Senegal trip canceled.

April 9, 2016April 12, 2016 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

Sadly, there will be no Senegal this year.

The morning view were pretty cool. I had at least gotten two tent days during this small trip.

One tip I hade gotten about three times, were to take a look at the cables from the antenna to the ECU. As they are placed, they are a tad too short, and therefore sometimes gets bent, and starts to loose connection. As I never had loosened those cables before, it took me a good half an hour just to get the antenna loose.

I got to borrow a soldering iron, cables, tape and everything else needed, and got to work.

Not the most beautiful solder, but it held together, no problem. I also took a look with the multimeter and all the cables had connection all the way through. I was on my way to test it, when the master mechanic gave me a hint… isolation could be a good idea. 😉

It worked, but not much better than before. Interesting enough, the RPM needle had started working again. After a small trip, it would die, though, and the only way I could get it back without having to push it for 100 metres was to rev about 5000 RPMs. After this test I knew it was time to go home.

I made all the calls and arrangements and packed my stuff. I left everything but the computer, camera and clothes to wear going home, as I did not have much packing space.

The bike would be picked up within 10 days, and I would get home in any way possible, which the insurance company would refund later. At this point I was pretty happy I had full insurance. On my way to the nearest bus stop, with no real clue of the stations, I started hitch-hiking a a cabriolet Audi picked me up. He drove me to the city centre bus station, so I only had to take one bus on my way to the train station. On the bus the driver didn’t really understand me but some guys helped me out.

At the train station, I bought a ticket from Schleswig to Malmö. I think I had to change train a total of four times, but I didn’t have to buy new tickets at least, and the times between the trains were at maximum 20 minutes. With all the stops, and all the googling I made while traveling, the time went by fairly fast. My first plan was to take the night train to Stockholm, but it didn’t depart on Saturdays. I could go to Gothenburg one hour after arriving in Malmö, though, and after that go by night bus to Uppsala and then Västerås (really long traveling time, probably not comfortable) or take a train 07.55 to Västerås. The last part sounded most awesome.

On my way to Malmö I found out a friend of mine were going to Strasbourg, and would have some hours at the station. We decided to meet up when I arrived at 19.06.

With all the new check ups I was about 15 minutes late, though, but finally I was in Sweden again. I met a really old friend named Benji from Game Over (11 years ago?) when leaving the last train, and he followed me to the main exit, where I would meet Jesper.

We had the plan to eat pizza, but the closest vegan pizza place were too far away, and ended up eating falafel instead (really cheap, also). Soon I was on my way again, with three hours to Gothenburg.

The plan for Gothenburg was to meet up with some students at a small student map. I met some people I met last weekend in Örebro, some I met ages ago and some new. It was the usual nice student thing, at least.

After happy parties until 05.30 in the morning I hanged out with a guy at Chalmers before taking the bus to the central station. I slept for half an hour before the station opened, went to the bathroom and re-filled my water bottle and then took the train home.

The plan now is to research as much as possible before the bikes comes home, and also to at least order a new antenna. If I am “lucky” that is the part that is faulty, and I will be riding again in two weeks. If I am unlucky, there was actually water somewhere in the system, or bad ground somewhere, and the problem will have fixed itself until it comes home. The problem with that would be that it could appear again anytime soon while driving in the rain; if that happens, I will have to make an electrical system overhaul. If I go out again I will at minimum bring a multimeter, though.

Peace out.

Troubles, but nice people!

April 7, 2016April 8, 2016 / Jackiie / 3 Comments

I decided to leave the bed at nine and start making delicious pancakes.

While eating I also wrote the blog post from yesterday, all while the sun was shining outside. Awesome!

When I finally left around 1130-isch, the bike was a bit hard to start. It was parked with the front downwards on the street, but after five-ten seconds, it started, no problem. I drove away, and it was already raining a bit. On the highway, it started to rain really hard, like yesterday, but only for a minute or two.

Not too soon after that, Varadero started acting strange. It felt like it just skipped to ignite once every now and then, and suddenly the RPM needle started jumping like crazy, before dying. I stopped at a rest stop, where the whole bike died on me.

I first thought it was the fuel light, even though I had only 220 kilometres since last stop, and the warning light had not turned on. Now, it was on, though. As nothing happened when trying to start it, even though I heard some petrol in there, I asked around about someone with a reserve canister. No one had one, and I asked some ladies to give me a ride to a petrol station, so I could hitch-hike back afterwards. Instead, they took my petrol bag and went away, filling it, even though I had no cash to pay for it!

