Scotland 2007: Archive

Exactly one week before we start our engines and leave for Turku where the ferry takes us to Stockholm. My bike has been serviced and I just bought a hootchie (a light tent), so everything should be ready. vesku still has some issues with his bike, hopefully he can fix them within the week.

Just testing the blog. This is our estimated route through Europe. Not a planned one though.

Nice and clean, but not for long...

Preparations are almost done. This equipment should be enough for 3 weeks. Socks and underwear we'll probably need to buy more on the road.

Starting to drive towards turku. We got a bit of rain, as can be seen from picture...

It's been three years since the last bike-trip. Well, last summer was the Deathmonkey project (http://www.deathmonkey.org), but while it was one of the best trips I've ever had, it wasn't quite the same. The summer before that I had a girlfriend.

This is the first trip I'm doing on my Triumph. I bought it last spring and kinda felt stupid leaving it home last summer and doing the summer-trip on the Monkey. Just on our way to Turku I reached the 10000 km milestone on the Triumph and so far it has been a pure pleasure to ride. As a sidenote, my dear little brother Pepe just got drivers licence to drive bikes and he rode the Triumph for a week and he's completely in love with it. Anyways, I'm eagerly looking forward to spending the next three weeks riding my Triumph.

Scotland is the last place in Western Europe I haven't visited yet. Never say never, but I feel this may also be the last trip of this kind - simple and easy fun in familiar environment. Where will the next trip take me, that remains to be seen. But before the next one, this adventure has barely begun.

It feels good to be on the road again.

-Skoll

Trip today: 170 km.
Trip total: 170 km.

Turku, the asshole of Finland. The first 170 km of our trip are behind.

The black devil standing next to me is my trusted workhorse, a 1984 Honda CBX750F. The bike is feeling good, after a complete electrical system rebuild and a top end work-out. The valves have been lapped and every hydraulic valve lifter has been changed. We are ready for the challenge!

This is my first bike trip abroad. Last year, I was about to go to Norway with Janne, but lost my license a week before the trip. I was speeding "a bit" if you must know. But now we're on the way to Scotland through Sweden and Norway, and I'm gonna take back everything I lost last year.

Never felt better - all my worries are just melting away.

• Vsq

Some 160 km from Stockholm, just when Janne turned to a gas station, Veskus Honda suddenly died. The start engine turns the engine, there's gas, but the bikesimply doesn't start.

Now we (read Vesku) are trying to troubleshoot his bike. So far no success. Should there be bigger problems, we luckily have one extra day to get to Bergen.

-Skoll

There was a dead joint in the ignition box. Vesku "McGyver" soldered the joint using a Trangia camp-cooker and a screwdriver.

I have been riding a bike since 2002. My first bike was Ural Wolf - a beautyful bike with lots of attitude. With the it I made trips to the Alps and to Russia. (Pics and story available elsewhere on this site.) Two years ago I got tired of the constant problems with the Ural and sold it. Last spring I bought Triumph America (790cc engine, 2006 model).

When I'm not driving my bike, I scream in the infamous Finnish tuhometalli band Surma (http://www.surma.fi).

I've been driving v-max for 6 years now, and it's my fifth bike. Manouverability isn't the best, especially in curves and the thing eats gas 8 to 12 litres per 100km (note 15l tank). But hey, who cares about those insignificant traits when you can do quartermile in 11 sec!

Other than driving the max, I play drums in notorious tuhometalli band Surma along with Skoll and Vesku.

Making this trip to Scotland has always been kind of must-do thing for me. My bike trip history includes visiting Norway for 5-6 times now, and it's getting somehow boring to drive the same roads every summer holiday. I'm pretty pleased that Skoll and Vesku were able to make the trip.

Bike details: Yamaha vmx 1995 model. 1200cm3, 105kw.

I got my first bike when I was 16. It was a 1976 Yamaha RD125. It served me well for two years, after which i sold it to a scrap yard. After that it took me six or so years to afford another bike. So last year me and my friend bought the 1984 Honda CBX750FE I'm riding right now. It was a real bargain. The engine had under 20000 km on it, and we got a shitload of spareparts with it. The bike is ugly as hell, but we bought it for riding, not for showing off.

My next bike is going to be with a diesel engine. Guess why...

