A Taste of Norway – part 1

With shows like Vikings, the interest in Vikings and that time period has really taken off recently. I’m fairly ignorant about the subject, and the only exposure I’ve had is from television showing them as ruthless sea-going warriors rading and pillaging other villages and countries for their own gain. So this trip to Norway 🇳🇴  is a great opportunity to gain some insight into not only Norway but also of Viking culture.

Camping with the Folks

Camping at Shoalhaven Heads with my parents was a great chance to just hang out. However it wasn’t all smooth sailing with us holding our tent up on Saturday night.! Literally holding it up so it wouldn’t come down on top of us as it buckled under the force of gale force winds and driving rain. The joys of camping.!

One Last Ride for 22

On Tuesday Deb said why don’t you go for a ride for a couple of days as I won’t be able to get away. With the statement still hanging in the air I was already planning where to go and like a cartoon all that remained of me was a dust outline, and I was outta here.

The plan was simple – drop in on a mate in Wagga who has recently just got out of hospital and then head west to check out a few more painted grain silos in west Victoria, find somewhere to camp overnight, and head home the next day.

Honda ST1300 LED Lighting Upgrade

After purchasing the ST1300 I upgraded the halogen H4 and some cheap LED driving lights mounted under the mirrors. This was better … but not a dramatic improvement. With a couple of big rides coming up with a lot of night riding and road conditions deteriorating after all the rain better lights would be a great investment.

One of my aims is to improve the low beam, as it’s unsettling not having good coverage of light on country road when there is a lot of traffic around at night.

Camping Power Station Upgrade – All Powers S300

In April 2021 I did a write up on a little Powertech Power Station I bought for motorcycle camping and my impressions. At the time my two main criticisms were that the battery was too small and that the charge rate was too low. I am now upgrading to a 300 wat All Powers Power Stations which I am hoping has the right balance between, power, size, and charge rate.

The Gathering

It’s been awhile since I’ve got together with my people, my long distance riding community. And Nambucca Heads was where it all started for me,  it was the destination of my first 1,000km day. Here I found a community of like-minded people who enjoy the open road and doing big miles. Where a couple of days can see you anywhere in the country.

Lunch at the Centre of NSW

Over the last 5+ years my calendar has not lined up with the FarRider’s calendar, so it was good to add the Tottenham ride to my calendar.  From Canberra, Tottenham is about 430km so it won’t take much of a detour to make up the full 1,000km for the day. And compared to the longer IBA rides I can leave and get home at a very reasonable hour.