They came back, with both petrol and chocolate, and we filled Varadero up with seven litres. A guy asked if I wanted some starting help, so we hooked up the battery to his car. Elsa and Lisette left, and Varadero started! I started getting all my stuff together to go to a petrol station, and even though the bike died during this time, it started again, like nothing. This was my first 30 kilometres this day.

As I came to the petrol station, I filled it up. I only got 14 litres in though. 14+7=21, which meant I probably had 4 litres left earlier. This was bad, as something else would be the problem. Varadero didn’t start now either, which meant petrol was not the problem. I also saw the fuel light was still on. I tested around a bit, posting on a few forums, and saw that both the fuel light and the key light were on when I couldn’t start it. When the light went out, it would start. A man walking by, asked if I had problems, and told me he lived 80 metres away, and that I could go there for internet, which was really welcome, as I was aiming at McDonalds just to get to the forums without using expensive roaming data.

After being there for a while, eating bread, drinking coke and calling Magnus at home, I decided to try and drive again, to see if it would be better in a day or two, the drier it would get. Up on the highway, the RPM needle started jumping, and at the same time, it started couching a bit again. Soon, it started couching more and more, and I took the next exit. It died on me down there, and I backed up on a bicycle path. I tried to get it to go for a while and decided to stop a car for starter help again, to be able to drive back to Ling’s place, and plan ahead from there. The fifth-or-so car stopped, and we tried to get it working, but nothing happened. We had a connection between the batteries, but nothing happened.

He told me he knew a BMW/KTM/Triumph-mechanic nearby, and that he could take me there, so they could at least get the bike out of the way. While there, of course they said they couldn’t fix anything, but another random guy told me he had room on his trailer. He had two bikes on the way here, leaving them on service I think, and picked up his BMW 1200 GS, newly served. Christophe, as his name was, had a small vacation house nearby, and this was one of the places he knew that would service both BMW and KTM, which suited him perfect.

We drove back to my bike, put it on the trailer and drove to a Honda mechanic. They had already closed down, though, so we put the bike outside and started the hunt for a new battery, if that would be the problem. After seven shops we had to give up though, as everything was closing. I’ve seen most of Schleswigs shopping centres, at least! Before dropping me off back at the dealer, we went by Lidl to shop for food.

After setting camp I had a lovely dinner with my Varadero. I hope it will go quick tomorrow, otherwise they have a few Africa Twins in store…

Still, mostly laughing during the day. It is an adventure after all. Felt a bit down during the first resting stop, but this is part of it! At least I hear everyone say ”Shoes!” and ”Moi!” again, which makes everything so much better!

Rainy day, but Små Lätta Moln

April 6, 2016April 7, 2016 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

For me, 6.30 is early, but counting what I was going to do this day it was a good time to wake up. Breakfast with Eva, and away!

My first stop were Halmstad, where I would meet Mattias for a fika and pick up a battery meter to be able to check up on my battery without hassle. I arrived in fairly good time, around 9.50, and he and his girlfriend treated me pancakes as brunch! Eva, this is probably going to be pancake-themed as my last trip was. 🙂

On my way to Malmö I stopped by at Nilssons MC to say thank you for the MC-clothes, and then continued to Naturkompaniet. They had sadly not gotten my accessories for my tent, but I bought a dry bag for it, so it wouldn’t look as much as a Hilleberg.

I filled up my tank and bought a S-mark (as you apparently need that for going international with a vehicle – I had no clue) before going over the bridge. So far, so good, but first thing I meet in Denmark – is 15 minutes of queueing. It really sucked going 5 km/h just watching the minutes pass by.

Suddenly, everything sped up – for about 20 minutes. Another long queue.

After a while, I took a break at a gas station, borrowing their bathroom and eating the pancakes I got as packed lunch! Awesome.

I continued once again, and met another queue. Great. This time I filtered through, as 10 was better than 2 kilometres per hour… Apparently there had been some sort of accident with a big, 6 axle vehicle, so everyone had to go to the far right of the right lane.

Horsens, Denmark was my goal as I was going to check up on a bash plate for my Varadero. It would be too much of a hassle to put it on, though, as one of the screws to the center stand is a bitch – nothing I want to take loose out here, thinking about how hard it was to get it there. Also saw I lost a nut. Have to replace that one later.