When not on the road, I play bass in the epic tuhometalli band Surma. (www.surma.fi)

The alarm woke us 6.30. The three pints I had yesterday evening reminded me silently of themselves in the back of my head. Before arriving to Stockholm we bought the Total Destruction -bottle (Smirnoff) from tax-free in case of a total destruction of one of our bikes. And then we were off.

The weather in Stockholm was clear with no clouds to be seen on the sky. The road to Oslo on E18 is about 540 km so we had time enough to enjoy the beautyful day and the Swedish highways (krhm).

Apart from the small trouble with Veskus bike, the trip was uneventful. Jannes V-Max is even worse drunkard than any of us consuming some 8-10 l/100 km. This ment that we stopped for gas about every 120 km.

A bit before we crossed the Norwegian border clouds started to appear, but where we drove, the clouds seemed to part and the sun was shining mostly. When we got to Norway, the scenery changed from the flatness of Sweden to a more rocky one and driving got alot more intersting.

We arrived in Oslo 17:15 and checked in to the hostel we had reserved. A quick shower and we were ready to hit the town. It was saturday night after all. After a couple of beers in a metal cave called Rock In we ended up in the bar Elm Street where Mary's Kids was playing - energetic punk with female vocalist. Woo-hoo! Also Gaahl of Gorgoroth and Nocturo Culto of Darkthrone visited the bar for a beer. A quick snack at Burger King and we were almost ready to call it a night when we met a couple of nice local girls who took us to another metal cave called Maiden. So here I am, it's 03:00 am, and I'm writing this blog to entertain all you my dear readers. At this time the girls have left us - I hope the flu doesn't get the best of you Merjanne (hope I got your name right) - but at least it seems Vesku has found some company.

Tomorrow the plan is to drive to Bergen where we are spending one day.

-Skoll

Trip today: 537 km
Trip total: 707 km

The plans changed. We are not driving to Bergen today. But more about that later.

At the moment we are parked next to the hostel where we spent the night. Vesku is working on his bike again. There were some electricity problems - the lights didn't go on always and the turn signal wasn't reliable either. After removing the covers, the problems seemed to have magically fixed themselves. If they continue to work remains to be seen.

-Skoll

Ever since the charger of our dear CBX decided to blow up, thousands of kilometers from home, my friend, the co-owner of the bike suggested that we would equip the bike with a Total Destruction Bottle. The bottle would ease the drivers misery and perhaps prevent him from burning down the bike completely when a total destruction of a crucial component would happen. A bottle of this kind, mounted under the seat, should be standard equipment on all bikes.

Alcohol is a wonderous thing. And a mysterious one. It's the magic potion of hangover and the magic potion of cure hangover. It's the potion of courage and the potion of foolishness. The potion of merryness and the potion of tiredness. It improves your singing skills and makes the people around you look better. And it helps guys getting laid.

Yesterday night was a good one. This morning... was a lot better than I could have expected. That again I probably was drunk when I woke. We decided that we wouldn't be driving to Bergen today. Instead we'd drive half of the way and set up a camp somewhere.

We checked out from the hostel and Vesku started working on his bike. Once done, we went to a fancy cafe to have some lunch. They played Johnny Cash and the food we had was a collection of different delicacies - cheese, slices of meet and some plant-stuff which nobody recognised. We pondered over the differences of johnnycash-hangover and philcollins-hangover and decided that johnnycash-hangover, which we were having, beats philcollins-hangover any day.

At 13 o'clock we decided that we were sober enough to start the engines. Once we got on the road the hangover disappeared in a blink.This day was the first day of real cruising. We took a small road (40) towards Geilo and enjoyed some nice scenery and twisty roads.

When evening came we set up our camp in the shore of a lake near a small village called Tunhovd, some 30 km off from the road 40. The view was idyllic to say the least. We had a dinner of pasta and canned meat cooked on Trangia. The rest of the evening was spent with mr. Grant and mr. Jaloviina.

-Skoll

Trip today: 214 km.
Trip total: 921 km.

Score:
Vesku - 1
Janne - 0
Skoll - 0

When I was in grade school, one exam had a philosophical question: "What is the meaning of life?" Of course, I could not tell then. Now I can.

Saturday was a fine day apart from minor difficulties with my bike and a sore behind. We tried to get through Sweden as fast as possible, but still, at the end of the day, my ass was hurting like hell. Ok, ok. The real reason wasn't Sweden. Seems that Honda designed my bike for midgets. When I sit on it, my knees almost touch my chin. Kind of an uncomfortable driving position, but I'm getting used to it.

