Seem to be adding posts in a half life manner at the moment. By that I mean, recent posts seem to have occurred with half the time left to departure, than the previous post. 82 days left now.
Not a great deal to say. I've re-booked a little excursion for when we arrive in Bergen, which should be fun if the weather is OK. Not so probably, if we hit one of Bergen's many, many wet days! Not much we can do about that though, it will be, what it will be.
There will be some minor admin things to sort out before we take to the roads, such as how much of each currency we will need to take with us, i.e. 3 different Kroner, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. We only spend one night in Sweden, and two in Denmark, so the majority will be Norwegian. I already have Euros and Grizzly (a.k.a Knutr) will be bringing me some more, to pay off his travelodge and eurotunnel debts.
I need to check that Knutr has got his passport renewed too, else I might be looking for another nutter to join me 😉
Last time I mentioned I was looking at a new bike. The other day I tested a Yamaha FJR1300. A nice bike and definitely in the frame along with the K1600 BMW. Problem I have at the moment though, is that there is uncertainty surrounding my future employment, so I'm a little reluctant to shell out on new hardware, until I know what the future holds. It is almost certain then, that I shall be taking the Sprint on one last hurrah! You never know though.
One piece of hardware I have purchased though, is a new, all singing, all dancing, TomTom Rider 410. That is, a tone deaf all singing, one legged all dancing TomTom! You'll guess it hasn't exactly blown me away! I'm not going into loads of detail, suffice to say, there seems to have been some major software changes from the old Rider 2 device, to the new 410, which means it doesn't perform as the old one did and in particular, when using the TYRE planning tool, for which incidentally, TomTom provide a free Pro licence, with the 410! Testing in the car has proved, shall we say, less than fully satisfactory. It might just be an education thing but as I say, the software just doesn't do some of the neat stuff that the previous device did. Progress?
As a result, I think I shall have to tweak the route plans before downloading them to the 410 and hope we don't get totally lost in the wilds of Norway!
I have more testing planned, in the car and on the bike, so hopefully I'll have got it all sussed before 2nd July.
Think that's all for now. Once again I'd say, if you haven't already, then sign up for email blog updates. That way you'll not miss anything. It will get more exciting once we hit the road, I promise.
Monday, 10 April 2017
Friday, 13 January 2017
169, wow!
Is it really that long since I posted anything? 345 to 169! You'd think I'd have had something to say in all that time, eh? Well, now I have.
The final piece of the accomodation jigsaw, was refitted into the puzzle a few weeks ago. This was a place I had booked for 2016 but who wouldn't let me rebook immediately, when I cancelled due to the heart attack. They said I had to wait till 'the fall'. Well I waited till just before Christmas but didn't hear back to my enquiry this time. As it happens though, the place is listed on Booking.com, so I booked it through them.
Moving into the new year, my attention turned to the transport from Blighty to the continent and from Denmark to Norway. Grizzly took care of his sailing from/to the emerald isle, and I his usual accomodation along the M4, at Leigh Delamere services. I then booked our Eurotunnel crossings and the Fjordline fast ferry. That takes care of everything. Well, almost. Grizzly's passport expires in April, so he needs to get a new one sorted.
At present, I am still undecided as to whether I shall be selling the Sprint before the trip and if so, what shall take its place. I had a few test rides last year and was rather taken with the BMW K1600. I t would be great for this and future trips, I'm just not sure though, it would be as great for London commuting. There's still time to give it more thought before the riding season starts again. Trouble is, there seems to be a decreasing number of touring bikes available. Triumph have dropped both the Sprint and the Trophy. As far as they are concerned, we all want adventure or street style machines, so whatever I end up buying next, it won't be a Triumph.
Not much else to say at this point. Come back soon though, to check for an update.
The final piece of the accomodation jigsaw, was refitted into the puzzle a few weeks ago. This was a place I had booked for 2016 but who wouldn't let me rebook immediately, when I cancelled due to the heart attack. They said I had to wait till 'the fall'. Well I waited till just before Christmas but didn't hear back to my enquiry this time. As it happens though, the place is listed on Booking.com, so I booked it through them.
