Norway Motorcycle Tour - Our Ride From Vesteralen To Tromso

Here we go. Here we are, Eb. We're on. This looks very old. It does, doesn't it? We're being waved on through. Straight down. Ah yeah, we've got a place here. Shaun is strapping Shadow down. This boat is so old. It's definitely the oldest we've been on. Oh my goodness. I'm going to keep going up until I find a spot for us. Right, we're on board and Em's got us a corner seat and we're all settled in. We've got a picnic started here. Yeah, we've got an hour and a half on this ferry so if we eat now we'll be able to sustain ourselves for the three-hour ride to get to Tromsø. Two hours. Oh, the ride afterwards. Yeah, is it two? I was hoping it was two. I think it's three. We want to eat this and we want to get out on deck so we can go and see if we can see any whales or hawkers. Yeah, this boat though that we're on is incredibly old. It's ancient. It's the oldest ferry we've been on and we've done like 10 at this point. This is definitely the oldest and in the worst condition we've seen but it's kind of retro and cool. Although it is really retro. All the seats as we walked in are like upholstered really classically. I don't know if it's like 80s or something or even earlier. It's cool though so let's eat our lunch. Right, we've taken a quick step out onto the deck to get some fresh air. It's a very narrow boat. It's a very rocky crossing. It does rock quite a bit doesn't it? Yeah. You can't walk on a straight line. No, it's a lot rockier than all the other ferries we've done. I think it's the smallest boat actually. It is. It's really narrow so I think it like get any like little weight. And it's really calm today as well. I would not want to be on this boat in a storm or in a rocky crossing. It's already dicey enough for me. Yeah, absolutely. If it was choppy today, I think Eva and I would be feeling a little bit sick. Yeah, but we are about halfway through the crossing. Just behind Sean's head is some of the islands that are in the crossing. Looking beautiful but it's quite a thick layer of cloud. We should be arriving in around 45 minutes. But I think I want to go back inside. You want to go back inside? Okay. We can see land again. So I think they just made the announcement that we're docking so best get back and packed up. Get back down to the bike and ready to disembark. Really glad we caught this ferry because if we hadn't, we've had a six-hour ride to where this ferry docks in and then another few hours on top of that. So it was a big time saver. So really good. I did just see one dolphin but didn't see any orcas or as many as we hoped for. You ready, Em? I'm ready, yeah. But that was a really calm crossing. I enjoyed that one. I did it. I did it. Was it a bit rocky for you? Goodness me, they make this tight. Go for that one or go round? Go for that. Oh, okay. This is crazy. Maybe we can go in the rear. This is a good one. Round here. Bike's still all right. Just about. Next stop, Tromso. There's always so much stress getting on and off the ferries. Here we go. You left anything behind, Em? No, nothing. Pretty noisy, isn't it? Welcome to Grillfjord. Grillfjord. Another triple black there. Good choice. This is a cool family in front. It is, yeah. They've got a little bike as well. I think we're all going to the same place. All roads lead to Tromso. To the north. Oh no, we're not going up there. I thought we were going up there. Oh, back on the straight roads then. Can you please sit up? Because you're sat on my heated vest again. Thank you. It is a little bit foggy, but this road is an absolute corker. Yeah, what it lacks in visibility, it makes up in fun factor. What a great way to get off the ferry onto this. It is, isn't it? It looks really scenic as well, from what we can see. Yeah. Hey, the elevation up and down curves. It's the complete opposite to the standard straight line roads. Yeah, we've got the sea here, just to the left of us. It's kind of a vibe though, with the fog. It's like real creepy, real adventurous. I'm loving it. Yeah, that's true. It's nice to use the sides of the tyres for a change. I'd take it home with the knobbly bits left on the edges. When we take it back in for its service, they're going to be like, what have you been doing with this bike? You're going on a motorway tour. Another little beach there. It's a bit rocky this section, not so much sand. Cool ridge alert. It is, isn't it? I like this one. There's a space I might just let him through. Yeah, that's a good idea. Is he going to say thank you? Is he going to say thank you? No. Is he bollocks? I don't think you could say bollocks. It's fine, yeah. No, I don't think there is any speed limits around here. I think it's an unlimited section of road. Did we take the ferry to Germany? I think so, yeah. The Isle of Man. There's blue skies ahead. That's nice. If we can do this three-hour ride without rain, I will be... No, that'd be great, wouldn't it? Over the moon. Looks like the fog's cleared a little. It sure does, doesn't it? It's like a filtered sun. Boy, it's breaking through. It is. Look at that road ahead. The prequel for Finland. Oh, yeah. I haven't seen a fuel station since we got off the boat. That's a good point. We're really out in the sticks up here, because most people will ride down through the Loftons and not take that boat because it causes so much stress. A lot of people off if you can... almost nobody can catch it. Yeah. I don't think anyone's willing to risk days of their trip on a maybe they'll get on the ferry. No. I wouldn't have done it if we were in a camper van. It was only fair that we were on the bike. Yeah. You're pretty much guaranteed you're going to get in the front. Yeah. Otherwise, I think there could have been... well, there was some quite disappointed families in caravans that were going to have to wait until 9am the next day. Yeah. Which is a long wait. At least they got a caravan. Yeah. True that. I guess they don't have to pay for a camping spot that night. They can just stay at the ferry dock. Yeah. How are you feeling, Sean? It's half past seven. Been on the road since nine. I'm not sleepy yet, but I think I'll be pretty much done by the time we get to Tromsø, but another two and a half hours should be fine. We have just had something to eat on the boat, so we're fully fuelled. Coffee wouldn't go amiss, but you can't have everything. As long as you're feeling alright. It's been a long day on the bike. Yeah. But it was nice to have a rest on the ferry for a couple of hours. It went really fast actually, that ferry journey. It really did, yeah. How far are we from Tromsø? 