned by a chap who must have been no more than 25 and it was basically a mansion he'd inherited from his mum as she didnt want to live there anymore... where my mansion mum?? 😂
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  • Trans Europe Trail then onto Trondheim

    3 augustus 2022, Noorwegen ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    With new tyres fitted I'm into Norway!... annoyingly after a little bit of tyre polava I don't have the right tyres, in fact they're still road tyres which made today an interesting challenge.

    From a very very wet camping spot by the river on the border of Norway (turns out my tent has quite a significant design floor... its not overly waterproof) I took theTrans European Trail all morning across dirt and gravel making a mess of my bike, my boots and my trousers and having a lot of fun in the process, except for constantly having to try and stop the front tyre from slipping and throwing me face first into the mud. Successfully avoided all day.

    The Trail was followed by a spectacular road (fv665) up to Tynset and then onto Trondheim from there.

    Trondheim is pretty much the cutest city in the world by the looks of it, and to end the day on a real high my hotel room is big enough to lay the tent out to dry! Camping was the plan but with 99% rain all night I've forked out for a roof.
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  • Sweden stuff!

    1 augustus 2022, Zweden ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Lots of goings on in Sweden!

    First and foremost I was in pretty desperate need of tyres... again... lesson learned (again), plan tyres in advance!!!! They take much longer to order than you might expect!!

    Slight issue get the right tyres, so long story short, I'm riding with the wrong tyres for anything other than wet concrete... not so great for the dirt roads I've got planned 🤔

    Got out to the islands around Stockholm this time which was great for a night camping, some swimming and Mosquito splatting.
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  • Copenhagen

    25 juli 2022, Denemarken ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Great city!

    Found a nice little bar with a barman who had ridden my route a couple of times so got some useful recommendations. Also a friend if a friend of a friend is a biker in Norway so have pretty much been given the best route to ride by him 😁

    Also found a burger bar in a tram (or at least it looks like one! Best burgers in Copenhagen... apparently.
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  • Camping in Germany

    24 juli 2022, Duitsland ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Great little campsite outside Hamburg for the night!

    The riding through Germany was nice, found some fun little dirt roads but otherwise pretty flat, pretty green and everyone drives everywhere at about 120mph.Meer informatie

  • Into the Netherlands

    23 juli 2022, Nederland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Lovely ride today, managed to stay mostly off any big roads and found a few cute little towns along the way.

    Started in Bruges this morning, spotted a windmill a couple of miles off my road so went exploring to see what I could find and found a town called Damme, kinda wish I'd waited and got breakfast there, either way I had a quick wonder round and then slowly made my way up to Amsterdam with a stop for a pint in the sun in Leiden.

    No need to do the sights in Amsterdam, I've done them twice already so instead I'm sitting by the river enjoying a beer.

    Early start tomorrow and lots of miles to cover!
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  • Brussels to Bruges

    22 juli 2022, België ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Breakfast in Brussels, lunch in Gent, dinner in Bruges.

    Feels like I'm being the worlds speediest tourist! arrive at location, run around seeing the sights, grab some food or a coffee and jump back on the bike for the next bit!

    3 brilliant cities though, good live music festival going on in gent in the town so was able to check that out for a bit. Bruges was the best if the 3, every part of the city was beautiful!
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  • Off we go again!

    21 juli 2022, Frankrijk ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After too many disrupted flights (and wrong airports) I decided the only way I wanted to spend my last few weeks of my time off getting back on my bike... my new bike!!... and heading off to Europe. The bike is a slightly newer, but otherwise exactly the same, version of skippy. Just with a few extra bells and whistles... for £4k it really is a fantastically good bike.

    With the bike loaded up I got on the road at 10.15 - 15 minutes behind schedule due to a little old lady stopping me outside the house to tell me my bike looked very impressive, so I had to tell her about my journey. She looked bored and thoroughly unimpressed after the first 3 minutes but she started it so she was going to have to listen.

    The ferry left Dover at 2.40, getting me into Calais at about 5pm. From there it was a quick stop at the shop for snacks and beer and then I headed east... yes I know its the wrong way! But I want to go to Brussels so I was going to have to go east at some point! And this way I could find a nice wild camping spot in France before I go to Belgium. Which is exactly what I've done... the mosquitos beat me here though... and i fear I may be an empty sack of skin by the end of the night after they've drained me.

