Farewell Scandinavia (day 31-39)
Day 31-39 (12th - 20th Sept)
3257 miles
Trones - Svenstavik - Stockholm - Ventspils
The parts from home were due to arrive today so I spent the morning cleaning and prepping the bike for the rebuild, and under Geir's suggestion repaired the spare front tyre damage on the beading by coating it in silicone then dressing back with an angle grinder once it had cured to reprofile the bead so it would seat on the rim properly. It worked a treat and I was able to return the crash damaged front tyre back to service so fitted it to the bike with the intention to strap the new tyres to the side as spares.
Along with the bike parts I needed Pa had sent out some items I'd made as small tokens of appreciation for Geir & Kristin, Vegard and Geir. I was struggling to think what would be appropriate for them as purchased things felt they gave the wrong level of thanks but something I'd made from my own home fit better.
I spent the afternoon building up the bike putting new bearings in the swing arm, re-wiring the new tail light into the loom and re-fitting the final drive. With a fresh rear wheel fitted it was obvious the damage to the carrier and possibly axle was more significant than I'd guessed with the wheel dancing around all over the place and the brake calliper sliding back and forth with each revolution. The wheel was a smaller concern as the tyres are knobbly and I don't balance them anyway but the calliper would wear the disc, pads and sliders of the calliper which would be an issue for 13,000 miles of riding. That evening Geir and I went back to the crash site in the Ford V8 to see whether there was anything at the side of the road which might be useful. I managed to find the 'wing' of the number plate fastener and Geir found the remaining parts of my old number plate which is going to live on the back of his workshop door as another story to add to the collection.
Just before bed I got an aurora alert saying there was high solar activity where we were so I went out but there was so much cloud cover, all I managed to see was a soft green hue to the sky which made for a pretty photograph. It wasn't the live performance many others in Norway would be experiencing right now but the weather forecast was better tomorrow night and the solar activity was supposed to remain high for a few days.
The next day Vegard very kindly took me down to Trondheim which was a 4 hour round trip, after I managed to find a new rear wheel carrier at a motorbike shop and hoped it would resolve the issue with the excessive dancing. On the way down I decided it was about time I started the 'negotiating' with insurance over the value and settlement for the crash. I had been given a pocket-money offer last week sent to the wrong email address and radio silence for the 5 days following when I didn't say yes on the phone. I rung back and spoke to the same lady that had made the offer who confirmed there was no negotiation or movement of the price, that I had been given the top of the allowance for my bike and that it was in fact very generous. It was insultingly low. I laid it on heavy that I was not at fault, the money was coming from the third party, that despite them being my insurance company I was having to convince them to support me and that I was still aborad, arguing about the value of my bike with someone who hasn't even seen it. After an hour I got the agreement that her supervisor would phone me back to discuss it as I was refusing to accept the offer. The supervisor rung back and it felt like I was finally being heard, she pointed out that it was the first time she'd seen the case so would need to review the information I'd sent but that if I could send any evidence of the vehicle before the crash, as well as listing some of the factors I felt increased the value from the 'equivalent they've seen online' that she would review. With the evidence sent promptly after the call, she rung back an hour later and agreed that I had indeed prepped the bike for an adventure beyond 'equivalent bikes available online', there was a lot more on the bike they had noticed (read: bothered to even check) and that the value I requested was fair. I agreed the sum, it was in my bank 2 hours later. Stubborn and articulate, a useful combination.
This episode has done nothing to improve my view of insurance companies, but I do have respect for the lady who actually looked at the case and helped, because it wasn't just a 'computer says no', but a human using a brain. I still need to tackle the cost of damage to luggage, riding gear, camping gear and electronics which is likely to be higher than the bike claim strangely, and more complicated to achieve, so I'll do that when I'm not trying to find the Kazakh border.
With the new carrier fitted, the dancing around reduced but didn't disappear, and the play in the bearing was evident. I'd need to test ride the bike to see how it felt but I wasn't completely convinced the final drive and wheel bearings had escaped damage anymore.
It was pub night at Vegard's brothers so Geir and I headed up. On the way back from Trondheim Vegard and I were talking about fishing and he rung Geir to line up some smoked salmon they had caught and smoked last year on their trip to Finnmark, which Geir was prepping as we arrived in the pub. It was the most flavoursome smoked salmon I've had, and I'm a big fan already! I was given the other fillet vacuum packaged to take with me on my travels in a few days which was very gratefully received. A few pints in, I got a notification from my aurora app that theres high solar activity again and a good chance to see the lights so I nipped out and went onto the golf course nearby for a darker sky.