Ole was really nice, though, and if I hadn’t been in a small hurry to get to my place for the night I would have stayed longer. I got a picture of his Varadero, at least – I din’t know there were original side bags! Looked really awesome. Hopefully I’ll meet him on the road one day!

Back in Malmö, I had gotten an idea when looking at the map. Denmark is really close and I remembered Ling lived close to Haderslev when I was biking by on my way to Morocco. With motorcycle, I could be there for the evening. I asked if she was free for the evening, and the plan were set!

She had moved to Sønderborg, though, but it was still only 140 kilometres from Ole. I went there and met this crazy woman for a second time!

Parked for the night

She was cooking for me when I was arriving, and it was a delicious sparris, aubergine and stuff-thingy! Omnom.

She had even prepared the table real nice. And bought me stuff to be able to make pancakes when I woke up!

It has been raining and windy all day, and when going over one of the bridges here in Denmark, the side wind were really strong. I had already cut my speed to 85 (the limit were 110), but suddenly I felt how it grew in strenght. I continued dropping speed, and even tilting left, but the motorcycle started to wander to the right. I didn’t want to push it down too fast, as I felt like I would lose grip, and therefore wandered out on the shoulder. When I was down at 60, it felt stable again, and I moved further, keeping trap in my rear if I would have to blink by brake light or anything. Luckily, also the bigger trailers were going pretty slow.

Other than that, the gear has hold up pretty well. My boots are a bit low/the trousers a bit short, because when I sit, riding for hours, I will get a bit of water into my boots. Not so much that i will feel it, but I was wet around my feet when I stopped.

The Givi side bags are holding up fairly well, but let some water though. I will have to monitor that one, so I won’t get any nasty wet surprises.

My tank bag held up really good even without rain cover, though, and even though everything inside were well protected, there were no water at all. Good job, Lidl! Now, I hope there will be more sun!

Schleswig!

June 16, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / 4 Comments

I started yesterday with more pancakes at Lings place, and she also made me some juice of carrots and stuff! I even felt like a healthy person. 😉

Then it was time to go again. I said good bye to Ling after I had packed all my gear and started biking around noon this day. It was another really good experience with couch surfing!

Today’s aim was at Schleswig, and I would finally cross the border to Germany! After crossing the border, the first thing I did was to buy liquorice, as it is really cheap at those border shops. That made me a happy person!

As I ate a really late breakfast, I ate mostly nuts, dry fruit and energy bars during the day.
I also saw 7 or more touring bikers today!
I came to Schleswig at 1940, and after finding a wifi, I saw that none of my requests had answered. Therefore, I started to send out more requests, and then waited. At 2010, a person answered, and he was living only 900 meters from where I was. It was perfect!
I went there, and even got dinner. It is fun to test different sort of foods, and today it was vegan!

We were chatting for another hour, before I started to feel really sleepy. I think this was the first time I actually slept on a couch through couch surfing, other times it has always been the floor or a bed, so now I have actually surfed a couch!
I slept for about nine hours before we were going up. He made a nice breakfast, and after getting everything ready, we talked for another hour. I gotta say he had a really nice view over Schleswig and the lake from his apartment!
Then it was time for him to leave and I am now out in the city at the wifi-spot I found yesterday. Today is a resting day, so I will read, fix some things for my bike and just relax, and we’ll see where I end up for tonight!

Time to go!

June 14, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / 2 Comments

Today, I continued my journey. I got up half past eight and started to
pack. At nine I went in for breakfast with the others, and after that I
went out to pack the last things. At eleven I had packed it all,
brushed my teeth and so on, and said goodbye to most of the people.
To the ones I did not meet when I was saying goodbye: I had a really
good time, and hope to meet you again. I really loved to stay those
days with you guys! 😀
Then, I was on the road again. I made pasta with garlic butter and pear
to lunch, which actually tasted delicious. Thanks Kim through Lizzie
for the inspiration!

I also later on passed the limit of 1000 kilometres according to my
bicycle computer. That means I am on my time schedule, which is really
nice, and actually has gone around 5% of the way! (Even though I think
it will be more in the end.)

