The 4th of november 2004 I left my hometown Gävle in Sweden. The 2 Zega aluminum cases packed with all sorts of stuff, and a bright shiny new waterproof bag in yellow topping the rear of the bike. Said goodbye to mom, dad and my friend Michael and headed for my first checkpoint, Stockholm.





Arriving in Stockholm I visited some more friends and my 2 nephews, Lovisa and Hedwig. Slept one night in Aspudden with my friends Mattias and Claudia before leaving for the south of Sweden. The weather was a bit chilly but clear when i left.

  

Reaching southern Sweden and skåne it started to get really windy and rainy so I had to drive a bit slower and reached Helsingborg after dark. Spent the night at my brother Örjans place. The following day I met up with Anna-Lena, Ulf and Karolina (sister, brother and nephew). I also visited my uncle Hasse in Ängelholm. When all saying goodbye was done I got on the ferry for Denmark.

In Denmark I tried out my tent for the first time on the trip. Camping was done in a small village called Tappernoje. It was cold! The Haglöfs summer sleeping bag had to be reinforced with all my clothes and the motorcycle jacket wrapped around my feet. Left early in the morning on sunday the 7th. Took the ferry to Puttgarden in Germany. At the first gas station I also bought a map covering Europe. There I also met a couple of Dutch bikers heading home from Denmark. When about to leave i noticed the pin in the chain lock had fallen off and after a nervous ride to a suburb just out of Hamburg I found an old one screapping around in my bag. Angels watching over me.

  

Stopped in Bremen and got a nice room at an hotel. Perfec to dry my wet tent in. Did some washing of clothes in the shower and watched german Big Brother on TV. Life was good.
At 07.45 the next morning I was back out on the road after a hefty breakfast filled with all sorts of meat. The road was wet from some rainy clouds in the sky. I did mostly autobahn, taking a break for the occational bratwurst in a roadside cafe.

Then into Belgium.

In the cosy town of Leige I found a nice youth hostel. Checked in and went out to a nearby internet cafe. The cafe was packed with counter strike gaming kids and in the middle a 28 year old guy with motorcycle clothing. After that I got some pasta at a nice italian restaurant. The room i chared with an Algerian guy comming to Belgium to study and a German fellow touring Europe.

  

Had a little bit of headache in the morning but got my breakfast at the hostel. Left Leige and headed for the Ardennes on the "route tourist senique". The weather was chilly with +2c but the road was great fun to ride! Over there in the mountains I found a little 4WD shop with a sweet lady giving me directions to Roger Harze Honda garage, situated in Chamblot au Point. Bought 2 extra chain locks and got a free foam handlebar protector, great guy!
Watched a WWII memorial gun and then left the scenery for highway E25.

  

Cruised Luxenburg without even stopping because the headache was still nagging me. Slept on a roadside bench and got rid of it when I arrived in France. Then ended up in the town on Nancy (where they blew up the bank in the movie "Kellys Heroes"). Found Chateau Remicourt on top of a hill where they also had a youth hostel. This time i chared the room with Luis a Peruan guy, a guy from Spain and one from Argentina. Spaninsh would have been great to know in that room. But later Sean, a Dutch guy doing his P.hd came and I had someone to talk to.

Left early in the morning rain that later turned to heavy wet snow and I had to put on all my clothes complete with plastic bags on my feet (the A.stars vector isnt totally waterproof). I found to my horror I had lost my right cover glove, so that hand got kinda cold after a while. In Vienne the snow had stopped and the day turned out great with a a nice little cheap hotel close by the lake. Took a days rest there and explored the little town (in about 3 hours then read 2 books).

Left for Spain and for the first time the weather turned warm! Happy days!. Stopped in the old town Girona.

  

After a healthy breakfast of Croassants with jam and a piece of chocolate (served at the hostel) I continued my adventures down along the coast of Spain. The roads were totally amazing. My intention was to stop in Becasimne but couldnt find a cheap hotel there so continued to Valencia. Arrived 21.00 at night and traffic was a killer so after some driving around in endless queues I decided to leave Valencia. The good part was 2 Spanish girls on a scooter next to me in the traffic did some fun flirting but then we turned different ways. Howerver I didn't know where I was heading.

At 23.00 I ended up in a camping along the coast. Tired and with an aching butt I stopped and asked where I could put up my tent. The nice lady in the reception informed me that all space was filled and the camping was closed. Please come back tomorrow. It was the 12th of November in the middle of nowhere?!
Lyckily I found another camping half an hour drive away from the first. Crashed in my tent and left early in the morning.

Continued on the road with sun in my face and lovely scenery along the mountinous coastline. Checked into a great youth hostel in the middle of Alicante and shared room with a cool British guy named Alex. He had been cycling around Europe during 5 months or so. Kinda made me feel like I was sunday cruising, cheating along with my motorbike. The day after i bought a new front tyre (Michelin Baja 21" 90/90) and some Smith goggles for the sun. At first I was planning to stay in Alicante another day but the hostel was fully booked so I left and found Iron Man Alex on the road a bunch of km away (he did amazing milage on that bike). Gave him his shampoo he forgotten in the room and we decided to meet up at the next roadside stop for lunch. I missed the next stop 10 min away and ended up waiting for him a good 30 min ride with my bike. Though we found a great Chinese reasturant complete with Tai-Chi practising tourists. Moved on to Cartagena on the sunny road. No more highways I had promised myself.

  

In Cartagena I found a great little hotel I shared with Alex and in the evening went out to do some internet business. The police in Spain also rode yamaha XTs, kinda fun. Had chicken with nuts in a Chinese reasturant. And packed up the following morning. Said goodbye to Alex and continued to Torremolinos. In Torremolinos I stayed with a friend to a friend of my family, Martin, a great guy. Got some great food for dinner and in the evening I changed my front tyre from the used pirelli MT21 to the new Michelin Baja I had bought in Alicante.

  

Then it was off to Algeciras and finally take the ferry to Africa.