Whenever I've seen or heard of the northern lights the usual caveat is that it will look more vibrant through a long exposure camera lens and that ordinarily it's not that clear by eye. With a KP index of 7 (out of a maximum 9), the aurora was forecast to be clear, vibrant and animated. It was incredible!! There were shades of green and purple shifting and twisting in the sky, rolling and contorting. It was dancing around and was incredibly fast considering its vastness in the sky. I stayed up on the golf course for an hour or so until I got too cold to stay longer, but captured videos and photos of it - absolutely mesmorised and wishing I could have watched it all night.
One of the reasons I wanted to travel so far north into Norway was to have a proper display of the northern lights but I was conflicted with the delays caused by the crash, with whether to continue north or change the plan and recover some of the time lost. Having seen such a complete display that night helped me resolve the benefit of amending my route to cut east into Sweden and head for Stockholm then get a ferry to the baltic states, conscious that winter was approaching and I had a long way to go still.
The next day I completed the build of the bike ready for a test ride - one of the two tyres I'd ordered had arrived but the other was stuck in the ether somewhere due Monday. The new plan was forming; test ride the bike, order a final drive to land somewhere ahead of me on the route, cut off Nordkapp and Finland, get a ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn and continue south from there. First order of business was a very relaxed saturday afternoon lunch at Geirs of scampi, scallops, muscles and prawn soup in the sunshine with chunky bread and a crisp white. I got the recipe in the hope I can recreate it in the future but I'm confident I'll be nowhere near as good, so I'll just add it to the list of reasons to come back to Verdal in the near future.
A few hours later, Geir (the blacksmith) and I headed off for a test ride in the evening up the valley and along some roads he knew, through forests and villages to a wide salmon fishing river. It was really nice to be riding again, 2 weeks after the crash. The bike felt uncertain and a bit lively in the corners, the rear wheel had a deep grumble and some resonant spots so I felt conscious of it the whole time. To trust the bike to do the rest of the distance through remote areas of the world I felt I would need to swap the final drive for another and hope that the condition of the replacement was better than my crash damaged one. As a last minute opportunity Geir (the fisherman) asked if I wanted to join on his boat at sunset to hunt some fishes, so I went down to the harbour and hopped aboard.
It was a gorgeous evening, the sun was deep oranges and reds in the sky, the water was calm, an idyllic way to end a varied and relaxed day. It's going to be difficult to leave these days behind in Verdal and go back onto the open road. I know I wouldn't have had these experiences if I had stayed at home in my comfort zone in the first place, so need to trust that other equally as good days will come by exposing myself to opportunities for them in the future. Needless to say, the fish averted our efforts once more but it certainly didn't detract from the evening.
I spent most of the following day organising, sorting and packing my things, preparing to be on the road again. Keen to actually catch something before I left Norway, Geir and I headed back on the boat again for our 3rd attempt, where I was presented with a gift from him and Vegard of a rod and reel with tackle to take with me on my travels, strapped to the bike, to catch my own dinner. Within 30 seconds of casting down into the waters I had a nibble and pulled up some herring. It might be a coincidence, or not - but this was the first time I hadn't brought my backpack onto the boat, a superstition that land-folk carrying backpacks shouldn't be on boats, perhaps it isn't superstition after all as the lack of bag resulted in half a bucket of herring within 20 minutes between us! We returned to shore and Geir prepped the fish at the pub, then presented pan fried and smoked kippers to accompany a couple more beers on my last night in Verdal as I said farewell and thank you to him and Vegard for everything they had done for me over the last two weeks.
Unsurprisingly the second tyre didn't arrive on Monday, and Geir (the blacksmith) made a few calls, discovering that it was more likely to be friday if not the following week. I swapped the front tyre back to the original one and put the damaged repaired spare back on the bike, with the plan to have the new one reside in Verdal until I'm back in the future - possibly on the wall in the pub! I said goodbye to Geir and Kristin, who's help and kindness made the whole drama of being nudged to the floor a positive experience, getting to know new friends and have some incredible Norwegian experiences - I promised to return. On my way out of Verdal I stopped by Ragnar at Sofia Moira camping to thank him for his help, then made for the Swedish border concluding my stay in Norway - it really does have everything you could want in a country, I hope the ferry from Newcastle to Bergen restarts soon and opens up the country again to the UK.
I didn't manage to get as far as I'd hoped by nightfall and ended up riding into the dark without dinnner and pulled up at a 'service stop' for the main road with lorries and campers, it had been so long since I'd actually been rolling and camping I felt like it was my first day again, making awful decision after awful decision. Cooking in the tent out of the rain by the side of the road in the dark, I remembered the need to give myself more time and be less ambitious with my activities on the road, again. Must try harder.
