Over and out - for now!

14th August, 2016

Bike trip over now and we take the train down to Helsinki.  At least the trains are good value here! Weather continues on and off - rather un-seasonally according to the Finns - more sun normally expected.  Not just the weather that is a tad off. they also need to rejuvenate their cuisine as the Estonians seemed to have done. It took us some time to locate local eateries and the first evening meal is best not mentioned, as we could not find anything interesting even before we got to the how much question. Scandinavia is expensive. Street food at lunchtime was over €20. However "Gron" will become a very well known contemporary Finnish restaurant in Helsinki. It has not been open that long and only has 24 covers. Just don't ask how much - however compared to the slice of cake, cookie or pizza or even the street food it was top value!

The Finnish fur trade is alive and kicking if you could use those words - and for those that want to know a framed white fox tail is less than a pizza

With a day to spare we visited the local islands, the local architectural highlights and also the Design Museum dashing in and out of the rain showers. We were probably better off on foor than bike - more trams, more cobble stones.

And now for planning the next jaunt......

Lakes need filling

11th August, 2016


The trip from Ruokalahti to Tampere was supposed to be the most scenic of the trip. From what we had ridden so far on this trip is would be easier to say the only scenic days travel - this trip had been more about a series of destinations than the the road. Finland is the land of ten thousand lakes. Or more. And the roads looked slightly undulating and were supposed to be very quiet indeed. They were. 





But Finland is the land of ten thousand lakes and occasionally they need filling up or creating and our scenic days ride was undertaken on one of those days when the lakes needed filling. And the very quiet roads meant that there was not really much business to be done for a road side café so there wasn't any. Except the two that we found. Coffee and apple doughnut/cinnamon bun for lunch. We have been told that the Finns are the world's greatest coffee drinkers averaging 12 cups a day - where do they get it from?

We did not see many people but it looked as though there were some about - either that or the worlds most selective recycling schemes.













And with not much to do we were back to photographing road signs

Tampere was the destination as that was the location of the nearest Harley dealer to Helsinki and somewhere we could leave the bike to be picked up and brought back to London. The Harley dealer there had a super set up and interesting chops too. They were really nice people. they were also concerned about Europe as Finland's main trading partner was Russia and the Euro made everything expensive. they were also very worried about the effects of immigration and how it affected their culture. Finnexit on the cards?

Welcome to Finland

10th August, 2016

Leaving Russia wasn't too bad. In fact we had a quite pleasant fun up the coast and even managed to fins somewhere to stop for coffee overlooking the sea. tad chilly though. But the Finns were very inquisitive indeed about the bike when we arrived at the border and we were held back whilst they found a 'specialist' to check our documents. Is this something to expect now that we are Brexiting? Rather unusually none of the border crossings asked to see our bikes or the bike's insurance documentation and this was a first for us.

Our 'big' hotel on the trip was a property on the Finnish side of the border which had belonged to a Czar and that had been converted into a hotel. Expensive but Scandinavia is expensive, we know that. And in the middle of nowhere on the side of a lake so it would not be a question of going out for a meal. We were grilled on arrival - what do you want for breakfast, when - because the cook needs to prepare it for you. And the evening meal, what, when, same reason - all sounding good even though we were still stood at reception in our rain gear. Finnish efficiency we told ourselves. Goes with the silver birch tress and lakes as part of the national identity - and the swans but we hadn't seen many of them yet.

We were shown to our room. A tad under impressed we must say. the bleach like smell of cleaning fluid was somewhat off-putting. Well we didn't need bottles of water in the room because the tap water is drinkable we said. Bit of a shame that there was not a kettle though at this price, but then again Scandinavia is expensive.

The views around the lake were nice and the place was very quiet. a short walk and we were ready for dinner. two dining rooms, both equally nice - we think , as we were kept apart from the other clients even though there was space. Not sure whether this was a 'positive' or a negative? Large bowl of Finnish fish soup as a starter - we were a bit chilled. 12€ the bowl. Well Scandinavia is expensive but the soup was pretty grim; watery, a bit of cream for taste, some bits of salmon, potatoes and carrots. Umm. The main course was worse; three frankfurters - and a lot more expensive. Scandinavia again. Motorway service station food was better and at least they use hot plates. We were waiting for that candid camera moment but it did not come. Or Basil or Manuel from Barcelona. At least we had decided that we would not pay a ridiculous amount for a bottle of wine with the meal and we almost managed to finish a bottle of Hungarian Rosé.

Breakfast followed the same path. Why did the cook require so much notice to prepare two fried eggs with a bit of lettuce and raw tomato? it wasn't as though the cook had to pour the fruit juice or make the toast either as there wasn't any. 









Welcome to Finland. Maybe this was a Brexit reaction? Luckily we were on the move.

