After Stockholm I was planning to ride over to Trondheim and then travel south through Norway, but for personal reasons I have to be in Belfast by Friday, so I had to buckle-up and head south. Being flexible is part of life when you’re travelling.
SUNDAY: About 8am I was packed and said my goodbye’s. Leaving the green and pleasant countryside in Ingaro behind me, I heading into Stockholm to catch the motorway south. It was about 17 degrees so wearing my winter gloves and warm clothes I joined the motorway. The intent was to spend a night near Malmö and then another night near Bremen but when I got to Malmö I decided to just carried on south and went over the Øresundsbron bridge and tunnel to Denmark.
To cross the Øresundsbron you need a ticket. It’s a 15km crossing and half is on a bridge and half is in a tunnel. I stopped for a break just before Malmo and while drinking a coffee I booked myself a ticket online. There are NO toll-booths, as its your registration plate that gives you access. If you don’t pay, I expect you get a letter through the mail, so you need to use their website. It was quick and easy, and you get a confirmation within a few minutes. The cost for a single crossing was 35eu, and the website is: https://www.oresundsbron.com/en/tickets
Once I left Denmark and got into northern Germany I was starting to loose light so I was planning to wild-camp for the evening. I stopped at a park-up and was looking ahead for some nearby forests so I could camp when I saw not far ahead there was a campsite. That would do for me and I made it to a campsite in Flensburg around 8pm. It had been a good day, especially as I had travelled 968km – or 605 miles in old money. After some food and a mug of tea, I was soon in my sleeping bag and fast asleep. It had been a really long day.
MONDAY. Waking up early I realised I had made great time yesterday, so while eating my muesli, I booked myself on this evening’s ferry from Rotterdam to Hull using the Direct-ferries app on my phone. Then it was time to de-camp, load the bike and head south again. I enjoy riding on the German autobahn because there’s no speed limit. Well, rarely. But, you really do have to keep an eye out on your left hand mirror to keep out of the way of the fast guys in their big beemers and Mercs. It’s good fun though, and keeps you on your toes.
About 70km from Rotterdam I suddenly hit huge tailback. A 20km stretch of motorway was completely closed for resurfacing so there were diversions. Nightmare. It took me over an hour of getting lost and riding on other roads to get around it because I didn’t understand the diversion signs. Well, they weren’t very clear. Eventually I got back on the motorway to join another huge traffic jam which eventually thinned out, but it meant lots of filtering.
I finally got to the ferry port – and I was early. Phew…! Because of the closed section of motorway I really thought it would delay me, but I got to Rotterdam in plenty of time. Near the ferry for Harwich there is an ice-cream shop I know, so I went there an ice cream and a coffee. Well, you’ve got to have ice cream some days. It was about 8km from the P&O terminal, but I had plenty of time.
I got to the P&O terminal a little after 5.30pm and it only took a few minutes to get through border control, and just a few minutes more before I was waved-on to board the ferry. The P&O ferry is huge, and there are around 80 other bikes on the ferry – all choppers. There had been a chopper festival somewhere in Holland this weekend so there was lots of leather-clad serious guys walking around the ship. I only saw around three other road-bikes, so we were the 1%’ ers….!
Yesterday was 968kms and today was 705kms, which is 1673kms. Or 1045 miles in old money. Wow..! I can’t believe I’ve done that mileage over two days and I still cant believe that yesterday morning I was in Stockholm. Crazy. To be honest, it was hard work. Not the riding, but just keeping your mind occupied as its quite easy to get bored when you’re travelling on motorways. Also, this evening I’ve got a bum like a baboon because that was definitely the hardest part to cope with.