    Not much to see today really, in fact until I get to Denmark I expect the scenery will be pretty uneventful. But the cities and towns will be good fun to visit along the way!

    Planning to get up early, and get to Brussels for breakfast tomorrow, lunch in Ghent and finish off with dinner in Bruges.

    As usual, all photos have the bike in them... none of the photos have me in them.
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  • That's a wrap

    16 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Final post of the USA and Canada road trip! 😥😥

    Can't believe it was 2.5 months ago that I was getting on a plane to Colorado, expecting to spend 3 months riding down to LA, then up the west coast to Seattle and back across and down to Denver... and here I am now in an airport in Alaska waiting to fly home having gone down as far as San Diego and up as far as the Arctic Circle 😂

    This trip has been nothing short of sublime, tough at times battling the wind, then battling the snow, then the heat of the dessert, then battling the rain... then more snow. But every single day has been incredible and always in a different way from the last. And despite the challenges that I soon discovered with travelling on a bike, I would head straight back off again in a heartbeat if I could... which I might do... we'll see! It's going to be strange to not wake up every morning and ride 350 miles, greeting the exit of every corner with a muffled "fuck me!" in my helmet as the mountains get bigger, or the canyons get deeper, or even just seeing the nothingness become more nothingy... or sometimes just because I'm so cold that everything hurts.

    Skippy will be sorely missed but heads off on a new adventure back down the Alaska highway with his new owner, and this time with his very own Alaska licence plate just to prove how hardcore he is.

    Feeling quite proud of what Skippy and I achieved, WHAT A BLOODY INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE!... 'MURICA! 🇺🇸

    Now I'm off to Mexico to rest my slightly battered feeling body, lying on a beach and drink cocktails for a little before I fly home 🍹⛱️
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  • Anchorage

    16 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The final stop.

    Not much to say about anchorage, its alaska's largest city but its pretty dull (the views around it are great!).

    There's some guidance bars and it's one of the few places in alaska where you feel like you're in some kind of normal civilisation, but the crime rate is high, the streets feel a bit run down, homelessness is high. Its not somewhere I feel I'd need to return to.

    The bike shop dies have a great waiting room however and it's where skippy got his super awesome official alaskan number plate! 😁 go Skip!!!! He's achieved so much in the last few months!
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  • Whittier

    15 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Well this is a weird place...

    A 2 mile ride through a tunnel on a railway track to get to a town with a population of 200. All 200 live in 1 building!

    Every few days a huge cruise ship will show up and flood the town with 7000 tourists. I luckily avoided one of those days!

    The scenery is pretty amazing, and the derelict building used to be the largest in alaska! Back when whittier was primarily used as an army base after ww2.

    Definitely worth the visit.
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  • Kenai Fjords National Park and Seward

    13 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    I saw Killer Whales!!! I don't think I need to say anymore about this place. They have always been my favourite animal for as long as I can remember and now I've seen them in the wild. I had goosebumps watching them swimming through the water!

    Seward was about 150 miles from anchorage (I think). It was a tiny little place but plenty of hikes (apparently - I didn't do any).

    I jumped straight onto the boat and went out to the Kenai Fjords National Park. I saw Killer Whales (if you didn't already know), humpback whales, sea otters, porpoises, puffins... and other seal type things that I can't remember the name of... I didn't really care as I was watching the Killer whales 😂. We also took the boat right up to the foot of a glacier and watched it calve and crash into the sea, it was nuts! Sounded like thunder but looked so small... because we were so far away.

    The hostel in Seward was a strange little place but great fun, nice people all with interesting stories. Spent the evening chatting with a guy who'd spent 16 days climbing Denali... seemed like a stupid idea to me.

    Before checking out in the morning I took a walk up to the river where you can see the salmon swimming upstream. There was a small shed on the stream where they monitor and record the ages of a sample of the fish going through. They also help the salmon to stay safe while they have the baby salmon (can't remember what that's called either) and then record a sample of the babies swimming back down stream. It was actually pretty interesting.

    Also saw a moose and 2 bald eagles on the walk!
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  • Denali Park

    10 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    After the Arctic Circle ride Kip, Rich and Shad were heading the same way as me down to Denali Park. I didn't have anywhere to stay sorted, was planning on just showing up and finding a camping spot but they already had somewhere booked and let me pitch up with them for the couple of nights I was staying.

    It was great fun, we played lots of cards, drank some beer and ate some great camp cooked food (Rich is a brilliant chef).