43km from Tromsø, but the traffic has just stopped. I think they're just cutting down trees, but you have to have like an escort to go, I think. They have very snazzy stop signs. It does, but that's twice that he's stopped us. What's that a go now? Does that now go? He wants you to stop but go ahead. Yeah. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. He just wants you to go in front. Well, that was a confusing experience, wasn't it? A guy stops us with his red like baton, so I stopped behind a truck. We waited for a few minutes. Then he points at me and waves me on, so I overtake the truck and go for it. And then he waves like manically to stop me again. And then he explained in Norway, the motorbikes can pull to the front in a roadwork situation. And then we have to wait till this guy in front of us comes to escort us. Past the straight road. Yeah. That's Norwegian for follow me. That was a funny situation. It was a funny situation. I didn't really trust him on the second time when he waved me on again. I was like, can I have a second opinion? In this rig, we're never going to get into trouble. I had to turn my heated vest off and everything. Oh, I thought I was getting cold. Right, I'll put it back on now. Move your bottom. You sat on my controller again. It's cold. It is cold. It's 12 degrees. You can see the snow on the side. Yeah, there's snow on those mountains next to us. Do you think we were going to put this trip off a couple of weeks, weren't we, and go a little bit later? I'm glad we didn't. I think this is late enough for us. Yeah, it's been a big day today. I think we've done like 400, 500 kilometers. Yeah, it's been a big day. We've been on the road since... did we leave at nine o'clock this morning? Yeah, 8.39. That's really, really a unique phenomenon. It is, isn't it? I bet it's going to be a unique cold phenomenon in about five seconds. Oh, it's 11. It's dropping again. Oh, I can feel the damp cold air going through the airsuit. I should have put the air conditioner on. The cloud makes this country such a mysterious, mystic wonderland. It does, doesn't it? I wonder when these street lights come on. Already like two more degrees out and we're in single digits. Oh, no. The prediction for the Nordkapp was nine degrees. Was it? That's not bad. So, welcome to Tromso. It is almost quarter past ten. It is 11 degrees. It's been a pretty chilly few hours, hasn't it? How are you holding up back there? I'm okay, but I'm about to be like cold and grumpy, so I'm glad we have started to arrive in the city. And it's so exciting because it's like riding into the lights of a city for the first time in like two weeks, right? It is. It's been like three hours of wilderness, remoteness, few little villages, but here we're at an actual city and it looks beautiful with the water flowing through, the lights reflecting off the water and that huge bridge that's going to drop down into the city. So, we're going to go and head into the city and get checked into our hotel. But first, let's ride over that bridge. All right, then. Come on, then. It doesn't look too big, the city. It looks still like a nice size. It does, doesn't it? Hopefully, it's still got like an old element in its town centre, like an old town, which I think it did looking at the pictures, though. Yeah, well, we can explore that all tomorrow. Yeah, I'm glad we've got a whole day there. Yeah, me too. Considering it's like the third biggest city in the Arctic Circle. Is that right? Well, I don't know how many cities there are in the Arctic Circle. No, maybe there's only three. Maybe there's one of only three cities. That bridge is very cool. It looks like there's stars just hovering above it. It's a very well-railed bridge. It is a very well... It's a very safe bridge. It's good, though. I don't know what you were saying before, where you have the... Imagine how light it would be if it wasn't overcast. You can just about see a bit of the sky through the clouds there. Yeah, you're right. 10 o'clock, it'd be really bright. It must be like a strange thing to get used to for people living here. Such stark differences. Like their winter, they say it's dark for most of the day, and then they have light. Yeah, it is often. In 200 meters, Sean, you'll go into a slight left. 200 meters, turn right. Oh, it's sweet, isn't it? Look at these houses. Oh, yeah. Like now, turn right? Keep going, next one, at the traffic lights. And our hotel should be on this road. It's called the Smart Hotel. Oh, it's very busy. Not used to this. It is busy, isn't it? So, our hotel should be on the right. Is it a big hotel or a small? Um, I don't really remember. It's called the Smart Hotel, Tromso. I think there it is. Yeah, there it is. Ah, perfect. Looks like it's in a good location. Yeah. Nicely done. We finally made it into Tromso. We checked into the hotel. I've taken the bags upstairs. I went to park the bike, but there's no parking here at the hotel. And I was suggested to park it in the city centre on the streets. If you park on the pavements here, you're likely to get a ticket or be towed away. So, I've left it somewhere in the town centre and hopefully it'll be safe there because it's in a busy area. Anyway, we're going to get to sleep now because tomorrow we're going to explore the city. So, join us in the next episode as we explore Tromso.