As promised, my closing note and a map of the final route we covered.
Without wishing to sound "mushy" (as I believe our British friends call it), just a few words of thanks that I deem necessary ...
Firstly, to Bengt (Piper) and Johann (Gooseman), for being part of this group and whose existence inspired both the rally and subsequently this trip to be a reality, without which, I suspect I would probably never have wandered so far north (a total of 53 or 54 fuel stops there and back
).
Again, a seperate thanks to Johann and Bengt, Johann who confirmed the necessity to go further north to visit Stockholm (on a bike) and Bengt, whose mishap supplied the reason (or excuse?
) to go even further north to his beautiful home town of Uppsala.
I will never know if you two conspired together on this
, but either way, thank you for making us feel so comfortable and welcome, in your country.
Thanks go to Martyn who suggested (read: planted the idea
) that since I was going further north to Stockholm, to cross over and see Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (a route he covered/pioneered a couple of years ago).
I initially said "no" but then the idea grew on me (it doesn't take much
).
Going even further north to Finland (before coming back down again to Estonia) was my own idea but was nevertheless a derivative of Martyn's suggestion.
So, thank you Martyn ... it was well worth it!
Also a special thanks to Pawel and Beata who took time off to show me their city (Gdansk/Poland) and also for the ride we took around Gdansk, Sobot and Gdynia (along with Krzystof).
A true highlight of the trip!
I hope I will one day be able to reciprocate your kindness.
A word of thanks to my brother Lefteris, who covered my a$$ while I was away and who initially suggested I go to Sorrento in the southwest of Italy instead of directly north once reaching Bari in Italy. This inspired my including the island of Capri, Naples, Pompei, Rome and Florence on this trip, places not originally planned.
A big thank you to Kathy who shared (and in some cases - lived through) all the small adventures with me and made it so much fun and memorable.
Also for her endless efforts in taking literally thousands of pictures (many of which are truly spectacular), some of which made their way onto this thread. Many other pictures I will include in the write-up.
The words "Jump off!" (later shortened to just "Jump") and "hop on!" (the bike ...that is
) will always remind us of this trip.
To all the friends who posted on this thread (and who PM'ed me) many thanks for your kind words, they were truly appreciated.
I am glad you (and hopefully others who just viewed them) enjoyed the pictures from this ride.
To those who posted from across the Atlantic, I hope to soon have the opportunity to do the same kind of ride in your country (and visit the other, famous Montana - not the Bulgarian one I mentioned and pictured in my previous post
)
Greg/Bayern, thanks for your suggestions (Odeonplatz and Thyringen Wald sp? area).
The first I covered and the second I had planned (and was going to surprise you with pictures) but the heavy rain after Nuremberg precluded our venturing into this area, on the specific day.
It is duly noted for another time .
The final route:
Last but not least
, a small mention and a little gratitude to the fellow in the top-right corner of the next (and last) picture (taken shortly after we crossed the Romania to Bulgaria border), who, on the numerous "longer" rides over the last nearly 30 years, has watched over me (including on the last all-nighter from Sofia/Bulgaria to Athens) and who, in this case as a "full moon" ... brought me home
.