In the evening we celebrated a journey well started. Total debauchery.

On sunday, when driving up a mountain on a serpentine road, I discovered the essence of driving, first time on this trip. Euphoria.

Now it's time for some relaxation in the outdoors.

-Vsq

Rain. It rained most of the night. Our shelter worked well and kept all the water outside. The bed was a bit rocky, but I slept pretty well.

Rain. We woke and prepared a breakfast of boiled pølser (sausages) and potato salad. The road we had taken to the shore of the lake was a small rocky track. Driving it with dry weather had been interesting enough. This morning some of us really had to make an effort to take the bike back to the main road.

Rain. After driving 40 km we stopped in Geilo for a cup of hot chocolade. Btw, water resistant isn't the same as water proof. My pants are water resistant.

Bloody rain.

-Skoll

In the middle of nowhere and another cup of hot chockolade. For the past 70 km we have been driving the mountains. The air is about 10 degrees. There have been patches of snow on the roadside and due the fog the visibility has been about 50 m at times. Still 180 km to go.

-Skoll

We got down from the mountains. Before can continue riding, we'll have to take a ferry to cross a fjord. Then we'll take E16 towards Bergen.

-Skoll

If you want to save money on motorcycling gear, you can do like Skoll and Janne here. When a rainstorm strikes, simply wrap the leaking parts of your wardrobe with plastic bags and tape. Cheap and easy!

After the ferry trip the weather got a bit clearer and we only got a few drops of rain during the rest of the day. Nonetheless we had our share of the exitement. There were several tunnels on our way, the longest being almost 8 km. The darkness combined with poor road and insane locals driving like nuts and passing slower cars in the tunnels was an "interesting" experience.

For the night we didn't actually get to Bergen but stopped in Knarvik, some 30 km north of Bergen where Trine - a friend of Jannes - was living with her husband Kai. When we got to Knarvik, we were met by warm smiles and cold beer. Our hosts had prepared us a traditional norwegian lamb stew with potatos. After driving the whole day and having eaten nothing since the breakfast, the food tasted heavenly. The evening was spent discussing Norwegian and Finnish metal scene, Immortal poses, politics, culture and whatnot. Thanks again Trine and Kai for the warm welcome and hospitability. Let it be also told that Trine and Kai were taking care of Grutle Kjellsons - singer of Enslaved - cat. After the journey is over and Janne tells the story of him having his picture taken with Gaahl, I can tell about the picture I got of Grutle's cat.

But now it's time to hit the sack. In 5 hours we'll have to be up again to get to the ferry for Scotland. I'll try to upload some pictures taken with my camera when I get to a computer, so stay tuned. (Edit: see pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/skoll/sets/72157601436092711/.)

-Skoll

Trip today: 285 km
Trip total: 1206 km

Good morning!

So this is why we woke up for at 6:30 a.m.? To stand in a queue in the rain. This is what motorcycling is all about.

• Vsq

We woke 06:30, packed our gear, thanked Kai and were off. Our morning ride started in a nice refreshing rain. The rest of the day day will be spent on the ferry to Scotland. The estimated time of arrival is 00:30.

To easen the anticipation of getting to Scotland I'm sure you are all feeling on our behalf I'd like to share a small song with you. Unfortunately I don't kniw who has written the lyrics, but it's sung to the tune of Scotland the Brave.

Scotland's depraved

Bring me some whiskey, mother
I'm feeling frisky, mother
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!
I need a lover, mother
No, not my brother, mother
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!

Gerbils don't make it, mother
They just can't take it, mother
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!
Owls, bats and other critters
Just tend to give me jitters
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!

Sheep never talk about it
They never ever doubt it
Always affectionate, so loving and nice!
Give me that lanolin.
Better than flannel-in.
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!

Bring me a beast, dear mother
Nay, not the priest, dear mother
I need a sheep to keep me warm through the night!

Bring me a sheep, dear mother
Slip it beneath the covers,
England may rule the seas,
But Scotland's depraved!