The next day was sunny which helped dry the tent as I booked accommodation in Stockholm and the ferry to the Baltics. The crossing to Tallinn from Stockholm runs every other day but the day I wanted it was full so would have meant either too short or too long a break in Stockholm, I decided it would be eaiser to just get the ferry to Latvia instead and miss out Estonia this time. Admin sorted, I set off for the hostel in Stockholm and put a long day in to arrive after hours but to a defined place - much easier than arriving late and still needing to sort out accmmodation. I cooked up some of the herring from Geir that evening then went out to a Jazz bar with someone I met in the dorm room to sample the delights of Stockholm's live music before bed.
The majority of my first day in Stockholm was more admin tasks, I needed a new tablet as my previous had finally died from its crash injuries, and typing a blog on a phone is crap (I tried). I modified the old tablet case with some craft items and a scrap of leather to protect it from a similar fate, I also needed a new water bladder for my backpack, parking in Stockholm was awkward and difficult and consumed 2 hours of my morning trying to become legitimate (after abandoning it at the entrace to a construction site the night before). I finally found a secondhand final drive to be sent to my parents to get Pa to swap the pivot bearings before posting it out to the cousin of someone I met on the walk to Kjerag Boulten, who lives in Poland. With those bits sorted, I finished the day in the sauna at the hostel and went to bed, with a plan to actually see of Stockholm the next day.
Up and out the next day, I headed to the Vasa Museum to learn about the 300 year old nearly complete ship which was raised from the seabed in the 80's, and history of the Swedish wars in the 1600s. I had a wander round the old town (Gamla Stan) and further afield, taking in the sunset at a viewpoint over the city with a relaxed atmosphere of younger folk there to enjoy the same thing at Skinnarviksberget. Retrospectively I've realised there were very few beggars or homeless in Stockholm that I encountered, and I did 20 miles of walking over the two days so had plenty of opportunity to bump into some. Whether thats an indication of strong social care and support, or that the winters are too unkind to really make it viable to be homeless in Stockholm, I'm not sure - I'd guess from the feeling of the city its more to do with the strength of social care.
My ferry from Nyashamn to Ventspils wasn't until 21:30 so I had most of the day to spent in Stockholm still. I met a new roommate Judy in the morning and spent the afternoon exploring some more of the city with her, chatting in cafes, watching the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace and visiting some of the cathedrals and larger historic buildings in the city. To complete the Stockholm experience we had Swedish meatballs at IKEA in the city centre - how much more cliche can you get. I said farewell to a few I met that day then set off to the ferry in the warm summer evening, glad to be on the road with flowing air to keep me cool.
I realised it had been 32 days in Scandinavia now, and how easy it felt to travel as an englishman. There are enough similarities that you can understand how things work, whats appropriate and basic logistics for getting about and behaving, its different enough to be interesting and new with the cultural differences, history, traditions, food, home life behaviours, and it felt very relaxed and easy with the level of well spoken english by everyone that lives there. I know its not cheap, and thats definitely worth factoring in for travel, but I couldn't recommend travelling through Scandinavia enough, to anyone who has interest in being abroad and appreciates beauty. Something Vegard said which tickled me, is that all Scandinavian people are in this secret competition against each other to be the nicest race/country. It does feel that way - everyone from Denmark, Sweden and Norway were always so prepared to help and engage and interact. I can't see what else you'd want from a travel destination, unless you enjoy feeling uncomfortable - in which case I guess somewhere closer to the middle east might be your bag.
Once I got aboard the night ferry to Latvia for the 9 hours crossing, I found my dorm 4-berth cabin and felt like I'd shifted slightly into a more functional existence. I've never been to prison, but I imagine when you enter your cell for the first time and its already got inmates there - it would feel the same as it did when I went inside. You have a tiny space on a fold down bunk bed, it was dark, slightly ominous, no one said anything but there's almost an understanding you keep quiet, to yourself and just get through it - so thats what I did, sleeping with my helmet and bag on my bed, I put plugs in and shut my eyes. Woken by the tannoy announcing the canteen was open at 4:30, I started to stir then when the second announcement enforced the point I got up and dressed in biking gear. I hadn't realised that after we borded the lower deck of the ship they had shut the floor hatch then parked 50 ish lorries on top, so our escape involved standing on the car deck amongst lorries with inches separting most of them (to the point you had to zig zag through them with most routes impassable for even the most persistent caver), waiting for them to leave the ferry first. Eventually I headed to my bike which was still standing (not a given on ferry journeys) along with a friendly Latvian biker, and set off from Ventspils to Riga through the morning mist in search of coffee.
