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Up to St Petersburg the quick way and back the slow way

Ray1150

Cruisin' Guzzisti
GT Famiglia
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Messages
275
Location
London
Just a couple of lines about our 2 ½ week trip to St Petersburg this year on the trusty Stelvio.

The trip started (and finished) in London going via, Ghent, Travemunde, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallin, Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw, Berlin and finally Munster.

The bike has 3 x 45l givi panniers, a 50% stronger shock spring, auxiliary tank and a guzzitech ecu.

We left a day early as there was a lot of trouble at the ports from strikers and migrants and took a previously unscheduled stop in Ghent 2 hours from Calais.

The next boat we needed was just past Hamburg and didn’t sail everyday so we couldn’t afford to miss it. Not much to report here plodding along autobahn at 130kph with nutty 6.3 litre mercs coming past at warp speed.

The aux tank gives us a fully loaded range of 200 miles before we start looking for fuel. New to this trip was a tom tom 400, very impressive bit of kit not least as it shows all the petrol stations and how far before you reach them.

We got to Travemunde in good time and went to eat. As we ate the skys opened and it really chucked it down, and it just kept coming……. Time came we had to go so we rode up to the port in ridiculously heavy rain. We showed our tickets and got waved to the front, right into a huge gang of outlaw bikers. Lovely. Anyway one or two we quite friendly and after standing in pissing rain for 1/2hr we were on the Helsinki boat crossing the Baltic.

We met up with our friends on a Super Tenere and a BMW F800 in Helsinki and headed toward the dreaded border.

Forget what you read, yes the border staff are strict with the getting in and out paperwork we had to fill in but they were very helpful along with other people crossing and eventually we were let in. We had all sorts of documentation including an International Driving Permit but were only actually asked for the visa (in the passport) and the V5 (vehicle registration doc).

Again I had read horror stories about the roads but those we rode were all well surfaced. The drivers are all mental cases but the roads are OK, generally single carriageway although we hit a new motorway network as we entered St Petersburg. There were some tolls but unlike France these were pennies.

We left after a couple of days, getting out of Russia was marginally easier, no forms to fill in but a lot of serious searching and waiting about, give yourself 2 – 3 hours.

Riding down following the Baltic coast the roads were again single carriageway through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The drivers were back to normal the road surface was great and huge signs announcing that the road had been paid for by the EU explained why. We weren’t in a hurry doing 300 ish miles a day and it was just as well as coppers kept leaping out from behind trees and cars waving speed guns at us, the limit was 90 kph and we more or less kept to it.

A day in Tallin, Riga and Vilnius was enough as we’re not very intellectual! I’m sure we missed a load but we still learnt a lot, how the USSR f*cked these nations is awful.

Lithuania into Poland finally relented from either forest or rolling farmlands either side of the road to a few pretty lakes. Again we had a quick look at Warsaw, the old town completely rebuilt in the 1950’s to resemble exactly the flattened 17th century old town by the USSR to try and pacify the locals.

Warsaw to Berlin was a trail, we were all dressed in heavy textiles, the temperature on the dash was reading 94 degrees, at 130 kph. We were very glad to get to a cold beer and a cold shower in Berlin.

Hello to the bloke on the Cali 1100 who came along side on the outskirts and gave us a wave.

Berlin everyone knows about we stayed by where Checkpoint Charlie used to be, the gate between the American and Russian sectors. Lots to see, I’m 53 and remember a lot of the stupidity, quite amazing to put it all in context. Sad that Putin feels he has to keep this nonsense going.

Last day was in Munster just because it was a convenient break for Calais. We ended up doing just under 3k miles, our friends 600m more as they had taken in Copenhagen and Stockholm before meeting us in Helsinki. Not the most fascinating riding we’ve ever done but we didn’t visit one uninteresting place and it’s got the best way of travelling. How else would you pack so much in to one holiday?

Now better ask the wife where she fancies next year and start planning…………..
 
Late to the party ... story of my life :cry: ... but great report.

Comma but.

No pix? Especially interested in Poland as my wife's folks are from Łomża, which I think is along the way or near your return route.

I have zero interest in going there, but accept the inevitable :inlove:, and trying to decide whether NE Poland is "worth" renting a motorcycle or if we just just get a cage for that leg of a European trip.

Bill
 
Yes must have gone past Lomza Bill.
Here's a pic of a present from Uncle Joe, one in Riga one in Warsaw. Turns out the people of Latvia / Poland actually paid for it themselves and always interpreted it as less of a present more a reminder you are being watched....
I didn't take a lot of pix of the ride coz a lot of it was quite mundane, a lot of pix of the cities but you can see those anywhere.
Warsaw was interesting, Polish people we talked to recommended Krakow as a lot prettier, probably too far south. Up north I hear Gdansk is well worth a visit.
 

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Enjoyed the read, had a chuckle at the comment about the Police with radar guns........ I'd like to recommend a book called, "In search of greener grass" by Graham Field.........
 
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