Oct
29
2007
This past weekend I’ve been rather active on the shopping front. First off, I’ve indulged myself and bought myself a new motorbike. I had been thinking about getting a new one for a while now but, being my lazy self, I’ve not been bothered to do anything about it. With my good friend Shane looking at getting a bike (possibly my Bandit 600) I finally got my act together.
When I started looking I was thinking about something like a GSX-R750 (again) or an R6. Instead I’ve swung to the complete opposite end of the motorbike spectrum and have put a deposit on a BMW R1200GS. I wasn’t looking for anything that big but I took one out for a test ride and have fallen in love with it. Whilst it has got an engine twice the size of my Bandit, it is a lot more economical, most reviews seem to suggest it should manage 45mpg, so with a 33 litre tank I should be able to do 300+ miles. That’s nearly double the range of the Bandit! Now I just need to get the finance and insurance sorted out.
The other purchase was for the fish tank. For some time now we have had a Gibbiceps Plec that was far too big for the tank – about 6 inches in a 45 litre tank. So, this weekend we finally took him back to Bishes Fishes. Unfortunately, getting rid of the plec meant that we lost out main algae eater, so we decided to get another smaller plec, although I can for the life of me remember the type. As well as the new plec we also got two freshwater shrimps to help clean up the bottom of the tank. As we were return the Gibbiceps, we got one of the shrimps for free ^_^
Dec
02
2006
I’ve finally finished my return route through Norway at the end of my summer holiday last year (2005). Its taken approximately 10 hours to create and I’ve included both the route I actually took and the route I would have taken if I hadn’t crashed.
I’ve also included notes about memorable parts of the trip, places I stayed over-night (or didn’t as the case may be), must see places along the way, and a few other general notes about the areas of Norway I travelled through.
All the different bit are included in seperate folders so you can turn them off and on as you like. Whilst it might take quite some time to tour the whole route, I would advise turning on the Terrain layer and run a tour of the alternative last day. I would also advise turning on the terrain and having a look at the area around Trollstigen and Geiranger. I’ve even marked a plane coming into land in Bergen that no-one else appears to have spotted.
Some of the details included in the notes needs to be checked up on, so if you spot a mistake please let me know and I’ll correct it.
Download: Norway – Hamsund to Bergen.kmz
Sep
28
2006
As some of you may be aware I took a holiday in Norway last summer. A smaller sub-set of you may have heard my story of how I got stopped by a couple of eager “number plate spotters” as I left the docks in Bergen. It seems that my bike was the first bike they had seen with a Guernsey number plate and this was rather exciting for them. Being the good-natured person that I am, I stopped and waited whilst they inspected and photographed the plate and explained why they were doing it before heading on my way and thinking nothing more of it… apart from telling as a tale of my adventures in Norway.
Well, more than a year later and I just got an email from my dad. It seems that, whilst searching the internet for something to do with motorbikes in Guernsey, he stumbled upon this site. And, if you head over to the Guernsey page and scroll down to the bottom, you will find, in all its glory, the number plate that was photographed at the docks in Norway.
Isn’t the internet a great place to find all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
Jul
04
2005
I’m back from my three week holiday to Norway but my bike isn’t!
It’s a long story so I’ll fill you in about it later.
Jun
08
2005
Whilst writing the previous post I came across my list of stuff to do for my holiday to Norway. So lets see how I’m doing so far:
Plan route (I’m leaving this one to dad)
Buy Guernsey->UK tickets
Buy UK->Norway tickets
Buy new motorcycle helmet
Buy intercom unit
Buy bike luggage
Service bike
- Install intercom unit & bike alarm
Locate possible over-night stops (again I’m leaving this one to dad)
Acquire tent for emergencies
Purchase riding clothing (trousers & new gloves)
Find & buy cigarette lighter for motorbike (to charge phone & iPod)
Buy iPod (either Mini or Shuffle)
Looks like I’m not doing too bad… there have been a few other things I’ve had to do but I don’t have the time to add those to the list at the moment.
Jun
07
2005
Most people will answer this with a simple “When you’ve packed your bags and are walking out of the door!”. But is that really the answer? Maybe the question I’m asking is a bit more metaphysical or rhtorical.
For me, my current journey started some time earlier this year when I decided to embark on a motorcycle touring holiday to Norway this summer. Since February/March I have been plotting and planning every last detail I can think of in order to make this journey as smooth and simple as possible and at last the final details are falling into place.
My bike is in the garage having its final service, I’ve got a pile of after-market parts to put on the bike when I get it back, I’ve got a tailpack waiting to be collected from Riders, I’ve removed my intercom and alarm from my old bike ready to be fitted to the new bike, all by important documents have been copied in triplicate (one copy to take with me, one copy for my sister to take and one copy to leave at home) and all my clothes are washed and ready to be packed (thanks mum!).
So when does a journey begin? It doesn’t! At least it doesn’t have one definative start… but it does have a finish to the start and thats when you’ve packed your bags and close the door behind you.
Jan
25
2005
It appears that the news of Norway increasing its speeding fines has made it into the international papers.
From February the already astronomical speeding fines will be hiked up a further 30% to 7,800 kroner (£660).
Not that I’m planning to speed. But then I neveer planned to speed in Guernsey… but these things occasionally happen.
Jan
17
2005
Yesterday I received a tent (on loan) from my friend Shane. Its a diddy little one man thing that packs up to the size of a rugby ball and only weighs 1.3kg. I probably wont be using it for my trip up to Norway as I’ll be travelling at the same time as my sister and dad so well be staying in camping cottages in Norway but as I’ll be travelling on my own on the way home I’m sure I get much use out of it.
The only problem with having such a small tent is that I’ll have to try and figure out how to get myself and my luggage into the tent.
I’ve also updated my list of things to get and do.
Jan
13
2005
Well, it looks like I’m going to be taking it easy on my ride up through Norway.
It appears that they have extremely strict rules about motoring offences, and extremely low speed limits.
I guess I just have to be content with the scenery. And at lower speeds I’ll have more time to appreciate it. Having said that, I’ll have to ride longer each day so I’ll probably be spending most of the time thinking about the cramp in my legs