My travels...

Day 1 : From home up to IJmuiden for the ferry to Newcastle

Since it's only the trip to IJmuiden and ferry to Newcastle, nothing special to mention, except that everything went well so far 👌
Trip to Holland without problems, embarking went hell of a lot faster than last year when several 100's of motorbikes went to Isle of Man. Think I only noticed 5 or 6 bikes this time, and mine's parked right in front of the ship's door, so I'll be off pretty fast...😁
Wheather in northern UK not looking very promising, but for me that's part of the game 🤘👊
I'll take weather conditions into account and will be riding with caution 😉😉

Day 2 : From Newcastle up to Motherwell

Well... we're on UK grounds now for the next 9 or 10 days 🤘, but nothing spectacular on this first stage, riding up to Motherwell (Glasgow region) to meet up with my friends there 👊👊
Just some 15min of heavy rain, gusts of wind and even hail just outside of Newcastle, but mostly sunny for the rest of the day 🫰
Given the welcoming comittee they've arranged for diner this evening... I guess tonight's pictures might be, how shall I say... less suited for public eyes 🙄😁😁

Day 3 : From Motherwell to Aberdeeen for the ferry to Shetland

The journey's about to start for real... just boarded my 2nd ferry, now towards Shetland where we will arrive tomorrow morning around 7AM 👊👊
Just a few pics today, most video-footage is on my GoPro's and I'm currently downloading them on my laptop... Amongst others, also a magnificent and scenic ride through the Cairgorns National Park... video will soon follow 😉

Day 4 : First day of touring the Shetland Island

What a day... 👊
What a ride... 👊
Explored the Western part of mainland Shetland, places like Brindister, Dale of Walls, Sandness, Westerwick & Hannavoe
Weather was quite bearable today, an occasional drizzle of rain, never been "showered", temp around 12°. Most disturbing were the gusts of wind rushing between the hills, but all in all.... superb day of riding

Day 5 : Second day of touring the Shetland Island

What an EPIC ride today... 🤘👊💪

All muscles in neck, shoulders, arms and back are asking me "Why, oh why ??" 🤪, but all was well worth it 👊

I won't go into details on the breakdown due to a dead battery, nor on the gusting sidewinds trying to beat and batter me all day (🙄), but stood tall and undefeated 💪

In short, today's trip took me all the way up to the most Northern point of Scotland/Shetland, sailing on 2 ferries up (and back down 🤪) and passing by, amongst others, the Viking Longhouse and before heading back to the hotel, making a (pretty long) bypass via the cliffs at Eshaness Lighthouse where the astonishing views absolutely and totally rewarded all the efforts and battles of today ❤️

Day 6 : Last day of touring the Shetland Island

Last day on Shetland today and weather has turned around (quite) a bit compared to yesterday...Not really raining at the moment, more like a falling mist, more annoying on the bike then rain 🙄 and temp will be just some 10° (real feel 8°).
But if wind keeps somewhat quieter, I'll probably be able to visit the last foresen sites on the Southern part of mainland Shetland 🤞🤞, and I'm boarding the ferry down to Orkney at 5:30PM (ferry #7 on this journey) 🛳🛳

So, 6th day of the jouney, last day on Shetland, and what a blast we had on these islands ;-)
On this day a bit of a shorter trip (140km) because we had to be back in time to get on ferry #10 from Lerwick (Shetland) to Kirkwall (Orkney)...
Before taking me all the way down to Sumburgh Head, it went via St. Ninian's Isle to Noss, and concluding the day on the isle of Bressay (National Nature Reserve)
Back in time for the ferry and heading to Orkney for a visit to a friend "much to long-time-n-see" ;-)
Ready for 2 days of riding on Orkney 👊👍👊

Day 7 : First day of riding on Orkney island

The 2 trips on Orkney will be a bit shorter than the previous ones, Orkney's just a lot smaller than Shetland, and geographically it’s more split up in multiple islands, only reachble by ferry, and here they have less frequent sailings than the ones on Shetland…And it will also allowing me to recuperate a bit of the past few days, and prepare for the long trip down to Dover as of Saturday morning…

Explored theEastern partof mainland Orkney, places like St. Margaret’s Hope down to Banks via the Churchill Barriers (https://www.orkney.com/listings/churchill-barriers) where you can see several shipwrecks from WW II, and thus being a great diving-spot (as I’ve been told and have seen😉), see the pics from the drone of one of the wrecks.

I must say that more than once I had the impression I was riding through the Flemish Ardennes, similar roads (although not in the same condition) and comparable landscapes…

And the gods must have been with me because weather conditions were excellent (for the region I’m riding), temp most of the day around 14-16°, mostly sunny, not too much wind and just a little drizzle of rain just around noon.

As for my 2nd day on Orkney, I had to cut a part of the route because the ferries to the isle f Hoy are to be pre-booked and noticed yesterday I could still get to the island, but not get back the same day and you can understand that’s not really an option for me 😊 😊. But there will still be enough to explore on the Western part of mainland Orkney

Day 8 : Last day of riding on Orkney island

Trying not to lose count… Should be day 8 of the Journey (started with album 0 ;-) ), last one on the isles of Shetland and Orkney 😉
We took it easy today, just a ride of some 110km around the Western part of mainland Orkney, visiting some historical sites :

- TheRing of Brodgar(https://www.orkney.com/listings/ring-of-brodgar)

-Skara Braë(https://www.orkney.com/listings/skara-brae-skaill-house)

- and some nice hotspots for great views likeYesnaby(https://www.orkney.com/listings/yesnaby)
As said earlier, I had to cancel the foreseen visit to the isle of Hoy (and the view on theOld Man of Hoy), due to overbooked ferries, but it is what is… there’s always a next time 😉
In the meantime checked in in The Ferry Inn in Stromness where I’ll get on the ferry to Scottish mainland tomorrow morning to head down to Dover in the next couple of days…
And just got a nice message from my Scottish friends David, Alex and Derek who may be joining me on the ride down on Sunday when I’m going from Ullapool towards Carlisle-region…
And last but not least... THX again Elke for your generous hospitality and for supporting me in your home for 2 days 😁

Day 9 : Back on Scottish mainland

Left with the ferry from Stromness this morning around 11AM for a passage of about 1h30... smooth sailing today 🌞

But I'll definitely have to (re)check my route I had planned for today, wasn't anything I had in mind when planning the tour. But either way, planned or not, it showed me yet again a lot of amazing and magnificent sceneries 😳😄

Weather has been (relatively) nice to me today, temp around 16-18°, except during clouded periods, but all things considered, not too bad 👌

Not that many pics, most of 'will have to come from the GoPro's,but will give you an idea 😁

Day 10/11/12 : The ride back home

Just some random images from the last days of the journey, the ride back home took me from up North in Scotlan,d back down to bottom South in Dover

Final stretch on UK grounds, some 400mi/640k to get me to Dover (and indeed... day earlier than originally planned) 🤘

But first a little story :
I got to the coast in summer,
Booked me a hotel at the beach....

... And that's where the story ends 🙄🤪🤣🤣😄

Tomorrow morning the last few miles in the UK before boarding my last ferry around 10AM (#11 if my count's still good 🤪), off to Calais and the ride back up 👌

HOME'S WAITING FOR ME 🤘🤘❤️