CB500X – Solo Norway trip Part 23 – Crossing into Finland

CB500X – Solo Norway trip Part 23 – Crossing into Finland

The uh bike which is behind me which you can’t see he got off his bike put it on the sideand it’s quite a camber and as he got off so the bike fell over onto me welcome folks it’s Nick here it’s the start of day 31 I think just left the

Campsite wherever that was I need to put the name of the town up it wasn’t really a town it was just a little stopping point a gift shop and camping facilities next to it the camping facilities were all nice and clean but very lacking in number I would

Say they were three toilet cubicles which were also the shower cubicles and two sinks and it was mixed so it was men women and so it’s a bit Limited in a fullsize campsite I would say but anyway nonetheless heading now to Helsinki but going via Army which is the Christmas town in laand

Finland it’s heading down that way anyway it’s it’s uh 6 or 700 km we’re just heading heading on the route take it very gently it’s very odd seeing the same Vehicles over a number of days about a week and a half ago when I was in ganga I saw two specific Austin he

Which I then bumped into a couple of days later at a petrol station and just as I was pulling out of the campsite there they passed again and so all the same route really but I’m going a different route this time I think because if I just plugged

In Helsinki it would have taken me down a different route but at the moment I’m heading to back to Ala which is where I spent the night few nights ago so two nights AG not last night before getting back together anyway just going to enjoy the the ride and the

Scenery don’t know whether we’ll see any reindeers today I was chatting last night to some bikers who were up from Finland and and they said to be very careful watch out for the reindeer they are mad they will quite likely wait at the side of the road till they see you

Coming and then run Across I was chatting with a motorcyclist can’t remember where he came from but he told the UK and he mentioned about the head nod as opposed to the hand wave so in Europe in the mainland Europe CU we’re driving on the right here where I

Am I can quite easily put my left turned out because it doesn’t affect my throttle control at all and it’s on the correct side of the the road for them to be a to see it and them to respond of course in the UK in your left hand out is a little bit

Odd and uh not very visible putting your right hand out is going to be dangerous cuz youly get the throttle snapping closed on you but he perfected the the head nod which is more than I can do any just an observation but they also use a foot out

Here as well they’re overtaking you for example they’ll often put their right foot out another Oddity of motorcycling I guess in the earlier days of motorcycling in in ‘ 7s 80s we used to flash our headlights at each other in the UK headlights are on all the time one way or

Another it’s not legal I supposed to do so just another little bit of nonsense whilst I’m riding along with beautiful you could always mute these bits if only knew they were coming Okay so we’ve been stuck at this set of lights but there’s already lights there’s a man with a little red paddle

For good five minutes and before that another 5 minutes he let maybe 20 cars go through and now nothing’s happening nothing’s coming either way so I don’t know what’s going on but it’s a horrible set of Road works I should have skipped to the front

To the queue when I had the chance but I was trying to unfreeze the GoPro which has cost me this time so never mind So eventually it’s out of bit of excitement now the uh bike which is behind me which you can’t see he got off his bike put it on the

Side stand it’s quite a camber and as he got off so the bike fell over onto me but luckily it’s just he was quite close so it just fell onto my soft piers and I had a good grip on the bike so I was able to hold them both

Up that just goes to show lack of concentration can go a long way Just topped up with fuel just in case done 208 km on that tank so it should be over 400 km and we’re 434 km from the next town which is pillow I believe pillow in Finland so we’ll be crossing the border at some stage I stopped her a little Bakery

Managed to get a proper salad I got something other than a bagette from a bakery which was really nice had a lot of salad green stuff underneath which is super and um yeah so I’m topped up bik’s topped up just got to stop waing and get

Going I didn’t hold out much hope for the e45 but there’s bits of it which are really lovely running alongside a river we’ crossed it and these mountains either side quite dramatic excuse the uh instu keep forgetting about it I’d use it more but it’s really awkward you have to turn it

Off otherwise the battery seems to die very very quickly and then turning it on or off on the move is really difficult and then starting recording isn’t too bad stopping recording is painful it doesn’t seem to want to stop so it’s just not I don’t find it usable as a vlogging device

Sure come to groups with it but with my gloves which aren’t particularly thick just turning get on right there Finland there we go this Finland so I’ve never been to Finland either tall 200 m good thing this side don’t look like I need to do anything green light suppose they’ll

Uh chase after me if I’ve gone wrong somewhere there we go Finland 50 in the cities 80 out of the Cities nice and straightforward oh so having set out to the city it’s 80 actually it’s 100 another border crossed I’ve stopped at a petrol station as much as anything I was going

