I packed my XBR early and set off without breakfast at 6:30, heading for Tallinn. I had not expected rain yet, but I got it wrong. Some shower took me by surprise and I stopped 15 min before Tallinn to warm up with a hot coffee.

After filling up, I tried to rest on the floor, but needed to put in my earplugs as the girl at the next table did not stop talking for hours, I wonder if she was even breathing in between. after two hours we arrived in Helsinki and after some waiting, I could leave the ship, prepared for the rain to come.And what a rain it was. Torrential. Streets in Helsinki were flooded. At one point, the road was 30 cm under water. I realised it on time and went for the pavement instead, I didn’t want to drown the XBR. Outside Helsinki, the rain was just continuous, Sometimes it seemed to stop, but it just wouldn’t. The first hour and half was a motorway, then it changed to a overland road, for the rest of the day. Rain, rain, rain. After a while I noticed that the rain got into the rainsuit…aaaargh! I had hoped I could get in front of the rain front moving north, but it just wouldn’t stop. My progress was ok, but the situation got more and more miserable…

After 450 km, I stopped to fill up and emptied my exploding bladder. I checked the rain radar in detail. I was not getting ahead of the front, but I was moving with it, right in the centre. And I would still do it for the rest of the day! This was shocking news. Under my rainsuit, I was totally soaked, I was cold and my sense kept knocking at the back of my head. Four more hours like that to the hotel in Kemi??? I warmed up in the shop and had a coke. The sugar and the caffeine helped a bit. After one hour my bladder exploded again and I had to expose myself to the hungry Finnish mosquitos in the wilderness.

I started to doubt. Does this make sense? Why didn’t I plan with a buffer day? Could this be changed? What if….I got myself a nice hotel in Oulu, rethink the options and in the worst case start the ride a day later? It was almost decided….and then the rain stopped. Confidence came back. I managed to stay in front of the rain front, chased by it.

I arrived at the hotel and the friendly landlady let me dry my gear in the washing room. She told me her three boys are into Motocross, so she’s used to some bad smell…the rest of the soaked, smaller stuff was dried in the bathroom on the heated towel rack. What a day. My rain suit is not tight, water entered from the crotch and the collar (by the way: I have lost my riding collar on the ferry, hmpf…). I found out only the next day that my boots were also wet…from the inside! The caoutchouc overshoes did not let anything in…or out.

The next day, everything was almost dry and I set off at eight…without the rain suit on. Bad idea. I coorected this after 5 km. I hoped to escape the front from yesterday that was now ahead of me again. I decided against the route via Rovaniemi as it was probably the better option of the two. I went north along the border between Finland and Sweden. On my tablet, I could see that the rain front was moving towards me. However, I could only just escape, but not one hour later . This time, I was riding for 15 minutes in the pouring rain and finally I could spot a tiny patch of blue sky on the horizon. I had managed to get beyond the rain front and I realised how lucky I was. Behind me, a large thunderstorm cell was forming and had I’ve been only half an hour later at this place I would have encountered torrential rain. But now, I was riding in the sun under blue sky with some occasional clouds. The downside was, that the temperature dropped. I felt suddenly very cold. I kept singing uplifting songs to improve the mood. I was now riding on a kind of plateau, mountain range is probably too big a word, and soon I reached the Norwegian border. Here the speed limits are lower most of the time only 80 km/h or occasionally 90 km/h.

This seemed to be a very good idea because for the rest of the day I felt sufficiently warm and also my thicker winter gloves kept my fingers nice and warm. After a while I reached Alta, the largest town in the region. I had no interest to see anything there so I continued on the E6, the road along the Norwegian coast that leads to Kirkenes. Here, it was rather mild but this should not last for very long. It’s going to colder again but this time I could handle it. When I reached the junction that leads to the North Cape, I decided to stop in a souvenir shop and to buy me something to drink and a sticker of the Northcape for my pannier. From here, it was only 126 km to the North Cape, quite a scenic ride albeit a chilly one. I passed the city of Honningsvåg but I had decided to go first to the Cape before I would check in the hotel.

I realised that I had left an important key at home that I need to loosen the nuts to tighten the chain. The receptionist established a contact with a local motorbike mechanic and I quickly went to town to ask him to lend me a ratchet to loosen and tighten the nuts of the rear axle so I could finally tighten the chain properly, this is just some normal part of the maintenance of an old, mechanic bike. I also bought a bottle of motor oil, I need it anyway. I returned to the hotel and here I am having everything prepared for tomorrow. When I will set off from the North Cape I will have maximum 78 hours to arrive in Tarifa, the southernmost town in mainland Europe. This should not pose a big problem on my big six cylinder BMW, but on my old XBR it will be a tough challenge for rider and machine. Wish me luck!