Dutchblog

Yesterday I decided to head west from Edinburgh to revisit one of my favourite biking roads across Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe.

Leaving home at around 6am ensured traffic free roads for the first few hours and by the time I refuelled at Tyndrum the sun was warm and the skies clear blue.

Once through Glencoe I turned off towards Kinlochleven and circumnavigated the mirror still waters of Loch Leven. Despite having passed this way many times before, this was the first time I’d taken this particular detour.

I then headed south on the coast road through Oban to Lochgilphead where I had lunch in a nice warm spot overlooking the Crinan Canal.

Then it was time to head for home along the shores of Loch Fyne & Loch Lomond.

A really great day out on the bike today, the majority of the 353 miles on quiet dry roads with nothing more than my iPod for company!

Not a bad day for photographs either.

A significant element of my motorcycling enjoyment derives from the planning of our longer tours.

It gives me something constructive to do during the winter months and ensures we visit all the places we want to visit, travel the best biking roads and stay in the accommodation of our choice rather than having last minute & often late night compromises thrust upon us.

Although we’re not sure whether we’ll make this trip in 2009 or 2010, I spent last winter planning a return trip to Norway.

This will be the third time I’ve been to Norway, the last trip being in 2004, with friends, to the Nordkapp and my first trip alone in 2002 as far as the Arctic Circle & Sweden.

Executing planned routes has become much easier with the advent of portable GPS systems on bikes, which I have successfully used since 2002.

My modus is to start with locally sourced maps & guides which on this occasion were provided my motorcycling friends in Oslo who also gave much advice and even a highlighted road map to ensure we didn’t miss anything.

We decided that for this tour we would confine ourselves to southern Norway, fjord country, which we have passed through previously but have always wanted to explore in more detail.

The maps & guides used in planning this trip are as follows:

Michelin Norway

Cappelen Regional Road Maps (1,2 & 3)

Michelin Green Guide

Eyewitness Travel Guide:Norway

Plus, of course, the Garmin MapSource programme for fine tuning & transferring the completed route onto the Zumo 550 GPS unit.

For the reader to enjoy this article to the full you’ll need your own copy of MapSource installed on your PC plus Microsoft Word to be able to read the tour itinerary.

Here are my 5 steps to planning a successful tour.

1. Research Ferry Crossings. Previous experience tells me that there is no daily ferry service from the UK to Norway, so ferry timings are crucial to determining the overall length of the tour. The most direct ferry is operated by DFDS from Newcastle. It stops at Stavanger & Haugesund before finally arriving in Bergen. Crossing times are approx. 19, 22 & 25 hours respectively. At this stage I will decide on dates & make a provisional booking, to be confirmed after the route is settled. A cabin is essential because of the length of the crossing. Single sex shared cabins are an option if travelling alone or a private cabin if travelling as a couple.
2. Plan Tour Route. Using the research materials mentioned above I use MapSource to determine the overall route. In this particular case we are starting the tour in Stavanger and finishing in Bergen. We will have two nights in both Oslo & Trondheim which is as far north as we plan to travel this time. Not including the journeys from home to Newsastle and back, the total route mileage is around 2552 miles and the ferry timings indicate we have a total of 16 days in which to do them. This an average of around 160 miles per day. Take a look at my MapSource daily routes.
3. Plan Overnight Stops. Now that I’ve determined the rough daily mileage I use MapSource & the internet to locate suitable accommodation at the required intervals. I have previously used a booking system called Fjord Pass which offers significant discounts to holders of the Fjord Pass which can be purchased for about £10.00 at ferry terminals & travel agents. Locating accommodation is the biggest single factor in finally determining daily mileages as it’s rare to find accommodation exactly on the route at exactly the time & place you wish to stop. Take a look at my Norway Tour Itinerary which shows how the stops fit into our route. At this stage I’ll make provisional reservations for all the accommodation.
4. Confirm Ferry Bookings & Accommodation Reservations. Once I’ve received confirmations from all accommodation I’ll confirm the bookings as well as the ferry booking so at least the skeleton of the trip is settled.
5. Final Preparations. There are many internal ferries in Norway, even on major routes but crossings are frequent and rarely cause delays. It is possible to determine timings & costs for these crossings but I have found this to be unnecessary. In 2004 the eight internal ferries we used cost a total of £61.00GBP. Fuel costs around the same as here in the UK and petrol stations are frequent and often include reasonable café’s, toilets etc. Accommodation costs are also about the same as the UK, comparing like for like and most places will accept commonly used debit & credit cards. Norway does not use the Euro and the Norwegian Kroner (NOK) currently exchanges at the rate of NOK10.45 to one GBP. We found the most expensive element of previous trips to Norway to be the price of alcoholic drinks. Apart from taking your own supplies on the bike, the state owned Vinmonopolet outlets often found within supermarkets etc, are by far the least expensive sources.

