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Published: January 25th 2008
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Red Baroness
Our trusty Japanese bike, and Yamaha Dragstar (V-star) XVS 1100 Custom which has taken us to the European continent and back twice. MOTOTOUR 2007
Day 1: Stockholm (Sweden) to Køge (Denmark)
Distance: 644 km (of 8,667 km total)
Hi! We've written our travelogues for family and friends, and any Internet visitors from around the world who might surf in looking for info about the places we've been to, or the how-to's regarding motorcycle touring. Our mode of travel is also known as
mototouring (a term that may have been coined in Europe) or going on a
Harley vacation - which we don't feel entitled to calling it, since we drive a trusty ol' Japanese bike we've named the Red Baroness. Our bike of choice is a 1999 model Yamaha XVS1100 custom known as a V-Star in the US, or a Dragstar in Europe. It comes in custom and classic models. It's taken us on round trips in Europe twice now, as well as on numerous short tours.
This year we traveled 8,667 km and covered the countries Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal.
Our motivation for going all the way to Lisbon, was to combine our holiday with Marion's UNICEF-related work conference, which was to take place in Lisbon on 12th June. We had also figured (wrongly) that June would be a pleasant month temperature-wise, compared to the heatwave we experienced traveling in July the year before. One thing we learned was how dependant we are on weather conditions with this method of travel, and we figured June would be more stable.
So we were determined not to make the same mistakes as we did last year with sub-standard equipment and time pressures, but, it seems we only fared better with equipment.
Timed stops or schedules will pretty much kill this kind of adventure, reducing your holiday to driving from point 'A' just to arrive on time at destination 'B,' and trying to kill time in between 'B' and 'C.' Seeing as how we were combining work with holiday, we had no choice. Plus, Marion's sisters happily set up timed appointments with us since we would have to pass through France to and fro, and Zak had never visited their homes and wanted to see how they lived in these very different small towns of France :-p
In contrast to last year, we didn't try to print out worthless route planners. Armed with just a general 1:10,000 scale map in a plastic folder, we knew we could find our directions by following signs to major cities and highways. We also knew that we could probably find places to stay, camping spots, etc, and didn't bother to make any reservations anywhere. Western Europe is just made for motorbike travel.
Learning from last year's mistakes, we upgraded on some equipmet: Zak had a brand-new flip-up helmet, which was a lot more quiet than the thunderous open-faced one he had last year (it's actually noisier than sticking your head out a window at 90 mph) -- it's not as quiet as a closed helmet, but Zak is too claustrophobic for those. Zak tried to buy some new motorcycle boots, but realized he couldn't wear so-called breathable membrane boots (like Gore-Tex) because they get hot in summer and he gets heat allergies -- he stuck to his Doc Martins, but bought activated-charcoal inner soles which really help take away the smell, humidity and general rot happening in there :-p
We began our journey leaving Stockholm at 10 am. There was a lot to do in the morning, packing, cleaning, moving our potted plants indoors, and taking care of various other last-minute errands. We left with cold rainy weather which followed us all the way to Helsingborg. From there we took the ferry to Helsingør, which takes about 30 min. and leaves every half hour.
Once in Denmark, the temperature went up again and a bit of sun welcomed us. It was however getting dark in a few hours so we needed a place to land. A motorcyclist we met on the Danish side told us about a camping spot in Køge, south Copenhagen. It's on the East coast, in an area that despite being industrial and dock-like, had quite some charm to it. The grounds were soft due to moles, but we found a decent spot to set up camp, near some friendly, cachinnating summer-spirited Danes, who were probably high. Køge is a good transit stop if you're ever between Copenhagen and Rødby. Total cost for bike, tent and 2 adults: can't remember now, but it was about 15 €.
A handy new addition from last year was a detachable thermometer-clock on the bike. It gave us a sense of progress, helped us plan our realistic/unrealistic arrival at ferry stops, and helped us gauge how much we were pushing ourselves re. driving in the cold/heat, etc. Without simple tools like these, you'd be surprised how out of touch you can get, as you toughen yourself and grit and bear the journey.
We inaugurated our brand-new tent and air mattresses, and were pretty pleased with our choices. After being caught in hurricane force winds last year, Zak had scoured the Internet looking for small, lightweight storm-proof tents. We settled on a McKinley (proprietary brand of Intersport chain) 2-man tent which was very good value for money, and offered us an extra 'living' room.
Zak made a light dinner of Danish dark bread toasted in pan, tomatoes and tinned mackerel. After warm shower, we were in bed by 10 pm. and fell asleep right away.
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