Back in the USSR

9th August, 2016

And then one of the most miserable biking days we can remember as it rained from Tallinn to St. Petersburg and it took us two and a half hours at the border getting into Russia. First issue was Estonia side. We had booked the crossing and turned up at the border thinking we had done everything. Nobody had told us we had to activate it and that this activisation took place somewhere else. Ah well.. Mr Garmin to the rescue and we followed his instructions to the place of activation which was a holding area. We were told we would be held here until the  motorcycle registration number was shown on the big screen at the end of the holding area - which was like those queues you have to get on a cross channel ferry. It was actually already there as by now we were running a bit late. Nonetheless it was a strange feeling to see our GB registration number up there on a big screen in Narva on the Estonian border with Russia. Almost there...

We were then told that the 'activisation' only lasts 20 minutes and we had better get back to the border before it ran out. No issue - we knew the route now! The vehicles were called forward at the border at a set of traffic lights which only let one vehicle through at a time. You went through the traffic lights and then a gate opened up and you were allowed into the border control area. Except that with us the traffic light never went green. Eventually a man stuck his arm through the fence and waved us forward on red. The vehicles were being called forward on a number plate recognition system - there were even notices telling you to clean your number plates - presumably so the cameras could read them more easily. But motorbikes don't have front number plates.......

The Estonia side did not take too long despite all the pfaffing. And it had dried up a bit. But then we had to queue up on a bridge that had opposing medieval castles on either side of a river - each flying its own countries flag. a man, below, was fishing - we weren't sure which side he was on. And then it started raining again. Heavily. Bouncing off the helmets sort of heavily and we were waiting in the queue and then we had to show our documents - all carefully prepared in plastic wallets to stop them getting wet. And then they started getting wet - difficult to take them out of plastic wallets with wet gloves. Difficult to put wet gloves back on.Not happy about wet passports. Francoise said that it wasn't raining as much as when we crossed into Singapore - but we were under shelter then. She also said that the documents were not getting as wet from the rain as they did from my sweat dripping onto them when we crossed into Thailand but nonetheless. And when it got to the new documents that we had to fill in, in duplicate, well yes I had put my name on the wrong line so I had to start again and the rather irate Russian lady came out of her cabin and pointed iritatedly at an example in German on the wall. And ... what was the model of the bike and why did it not have it on the registration document - well it just doesn't, so what? And the registration number. NX09 EOB? is the 0 a zero or an 'Oh'? and the 'Oh'  - a number or a letter? We were blocking the tarffic so eventually we got through.

Oh, and by the way, thanks to those four Russian Harley riders who sailed through and didn't even come over to say 'Hello' or even assist. Or even wave. And the same guys and reaction when we drew into the petrol station for a post-border toilet stop whilst they were having a coffee. Hi guys!

It rained all the way to St. Petersburg. As far as Mr Garmin was concerned the world know as Europe ends abruptly at the Russian border and there is just blackness on the screen at that point. In anticipation we had bough a Russian memory card but had been told that it was in Cyrillic. But using co-ordinates everything should be fine - and it was. In fact we don't know where the issue about Cyrillic came from because everything was in the Latin alphabet and just fine.

'We' have some pet hates on the bike. Cobble stones, especially big uneven ones as per Plovdiv and Milan. Tram tracks. Wheel ruts. St Petersburg had them all AND it was wet but we got there and as soon as we got there it brightened up. And for two and a half days we walked the soles off our shoes doing the sights - except when we took the boat to to Peterhof to see Disney's inspiration for all fairy tale castles and chateaux. In the end we even cruised up the Nevskiy Prospekt and along the embankments on the Harley, flaunting both the bike and the GB plate! Forget Brugge as the Venice of the North, St Pete every time.

So why did we come here - well to see Swan lake at the Marinsky, why else? Thanks to Marina for organising the tickets and everything else!

Peterhof had been rebuilt post second world war. We were unsure as to how much of St. Petersburg had been rebuilt as there are so many wonderful buildings. It had been under siege during the war with two million inhabitants dying. On this front things just seemed to be getting worse the further North East we went.

More hotel survey info - St Petersburg was the first night on this trip where we had a double duvet - all had been single ones on double beds up until now.

The Harley had developed a rattle above the normal level of rattling just outside Riga and it had become more than a tad annoying. Nothing serious, a jubilee clip holding the front exhaust heat shield had broken and shield was now rattling away. Visit to a dealer for more than a T-shirt and they hosed the bike down too. Thanks due indeed! There was a mega Harley Days rally in St Petersburg starting the day we were due to leave with over 10,000 bikes expected. Not really our scene - in some, most, ways we were glad we missed it even though we might well have won the long distance travel award. And after all that eh dealer had no pin badges for sale - with ten thousand riders due - lost business opportunity there!