Ride Round The World

Day 28 View from hotel perched above waterfall, originally uploaded by Big Al!.

Nice, when it’s not obscured by rain. Sitting here, in a 1920’s style lounge, above one of Norway’s most visited natural landmarks, doing a bit of route planning, enjoying a local beer, enjoying even more the view of a magnificent landscape, with my bike in centre stage to remind me how good it is to ride through this country, and helping me ignore the weather forecast and the total lack of available accommodation anywhere near tomorrow’s planned destination. There’s a spider crawling across the floor, and seemingly no-one else here but me and the bike riding receptionist/barman/waiter, and yet yesterday it was fully booked. It’s a fascinating hotel with a lot of history, that’s clear in the photos of its heyday in times where travel to places like this was more popular than package holidays to Corfu. I’m sitting right next to the very piano where Edvard Grieg composed his concertos. I’m also listening to his music, but unfortunately it’s on CD because I’m many decades behind the times as far as this place is concerned. Doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of it though.

PS Day 28 of the original round the world trip, just over two years ago, saw me beginning to suffer heat stroke in the desert of Turkmenistan. Conditions couldn’t be more different in the chill of Norway. Read about the original Day 28 here

Day 28 Voringfoss, originally uploaded by Big Al!.

Not much excitement today. Lots of mindbending, disorienting pitch black tunnels that go on for kilometers, some corkscrewing up through the mountain, cold, wet. The darkness and sensory deprivation makes then dizzying. One is almost 5 miles long, and the coloured arcs of rough hewn rock, dimly illuminated by the weak lights, pass at intervals with a frequency that becomes hypnotic, till it feels like I’m not moving and could just step off. One of the things I love about motorcycle travel is the acknowledgments from other bikers. In England it’s a nod, in the north of England more a tilt of the head. The French give a can’t-be-arsed, half-arsed, half wave / half shrug. The Italians are too busy looking at themselves in their mirrors to wave to other bikers. In Germany it’s a very precise one finger horizontal point to the other rider. A Russian biker will stop for a chat, invite you home for tea, fix your bike and take you out on the town. In Sweden and Norway, it’s a full hand out to the side until you pass, almost like a handshake (with the wrong hand because they drive on the wrong side of the road), but without touching. Whatever the style, it says "Hi there. Nice one, another biker. We’re the same, you and me. If you needed help with something, I’d be offering it. Hope you’re having a good ride. Enjoy the road!" Car drivers don’t get that. German motorhome drivers and dutch caravan pullers certainly don’t get that