Game Over ....for now
So I have some bad news if there is actually anybody out there following this, I have decided to cancel my trip to Norway this year for two main reasons...
The first is that I've just got back from a 3 week jaunt around Europe covering 5000km in that time, a lot of motorway/autobahn time, hotel hoping, a bit of camping and plenty of not moving days and frankly I'm knackered and fed up of living out of a suitcase and the back of a car for all that time.
I managed to do one day of proper sight seeing on the road in Scotland, stopping where the fancy took me and taking some lovely photographs (even if I do say so myself) it was a nice day and I quite enjoyed the freedom to do pretty much whatever I wanted. Of course the penalty is that a 2 hour journey turned into over 3 hours, even with some occasional spirited driving as traffic conditions allowed, so using that as the benchmark I now realise that I have quite simply set the bar too high for myself in terms of the riding time and distance I need to travel everyday if I am to actually enjoy the experience (and that is the whole point after all - its not like I'm doing this for charity where a bit of suffering might be acceptable)
The second reason is family related, I won't go into that here but being away for most of August just doesn't work.
I haven't given up on the idea of getting to Norway, I just need to get the timing right and set my expectations for the distance I can cover with a lot more realism, perhaps I should start by cutting my 600km/6 hour rule by a third to allow enough time to keep to the speed limits and to stop to take photos or enjoy the moments. That probably means that I need 2 trips to do all the things I want to do, Trip 1 would be southern Norway as going as far north as Trondheim and Trip 2 would be Northern Norway, taking in the Lofoten islands and North Cape.
So that's it for now, life is all about the choices we make for ourselves and at the moment I choose not to be knackered and to slow down a little so that I can enjoy the experience more fully.
The first is that I've just got back from a 3 week jaunt around Europe covering 5000km in that time, a lot of motorway/autobahn time, hotel hoping, a bit of camping and plenty of not moving days and frankly I'm knackered and fed up of living out of a suitcase and the back of a car for all that time.
I managed to do one day of proper sight seeing on the road in Scotland, stopping where the fancy took me and taking some lovely photographs (even if I do say so myself) it was a nice day and I quite enjoyed the freedom to do pretty much whatever I wanted. Of course the penalty is that a 2 hour journey turned into over 3 hours, even with some occasional spirited driving as traffic conditions allowed, so using that as the benchmark I now realise that I have quite simply set the bar too high for myself in terms of the riding time and distance I need to travel everyday if I am to actually enjoy the experience (and that is the whole point after all - its not like I'm doing this for charity where a bit of suffering might be acceptable)
The second reason is family related, I won't go into that here but being away for most of August just doesn't work.
I haven't given up on the idea of getting to Norway, I just need to get the timing right and set my expectations for the distance I can cover with a lot more realism, perhaps I should start by cutting my 600km/6 hour rule by a third to allow enough time to keep to the speed limits and to stop to take photos or enjoy the moments. That probably means that I need 2 trips to do all the things I want to do, Trip 1 would be southern Norway as going as far north as Trondheim and Trip 2 would be Northern Norway, taking in the Lofoten islands and North Cape.
So that's it for now, life is all about the choices we make for ourselves and at the moment I choose not to be knackered and to slow down a little so that I can enjoy the experience more fully.
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