Barnaul to Moscow
Armed with a new chain and rear tyre and joined by Aundry I head towards Moscow , About 500km we pull into Ormsk and hunt down a bike shop as the miss is still happening with the bike and i haven't cleaned the air filter since leaving Australia. so 3 hours later and a lot of mucking around I find the local Motul dealer who opens a can of filter cleaning fluid and a bottle of filter oil to use which was very kind of him . While i'm cleaning the filter we are invited to a bikers festival 800km away but still on the road to Moscow , actually all towns and city's are on the road to Moscow.
2 Days ,lots of rain and more rough roads get us to the festival in Yakakerinburg . 3000 Russian bikers for 2 days and not 1 ounce of trouble even after all the vodka that is flowing. The organiser find out about my ride and i get invited on stage alone with a translator to tell the crowd about my travels and why i'm doing it .
Next day after little sleep have a look around Yatakerinburg , the town were the last of Romanov royal family came from and were married, then 3 days of riding throw Prem , Izhevak and Kazan (were i left Aundry as he was heading to the black sea ) find me spending the night 120km before Moscow. What fun that was the next day NOT riding into Moscow . the traffic was insane most of the first 40km were trucks but they turned off to go around Moscow then the next 80 was a 4 lane road that had all the tar seal striped ready for resealing , so it became a free for all , lucky i have the bike and dual sport tyres as the safest place and best to make progress is in the 1.5metres of dirt hard shoulder . the closer i get to the centre the more insane it gets with cars driving on the tram tracks. Eventually i ride up onto the inner ring road , essentially a 4 lane each way race track ,but i found out that if you just go for it and don,t hesitate it isn't that bad and in no time i find my friend house ,which is only 1/2 a km from red square , store the bike and relax for 5 days
Last 1000km of Russia
Up at 6am for a 690km blast to St Petersburg . Quick stop in the red square for a few photos then out of town before the mad Moscow drivers hit the streets. One of the better sign posted Russian city's to get in and out of . Broke one of my rules and stopped at Macdonalds for breakfast , had to eat in the symbol of the capitalistic west in the heart of the old Soviet east.
Once again the road goes from good to OK to crap back to good for the whole 690km. At one point they had strip all the old tar seal properly due to massive pot holes for a 80km length , this meant no lane markings so the trucks took this as a excuse to drive anywhere , once again my off road skills came into play and was able to ride in the rough 2 metre dirt verge managing to avoid most things and overtake large lines of vehicles.
The petrol stations must be more trusting the closer you get to the east European boarder as you could fill up then go in and pay . 9 hours later i arrive in St Petereburg, and the first thing i notice is how much like a European city it is . very clean , well kept gardens with canals and canal boats weaving through the streets. Found a hotel that had a camp ground and small cabins about 15km out of town but at first glance you would think it was closed and abandoned , very run down.
next day a bus and underground got me into the city for a day of site seeing . Large harbor and wide waterways with lots of boats and cruise ships , very touristy. Russia have a special 72 hour visa for passengers of the cruise ship that ply the boltic ocean and Scandinavia .
Up early again for the last 300km of 13,000 i did in Russia , this time the road was great no gravel or pot holes. About 20km before the boarder there's a passport check ,why i don't know ,then one at the boarder and another one in no mans land between Russia and Finland. At the boarder it's a bit of a free for all even thought there are lanes. Just stop anywhere ,go to the boarder control window show passport , insurance, hand in my temporary import permit for the bike , couple of stamps in my passport , quick dig inside my panniers by some large burly woman customs guard and I'm cleared to go.
With one last glance back and a reflection of what had just accomplished for the last 6 weeks i turn my back on Russia and enter Finland.