Earlier today, I also set a new high-speed recorc for rolling speed (no pedaling) at 63.6 km/h. It felt fast!
At six a clock I came to my couch surfer host for the night. She is
really friendly, outgoing and have a sense of humour, good or bad
depending on how you see it!
She let me make pancakes for us, which is awesome, as I have not eaten
pancakes since I left Lizzies place. She also asked me if I wanted some
cider, and so, I drank some Swedish-made German-buyed cider at my
Malaysian friends place in Denmark. 😀

Now we are just having a good time with many bad jokes! It is nice to
meet nice new people! 😀

Second day at the community

June 13, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

I slept around nine hours, and woke up a quarter past nine. It was raining, so I went out to cover my bicycle saddle. Luckily I had left the bicycle beneath a tree the night before so there were no much rain on the leather.
I joined the others for breakfast, but ate my own, to hold down the expenses.
Before lunch I was planning some routes, counting kilometres until Paris (as I will have to fly home to my brothers wedding, and I think I will be in Paris by then) and also planned for the next couch surfing places and such.
Then, I went back to my hut, but heard that they were training on their music. There are four of the guys who are having a band, playing Stomp music (you use things not intended as instruments as instruments).

Then, they invited me in to see the number they were going to perform on stage, and it was really awesome! If you want to listen, they have a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/heartbeatgroup) and also a website (http://www.heartbeatgroup.dk/)! Check them out!
At lunch, I made another portion of the mozzarella-pepperoni-peanuts-pasta mix and again ate with the people at the community. Afterwards I helped with the dishes, and then went to my hut to read the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I read until dinner, with a little pause for a blog post, and then ate dinner with them. After the dinner there were ice cream, and I ate home made caramel and liquorice ice cream! It was really nice!
Then I did some more dishes, as it felt like a really easy task to help with.
I then continued to read, even though I joined the others and half looked at the football game. I spent the rest of the evening reading and went to bed at 0200, after I had read the whole book. It was a really nice day!

First day at the community

June 12, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

Today the day started early for once. I woke up at 0600 and went up at 0615. The family I stayed at were as nice as the day before. I had gotten a little dessert after dinner and also made a lunch package containing some sandwiches with ham and cheese!
As they went to work, I went to one of the couch surfing hosts that had answered at the night before when I had already gotten a place to stay at. I decided to go there and live there for at least one night as I felt my body needed a little rest. It was nine kilometers away, so it went pretty fast. Once in Holmstrup I asked for the way and got directions. I was a little confused and wanted to ask a young man trimming the hedge for directions. I asked for the community and he said it was there. I asked for my contact person, and it was him. Lucky as usual!
I got a tour around the building, and the place were much huger than I had imagined. After the tour, it was close to breakfast, and as I had already eaten I joined them for company which was really nice. After that I started with giving my plant some more soil. Even if I think it is already lost, I want to try to revive it as long as possible!

Then I unpacked some things and gathered my laundry as I had the option to wash here. After that I helped out with making the dinner ready, which was some kind of salad, and I think it went really nice!

This is the little hut I am living in right now:

It is more than big enough for one person, even though the toilet and shower are in another building. There are many buildings here: Buildings to live in, but also a building for dancing/partying, a building with all the kitchen and food storage and also a gardening building.

After lunch time, I went into the city as I had something I wanted to buy for my Trangia (a Multidisc). There, I also had frozen yoghurt at some place, where you pick everything by yourself – there is a dozen of options for flavors, and even more for toppings – the regular toppings, but also candy, strawberrys, white chocolate and licorice!
Then I went out to a basar (a market) as I got tipsed about from the guy I made dinner with at the community. There, I bought some bread, and also found a pair of shorts on second hand, as I did not have any ordinary shorts with me. They are really lightweight and packable, and only cost 30 DKK. Cheap enough for me!

Back at the community, I was going to make my own food, but one of them told me I had worked enough for a dinner, which was really nice. It was delicious!

They also had their homemade honey to have on the sandwiches.
After dinner, around 2130, we went by car to a nearby lake and took a walk. Then we bought some ice cream, went home, I showered and talked with friends over the phone and now this long day is coming to an end.
I have one more day, and one more night after this, and then I am going to continue my bike trip!
Good night!

Unexpected stay for the night

June 11, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

The day started nice. Slept until 0800, before I went in to pay for the night. I also borrowed the kitchen to boil some water for the breakfast.
I took it easy, talked with Jakob over Skype and fixed some things on the internet while still having wifi.
I also fixed my brakes as they started to be a little bit too loose, but now they are as new!
Then I set off, 20 kilometres, to the petrol station closest to the bridge. On the way I bought some food as my field meals are coming to an end. At the petrol station I made my lunch out of pasta, mozzarella, pepperoni and peanuts. It was delicious! Also, while counting according to the packages, it stopped at around 1200 kcal, and I am still full four hours later.

