Whats it going to cost?

Thought I might try to work out the costings (it will also give me a rough idea of how many pennies I need to save) Oh well, here goes, (I am prepared to start worrying)

Ferries.......Isle of Man to Heysham and return from Liverpool...£207.00

Hull to Rotterdam and return from Zeebrugge....£306.90 (however that includes evening meal, breakfast and a cabin)

Stockholm to Tallinn....£165.00 (also includes meals and a cabin)

Expect to cover 3500 miles, so roughly 100 gals of fuel, at approx £5.00 per gallon.....£500.00.

I intend to spend 21 nights camping, prices appear to be about £10.00 per night, so £210.00.

The remaining 10 nights will be (cheap hotels) at about £30.00 per night, so a further £300.00.

So, a grand total of £1689.00, plus food and entertainment. So all in all not too bad, even better when you consider that I have already paid the ferry fares.........not as bad as I first thought then.

I suppose really that I should also factor in a pair of tyres that I will need to fit before the trip. (I can put the old tyres back on when I return as they are OK but would not cover 3500 miles.)

I should also include a trip I need to make to Norfolk in order to rectify an inherent fault with the wiring loom on the Blackbird.

I may also treat myself to yet another tent, even though the 3 berth tent I used in France last year is still good to go. (see above picture) We will see.

Fish

By the way, don't forget to feed the fish at the top of the page, just click your mouse button when you are over the water, this will drop food into the tank which the fish will eat.

Hours of fun eh!

Where am I going?

Right, My ferry is booked from the Isle of Man to Heysham on Senior race day, 10th June, with a return from Liverpool on 15th July, so lets take a look at the route that I intend taking between those dates.

On the 10th June after landing at Heysham I have plenty of time in hand to meander over to Hull for the overnight crossing to Rotterdam. From Rotterdam I will be travelling through a small part of Holland before crossing northern Germany before a short ferry ride into Denmark. From Denmark I cross into Sweden and spend a couple of days rolling up to Stockholm where I will spend 3 days taking in the sites.

From Stockholm I am catching the overnight ferry to Tallinn in Estonia, arriving on my birthday, 17th June. (during my trip across the USA I actually started out from New York on my birthday after kicking my heels for a week trying to get my bike through customs....memories).

After spending a few days in Tallin I intend heading to the Baltic coast at Parnu before riding down the coast road to Riga, the capital of Latvia. From there I will head back to the coast at Liepaja and continue down the coast to Palanga in Lithuania. I will then cut in land to the capital, Vilnius, via a heritage site, The Hill of Crosses.

From Lithuania I cross into Poland and make my way, over a few days, to Warsaw, where again I will spend a few days enjoying this fine city before continuing to Krakow. Whilst there I will visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and another World Heritage site, the Wieliczka Salt Mines.

Leaving Karkow I cross the border into Slovakia where I plan to visit Bojnice Castle before turning west and into Czech republic. There are a few place that I will visit whilst in this country, amongst them are the sandstone rock formations back up by the Polish border, and the Church of bones at Kutna Hora. I will then make the short distance to Prague where, again, I will chill for 3 days.

It is anticipated that Rob and I will meet up whilst in Prague, hopefully on the 7th July, before we journey back to Zeebrugge together where I will catch the boat back to Hull, but in the meantime, we will visit Munich, so that Rob, a Manchester United supporter, can pay his respects at the memorial to the Munich air disaster.

From Munich our route takes us through the Black Forest to Strasbourg where again we can spend a couple of days. (we should have visited here on our French trip last year but circumstances were against us so we will fit it in this year). From Strasbourg we will ride up via Luxembourg and to Fumay in Belgium where we hope to take a ride on a death slide across a river and through a wood (the web site blurb says that you reach speeds of 60mph, really can't wait for that one, will need clean underwear I am sure!!!).

Then for me its back to Zeebrugge and the overnight boat to Hull before crossing to Liverpool for the evening crossing back to Douglas and work the following day - that will be a shock to the system.

In the meantime Rob will go onto Amsterdam for his Take That concert, well, someone has to like them I suppose.

Well folks, thats the plan, it just takes for me to save loads of pennies now. Thanks to Bill at work, the annual leave is booked, as are all ferry crossing, together with a hotel in Tallinn for my birthday, so it just leaves to say, Roll on June.

Plans are made

Can you believe that it is 2 1/2yrs since I made my trip across the states! Where has the time gone? I certainly do not know.

Last year my mate Rob and myself decided we should take on a trip across Europe in 2011 and planned quite an extensive route. In the meantime we took a trip to France last year, this was when I found out that I really do not like the high summer temperatures!!

On a couple of days the temperature rose to around 40 degrees C, and this was far, far too hot for me. Riding the bike was a chore as I found that I could not concentrate to the level that I knew I should, so, after some discussion it was decided that the 2011 trip would still be taken but that Rob would head off to the med as he likes the sun, and that I would head north to cooler climes. So that is now the plan.

So, it was out with the maps and on with the computer and google maps and a route has been born. A 5 week trip covering around 3,500 miles, myself and Rob have also combined routes for the last week so that we can ride back to Zeebrugge together. At this point Rob will make his way up to Amsterdam as he has tickets for Take That ---- Well it does take all sorts I suppose.

My trip will be undertaken on my beautiful Silver/Grey Blackbird and Rob will be riding the Blue Blackbird that carried me across the States. You may well remember that I got knocked off that one when I returned to the Isle of Man and it was written off by the insurance company but Rob bought it off me and she was repaired and she also looks the part. (however the blue bikes are not as fast as the silver ones - Ha!!)

So what route have I decided on, lets take a look shall we.