The adventures continue into 2024
Thank you for reading Honda Wanderlust - there's more to come soon.
Thank you for joining Ralph and me on our summer adventure to Nordkapp and beyond over these last few months. As you can tell from the stories, we had a blast riding all over Northern Europe. Writing about those fun days, several months later, brought it all back to me. We were lucky with the weather on the whole, met some great people and saw some incredible places. Norway is a ‘bucket list’ destination for many folk. I can thoroughly recommend it. However you plan to go, by car, by boat, on a tour bus or cruise ship or even by motorbike, just do it. You won’t regret it.
It was strange to slip back into a routine that didn’t involve daily travel once we returned. I’d only just put away my freshly laundered kit and tucked the bike into the garage when a WhatsApp pinged onto my phone from Ralph. He’d been out for a quick bimble.
“Playing with the bike today has made me think of future projects.”
A few moments later a photo of his also sparkling clean bike appeared:
“Ready for the next adventure”.
Then:
“I’ve ordered a tyre plugging kit, inflator and 2L jerry can. It’s coming together….”
The “It” in question is our planned trip in 2024.
One of the themes that pervaded our Nordkapp journey, as you’ll know, is the turbulent history and division of Europe, especially in WWII. When we met Jolina, the young Serb hotel worker from Croatia, in Sandnes on our final leg of the journey, it sparked an idea. We would go to the Balkans, often treated as a footnote of European history but where divisions continue to fester. It’s a region which leans both towards and away from Europe and where Russian influence is as evident as in Kirkenes.
It’s also got some great motorcycling roads and stunningly beautiful places to visit. So, we’ve booked the transportation to Ljubliana, as well as hotels to bookend the trip, but we’re going to busk the route and the places to stay, going where the whim and stories take us. I hope you’ll be able to join us later in 2024 for Biking the Balkans.
In the meantime, there’s part of the Nordkapp story that’s left untold. The first bit, that I touched on in an earlier blog. The part that takes me to the most southerly point of Europe, Tarifa in Andalucia.
No need for warm gloves and electrically heated jackets down there, so join me in early Spring 2024 for the hot part of the pan-Europe adventure. I promise you there’ll be spills and thrills - literally.