-Skoll

Driving in rain whole day all your clothes soaking wet, in cold and windy weather, and you still got some 300km to drive, you may ask yourself: Why motorbike? Why don't you just take a car? A poem made by anonymous motorbike traveller may give you the answer:

"Ajakaa, ajakaa, ajakaa nopeammin ja pidempiä etappeja...pyörät huutavat lisää kilometreja. Ihania kilometrejä. Rannetta tiukemmalle. Ohi. Nopeammin. Väsymättä. Sataa. Ihanaa. Lisää kaasua. Ei taukoja. Pitemmälle. Nopeammin. Perillä jo. Tauko illalla. Jos ehtii. Ei ehdi. Nopeammin. Broomm! Itkettää...ei kipua, se on lumetta. Ei aitoa. Rutistaa. Nopeammin. Tajunta hämärtyy. Iloisena käännät kahvaa lisää. Sielu irtoaa. Euforia valtaa aivotumakkeen. Nirvana." (shortly translated as "pain leads to enlightment", or "no pain no gain").

It's all about feeling. Rewarding yourself with good meal and pint of beer after driving 5 hours in +5 conditions without long underwear you can really appreciate these simple things. And what about memories, certainly you won't remember much from your vacation if you just drove around in your warm and safe car, but feeling the extremes surely leaves you lots to remember and speak about afterwards.

Driving has felt pretty good to me this far. Like Skoll, I also have only water resistant trousers, but they have kept the water out quite well. My neck and back feel a bit sore but that was expected anyways as my bike isn't much of a touring bike. Good thing is that we need to have breaks quite often due to bike's small gastank.

Yesterday we stayed overnight in Knarvik at friends I met in Oslo couple of years ago (thanks for you hospitality), and at morning we headed up to ferry which took us to Scotland. Short sleep and drinking a few beers took their toll, so we spent a lot of time resting in cabin and, well actually there wasn't much to do in ferry anyway. Now we're sitting on ferry corridor waiting for car deck doors to open. -Janne

After sitting 16,5 hours on a ferry, we finally made it to Scotland. I arose some suspicion in the passport contol, but when they noticed I lived in Finland, they let me pass. I had also run out of battery with all the starts and stops when waiting for the ferry, so Janne and Vesku got to push my Triumph. Now we have checked in to the B&B we had reserved. Tomorrow the plan is to drive west along the coast. After that we have no plans apart from being in Wacken in 1,5 weeks.

-Skoll

Trip today: 31 km.
Trip total: 1237 km.

A view from Bettyhill viewpoint.

We arrived in Scrabster, Scotland last night. The innkeeper was already waiting for us when we got to our accommodation. Thank you Janne for thinking far, and booking us a room in advance.

Skoll had some misfortune when leaving the town this morning. He managed to fall down with his bike. No worries, nothing happened. Too bad i didn't get a photo...

Now we're just cruisin the countryside with no clear destination. I actually don't even know where we are right now. Feels good, in spite of the weather. (I guess it's always like this around here)

-Vsq

Wednesday (submitted on Thursday due to lack of network coverage): This morning I succeeded in doing again something all of you have come to expect of me during these little adventures. After a tasty breakfast, we had packed our gear and were ready to hit the road. I forgot to open the gas valve. Having driven not more than 30 m. I was turning left. I opened the throttle, but nothing happened and the bike died. Having no veloticy in the curve the bike tripped and me with it. As there wasn't much speed, no damage was done to the bike nor to the driver.

From Scrabster we took the coastal road to west. The weather was wet and foggy, but we didn't get much real rain. The roads were in good shape but very narrow. Often there was only a single track with "passing places" every few hundred meters. But as traffic was scarse and people polite giving always way, this wasn't a problem.

The driving today was good. The scenery was varied with the mountains and fields left and right, little villages in valleys here and there and ocean showing herself every once in awhile. At times I was simply staring at the view giving only glances to the road ahead of me. The pictures can not graps the beauty, but you'll get a vague idea once I get to upload the content of my camera.

And then there were the sheep. Hundreds, no, thousands of them. On the roadsides, on the fields and hills. Roaming freely, eating grass. I saw more sheep today than I have seen during my whole life before. Some of them didn't even care if we drove right past them - simply continued munching.

One peculiar thing about Scotland seems to be that they have very strict eating hours. Lunch is usually served from 12:00 to 14:00 and dinner from 18:00 to 20:00 (or something along those lines). Outside of those hours it's next to impossible to find any food. We stopped in Durness for lunch at around 15:00 and spent close to an hour looking for food.

