The impressive Tyrstrup Kro, Christiansfeld, DK.

Tuesday 19th July

We were presented with another multi-course breakfast; a table full of meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, yoghurt, fruit… we didn’t like to see it go to waste (we were still enjoying the novelty at this point!) and so after working our way through as much as possible, the hotel owner offered some plastic bags so we could take a packed lunch with us. We were hoping to get as far north as possible today, so a packed lunch would save us some time, and the convenience of the regular Parkingplatz meant we would easily find somewhere nice to eat it.

The roadworks around Hamburg restricted progress as we were limited to 80km/h, however we still were not caught in any traffic jams on the two-laned autobahn. The bike was still running brilliantly, even at high speeds it responds quickly and is always able to ‘give more’. Both of us really comfortable too; stopping for just a few minutes about every 1.5hrs.

The picturesque high-street. Christiansfeld, DK.

After about an hour on Danish soil, we pulled in to a place called Christiansfeld. Very soon we saw an impressive thatched hotel: Tyrstrup Kro. The building is 350 years old, and is situated about 1 mile from Christiansfeld town centre. The rooms were modest and fairly small, although the age of the building surely restricts much variation. We walked into the town, famous for baking its own gingerbread. It was a beautiful place: cobbled streets lined with trees, leading to village squares with congregating locals.

We ate in the hotel restaurant, which specialised in an 8-course taster menu. We opted for something a little lighter and made sure we made our drinks last as my glass of wine was over £10!

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Hotel Tyrstrup Kro in Christiansfeld http://www.tyrstrupkro.dk/ (this is a chain of fine hotels with many locations across DK)

Petrol Cost  £18

Miles Covered: 198

Total Miles this trip: 898

Cruising the Autobahn on a Triumph Thunderbird

Day 2 – 18th July

In the morning Tina had prepared a massive breakfast with cold meats, cheeses, traditional breads and lots of coffee. Perfect fuel for a day in the saddle!

We set off on the way to Hamburg, getting the T-Bird going well on the Autobahn. There were quite a few roadworks which slowed things down very slightly, but no congestion at all and averaged around 90mph. Although there were quite a lot of vehicles on the roads it all seemed to flow brilliantly; lorries and caravans keeping to the right almost all of the time. The left lane only seems to be used for overtaking which is so much better. There were also plenty of rest stops and service stations along the way.

For lunch we pulled over at a service station for a currywurst and chips! Not something I had tried before!

Hotel Feshenfeld in Oyten, Germany

We pulled off the A3 just before Hamburg to avoid the rush hour to stay for the night in a place called Oyten. Came to a slightly old fashioned, but comfortable hotel. The hotel had a German fast food bar at the front as you can see from the photo where you could get various sausages etc.

In the afternoon we ventured into the town for a beer or two before choosing “Linda’s restaurant” (which also offered bed and breakfast). We both had different varieties of Schnitzel with fried new potatoes. The fried food is now starting to take a toll!! Dinner for two with two beers was 35 Euros.

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Hotel Feshenfeld Tel 04207 70060

Petrol Cost  £39.00

Miles Covered: 230

Total Miles this trip: 700

Departed from Donisthorpe at 5am to catch the Dover to Calais ferry at 10:25. Various hold ups including 50mph average speed limits on large stretches of the M1 and M25 made it seem a very long drag. Started to question if this was such a good idea!

After checking in at Dover we got talking to a German couple in the bike queue, very quickly they informed us that they owned a bed & breakfast in Krefeld, which was around the area we planned on getting to on the first night! Whilst on the ferry they called through to check that thay had some space for us which they did, that was the first nights accomodation sorted! Tina and Stefan offered to ride with us to the destination. The route was fairly quick and 260 miles through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany flew by. Weather was good, although we had a couple of brief showers.

Tina and Stefan - The Orange Inn, Krefeld

On arrival at “The Orange Inn” we were delighted to see a brilliant house with great guest accomodation. We had a pizza with Tina and Stefan and a few drinks, a very enjoyable evening. We didn’t get to try out the beach volleyball court in the back garden but I am sure it would have been fun if we were staying for a while longer! I would definitely recommend staying with them if in the area!

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Dover to Calais Ferry £25.00

Bed and Breakfast in Krefeld: http://www.orange-inn.de/en/

Petrol Cost  £66.50

Miles Covered: 470

Total Miles this trip: 470

I have recently returned from holiday to Sweden on my Triumph Thunderbird Storm. Covering just over 3000 miles in the two weeks it was a great trip.

I will post details of the trip here which may be of interest  and could be of help to anybody planning a trip on the bike to Scandanavia!
Info will follow shortly.

Total Miles – 3042

Triumph Thunderbird Storm MPG – 48.5

Total Petrol Spend – £414.00

Checklist

Triumph Thunderbird Storm Fully Loaded

• Triumph Thunderbird Storm 1700cc
• Waterproofs
• Soft throwover pannier bags
• Tank Bag
• Rucksack
• Sleeping bags x2
• Tent
• Clothes

The above were the essentials, other kit such as insect repellent, suncream, etc were taken but not really needed.

Route details on next post.