Friday August 13th. After my trip to
North Cape, it is now time to relax have a few beers & sort things out. As
I do not have to get up early the site was up & about before I had my
first cup of tea of the day. A short walk to the main tent for breakfast.
As usual it was to a high standard & a good price. After that, time to
look around the trade stands. Lots of things on offer & some things for
the bike. Had a lot of news to catch up on with people & nice to see so
many old faces. Time to get on with the cleaning of the bike & does she
look in a sad state. A good wash & polish & she is soon back to her old
self. After 3 hrs of hard work she is all spick & span. She does look good
now. A few beers then a short sleep. The rest of the brits who I am
staying with arrive back on site. All ask how I have managed in such a
small tent. It is only 7ft x 3ft 6ins. You soon learn how to get
everything in & sleep. Tonight they are of in to town as they have found a
bar with cheap beer and big measures as well. Well what did they look
like, all in there yellow Euro Trash tee shirts & Elvis head gear. They
looked good. After a quick tree hug, (don’t ask why), its of to the town
we go. Only a smallish bar & karaoke is going on. After a quiet start, it
is time to start the singing. I have never heard such a bad rendition of
an Elvis song in my life. It went down a storm. No one clapped. A good try
Steve but no Easter egg this year. The rest of the night went very well as
the drinks flowed thick & fast. The local people know how to enjoy there
selves & some very good singers. Some went off back to the tents at about
11.30pm, we carried on with the locals till we all left at 2am. Asked back
for coffee , a chat , a few more beers & got back to my tent at 7am. A
very good day, now for some sleep
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Saturday August 14th .Up a bit late (12mid day) , a bit to eat & catch up
on my diary & paper work. Have worked it out that I am about half way
through my trip which means a lot of mileage to do. Apart from the rain it
has been fun so far. I need these days to recharge myself , so it is nice
to lazy around. The site is a beautiful with chalet to rent ,as well as
all the things you get on sites in Europe. Shops on site, laundry, wash
facility, just a great site. It is only a small treffen, I was number 135
,but it made up for it in friendship , fun & good food & beer. All the
paper work done, now time to get ready for the nights fun. Had evening
meal, which was in the subscription price, & was eat as much as you can & enjoy
it! I did, as it was great food. After dinner I was talking to 2 Russian &
2 Ukraine bikers. They are trying to get a GoldWing club set up in their countries. They had heard what I was doing &
asked if I was a man of adventure & before he could say any more I
said I would love to come to there first rally down there. With a big hug
a deal was set. Really nice guys & they like there beer & vodka. A few
beers followed, then the presentation started. Some awards raised eye
brows, some where well received. Jerry Avis from Canada got oldest rider at
74 yrs, & also a friendship knife from the Finnish members. His speech
went down very well. Well done lad. More drinks flowed, then the drag
artist came on. He/ she was very good. Tina Turner will never be the same
again. Time flies when you are having fun & all to soon it time to leave
the beer tent .It was 1.45 am. Back to tents for more beer & laughs before
bed at 4am. A very good night was had by the Brits.
Sunday August 15th the bad news after a good treffen, you have to go home
or in my case head south. Tent down, say your good bye's , & hit the road.
Left site at 11.30am. Full tank , bike loaded to the hilt . Thank you to
all at the treffen for everything & all the people who asked about my trip
& for wishing me luck. To any one who has not done Scandinavian Treffens,
do it .. Don’t worry about the distance or the cost, (put it on your
credit card) just go & enjoy it. Great people, scenery stunning, food &
people are brilliant. 30 minutes after leaving site it started to rain.
What is new. Its only 120 miles to Helsinki. Arrived Helsinki at 2pm. All I
have to do is find Lefe a friend of mine. He said he would be down near
the harbour, which is right in the middle of a very beautiful city. I have had
my Gps on all the time with routs in it. So finding the harbour was easy.
Now I know that Gps is good but when I stopped, there was Lefe with his
daughter Charlotte only 5ft from me. I was very impressed with that. Well
done Garmin. After booking the bike & me onboard we went for coffee & a
chat. 4pm time to get on board. First thing you notice is the size of the
car deck. Its huge. P&O boats are small. This weight is 56,000 tons, 15
decks. & over 750ft long. The inside is out of this world. It has a
shopping mall running the full length of the boat with everything in it .
Wooden floor, great shops (ladies take note), restaurants of a very high
class all the way down to the cafeteria if you did not want to pay to much
for food, but great food & cheap. Cabin was just great. Clean tidy with
out side view. After a shower , change of clothes and off to explore. It has
3 swimming pools, sauna, gym dance floor, disco & duty free shops. Lefe &
Charlotte took me to a great restaurant for dinner. I would say it was a
3-4 star restaurant. Excellent food. We all headed up stairs for the
cabaret. To see the dance floor full of people enjoying them selves was an
eye opener. The cabaret was on at midnight. It was fabulous & very well
put on. They earned the applause at the end. A few more beers then bed at
2.30am
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Monday August 16th . It is rise & shine at 5.30am - Why? well as the boat does
not dock till 9.30 it has to sail along the
deep water channels which go around all over through
hundreds of small islands. It is beautiful cruise. So calm &
peace full. Looking behind the ship there was 4 other boats following us
in. If you go on this boat you must get up early to see this. Its from
Stockholm to Helsinki or vice a versa. We docked at 9.30 then it is of to Lefe's work place to drop the bike off for a few days. Bike safely tuck up
then out to the city. Its clean & tidy & lots of beautiful Swedish
ladies. After a look around a bike shop it is off to Lefe's place. Lefe is very modest about his house
that he built himself and what a place, right on the side of
a lake. The sort of house to die for in a very quiet place. Could not
believe it. Bathroom bigger than my flat. Enough said.
After that a run
back into the city for dinner with Lars & his wife . Great dinner
then off to the airport. The reason for this ,is a friend of mine died so
flying home for her funeral. It was on the flight that the trouble with my
teeth started.
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