The network coverage today has been pretty poor, that's why there haven't been too many blog entries, and this entry submitted the day after it was written.

-Skoll

Wednesday evening: As night was approaching we started looking for a suitable camping place. We drove down the western coast, past Scourie, past Ledmore and took a right to a smaller road. After driving some 10 km we found again a place by a lake. With majestic mountains next to us, a beach sand and trees covering us, the place felt unreal. But real it was, as were the tiny insects that attacked us as a black swarm the moment we had settled. They crept everywhere - in your nose, in your ears, under your clothes. Only after we got the campfile blazing (with some help from the gas from Veskus bike) and fixed the alcohol level of our blood, they left us alone.

We ate another dinner of pasta and canned meat and shared with eachother our amazement over the scenery earlier today. The rest of the evening was spent in the company of mister Bailey and mister Smirnoff.

-Skoll

Trip today: 241 km
Trip total: 1518 km

We woke and had a breakfast of chicken soup with noodles and bread. The little insects - apparently they called midges or something - had surrounded our tent so we prepared our food in the tent.

At the moment we have stopped for a beer in a small village called Tighnafiline somewhere on the western coast. Tomorrow the plan is to visit Talisker distillery.

-Skoll

For two days, we've been driving through North-Western Highlands The views here are unbelievable. Every time I think THIS has got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, behind the next hill arises a sight even more amazing. Words cannot describe the feeling when driving here. Nor can photos fully make justice to the vast beauty of the landscape.

A pirate at a local pub in one of the towns we visited suggested we should visit a town called Portree at Isle of Skye.

So we did.

See Janne and Skoll enjoying their time at a pub with a band playing, after a few "potions".

It's 01:30 local time. Janne and Vesku just went to bed. I've heard several times before, that all the pubs in UK close early, but it still was a bit of a surprise when we got here. But now I'm gettin ahead of myself.

The scenery today continued to amaze us. I loved the Alps and I loved Norway, but based on the two days so far I love Scotland even more. In Norway the mountains are more majestic, but compared with Scotland the scenery here is a lot richer. While Norway is barren and even desolate at places, Scotland is green with vegetation. To continue the comparison, In Norway the roads are at places even too twisty - you have to concentrate too much on driving. Rest assured, the roads in Scotland are far from boring. Quite on the opposite - to my taste they are just twisty enough to keep the driving intersting, but they leave a lot more time to enjoy the view. And what I have come to really appreciate about Scotland is the rain. It never rains long, nor too hard. In Norway - or in Finland or any other place I have visited for that matter - the duration of rains is counted in hours, in Scotland it's counted in minutes. Sure, it might rain often, but before the next shower you are usually dry again.

And - even at the risk of repeating myself - I have to write a bit more about the scenery. Imagine yourself descending to a valley, with mountains to your left and the ocean to your right. There's a small village with its brown rooftops at the bottom of the valley, some 600 meters below you and you can see the road ahead of you winding up again on the other side. If you are a biker, Scotland is a must-see.

So, we continued following to coast and ended up in the isle of Skye, in a town called Portree. It turned out to be a tourist town, but a nice one. After checking some 30 Bed & Breakfast places and half a dozen hotel - all of them booked - we got three beds from a dormitory in a hostel. We arrived pretty late and after quick showers when we were ready to hit the town, it was already past 22:00. We learned, that most pubs close at 23:00, although some got a late night -license allowing them to stay open until 01:00. The pub we went to was one fo these. They played traditional scottish music there, but I don't think there were any local people there - only tourists. Still, after a long day of driving, a couple of beers worked their magic and we had fun.

Trip today: 298 km
Trip total: 1816 km

PS. Should there be any typos in this text, you'll have to forgive me. I have enjoyed several potions of merryness after all.

Yesterday (thursday) we were riding hard. But if the roads are like this, who wouldnt.

-Vsq

Although the roads we've been riding on have mostly been extremely narrow, one lane mountain roads, the driving experience has been a very pleasurable one. The roads are in good shape, and the locals driving on them, although driving VERY fast, give way if possible, and always greet us with a cheerful wave.

-Vsq

After a rainy journey through western Scotland we arrived to town of Portree. At first it looked like there's a plenty of accomodation available, but after checking twenty or more houses offering bed & breakfast - which had no vacancy, we decided to take a hostel offering a communal room for 12 people. A quick shower, and we headed up to a bar playing music familiar to you who have played the Monkey Island series, traditional Scottish music that is.

