20/07/2026
This is a longer update, I dictated it so it’s a bit wordy but I’ve been reflecting upon my past days on the road.
This journey is turning into a very interesting research trip. Travel by motorbike versus travelling in a motorhome, so Nomad versus Winnie, and it is interesting observing the trade-offs. When I am riding along on the bike, there is nowhere else I would rather be; it is just perfect. But I am really fed up with staying in hotels, eating hotel food, et cetera, and the cost of hotels, for that matter. That is where the motorhome wins because I carry my own food. I can cook my own food; I have my own lounge; I have my own bed; I have my own belongings. In many ways, I have already brought too many things on the motorbike. If I were starting all over again, there is a whole load of stuff that I would not even bother bringing with me. I have too much stuff with me. Whereas in a motorhome, it really does not matter because it has loads and loads of storage space and weight capacity, and I do not really worry about it too much. In a way, the blend of a motorhome and a motorbike would be ideal, so it is something that I am looking at and thinking about, but obviously I do not have it here.
This morning I woke up and decided I would just go back south and go and get Winnie. Since then, I have changed my mind and decided no, it is not what I am going to do. I am going to go to Norway on the bike, but I cancelled the hotel that I had booked, and I have booked a very basic cabin on a campsite for the first two nights in Norway, meaning I can go off on the bike on the second day and go and explore some windy roads. However, the weather is changing, and there is a lot of wet weather forecast in the future. Windy roads and wet weather do not necessarily go together, especially on a fully laden motorbike. So we are just going to have to suck it and see really, and see how it goes. I may carry on north, I may not.
It is interesting because I have always said I am going towards Nordkap, which is a phrase I picked up from the sailing world. There, you always say you are going towards somewhere because at any given point, you might have to turn around, dive into a port of refuge, go in a completely different direction, etc. It turns out that maybe motorbike travel is the same. I am not going to knock my head against a brick wall and go to Nordkapp if every day I am battling bad weather; I am just not interested. I will come back in the van or I will come back another time. But I am going to go and have a little look at what southern Norway, at the very least, looks like, and then take it from there.
So, today, after thinking about all that, there was just a relatively short ride, maybe about two hours in total. I went to a museum that had been recommended by friends, which was great; I sat out in the sun and drank coffee. That was lovely. Then just had a pretty chilled ride. The speed limits here are quite low. 80 kilometres an hour is the fastest. For the most part, I was a good boy. I went at a reasonable pace and just enjoyed the scenery, which was really nice.
The hotel I turned up at was a bit posh for me and for Nomad. It is a golf hotel. But it is not that great because I went to go to the restaurant and he said, oh no, sir, sorry, it is all full if you have not booked. Anyway, without going on too much about that, it was not the best, but the room was nice. This is my last posh hotel. I am at a fairly basic hotel tomorrow night because I am getting up early the following morning for the Norway ferry, so it is just a very basic budget room. Then I will be in cabins or camping, which might be more suited. We will see. Anyway, that is it. That has been today’s travel.
