Exgreen064
Well-Known Member
So a 6 o clock start from Morrisons in Scunthorpe on a Sunday morning, the weather was nice and dry for the ride down to Folkestone the onto LeShuttle in good time for the 10:30 crossing with minimal waiting. Just enough time to take a photo of Duncan with our boarding pass. This ended the short UK section of the Tirpitz Ride.
In Calais it was off to fill the tank and grab the photo of the receipt, now almost second nature and off following the satnav. France went, then Belgium and into Holland with a quick stop outside Venlo for more go juice and a quick snack as both Duncan and myself were getting peckish.
And that was the way it went, a stop for petrol around Munster followed by one by Hamburg then back on the road as quickly as possible.
Thankfully the route from Calais through to Germany hasn’t changed since I served in Germany and I travelled the route so many times it was still stuck in my head, passing towns that once held barracks full of squaddies, all members of BAOR, now gone but not forgotten by the old and bold. Dortmund, Detmold, Munster and Osnabruck all places I had served in are now empty but still alive in my memory. Even as we went past Hamburg memories came of road trips and drunken nights long past with friends sleeping 4 in a car, too cheap for a hotel. Then it was onto new roads never travelled and over the Øresundsbroen tunnel/bridge complex, which overnight was quite impressive, from Denmark to Sweden. The first stop was to get the passport stamped at the customs point followed a couple of hours later for yet another fuel stop just north of Gothenburg, by this time I had been on the road for 24 hours and time for my first stop.
Day two and it was off up to Mora then onto the Tirpitz monument in Trondheim and back to Mora for the second stop. The day was a great day, the weather continued to play its part and the roads were mostly empty and I could maintain a relatively constant speed suitable to the road conditions. I was relaxed and really into the swing of the journey, fuel, photo and back on the saddle and out on the road with minimal time wasted.
The monument to the men involved on Operation Title against the great ship was sombre and after paying my respects it was back on the road, for the return trip to Mora and a well-earned rest, although finding a spot to set up my tent was difficult as no suitable place presented itself until 20 miles north of Mora.
2 hours later it was time to pick up the E45 route up the centre of Sweden bound for Muonio in Finland and the turn towards Tromso. The E45 was closed and a diversion along some country roads was a welcome change and delightful in the morning sunshine but it was not long before it was back on the main road and into the familiar routing of riding, fuel stop, photo and back on the road. Thank goodness I had two Bluetooth units to connect to the phone as I always had one on charge ready to keep my satnav connected.
Upon entering Finland there was time for a stop as Duncan wanted a selfie on the National sign to remember the trip, but then the petrol station where I filled up at the automatic pump was not giving out paper receipts. Disaster, what could I do, no shops in the small town were open so it was just a photo in front of the pump and carry on. However just a few miles down the road was a campsite and the reception/café was open, brilliant! Popped in for a piece of cake and a receipt with a very understanding owner who spoke better English than I spoke Finnish and was amazed by my journey so far. Being so far inside the Arctic circle it was still light so I stopped to chat to my wife on a video call at half past midnight.
What an amazing experience it was, the only other times I had been in Norway was on winter deployments with the army where the land was covered by a few feet of snow and daylight lasted 5 or 6 hours, and the change was remarkable. But I had a schedule to keep so it was back on the road and off to Tromso 200 miles away. The Memorial outside Tromso commemorates the men of the RAF involved in Operation Catechism who lost their lives in the attacks on the Tirpitz while she was anchored off Hakoya island.
So it was six o’ clock on Wednesday morning with the sun already high in the sky I left Tromso for the final leg back along the E8 to meet up with the E6 and along the coast to the final destination. 6 hours to cover 250 miles hoping to reach the Tirpitz museum before midday. With the end in sight my concentration levels reached their peak and I felt I could make it, I had been awake over 24 hrs by this time existing on adrenaline and coffee. Memories of being on exercise and deployments in the army where there could be days between rest periods left me with experience of carrying on for long periods and tricks to keep awake, active and alert. Finally up the narrow road and the museum was in sight, the gravel slope in front was the last obstacle but I managed to keep the bike upright and put it on its side stand, with a quick glance at the clock in the instrument panel showing the time as 11:30, I had made it.
The memorial to the men who manned the X-Craft who lost their lives on Operation Source, the attack on the Tirpitz was in front of me. 9 countries, 3 ½ days 3 different time zones and over 3000 miles and the BMW R1200 RT never missed a beat, she took it all in her stride, all the miles with almost no rest, no breaks longer than 3 hours, just fill up and carry on a true continent crosser.
