Crossing the oceans

Good morning!

The long ride south continues.

Unfortunately I cannot upload the route images now but hope to do it within the next two or three days.

I left Lillehammer in Norway and started a long day on the bike towards Sweden. The KLR wasn’t a happy bike and above 4000 RPM the engine wasn’t running smoothly. My first thought was contaminated fuel, and a quick look at the in-line fuel filter proved it. It was getting black at the bigger end, a sure sign of dirt started blocking the free flow of fuel.

I knew that I had to replace the filter soon. Stops at many garages followed. No success. No such fuel filter was available.

That day I rode 521 km, nursing the KLR at 4000 RPM.

What impressed me about riding in Norway was that motorcycles didn’t have to pay any toll fees! Send the toll fee planners of South Africa to Norway for a bit of eternal light in their dark thoughts. It still doesn’t make any sense to me that the KLR on the N1 has to pay the same toll fee as a huge Hummer!

The next day I had to cross from Sweden into Denmark. There were three stretches of ocean on the route. One could either use the ships connecting the countries, or impressive toll bridges. I decided to ride to ride over and under the ocean using the bridges and tunnels.

Here is some information that I got from Wikipedia about the three bridges. When I upload my routes later you will clearly see where these bridges are.

The first bridge:

The Øresund Bridge is a combined twin-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait between Sweden and Denmark.

The bridge runs nearly 8 km (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The remainder of the link is by tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects two major metropolitan areas: those of the Danish capital city Copenhagen and the major Swedish city Malmö.

Total length 7,845 metres (25,738 ft)
Width 23.5 metres (77.1 ft)
Longest span 490 metres (1,608 ft)
Clearance below 57 metres (187 ft)

Here is an view from above:

A cross-section of the tunnel:

The second bridge:

The Great Belt Fixed Link (Danish: Storebæltsforbindelsen) is the fixed link between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen across the Great Belt. It consists of a road suspension bridge and railway tunnel between Zealand and the island Sprogø, as well as a box girder bridge between Sprogø and Funen. The suspension bridge, known as the East Bridge, has the world’s third longest main span (1.6 km), and the longest outside of Asia.

The third bridge:

The New Little Belt Bridge (Nye Lillebæltsbro) is a suspension bridge that crosses the Little Belt strait between Jutland (Jylland) and the island of Funen (Fyn) in Denmark. The bridge is 1700 metres long, the main span is 600 metres, the pylons reaching a height of 120 metres, and the maximum clearance from the sea is 44 meters.

The KLR reached Denmark safely, still not exceeding 4000 RPM. From underway, where ever I saw McDonald restaurants (free wifi!) I sent emails to motorcycle dealers in Flensburg, Germany, asking about a fuel filter. No one replied.

The KLR got to Flensburg after a long day of nearly 600 km. My first visit would be to old friends Dorothee and Dieter Moritz, another nearly 600 km away. Dorothee started phoning for fuel filters but with little success. It should be ordered, there wasn’t any available immediately.

But then, as so often in the past, things happened in the strangest ways. When I can upload my own photographs I will tell you the rest of the filter saga.

Have a great Sunday!