To get some Refreshments here but it doesn’t seem the last couple of stations I’ve been to had Refreshments the first one had an Associated Cafe um didn’t like the pumps were active 7.97 l every time you stop even just for a moment at a junction not there many get swamped with mosquitoes

And if you stop the bik and get off there’s these massive great wasp type things start buzzing around it and you not very pleasant at all anyway this is Finland but very different landscape no mountains lots of trees no reindeer yet let’s just see whether this is open

Yeah well that’s pretty good it’s €1 15 for the night doesn’t include electric but they’re Grill bar looks fantastic it’s open till 10:00 it’s now about 6:30 so good timing just hope the mides and mozzies aren’t too bad so I’m going to pitch here but it doesn’t look great Mozzy

Wise there’s a chap there wafting his arms about and look at the um bee things or wasps whatever they are already horse flies or something I don’t know what they are massive great things anyway right off we go look what is that horrible big fly we’re at the end of day

31 heading towards Helsinki but via pill and Rafi which is Santa Claus town found a campsite uh right by a lake but it is just so jammed with mosquitoes i d venture outside they’re just buzzing at the Mozzy netting all the time anyway interesting day um the road at first was

Was nice and but then it came bit tedious did about 350 km today um one odd thing happened I was stopped at some Road Works ridiculous set of Road works and two bikes pulled up almost next to me one slightly ahead to the side one slightly behind to the

Side and all of a sudden I felt a real sudden weight on the back of my bike and his bike one of the the guy at the back I think he’d put it on the side stand but not well enough and it fell over onto me luckily it didn’t knock me over

And no damage done very odd saw some reindeer had a really nice salad lunch it was really good to have something other than hot dog or baguette thing so yeah it was really nice and the campsite that I’m at has got a restaurant and they did real food

Too so I had uh actually reindeer Patty and Fries but had a heap of salad with it and a beer so that sums up today I think anyway um nothing else to report oh part of the fact I lost another hour didn’t realize the time zone shifted

But um that’s it on the road tomorrow towards Pelos posos possibly and then Ren Army anyway more of that tomorrow all that needs me to be saying bye for Now

This is Part 23 of my trip continuing the journey through Norway, I Left the campsite at Olderfjord Turistsenter, nice location and a good day room, but the toilet / shower facilities were very limited. More reindeer along the way and a really long wait at some road works. While waiting the biker to my left, attempted to get off his bike, but in doing so somehow managed to drop his bike which leant over on me while he ended up on the ground the other side of my bike. No damage to anybody or anything but a very odd experience.
Crossed the border into Finland, some lovely scenery along the way and ended up at a small / basic campsite by a river, this was the first time I’d truly encountered mosquitos which were a real nuisance while erecting the tent. The campsite had a restaurant which did really good food.

The whole journey took me through the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and into Norway right the way up to Nordkapp, the furthest point you can travel by motorcycle or car in mainland Europe and then back through Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France over a 7 week period late May – mid July 2023
I am back in the UK now, but please do add your comments and I’ll get back to you.

Hoping you can “Like” the video, as this does help the channel.

All my best wishes, thanks again for watching

Nick

CB500X 2022 model
Hepco & Becker Tank bars
Rally Raid CB500X 2019-on Engine Guard-RRP 747
SW Motech Footrest Kit
R&G Kickstand Shoe-RRP 474
Outback Motortek Pannier rack and Rear rack (including exhaust heat shield)

Metzeler Tourance Next tyres

SW-Motech dry bag (60 litres)
Lomo dry bag motorcycle waterproof panniers -soft
Oxford tank bag (need to use rain cover in heavy rain)

Garmin Zumo XT GPS device
Rally Raid Billet Multi-Mount for 12mm (1/2″) Crossbar – part number RRP 643

GoPro Hero 10 (helmet mounted)
Adhesive universal helmet mount for GoPro
Purple Panda microphone (helmet mounted)
Sonicake wireless microphone (walking about)
Insta360 X3
DJI mini 3 Drone

Vango Tryfan 300 (3 person tent)
Sea to Summit Camp Plus Self Inflating Camping Mat
Trekology air bag (topping up mat inflation)
SLAAPLEKKER 800 Goose down mummy sleeping bag
Eurohike sleeping bag liner
Trekology Aluft pillow

Cyberlink PowerDirector 365 – video editing

RST textile jacket
RST textile trousers (slight seepage in crutch area in heavy rain)
TCX Airtech 3 Gore-tex boots
Nolan 80 helmet