Skip to main content

Day Five - My Big fat Arctic Ride

Hello All

Another day and another journey. Gordon has found a campsite in Norrkoping, Sweden and is currently 100 miles south of Stockholm. Norrkoping is known for having a cactus plantation in the summer months and excitingly grows around 25,000 cacti every year..I can see why Gordon picked it as a prime location..although I hope he's not camping on a cactus..ha ha

Talking of prickly things, apparently he saw a MASSIVE Christmas Tree Farm on the side of the motorway. I did enquire as to whether he had ordered us a swedish spruce, if there is such a thing, or even better picked one up, but according to Gordon, it wouldnt fit on the back of the bike which is a shame.

Today also saw him seeing his first British people on the trip to date. He waved at the caravans of people and later saw them at the service station which is when he realised they were gypsies and was worried he may have been grabbed so slinked off back onto the motorway.

The roads are still quite scary and even though there are no autobahns, Gordon tells me that everyone drives madly and in a hurry and also that they all drive estate cars! He said that his one complaint for the roads is the Swedish answer to Roadworks which appears to be that they dig up the road and then just put gravel down..slightly worrying when you have to take your motorbike over it! He said that he was a bit worried, again something I don't want to hear! More than that, he has to go over some of those areas again tomorrow!

The temperature is dropping since Gordon has been in Sweden and although it is warm during the day, the nights are cold so think he needs to whip the long johns out! He also stopped in a small town and bought a bike neck warmer to try and keep him warm and cosy in the chillier weather.

Gordon told me that being on his own is difficult and to pass the time has been trying to listen to the World Service. Unfortunately this can only be picked up from Stockholm and so has been listening to the fun of 'Russia Today', so if you want to know what is happening in a small rustic village then he is the man to ask! Apart from this he has been listening to Ricky Gervais podcasts which we downloaded prior to him leaving and it was that funny that he was forced to pull over and turn it off! Praise indeed!

The plan for tomorrow is to travel to Gavel, which is north of Stockholm. The mileage is inevitably going to decrease as the motorways end at Stockholm and become A roads. The speed limit will also decrease to 50 miles an hour which may be frustrating, especially as he gets closer to Nordkapp.

With regards to sponsorship, thanks to everyone who has donated so far..we are up to £1092 which is immense! Come on people, we are not far from the target now so if you have not donated yet but would like to support him, please either go online or send it/come and see me.

That's it for now peeps.

Ride Safe Gordon,
xxxxx

Miles rode today - 279 miles
Total mileage to date - 1631 miles

Popular posts from this blog

Suzuki GSX650F review

Hello there, And welcome to another edition of the Arctic Ride blog! My trip might be a distant memory (last year in fact) but there is still plenty to come from me both for Arctic Ride 2014 post trip (like this blog) and future adventures. I'm pleased to announce that earlier this week my blog reached 45,000 views which I am both pleased and humbled about. So with this blog I wanted to share my thoughts on the bike I rode on my ride to the Arctic this year, the Suzuki GSX650F. I've had many people ask me to review the bike and, well, here it is. My GSX 650F and I at the Arctic Circle in Norway As a background in my 9 years of riding I've ridden a smallish cross section of bikes, but I feel it has been enough for me to put some context behind my views on the GSX650F. An example of some of the bikes I have ridden include my first bike, Suzuki Marauder 125, a Yamaha Virago 535, Kawasaki ER5, SV650S, BMW LT 1200, Harley Davidson Street Glide 1800, and a Kawasaki ...

Why is the Dalton so dangerous?

Welcome to The Arctic Rider blog, Its now less than a year until I start my quest to conquer The Dalton Highway in Alaska, one of the worlds' most dangerous roads. The new 'Arctic Ride Alaska' poster I've still got a lot of planing to do and I've been working away in the background to get a lot of things firmed up, but I probably won't know the key parts of the trip, such as the exact dates I'll be going and the bike I'll be riding, until the Autumn. Anything I know before then I'll be staring with all you loyal readers of my blog. In this blog, I'll be covering why The Dalton Highway is so dangerous , and why I'm hoping you will share some of your very hard earned Pounds (and other currencies for non-UK readers) in exchange for the danger and suffering I'll be putting myself in next year. Firstly though, I must say a huge thanks to an unnamed Devitt Insurance employee who very kindly donated their employee-of-the month priz...

Looking back: Arctic Ride Iceland

Hello, Thanks for tuning into another edition of the Arctic Rider blog. Wow, so its been a week and a half since I returned from my epic trip to Arctic Iceland. The dust has settled and I'm back at work.. it almost feels as thought it never happened, a long and distant memory but luckily I have lots of photos to remind me it was real :) Day 12 - Southern Iceland The weather in Iceland completely battered me and I feel lucky to have got through this ride in one piece, having met other bikers who been blown off their bikes in the wind, dropped them on gravel roads, and been soaked to the skin by the rain. The battle against the elements was 100% worth it though to raise so much money for two amazing charities in Tiny Lives Trust and Cerebra. At the time of writing, Team Arctic Ride has raised OVER £5,000 for this ride. I'm honoured and humbled to have had such amazing support from so many dedicated supporters! I will be closing my donation page at midnight 31st July...