    Spending 2 nights there meant I had a day without needing to get on the bike so was able to head out to the park and do a bit of hiking. We stayed pretty close to civilisation as the other guys had another day of hiking the following day and had a big hike planned. But even staying close the views were awesome, we hikes around a lake, saw some pretty cool beaver dams and a few moose!!

    A couple of says of brilliant chilled fun (despite the rain and cold).
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  • Arctic Circle

    8 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Made it to the Arctic Circle!

    WHAT A JOURNEY!

    2 years ago I didn't have a motorbike licence and now I've just finished riding one from the Mexican/US border (or 15 miles above it to be accurate) to the Arctic Circle. Its all very silly really 😂 It feels like I've reached the last major milestone on the trip... even though it wasn't a milestone at the start. I've bumped into a few people doing the same run up to alaska and they have all told me they've been planning for a couple of years. Not really sure what they were planning though, there's 1 road and you have to use all the petrol stations because there's 150 miles in between them. Perhaps I'm missing something or I'm just stupid haha! Either way they were all very surprised I'd just decided to do it a couple of weeks ago amd even more surprised I was doing it on a 500cc, seemed to get me a lot of respect from everyone else on their big bikes.

    I found a group of 3 guys who had ridden up from San Diego and were unsure about whether to do the ride up the Dalton Highway to the arctic circle... I persuaded them they should so I would have support of anything went wrong on the 150 miles of dirt we had to do. It didn't and we all made it just fine... except we missed the only petrol station (using the word very loosely as you'll see in the pictures) so the Jerry cans became essential to get us out of trouble!

    The ride up was ok temperature wise, some snow but not terrible. We camped up there overnight which was pretty chilly and light... all night... in fact I haven't seen night time in about a week now and it's really messing with my body clock. The ride back down in the morning was freezing! It was actually snowing on us as we rode.

    I'm nearly 11,000 miles into the trip and Skippy hasn't let me down once, what a fantastic little bike 😁
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  • Alaska ride day5: Haines Jct - Fairbanks

    7 juni 2022, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Another 500 mike day but we've made it to Alaska!!! Crazy times 😂
    The roads were terrible, they get torn apart through the winter by ice surges under the tarmac so you get huge drops and bumps in the road.

    Got drenched all morning by the rain but it cleared up this afternoon. By the time I got to Fairbanks it was a lovely 24 and sunny!

    Stopped at North Pole on the way, enjoyed a little Christmas before heading to my hostel in Fairbanks and who would be there... but the 3 guys I've been bumping into at every petrol station, lunch spot, breakfast spot the whole way up. Got dinner with them and settled in for an early night... except that's not possible because its 10.30pm and looks like its still 2pm outside.
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  • Alaska ride day4. Watson lk - haines jct

    6 juni 2022, Canada ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Didn't cover as many miles today as I'd hoped but enjoyed the company of Al and Jim for another day amd should still get to fairbanks tomorrow with an earlyish start.

    Probably only did about 380 miles today but saw some great scenery and stopped for an hour at signpost forest. I have also encountered the famous Yukon mosquitos... there are billions and billions of them. The second I stop my bike they swarm around me, climbing into my helmet, up my sleeves, down my jacket. And they're huge, a couple of times I've found myself wondering whats dripping down the back of my head only to realise its my blood from where a big mossie has got me!

    Had a great time in the middle of the day, waiting for the pilot car to take us past the road works we collected about 20 other bikers, all at the front of the queue. So once we were allowed to go we had a huge group of bikers all riding together through the gravel, so much fun!! I'm getting a huge amount of appreciation for skippy, everyone else is on big adventure bikes, Africa Twins or BMW GS's. One group even came up to me and said "huge respect for you doing this ride on a little 500 duuuuuddeee... thats awesome"... I felt like a proud dad next to skippy 😂

    Ride with Jim and Al all the way to their sisters and then used her Internet and phone to find accomodation for tonight. Didn't use it though as it looked like a dump and the place up the road was $20 more but actually looked good, so I voted for that one.
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  • Alaska ride day 3: Pink mtn- watson lake

    5 juni 2022, Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    This road is incredible, it has taken the top spot on my all time favourite roads list (not a real list, but if it was this would be top).

