Fast Forward (a bit!)

Ok so I have been struggling with a couple of things about this trip, the first is the length which currently stands at 21 days and the second issue is one of timing. I really want to go to Norway for the personal challenge aspects but I also really want to do the Sealed Knot 50th Anniversary Battle at Claydon House on the UK Bank Holiday weekend..but the dates I currently have clash.

I'm afraid its another one of those "random" flashes of inspiration, this one visited on me while cleaning my toilet and listening to Taylor Swift. I don't think either of those things were particularly influential, but I also spent the morning learning about the Secret Mirror (which I guess is really a kind of Neuro-Linguistic Programming tool) that allows you to work out whats stopping you (internally) from getting to your goals so maybe that gets the credit. Neither the SK Battle or going to Norway was the goal I had set up in my mind but maybe its one of those "universe will provide" solutions.... only time will tell so ask me in 12 months if I got to be where I wanted to be!.

The inspirational action (part of the whole secret mirror thing) is this...the reason I can't do both is because I am tied to the European Pan Gathering which is set in the last weekend of August, so, if I break my ties with that activity I can do Norway at anytime. The cost (there is always a cost) is that I don't get to spend 4 days with some like-minded bikers from across Europe, a few of whom I made friends with at previous Pan Gatherings but couldn't really count as proper friends mainly because we've not spoken for nearly 2 years. The side benefit is that not doing the whole hotel, gala dinner, day trip thing frees up 4 days. (my) Life is sometimes a bit of a balancing act but this is so obvious now, I really don't know why I didn't think of this before.

To be confirmed, but I now intend doing Norway at the start of August taking 18 days and then heading back to the UK for August Bank Holiday Battle....going to be another busy month hopping from country to country (8 in total) but its going to be worth it... and I'll have plenty of stories to tell around the campfire! 

So the clock is now reset: T-minus 97 days and counting.... 

In other news.... Last week I took the advantage of a dog free day (my Husky "Diesel" was still in the kennels) to do a test run across the Harz mountains to determine how many kms could be done in a comfortable day which included lunch and a bit a sight seeing i.e. similar to a typical day in Norway. I had a great day out, weather conditions were perfect so I was out for about 10 hours and covered 560km across a mix of town and country roads (so no autobahns). However there was a fair bit of good progress being made (especially in the afternoon - insert cheesy grin here!) so I should probably only expect to do a maximum of 500km in a full day - I am definitely going to have to revisit the route again, some days I'm down for 800km and even though it is supposed to be the land of the midnight sun, I cannot do those distances day after day for 18 days in a row... I'm there to see the country and enjoy it - not turn it into a mile-munching endurance exercise.