All you have to do now is wait patiently for departure day with eager anticipation of the adventure to come….

PS: October 2008:Both DFDS & Fjord Line have now stopped their direct ferry service from Newcastle to Norway which means there is now no ferry from the UK to Norway. For those of us living in Scotland the extra time spent travelling by road to either use the Harwich to Esjberg (Denmark) ferry or any of the Channel ports means adding several days to what is already a three week tour.  Rumours abound that another operator will resume a direct Norway ferry service either from Newcastle or from Rosyth in Scotland but at the time of writing (31/10/08) nothing seems certain so our planned Norway trip will have to wait.

Following the bike’s first (600 mile) service yesterday, I felt the need for a really long day out on the RT today.

Having checked the weather forecast, which was promising a fine, dry day in the east of the UK, I decided to head south & east as I left home just before 6am.

I made all speed down past Newcastle & Middlesbrough to arrive in Whitby just in time for breakfast overlooking the old fishing harbour.

It was quite foggy on the coast road to Scarborough but once I headed inland towards my lunch stop at Rosedale Abbey the sun was out and it was certainly warm enough to eat lunch under the great oak tree on the village green.

After lunch I took the moors road north & west to Castleton where the RT needed fuel for the first time in 260 odd miles. My ususal fuel filler neck breather hole modification means the tank will now take around 28 litres , giving me a theoretical range of just over 300 miles. This seemed to be confirmed when it took just 23 litres to fill up this time.

Leaving Castleton I headed west to join the A68 near Darlington for the journey back to Edinburgh.

Being an English bank holiday weekend this route was busier than normal especially with the addition of literally hundreds of Vespa’s & Lambretta’s heading for a scooter rally at Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

A great day out on the bike, over 450 miles in all and it certainly provided me with an extended opportunity to really familiarise myself with the RT and make fine-tuning adjustments to the comms & music systems etc.

Not much time for stopping for photo’s today but the few taken, including a track log of today’s route may be found here.

Over the years I’ve used many different types & styles of motorcycle boot, starting with second-hand Ashman police motorcycle boots, continuing with various styles of BMW boots & culminating with BMW Savannah & Santiago enduro style boots, which were great with my previous R1200GS bikes.

Because they always seem to come in whole sizes only, I’ve never really been able to get a perfectly fitting motorcycle boot due to the width of my feet. This has resulted in size nine’s being about right in width but too long, which can be a problem when operating gearshift & brake lever or size eight’s being the right length but often too narrow for long distance comfort.

Last year I finally found the ideal solution in Alt-Berg made-to-measure motorcycle boots.

After an initial visit to their factory in Richmond, North Yorkshire for measuring & fitting I had to wait a couple of months for my custom made pair of Alt-Berg Bandog Lite’s in size 8 1/2, XW width.

When I returned for final fitting & collection I was immediately impressed with the comfort of the fit and the quality construction of the boots, especially considering they were brand new & probably needed a little ‘breaking in’.

Now, almost a year later I’ve had a chance to use these boots in conjunction with my new 1200RT and have to say they are just about perfect.

They are soft enough to enable comfortable walking away from the bike but sturdy enough to afford a fair level of impact protection if required. There are reinforced heel & ankle protection zones while double thickness leather covering the upper toe area to help protect the boot & foot from repeated gear changes.

The soles are quite chunky and I’ve had to fit a brake pedal extender to the bike to make a more positive step for the boot to find but an additional advantage of these thick soles is a much needed extra inch or so to my inside leg measurement! I can now plant both feet firmly on the ground astride the RT (with standard seat in lowest position).

I can also attest to the effectiveness of Cambrelle/hydromax waterproof breathable liners which kept my feet perfectly dry during my first ride on the RT when I experienced more than one torrential downpour.

In conclusion, my chosen boot appears a well designed & manufactured light to mid weight, calf-length, motorcycle touring boot for use in all but the most extreme weather conditions and doubles as a casual walking boot, especially useful when on a long bike tour.

I think they are reasonably priced, especially considering they are made-to-measure and Alt-Berg even offer a re-soling/refurbishment service to keep your favorite boots in tip-top condition for many years to come.

And as if that wasn’t enough, their factory shop in Richmond is always well worth a visit with decent biking roads providing access from just about every point of the compass.

The comprehensive Alt-Berg website may be found here.