    The road itself is pretty uninteresting but the experience of riding it is insane. A combination of the views, the vastness of the country, the wildlife, and even just the loneliness makes it such a mind blowing experience. Where else can you find a road that takes 5 days to drive, where you have no phone signal (everrrrrr!!!!), you set off in the morning tackling 100 miles at a time, nor knowing where the next fuel stop is or where you'll sleep that night. Its terrifying and exciting all at the same time.

    The views today were extraordinary. Heavy rain this morning eventually cleared to reveal a backdrop of the northern rockies, lakes a bright blue from the minerals (sulphur??) And so much wildlife!!! I do however have a new rule for bears. No more stopping to take photos of them, much safer to just keep riding past! I've been warned they can be pretty unpredictable out here so best not to chance it by shoving a camera in their face! They're also mich bigger in northern bc than southern!

    On the one hand I don't want this road to ever end, on the other hand I'm looking forward to the comfort of civilisation... in the meantime I guess I've still got 3 long days of riding before I get to another proper town or city!

    460 miles done today. Sunset was 11.15pm... thats just getting silly.
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  • Alaska ride day 2: Edmonton to Pink Mtn

    4 juni 2022, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Holy shit is this country big. Once you hit the Alcan Highway the traffic dissapears and you quickly find yourself on your own surrounded by trees and straight road.

    Occasionally the road lifts and you get a glimps over the trees only to realise that it's just more trees for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Pretty much everything above Dawson Creek is just untouched forest.

    Rode 503 miles today and found some riding buddies who are going to whitehorse so we're riding together and staying in the same hotels etc. Nice to not be alone out here! It's a pretty lonely place!

    Accomodation for tonight is in Pink mountain. Its basic but they have a restaurant serving a few home cooked meals - you dont get the luxury of looking around other restaurants out here!. (WiFi was down so I'm actually writing this the day after). Room was $125.
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  • Alaska ride day 1: Calgary to Edmonton

    3 juni 2022, Canada ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Skippy was ready to go early which was great news as it meant I could get going a day early and cover a quick 180 miles which means I don't need to do the big 540 mile day tomorrow! Now just 360 which is much more pleasant!

    So I grabbed my free t-shirt and stickers from the bike shop and hit the old dusty road.

    Calgary was a boring place, Edmonton is worse (kinda like Reading if it didn't have the nice Riverside area). The ride was disgustingly boring between the 2. Just motorway, no views, no corners. And as such... no photos. So here's my 1 photo of calgary and a picture of my pint of Guinness that I'm enjoying while I write this.

    Tomorrow takes me to the start of the Alcan Highway! The journey begins!!!! 😁😁😁
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  • Riding in the rockies

    1 juni 2022, Canada ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Day 1: Banff - Revelstoke - new denver
    Day 2: New Denver - kaslo - balfour - kootenay Bay - creston - Cranbrook- Fernie

    Didn't take nearly as many photos as I should, but the roads and views were outstanding.

    I met Pat on the Balfour ferry, were heading the same way so rode together for the day and found a camping spot in the rockies. He spent all evening insisting I eat his food, drink his beer and sit in his chair... I didn't put up much of a fight.

    Temperatures seriously dropped overnight down below freezing and it became pretty clear why the thicker more expensive sleeping bag that I didn't buy because I wanted to save $15 might not have been a terrible purchase.

    Great to ride for the day with someone, he's put me in touch with a friend of his (Ian) in calgory that I'm now in touch with. He's sorted me out some heated gloves and a few other bits I needed and he's buying me dinner tomorrow... he was annoyed at himself for not having anough space at home to give me a bed for the night 😂

    Ooohhh also we saw a moose... well Pat saw a moose, I missed it... but that still counts right??

    Tonight I'm eating a veggie burger with a side salad. No meat, no chips, no grease... the most green thing I could find on the menu! Still a burger though!
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  • Sandon

    31 mei 2022, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    A little 10 minute dirt ride off 31a from New Denver takes you to an old mining town, burnt down twice and washed away once... there's not much left but a collection of the old buses (some of the first electric powered vehicles in the world), the old train, a few ropey buildings and the oldest working hydro mine in Canada. The town is slowly bring turned into a museum but at the moment it's just 1 room of museum and a lady called Vida selling shitty coffee from a hut.

    Sandon however is pretty cool, all the money from the mine meant the town grew hugely in about 3 years and after the mine was dried out the town basically disappeared 20 years later.

    This was meant to be a half hour stop. Vida talks... it took 2 hours.
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