After enjoying a couple of pints with some company from Germany we decided to call it a day, and we headed up to a close-by lorry serving grilled food. Refusing to accept the summer weather of Scotland, me and Vesku wore only shorts and t-shirts. Offering some amusement for local people... "A girl actually twisted my nipples while we were queuing. -Vsq"

The morning after

As some of the potions were probably cursed and there weren't any priest around to lift the curse, we went to a cafe to find some cure. After a delicious traditional breakfast, it's time to tighten the throttle again. First we'll be heading towards the Tallisker distillery and on evening we hope to reach Inverness for some friday night action. -Janne

So we made it to the first tourist attraction of the trip - Talisker distillery. (The previous ones we planned to see - Cape Wrath and Victoria Falls - we managed to miss.) The road here made me reconsider my opinion about the local rains. Even though it didn't rain for long, it rained twice as heavy. And what the fuck - pardon my french - does water resistant mean anyway? My jeans are soaking. Resistant my ass!

Anyway, here we are now, enjoying 10 year old Talisker - not bad, not bad at all. To warm our spirits in this cold and damp wather we bought a bottle of 13 year old double matured Talisker Distilley Edition whiskey.

-Skoll

Inverness. Where the majesty of the west meets the mystery of Loch Ness.

We left the Talisker distillery and headed east. The weather got somewhat clearer and the sun even showed itself every once in a while. We did get a few showers on our way but nothing to slow us down. We followed A87 and decided to get to Inverness as fast as possible. Driving the twisty and rainy mountainroad like madmen we were still taken over by locals. We stopped some 30 km before Inverness to check out the tourist attraction castle Urquhart - 7 pounds worth of fun - woohoo!

Inverness. The first city we are visiting in Scotland. After walking around for an hour and learning that all hostels are fully booked we got a family room - because we are one happy family - from a B&B quite in the city center. After dinner we retreated back to the B&B to shower and to prepare ourselves for the night - a Friday night mind you. (Btw, I can not recommend steaks in UK. Based on my experiences so far they overcook them and the meat is almost as bad as in Finland.) Oh, and the Talisker Distillery Edition tastes excellent. As a matter of fact it's one fo the best whiskeys I have ever tasted. It's the basic 10 year old Talisker matured extra 3 years in casks that contained sherry before giving it a unique sweet taste - nice.

One thing I haven't written about yet is driving on the left side. To my surprise it has been easy - almost natural. Driving on the countryside was obviously easy when there wasn't anywhere to turn, but now even in Inverness we didn' have any trouble.

Well, off we are now to spread the word of Tuhometalli!

-Skoll

Trip today: 215 km
Trip total: 2031 km

This one goes out for Juha "Teuras" Torkkel who plays guitar in the blasphemous tuhometalli band Surma. If you want to see some good rock in Inverness, go to Hootanannys upstairs. Notice the Black Label Society T-shirt the bass player is wearing.

-Skoll

Don't go out from a bar after midnight. Let me repeat myself - don't go out from a bar after midnight. I did the mistake of going for a cigarette. The kind bouncer asked me - apparently - if I was going home. I didn't quite hear her so I stepped outside. Only after that I learned that you cant't get inside any bar after midnight - even if the party goes on inside. Apparently the church has a heavy say about how thing are run over here and thanks to that after midnight the streets are to be kept clear. No wonder they burnt all the churches in Norway. Too bad all the churches in here are built out of stone.

So if you are in a bar, don't go out after midnight. We learned it the hard way. At least we have the 13 year old double matured Talisker Distillery Edition whiskey to cheer our night.

-Skoll

PS. Motherfuckers!

Edinburgh. We are spending also tomorrow here, so tonight it's time to get hammered.

-Skoll

Trip today: 251 km
Trip total: 2282 km

I'm afraid I don't have a picture to spice up this story, but according to what I just heared, OJ got some tonight. So join me in congratulating him on this spectacular night.

-Skoll

I have uploaded some pictures now to Flickr. Go and see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/skoll/sets/72157601436092711/.

-Skoll

My previously +2 pants of Water Resistance have been enchanted by the ancient Duck Tape magic to +5. Still, anybody coming here I recommend the Waterproof enchantment or at least Water Resistance level of +8.

