There was a desperate need for a proper longer ride that
would take me and my friends far away from the familiar roads. The problem was
that due to my line of work I'm not able to have a summer vacation. I could
skip work for a day, but how to get anywhere and back in just 3 days?
Looking at the maps and schedules long enough we came up with a plan. The plan was to load the bikes on a train. The train
would then take us 855 kms away from home while we slept and riding would
commence on the next day. This seemed sensible as it would save
time and cost no extra compared to riding there and having to spend a night in
a motel.
Because the schedule was tight and rain was more than
likely we opted to spend the nights in a hotel instead of a tent so we could
get our wet gear dried for the next day. Bunch of pansies, I know.
The route
After some calculating it looked that we could visit the
shores of the Barents Sea, Norwegian sea, Gulf of Bothnia and return to the
shores the Baltic sea where we started. The route would take is from Finland to
Norway to Finland to Sweden and back to Finland again. The estimated length would be 2035 kms (1265 miles).
The idea came during the long unrideable winter months so
we hand plenty of time to make plans and calculate routes and riding times. We
questimated the average speeds, added some time for breaks and servicing and
filling up the bikes and came up with a plan that hand us riding 550 kms (330 miles) / 9,2 hrs the first day, 750 kms / 12,8 hrs (465 miles) on the second and 750 / 12,8 hrs (465 miles) on the last day. According to the
plan we would On the road for 35 hrs and actually on the saddle for 25 hrs.
The pack
Our original wolf pack of 3 shrunk to 2 as one backed out
due to back problems. Maybe a wise choice in hind sight as the amount of daily
miles would surely have created problems. The two guys left were me and a guy
we shall call as "Jack". Jack is not keen on internet fame.
The bikes
Time to ride
The original idea was to wait for the optimal weather,
book the train and the hotels and spring into action on short notice. That
backfired as we found out that the train only has 3 bike spaces per each train
and the first one we tried to get on was already booked. We proceeded to book
the first available train that had space and hoped for good weather.
We later learned that the "special" bike spaces
are just plain car spaces, the railroad company just doesn't want to let more
than 3 bikes per train. Nobody on the staff knew the reason why.
We boarded the train on June 27th. After tying down the
bikes we proceeded to the sleeping cabin, took a few beers and went to bed.
The train arrived at the destination at 11:20 so we had
plenty of time to eat breakfast and get ready. For some reason the train arrives an hour later than it does at winter time when we made our plans so we were already a bit late, but of course we knew that beforehand.
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| Riding out of the train at Rovaniemi |
Day 1
We rode our bikes out of the train and after filling up
we were off. The city turned into wilderness pretty fast and we had 9 hours to
hit the shores of the Barents sea. The route was made with Tyre and loaded
ready on both of our navigators. After few hours of riding my TomTom died and
kept dying the rest of the trip. Apparently the 690 doesn't produce enough
juice to keep the TomTom alive. After a few hours on the tarmac we hit some
pretty epic gravel roads that alone made the trip worth wile. The gravel
eventually gave way to tarmac again and we encountered our first reindeer.
The reindeer were recognized beforehand as the biggest
individual risk on the trip and it became instantly clear why. These fuckers
don't give way or seem to follow any kind of logic. The seem docile and calm
but can dart in any direction without warning. We later saw one guy miss one
only by inches as he clearly wasn't expecting the reindeer to just erratically
bounce in front of him.
The amount of mosquitos was staggering. Bikes were a mess
and the visors needed constant cleaning.
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| Just after crossing over to the Norwegian side |
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| Less than 100 km to Lakselv |
Weather however was brilliant. Not very warm, but no threat of
rain and minimal wind. After 8 hours of on the road we reached the Norwegian border. No guards
or personnel. Just an open gate. We soon realized that the Finns didn't
apparently pay attention when they drew the borders. The scenery changed for
the better almost instantly after crossing the border. Rivers were wider,
fjelds higher and even the mosquitoes were reduced in numbers. To add insult to
injury the clouds also cleared and we were soon riding under a clear sky.
Norwegians have apparently called dibs on the weather too. After some more
riding we started to see snow topped hills and actual mountains in the
distance. The town of Lakselv was surprisingly fast in front of us and we found
a has station to be conveniently next door. We lugged our stuff to the room and
returned to the bikes for a quick ride to shore. The Barents sea had to be seen
before hitting the sack.
Returning from the photo session, We met a German fellow
on the gas station that was running out of rear tire on his NC700. We gave him
directions to Honda dealer in Finland and my phone number. He promptly mounted his
bike and speeded away into the "night". The sun didn't set at all so might as well.
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| By the Barents sea |
Day 2
The second day started in perfect weather. No clouds or
wind. We were able to leave out some riding gear we were wearing the previous
day. As I had packed like an idiot I had little to no room to pack away the now
unexpectedly unnecessary gear. We took
the road towards Nordkapp, but turned left towards Alta. This was the
northernmost part of the trip. We were roughly 1500 kms away from home. From the looks of the rivers and the cars that sported
long fly fishing rods mounted on the hood this was salmon country.
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| Lakselv before heading out |
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| Shortly after Lakselv |
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| River between Lakselv and Alta |
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| Barents sea |
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| Road between Lakselv and Alta |
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| Some of the stretches were pretty long and straight |
We were in Alta well before noon, but didn't stay for
more than just to fill up the tanks. My 690 was the weak link and had to be fed
every 200 kms. The road from Alta to to the Finnish border was twisty
and gorgeous. Clearly the best roads on the trip. Once we reached Finland the
scenery started to flatten and the roads became a bit too straight.
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| By the Norwegian sea |
We dropped southbound for several hours and crossed over
to Sweden at Ylitornio. We returned to the finish side from Tornio which is the
last possible place to do so. From Tornio there was just a half an hour ride to
Kemi where we spent the night. We again fed ourselves with pizza and beer.
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| Beautiful twisty bit after Alta |
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| Perfect riding weather |
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| Kautokeino |
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| Looks like rain |
 | ||
| We saw rain ahead and took the appropriate action. Didn't rain really allthought the roads were partly wet .
|
After the obligatory
photos by the gulf of Bothnia we hopped on the bikes and headed home. As
expected the traffic increased from previous near zero to annoying. Car drivers
were being idiots again. We tried to stay of the main highways, but the riding
was a bit of a chore as the only mission was to get home. AS we had started early and practically skipped breakfast we were home couple of hours early.
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| Gulf of Bothnia |
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| Collected quite a few bugs on the way |
The 690 performed flawlessly and was not
"vibey" even after several hours of riding.
The Airhawk felt like money well spent.
Do NOT buy bags that aren't waterproof. Annoying as hell to fiddle with the rain covers.
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