Thought I would post some of my old cave diving photo's.
Me practicing
Me and Gilbert White in Swildons 3
Not sure where I was in this one
Swildons sump 1
Stoke Lane Slocker sump 2, tried 3 times to get through this sump, but I had to dig through a lot of underwater mud, and as I was alone, I gave up before I got into a dangerous situation
Other side of Stoke Lane Slocker sump 1
One of us going through Swildons sump 1
Me in Silica Mine, Wales
Me again
Reading an article in a cave diving magazine, about cave diving.
Met Neil round his house at 6:30 and rode down to Newhaven, and the rest of the team arrived a bit later. We were soon on the ferry with the bikes strapped down, and up to the restaurant for breakfast.
The crossing to Dieppe is about 4 hours, and we were soon in France. Google maps kept trying to make us go on the toll roads, but we managed to use the coast road. It started to rain, but it was far more preferable to the 41 degrees of the day before.
We decided to go straight to the hotel, which was nice enough, then out for a meal and a few beers, ready for the next days ride.
Next morning it was off to Pegasus Bridge and the famous cafe for breakfast, then a look around the bridge and museum.
I also saw a Coypu lurking near a half track
Next it was off to Le Grande Bunker a few miles away in a housing estate
Then off to Sword Beach and Juno beach
Then back to the hotel and out for beers and nice restaurant.
Next morning we went to Musee du Debarqument
which has an excellent display. we then visited the rest of the beaches, and ended up at Utah beach
Then it was back to the hotel then off into Bayeaux for a pizza and a look at the cathedral
all lit up for a concert. Next day we were up at sparrow fart and off to Dieppe. We had breakfast at Dieppe, the others had a very disappointing McDonalds, while I went across the road to Lidl for a frikkadellen. Excellent trip, great company, great laugh.
Been planning on doing this trip for a while, I was due to meet Darren at Tesco Ashford, then I got a phone call saying his bike kept breaking down, so I headed off without him.
After I got through the Channel Tunnel, I rode through France, Belgium, Germany, and into Denmark, where I tried to find a camp site. Google was hopeless, the first campsite was in a boat yard with space for 2 RV's, and no room for tents, the next suggestion from google was a sports center, and the last was a closed down site, so after 775 miles, and just under 14 hours, Idecided to pull into a layby and slept on the bike
Next morning I headed to Sweden through the Oresund tunnel and bridge
and then up the Swedish coast and into Norway, and went hunting for a campsite near Oslo
The roads up the Atlantic coast are very picturesque, with many waterfalls and i found a campsite near Bud in Norway.
then I went to have a look at the Trollstigen, a snaky road up a mountain
Then I went to have a look at the Atlantic Highway bridge, which is very disappointing at ground level, looks good from the air,
then I started North towards the Arctic Circle after another campsite. Unfortunately the Norwegians were spending a fortune on doing the road up, and I spent hours in one way contraflows, the tunnels were mostly closed, with diversions up mountains, and lost most of the day at 15 mph.
I hit a particularly bad hole in one set of roadworks, and snapped off my cruiser peg that allows me to stretch out my dodgy knee, which made for some very uncomfortable riding.
At some point I went through Hell, a town in Norway, just because I could. Then I got to Mo-I-Rana, where my mates Mick and Rob did some cave diving
I eventually reached the Arctic Circle, and it was bloody freezing
I headed North with the hope of reaching Nordcapp, but the roads were horrible
then google suggested I went across to Sweden, as there was no traffic on the Swedish road North
unfortunately, the diversion was on a sand and gravel track, and the fastest I managed was 28mph.
I eventually hit a main road, and headed for Jokkmokk, I had been travelling for many hours by then, and the route had taken me 50 miles South. so I was pleased to be back on tarmac. The tarmac lasted for about 2 miles, then I hit a gravel filled trench across the road, so I wobbled my way through then many more trenches for the next 50 miles, some bits it was just no road surface at all. I had realised that I wasn't going to make it to Nordkapp, as I was now 2 days behind schedule and still 600 miles of dirt track each way but I thought I would get to Jokkmokk to get some postcards to send home, but when I got to the Swedish Arctic Circle area, it was closed. I decided enough was enough, I was getting hypothermia, so I went south to a hotel in Skelleftea .
Next morning, I went on southward, but my knee was giving me serious problems, so I went looking for a hardware store, and struck lucky
with a bodged cruiser peg which worked a treat. I then found a nice campsite in Sweden, where I treated myself to a rum and coke for getting to the Arctic. I only did 180 miles that day.
Next, I headed down to lake Vattern in Sweden, and had a nice campsite then down to the Danish German border for another campsite, then next morning into Germany, Holland, Belgium , France and then home, 702 miles later.
I really enjoyed this trip, the bike was perfect, and I covered a distance of 4412 miles, and the bike used half a liter of oil.
Me and my better half booked a jeep tour, we were picked up from our hotel, and driven for about an hour to a place near Inca, and given the instructions on how to drive a Suzuki Jimny.
They are very capable off road, and great fun, they are all older vehicles, but no problems. It was very hot, as they are open top, we shared with 2 French ladies, neither whom wanted to drive. The scenery was very nice, and we saw a few wild goats.
We stopped at a nice restaurant half way through
Then we were back to the start. A very enjoyable day.
May 10-12
Picked up Clive at 9ish and set off to the channel tunnel in the Suzuki, got to the Truck trial arena at 18:40 in Mont Saint Guibert in Belgium, drove through what we thought was the right gate (its the biggest sandpit in Europe) and went down a track. Dead end, so we turned round and back to the gate, only to see a van driving off after locking the gate behind him.
We eventually found a way through, and found the site security and asked where the camp site was, only to be told that there is no camping, and to take it up with the truck trial organizer. We eventually found him, and when he discovered that we had come from England, he said that we were now his guests, and we could pitch our tent amongst the trucks!
His name was Jurgen Funke, and he was a really decent chap who actually started the Truck Trial many years ago
We had not long set the tent up, when we were met by another truck competitor at our tent bringing us 2 glasses of beer. The people there were so friendly and welcoming!
We had a great time, the weather was great, and the time seemed to fly by. Anyway, more photos...
We unfortunately had to leave Sunday morning to catch the eurotunnel, but it was great fun and excellent company
Charlie
As I have done 2 trips to Iceland without my better half, I thought I should rectify the situation. We flew into Keflavik from Gatwick, picked up a Nissan X Trail and headed to our hotel at Husavik. The scenery was very nice as usual, and I recognised the road to the hotel, as I had been along it before on my dirt bike.
The next day we had a trip booked to Vidgelmir lava cave
we saw some ice stalagmites as well
and some of the walls were coated in a layer of what was once molten iron
and we eventually came to the end
We next went on the 550 mountain road which has some lovely scenery
and eventually arrived at Strokkur..
We also had a look at some other geothermal pools
Next we drove over to Gullfoss
Next day, we went to the Snaefell Peninsula, passing a nice waterfall along the way
We soon came to Snaefell, where, according to "Journey to the center of the Earth" the entrance to the route begins!
The next day, it was time to head back to the airport, so we stopped off to have a look at the river near our hotel