Down the E6 to Stockholm
After a very uncomfortable night using firewood packing sacks as a mattress , hoping the farmer doesn't see me in his shed and the sun not setting all night ,I head off around 6 am or so i thought .It was only after weaving around more lake hugging roads for 80km and arriving in Narvik. There the petrol station attendant informed me that Norway was an hour behind Finland . That would explain the reason their is no one on the roads. He told me if i wanted some great pictures of the town to follow the road up the mountain that lead to the small reservoir . Up there was a small car park area with a panoramic view of the town it also offered a great view of the fiords that surround the Harbour. Very eerie that time of the morning
After waiting for the shops to open to get a coffee, pastrie and warm up a little ,It's out of town and on to the best road ever made for a motorcycle the E6 . The E6 is the main hi way that runs from Narvik all the way down to Oslo . It tracks along the lakes and fiords , up over and through mountains passes .It even has some pretty amazing bridges spanning some fairly large gouges. About 2 hours out of Narvik a car ferry is used to get across an inlet that would otherwise 6 hour by car .
I follow the E6 for about 8 hour but only manage to cover 350km due to it's only 1 lane each way, has a 70km speed limit , 50 through towns of which are many . It is also a popular route for caravans and motorhomes making it hard to over take . But i'm in no hurry , the scenery is to good to rush .
After a quick stop for petrol and some food the road continues ,weaving it's way alone the edge of the river .It's getting late time to stop . I ride down one off the small dirt tracks that come off the main road and after 100 metres of forest it come out on a small clearing next to the river , perfect place to camp for the night .
Armed with a new chain and rear tyre and joined by Aundry I head towards Moscow , About 500km we pull into Ormsk and hunt down a bike shop as the miss is still happening with the bike and i haven't cleaned the air filter since leaving Australia. so 3 hours later and a lot of mucking around I find the local Motul dealer who opens a can of filter cleaning fluid and a bottle of filter oil to use which was very kind of him . While i'm cleaning the filter we are invited to a bikers festival 800km away but still on the road to Moscow , actually all towns and city's are on the road to Moscow.
2 Days ,lots of rain and more rough roads get us to the festival in Yakakerinburg . 3000 Russian bikers for 2 days and not 1 ounce of trouble even after all the vodka that is flowing. The organiser find out about my ride and i get invited on stage alone with a translator to tell the crowd about my travels and why i'm doing it .
Next day after little sleep have a look around Yatakerinburg , the town were the last of Romanov royal family came from and were married, then 3 days of riding throw Prem , Izhevak and Kazan (were i left Aundry as he was heading to the black sea ) find me spending the night 120km before Moscow. What fun that was the next day NOT riding into Moscow . the traffic was insane most of the first 40km were trucks but they turned off to go around Moscow then the next 80 was a 4 lane road that had all the tar seal striped ready for resealing , so it became a free for all , lucky i have the bike and dual sport tyres as the safest place and best to make progress is in the 1.5metres of dirt hard shoulder . the closer i get to the centre the more insane it gets with cars driving on the tram tracks. Eventually i ride up onto the inner ring road , essentially a 4 lane each way race track ,but i found out that if you just go for it and don,t hesitate it isn't that bad and in no time i find my friend house ,which is only 1/2 a km from red square , store the bike and relax for 5 days
Last 1000km of Russia
Up at 6am for a 690km blast to St Petersburg . Quick stop in the red square for a few photos then out of town before the mad Moscow drivers hit the streets. One of the better sign posted Russian city's to get in and out of . Broke one of my rules and stopped at Macdonalds for breakfast , had to eat in the symbol of the capitalistic west in the heart of the old Soviet east.
Once again the road goes from good to OK to crap back to good for the whole 690km. At one point they had strip all the old tar seal properly due to massive pot holes for a 80km length , this meant no lane markings so the trucks took this as a excuse to drive anywhere , once again my off road skills came into play and was able to ride in the rough 2 metre dirt verge managing to avoid most things and overtake large lines of vehicles.
The petrol stations must be more trusting the closer you get to the east European boarder as you could fill up then go in and pay . 9 hours later i arrive in St Petereburg, and the first thing i notice is how much like a European city it is . very clean , well kept gardens with canals and canal boats weaving through the streets. Found a hotel that had a camp ground and small cabins about 15km out of town but at first glance you would think it was closed and abandoned , very run down.
next day a bus and underground got me into the city for a day of site seeing . Large harbor and wide waterways with lots of boats and cruise ships , very touristy. Russia have a special 72 hour visa for passengers of the cruise ship that ply the boltic ocean and Scandinavia .
