The Baltics

Ok, it's been a while but here is the next post. Firstly I had a break from riding for a few weeks so not much to report from that period, secondly I had my computer stolen so not as easy to update this blog, this is coming from an internet cafe in Romania, it's just taken me ten minutes to work out the full stop on this key pad?

The break in Sweden gave me a chance to catch up on some well needed  bike jobs, both tires where pretty much flogged after the extended tiki touring through Norway, fortunately I found an internet supplier that shipped to Sweden at good prices, so now have good rubber again. Heading north in Norway I discovered some play in the rear wheel, not unusual on this bike as it eats rear wheel bearings fairly often and I assumed it was just time for some more, so at the first opportunity I purchased the most expensive bearings ever only to discover later that the bearings were actually ok and the problem was that the bearing is now loose in the wheel hub as a result of too many changes? This is a bit more of a problem, kind of need a new wheel really, I kept a close eye on it and crossed my fingers all the way up to North cape and back to Stockholm and luckily it didn't deteriorate. I managed to find some Loctite bearing retainer and have just glued the bearing in and it seems to be working fine for now.

Another job that I've been meaning to do for a while was tune the new carb that I fitted recently, ended up riching the mixture slightly with a performance improvement but also a slight drop in efficiency. Other jobs included new rear brake pads and the usual fresh engine oil. The bike was sorted, I had a ferry booked from Stockholm to Estonia, all I had to do was leave on time, which was hard at first as Pernilla and Erik's holiday house was very, very comfortable, thanks again you guys.

The Medieval town of Tallinn in Estonia

Not far out of Tallinn I found this old prison, the inmates forced to quarry and created a lake and a massive tailings pile below

Don't remember the story behind this place and can't be bothered to look it up, sorry

This one I remember, It's a drastic love story, the local dude traveled to Germany where he fell in love with a princess but she could not leave the castle because she liked it so much and had promised to stay. The guy came home and built a castle exactly the same on the understanding that she would come and marry him, sadly she died before he finished, and then he died and then the place just turned to ruins.

I guess there was a lot of military aircraft about in this area in recent times

This was a bad day, the day I lost all my camping gear and new computer stolen from a hostel courtyard. I went on a high speed ride in this car to the local station to report the incident. The cops where actually really good, the paper work took a while to get through and at times I thought I was the one being convicted of a crime?

The hostel courtyard, Vilinus, Lithuania. The bike and gear was off the street and behind these locked doors when a bag was taken, it was caught on security camera. This is the first time I've had stuff stolen in 2 years of riding, very disappointing.

Uzupio Republic in Vilinus

Vilinus is a beautiful old city

On a highway in Poland, later than I liked I pulled over and took this photo, the old Dr turned over 100 000km. When I think of all the places this bike has taken me I thank those Japanese engineers for there engines!!!

Enjoying the first nice ride in quite a while, Poland

Found thes goodies at the local market in Krakaw, Poland

In Poland and near Krakaw is one of the largest concentration camps from the second world war. Parts of it are well preserved, I took a tour, it's something that I think needs to be seen if you have the chance. It's difficult to understand how something like this happens, one and a half million people were executed here, it's a very, very sad place.

Empty Canisters used at the gas chambers

 

 

This was the end of the line, most people, woman and children went straight to the gas chambers, they didn't no what was coming.

Krakaw has a beautiful old town aswell

Time to replace the chain and sprockets at Good Bye Lenin Hostel in Krakaw

Situated in Poland and on the southern border with Slovakia is the mountain town of Zakopane, it's a good base to explore the local mountains

impressive log work here, this would have been a fun job

Lots of neat log houses in Zakopane, Jessica from Australia came along for a couple of days riding. One good thing about having that bag stolen is I now have room for passengers!!!

Some funky stuff here, apparently most of the house here are based on a design dreamed up by a poet

Receptionist at Good Bye Lenin Hostel in Zakophane

crossing into Slovakia

Descending down from the mountains and out of the fog some where in the middle of no where in Slovakia  I come across a valley full of run down industrial buildings, they are in bad shape and it's hard to determine if it's all still operational or not?

on closer inspection it looks like a massive scrap steel recycling plant

A quick call in at Bratislava to catch up with Daniel who i met riding up in Norway. Unfortunately  the battery on his ktm was dead and our efforts to crash start no good so he wasn't able to ride out of town with me, also unfortunately i didn't get any photos 

This is in Hungary and interestingly I'm only about 10 km out from Budapest

I wanted to rip it up in this freshly groomed field!!

Budapest is a very popular tourist city and I can see why, is very beautiful, unfortunately for me I had to rush through and move out of the Senghen area to meet visa requirements

Departing Wombat Hostel in Budapest

My first sight in Romania!!! It was bad, real bad and drifting over the border to Hungary

A lot of run down industrial ruins in Eastern Europe

Found some interesting riding in Romania, reminds me a bit of South America here

Romanian Post shop

In a small village I rode past a massive funeral progression, very traditional like and spooky looking, so ended up doing a 50km loop through the hills on dirt roads just so i didn't have to ride back past the progression!! Found some good riding though!

This little town seemed to have heaps of these strange looking buildings, funny thing was none of them seemed to be completed or inhabited ???

And this is where I am at the moment , the city of Cluj Nacopa in Northern Romania