This was my first meal made on this Trangia, and it was really easy and really good!
Then I tried to get a lift over the bridge. After fifteen minutes I started to get tired of it and looked up the station, which was one kilometre away, so I decided to at least look up the prices. As it was only around 31 SEK for a ticket with bicycle I went with it. The train was late, so all in all I got to stay more than an hour at the station.

After I went off the train in Nyborg, I started biking against Odense. I checked for wifi sometimes and looked at my couch requests, but as I had done them the same day, I got no answers. I also tried to call two different camping places, but as the clock were pretty much (around 1900 or later I think) no one answered. While biking around in Odense, waiting for an answer, I started to ask around for some backyard to just pitch my tent on. I lady told me she could show me to the camping, but on the way, told me I could stay at there place. I though that it meant pitch my tent on their backyard, but I were much more lucky than so! I have showered, been eating (scrambled eggs, a banana, sandwiches with ham and cheese, tomatoes) and also done a lunch pack for tomorrow. Sometimes you really got to be lucky! 😀

It will be a pretty early day tomorrow, around 0615 I think, but it is worth it! Also it is good to maybe finally get an early start. 😉
Good night world!

Finally bought suncreen

June 10, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / Leave a comment

I had a long nights sleep and went up at 0930. I made some breakfast, consisting of a field meal and tea.

I started biking around 1130.
It has not happened really much today, but it has been pretty nice winds. I have biked 91 kilometres, and have finally bought sun screen in Roskilde. I also ate lunch after i had left Roskilde.

At around 1600, I made a stop and bought an ice cream. The temperature has been around 26-27 degrees celsius all day long, it is really hot!

Right now I am sitting at McDonalds and preparing my dinner. After that I have to find somewhere to sleep if I do not get an answer on Couchsurfing soon. I have my hopes up! 😀
Added 2144: everybody directed me to a hostel, so I went there. My first paid night on this trip, but at least I got to take a shower and wash through my clothes a little. I put up my tent near a pole for caravans, so I got electricity! 😀
Good night!

I have left the country!

June 9, 2014April 3, 2015 / Jackiie / 6 Comments

Now, it feels much more real. I have actually left the country. Even if it is only Denmark, I really feel that I am on my way!
The day started at Lizzies apartment. I had to buy some stuff that I did not have since before, so I went into the city to Naturkompaniet. There, I bought a “mini towel”, a cup, a bottle for fuel and a Trangia 27-3 UL instead of my 25-1 UL. I had forgotten my methanol burner at home, and also wanted a extra tamoj if the other one would break or get lost, and had thought of buying the smaller Trangia to save space. As they did not have the 27-1, I also got a non-stick pan. I really have to say it is much smaller in the bag!
I also bought a saddle cover at a nearby bike store as I have a leather saddle and must protect it against rain.
When I came home, Lizzie were making pancakes that we were going to have for breakfast. They were really delicious, and it was more than a week since the last time I got to eat pancakes!

After packing my stuff I went to Malmö. There I had a small meeting with Eli, talking about my trip and doing a small interview. It was really nice, and Eli is a really energetic person! We were talking about maybe meeting up around Iran-Kazakstan, and who knows, it could be fun!
We had the meeting at her balcony with a really good view over Malmö.
Then, it was time to try and get out of the city. I went to the petrol station closest to the bridge and started asking around. I got no luck, but a taxi driver told me to get to the round-about nearby and try there. I made a sign and stood there while talking with Ronja over the phone. It took around half an hour, but at last a person stopped. It was a danish scout, which was really fun as I am a scout myself!

She gave me the alternative to take my bike to their scout centre and sleep there overnight. 19 kilometrers later I am at the scout centre, called Hvissingespejder I think!
She and her son Bjørn went to the scout centre to unlock the bathroom house and also show me around a little bit. I even got more field meal breakfasts and some tea! 😀
The first night abroad is really going well so far. Hopefully my whole trip will go this good. As I do not have wifi all the time, I will not be able to post daily, but I will still try to write daily, so you may get a bunch of posts at a time.
Good night world!

	NoggerLad on Chernobyl
	NoggerLad on Chernobyl
	Jackiie on “Resting day”
	thevibrantchannelled… on Shittiest day so far
	The plan was to hitc… on Shittiest day so far

Jackiie Gone Biking

Traveling in many ways!

Denmark