Up early again for the last 300km of 13,000 i did in Russia , this time the road was great no gravel or pot holes. About 20km before the boarder there's a passport check ,why i don't know ,then one at the boarder and another one in no mans land between Russia and Finland. At the boarder it's a bit of a free for all even thought there are lanes. Just stop anywhere ,go to the boarder control window show passport , insurance, hand in my temporary import permit for the bike , couple of stamps in my passport , quick dig inside my panniers by some large burly woman customs guard and I'm cleared to go.
With one last glance back and a reflection of what had just accomplished for the last 6 weeks i turn my back on Russia and enter Finland.
Finland to Norway
Found out my oldest friend's son Tom moved to Finland with his girl friend and is staying at her parents house till he attends university , quick text message reveals he's only 200 km from the boarder , let,s hope the GPS on my phone works cause now there is more than 1 road to take . Russia only had 1 main road so was pretty hard to get lost out of the cities. So up to Jyaskyla winding around lakes and rivers , a very welcome site . I pull off the main road and into a small town for a coffee and supplies . First thing i notice in the super market is how much more thing cost compared to Russia . One saving grace is that most people speak English which make life easier particularly at the check out .
By now it's getting late and don't fancy riding in the dark ,also it's been raining on and off so it into the forest for the night before getting to Tom's house the next day . Great to see him , few beers and a catch and into the sauna we go . ( every Finish house has one ) .
Next morning i look at the map and see i have already traveled 1/4 way up the county so i decide to go all the way up Finland across to Norway down the west coast following the E6 before heading side ways to Sweden and back into Finland via the Stockholm to Turkic ferry , roughly 3000km.
Leaving Tom's house i head for the west coast road and up stopping for a night in a small camp ground for 5 euros . Continuing north up to where Finland and Sweden meet at Tornio, here the river that flows south forms the boarder between the 2 counties. Staying on the Finish side and about 150km further north a large sign informs me i have entered the arctic circle , cool rain deer country and sure enough not more than 10 minutes later 3 rain deer are wondering across the road.
Another night in the forest and further 4 hours riding in the morning sees the scenery changing from forest to bare rocks and snow covered mountains . The town of Käsivarrentie, which technically is Lapland is the last outpost before entering Norway and as Norway has a stronger economy due to it's oil and gas i fill up the petrol tank and stock up on food , then a short 35 minutes ride later I'm in Norway , down a spectacular winding road to a brightest blue lake i've ever seen and instantly the scenery is stunning , high mountains and fiords with the road following the side of the lakes and inlets , petty it absolutely poured down with rain 40 minutes later .Spent the next 2 hours under a petrol station forecourt then the night in a farmers shed 20 more km down the road.Down the E6 to Stockholm
After a very uncomfortable night using firewood packing sacks as a mattress , hoping the farmer doesn't see me in his shed and the sun not setting all night ,I head off around 6 am or so i thought .It was only after weaving around more lake hugging roads for 80km and arriving in Narvik. There the petrol station attendant informed me that Norway was an hour behind Finland . That would explain the reason their is no one on the roads. He told me if i wanted some great pictures of the town to follow the road up the mountain that lead to the small reservoir . Up there was a small car park area with a panoramic view of the town it also offered a great view of the fiords that surround the Harbour. Very eerie that time of the morning
After waiting for the shops to open to get a coffee, pastrie and warm up a little ,It's out of town and on to the best road ever made for a motorcycle the E6 . The E6 is the main hi way that runs from Narvik all the way down to Oslo . It tracks along the lakes and fiords , up over and through mountains passes .It even has some pretty amazing bridges spanning some fairly large gouges. About 2 hours out of Narvik a car ferry is used to get across an inlet that would otherwise 6 hour by car .
I follow the E6 for about 8 hour but only manage to cover 350km due to it's only 1 lane each way, has a 70km speed limit , 50 through towns of which are many . It is also a popular route for caravans and motorhomes making it hard to over take . But i'm in no hurry , the scenery is to good to rush .
After a quick stop for petrol and some food the road continues ,weaving it's way alone the edge of the river .It's getting late time to stop . I ride down one off the small dirt tracks that come off the main road and after 100 metres of forest it come out on a small clearing next to the river , perfect place to camp for the night .
