We needed to get all the way through Germany, and most of Denmark, the long way through the respective countries. The route went: Wurzberg, Kassel, Hannover, Hamburg, Flenzburg, and then into Denmark via Hoptrup, Aarhus and finally ending up in Randers where we were gonna stay for the night at Jim's parents farm. We travelled from 9 in the morning to 11 in the evening covering some 1100 kilometres.
Jim's bike was running smoothly so whatever he did the night before seemed to work. As a precaution he had disconnected all the home-made wiring he had done himself, meaning the charger outlet for his GPS and - unfortunately for his freezing hands - the grip-heat system.
Since his GPS wouldn't stay charged without an outlet, I put it on my bike instead. Not that we had much use for it. I turned it on and it said something like: "Stay on this boring highway for the next two-thousand-eleventy miles and hours until you hit the North-Sea" So I turned it off again. Jim's fuel tank is a bit smaller than mine and he usually wants to refill at around the 200km mark, which usually is a good time for a break anyway. My 450km range is of little use here, so I only refill every other stop to keep the weight down.
The ride was uneventful as it has been for the most part through Europe these days. We have put all our focus on getting through as many miles as we can manage and the weather has not been good, so unfortunately I haven't got much of any photos to post here.
Arriving at the farm of Jim's parents we chatted for a while and had supper before going to bed, they only had one guestroom for us so they put the Norwegian outside with the cattle... I kid, I got to sleep in their brand new camper-van. :)
We didn't get much sleep last night since we had to get up and go at around 5 this morning to reach Hirtshals for the 7:00 check-in time, destination Stavanger. We skipped breakfest and after Jim and his father helped me push-start Klara we were off for the short hour and a half drive on the highway to Hirtshals. I had forgot to turn off my grip-heat the night before and my fancy "only ON when ignition ON" relay switch system had failed somehow, discharging the battery. No problems though, the battery re-charged nicely on the drive up. I monitored the generator output voltage enroute and turned off lights and of course grip heat to give the best charge, so in a way I suffered emphatically with Jim in the freezing morning fog. (until I said "screw this!" and maxed grip heat half-way there. "Sweet sweet grip-heat defrost my blue knuckles.")
I had accidentally booked a sleeping cabin for this daytime-only ferry, but I was very glad to have one afterall for a little nap-time enroute. Jim was able to upgrade his ticket as well, so we both got to rest a bit.
The ferry is, surprisingly for an early Saturday departure, completely full. Alot of tourists with their camper-vans onboard, so I imagine it will be a race to get off the ship ahead of them so we dont' get stuck going 40 on the Norwegian "Highways".
The M/S Bergenfjord docks in Stavanger at 20:00, less than two hours from now. I've already been booted out of my cabin by the cleaning lady, and all the chairs onboard are taken, so as I write this I am sitting on my butt at the reception area floor.
We intend to drive all the way home tonight, aiming to be in Bergen at around 02-03:00 depending on the local ferries.
We could have stayed the night in Stavanger of course, but since we are both scheduled to fly already this Monday morning we want to push on and at least have 1 full day at home, for prying off our unwashed-for-over-a-month biker clothes with a crowbar and such.
I will write a summery of sorts later this coming week.
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