King of Infinite Space - Gallery

For nice studio shots of this bike taken by Roddy Paine go to the main bike site www.7ages.co.uk

Finished

At last Bike No.4 (King of Infinite Space) the Hamlet Tracker bike is finished and I am very pleased - its the fastest custom I have ridden and the rubber mounted Harley Twin Cam is a superb engine. It will no doubt need a bit of adjusting but its there and now I need to get on with Bike No.5.

Back to the UK

It was a great trip to Scandinavia and after 1598 miles on the road it was good to be back. Thats probably the last major trip of the year and the next one planned is St Tropez in May 2010 for the Euro HOG Rally.

My plan is to take Bike No.4 Hamlet Tracker which I want to have finished by the next week to ten days, so I can take it to Brightona for a showing!

Denmark

Some days riding on the bike deserve a 10/10 rating and today was one
of them. After a well needed nights sleep in Karlskrona I set out at
8:30 to ride the Coastal route 9 to Malmo and then over the bridge to
Copenhagen.
The sun shone all the way and the scenery was fantastic,after the
bridge is a 7km to test the right exhaust note.
Copenhagen is one of my favourite cities and I am looking fowards to
seeing my old friend Preben for some serious drinks.
Tomorrow is the last day as I get the overnight ferry home.

Sweden

After a very short sleep on the Baltic ferry I arrived in Stockholm
around 6:30 am and decided to crack on with my journey south.
Seeing Stockholm again made me realise that I was really back in
western Europe and that Finland is still playing catch up.
I stopped at a really nice town called Norkkping or something like
that and found a great Harley dealer who fixed my missing bolt so my
saddlebag would not come off.
Today es the longest part of the trip with over 500km to Karlskrona -
luckily the weather held out and I arrived about 3:00 at the town.
It's the former base of the Swedish navy and I had a look around the
excellent maritime museum.
A quiet night is in order tonight ready for a big one with Preben
tomorrow in Copenhagen.

Finland

Well I am sitting in a bar in Turku Finlands oldest city having a cold
beer to kill a couple of hours before I get on the overnight ferry to
Stockholm.

I have had a good time in Finland although I have only really seen the
very south. Earlier today we rode out to the Porkkala archipelago
which a real wilderness that used to be occupied ny the "hated"
Russians as a base after WWII, and now is swarming with gross
burrowing flies which also came from hated Russia - still a stunning
and different place.
After this I saidmy goodbyes to Kristian and Helena who have been
superb hosts.
Now for the ferry.

A long days ride

Just arrived at Krustian and Helenas house in Langvik after a good
ride of about 200 miles from the lakes down to the coast.
Great weather all day some superb sites. Not sure what is happenning
tomorrow but I have to be in Turku at 7pm to get the overnight ferry
to Stockholm.

Ride from the lakes to the coast

Well it's Saturday and I have a nice hangover which is a surprise as I
had a proper Finnish sauna last night at 80 degrees C followed by a
swim in the icy lake - and I did that twice.
However I suspect the empty beer wine and whisky bottles probably won
the contest.
Today the weather is great. And it's so quiet until we fire up the
bikes - it's about 200 km to the coast and a nice scenic ride.
Can't wait to go.

At last

The bike is here and so about 3 hours behind schedule we can head off
to the lakes when Kristian and Helena get here.

Helsinki

Well I have arrived at Helsinki Harley Davidson to find that my bike
has not arrived and no one knows where it is!
So I am stuck in the dealer waiting - looks like I might have to get a
taxi to my hotel and come back tomorrow. Well it appears that my bike is still in Stockholm - despite the fact it was supposed to be here yesterday. The ferry gets in at 10:00 it then has to be unloaded and delivered to the HD Dealer - they say 11:00 but my guess is nearer 13:00 - the shipper has promised recompense (Ihope he understands what that means).
So anyway after my 50 Euro Easyjet flight to Helsinki, followed by a 45 Euro Taxi ride to the dealer, I have now spent a further 2 Euro's on a Metro ride to the city centre where i have checked into the very agreeable Hotel Glo (rated #1 by Tripadvisor) - i have done a bit of shopping to gte stuff that is stranded on my bike like an iphone charger -and i am now ready to have a few drinks - but there is a model shoot in he bar, which needs to quieten down first.
Still tomorrow is a new day, i am meeting Helena and Kristian at the HD dealer and hopefully we can set off for their lake house about 12:00 or whenever the bike gets here.
its 2 hours ahead here so its now 5:30 ....over and out.

IAN