-Skoll

I have to be honest with you; When I told you that we rebuilt the electric system of our Honda, I was twisting the truth a bit. All we actually did, was that we totally renewed the groundings and main power lines, as the original design was ridiculous. Almost all electrical gadgets, lights etc. were grounded through one thin wire (14 awg I guess). This wire was then splitted many times in the main wire harness. So we ripped apart the whole harness and grounded each gadget with a proper individual wire. In addition to that, the power lines going to the fuse box, and from the fuse box to the headlights were way too thin, so they were renewed them as well.

Some other minor fixes were also made to the main harness, but we did not touch the front cluster of connectors and relays much. Mistake #1! We also did not renew the fuse box, which is apparently unsuitable for the heavier wiring. Mistake #2! Now, after a rain, the headlight circuit sometimes shorts with the blinkers, and then they are both unusable. The problem can be fixed by taking off the front cover and opening the fusebox. I'm no rookie with electrics, but I just can't find the real fault, especially on the road.

Next winter, I'm going to rebuild everything that was left untouched in the last rebuild.

I lost the lights again yesterday, and was fixing them today as you can see from the photo. You can also see me making the classical "burn the main fuse" manouver with the screwdriver. Needless to say, I don't have spares with me...

• Vsq

About 100km from Edinburg on our way to London, mine and Vesku's bikes ran out of fuel. Actually my bike had ran out of fuel 15km before, but one farmer was friendly enough to give me one liter to get to the next station. Well, still not enough. Skoll had some fuel though, so he did the rescue.

The planned ride for today was probably the longest of the whole trip - 650 km from Edinburgh to London. So far we have managed to travel without any issues, so oviously they all gathered for the day we needed to cover some miles.

We lost almost an hour when both Vesku and Janne run our of gas. Near Newcastle we stopped for gas again. When leaving, Vesku missed the junction we took (he didn't even see us) and continued on through another route. As we didn't see Vesku we stopped to wait. We waited, and we waited. We tried calling him, but there was no reply - so he was either riding or something had happened. Aftet 50 min he finally called us back. He had been driving like mad thinking we went on and he tried to reach us. In addidtion he's bike had lost most of the power now. Vesku had driven to Batron Park (next to Darlington) so we drove there. By the time we got there he had identified and fixed the problem - it was the ignition box again. This time it was soldered using proper tools, thanks to the boys of G.C.S. Johnsons.

Now we are good to hit the road again. Still 350 km to cover today.

-Skoll

After spending 10 hours on the road, we finally made it to London. We are staying at Kristiinas - a friend of mine from Finland who has moved here - place in Barnet. She has invited some friends over and the plan is to eat some, drink some more and have a good time.

-Skoll

Trip today: 713 km
Trip total: 2995 km

It's 11:30 on Tuesday morning and we are having a picnic. It don't think it's proper here in England, but luckily we are from Finland. That's Kenji, Vsq, Janne and Kristiina sitting and enjoying the morning sun and some refreshments.

The journey so far has been lovely - fantastic (excellent, splendid -Janne) as a matter of fact (I'm trying to pick up the English vocabulary). The ride in Norway - even with its rainy and cold weather - was nice one. I have never had a campsite like we had there. And we had a fun evening at Trine's and Kai's place. But the main target of our trip was of course Scotland. Looking back we could have reserved more time for that part, but we somewhat misestimated the size of the Great Britain and it took us longer to get down to London than we thought. But the scenery we did see in the Highlands was amazing and the ride on the narrow, curvy roads a most enjoyable one. Edinburgh was a nice city - that is if you happen to like city holidays. I don't. But the metal place we found, we had good time there.

The second part of our trip started yesterday. It's about driving like mad and partying like hell. We got from Edinburgh to Longon (700 km) in one day, and we have two days to get from London to Wacken (some 80 km north on Hamburg). As of the partying, we are staying at Kristiinas place at the moment - some of the youngsters haven't slept at all during the night - and then there's Wacken - the loudest and proudest metal festival in Europe!

So here we are, on the highest spot of London, enjoying a traditional picnic of sparkling wine and beer. It's the most beautyful day we have had during our trip so far. Tomorrow we are having a long ride ahead of us, but before that it's still good time to to lay back and relax.

-Skoll