Moving into the new year, my attention turned to the transport from Blighty to the continent and from Denmark to Norway. Grizzly took care of his sailing from/to the emerald isle, and I his usual accomodation along the M4, at Leigh Delamere services. I then booked our Eurotunnel crossings and the Fjordline fast ferry. That takes care of everything. Well, almost. Grizzly's passport expires in April, so he needs to get a new one sorted.
At present, I am still undecided as to whether I shall be selling the Sprint before the trip and if so, what shall take its place. I had a few test rides last year and was rather taken with the BMW K1600. I t would be great for this and future trips, I'm just not sure though, it would be as great for London commuting. There's still time to give it more thought before the riding season starts again. Trouble is, there seems to be a decreasing number of touring bikes available. Triumph have dropped both the Sprint and the Trophy. As far as they are concerned, we all want adventure or street style machines, so whatever I end up buying next, it won't be a Triumph.
Not much else to say at this point. Come back soon though, to check for an update.
Thursday, 21 July 2016
345 and counting!
Yes folks, it's only 345 days till the Wild Hogs take to the road on the 2017 Scandinavian Tour. Fingers crossed neither of us has an 11th hour medical emergency, this time round.
In my last post I mentioned about re-booking the hotels. I was able to re-date some and to re-book some others but there remains a number that are not yet taking bookings, so I shall have to keep a watchful eye on them over the coming months. I think I have made one change at the moment, that being our second night stay in Kolding, Denmark. I've managed to bag us something cheaper and a little closer to the town centre. There was nothing wrong with the previous selection at all and it was available to book again, but I took the opportunity to save a few kroner. Take care of the pennies and the pints will take care of themselves ;-)
I was able to re-date my Eurotunnel booking and transfer it to the car, so we shall be having a day trip across to France in September instead, a booze run basically. Grizzly, spent a couple of days in Belgium to use his crossing and then stayed a couple of days with me. That gave us the opportunity to meet up with two of our Route 66 tour chums, Simon and Vivien. We had a nice few hours lunching and chatting at The Leather Bottle in Cobham, Kent. Grizzly had wanted to visit an old fashioned English pub. Not only does the Leather Bottle ( http://www.theleatherbottle.pub/index ) fit the bill, as an old English pub but it also has the added bonus of being featured in the Pickwick Papers. Indeed, Charles Dickens used to stay in one of the rooms. It was nice to see Simon and Viv again and a big surprise for Grizzly, as I'd kept the meeting a secret.
That's all for now. Come back again soon to see how I'm getting on with the re-planning.
In my last post I mentioned about re-booking the hotels. I was able to re-date some and to re-book some others but there remains a number that are not yet taking bookings, so I shall have to keep a watchful eye on them over the coming months. I think I have made one change at the moment, that being our second night stay in Kolding, Denmark. I've managed to bag us something cheaper and a little closer to the town centre. There was nothing wrong with the previous selection at all and it was available to book again, but I took the opportunity to save a few kroner. Take care of the pennies and the pints will take care of themselves ;-)
I was able to re-date my Eurotunnel booking and transfer it to the car, so we shall be having a day trip across to France in September instead, a booze run basically. Grizzly, spent a couple of days in Belgium to use his crossing and then stayed a couple of days with me. That gave us the opportunity to meet up with two of our Route 66 tour chums, Simon and Vivien. We had a nice few hours lunching and chatting at The Leather Bottle in Cobham, Kent. Grizzly had wanted to visit an old fashioned English pub. Not only does the Leather Bottle ( http://www.theleatherbottle.pub/index ) fit the bill, as an old English pub but it also has the added bonus of being featured in the Pickwick Papers. Indeed, Charles Dickens used to stay in one of the rooms. It was nice to see Simon and Viv again and a big surprise for Grizzly, as I'd kept the meeting a secret.
That's all for now. Come back again soon to see how I'm getting on with the re-planning.
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