2 weeks in
Monday, June 26th, 2006Bloody hell. Here I am sitting in Gothenburg railway station after a fortnight of amazing travels. I have had some good times and met some great people. I think getting pissed between Iceland and the Faroe Islands with some Faroese fishermen was the most ridiculous thing so far. These guys had been fishing in Iclandic waters and so where in a political mire. I watched England play T + T and Sweden in Iceland, and Ecuador in Denmark. We are still in with a shout so things are looking better than I hoped. Portugal? Nee bother.
Day 1 involved a ridiculous 7 hour bus trip from Newcastle to Aberdeen where I met some Jakeys and drunk in the Schooner bar near the ferry terminal as I was so excited about finally getting underway. Then on the ferry I drank with a crazy geezer from London who was making his way to Greenland to ‘hang out’. After pitching the tent in Lerwick and sleeping for 6 hours straight I made it onto the ferry to Torshavn where I had a meal and a pint. Then onto Seydisfyordur, Iceland where I have some canny photos that I cant post yet as this computer has no USB thingymagig. I hired a car and toured the North East of this ludicrously expensive country. I crossed the Arctic circle on the small island of Grimsey where I hiked to the Northern most point and it felt like the end of the world. I didn’t see darkness for the 7 days I was in Iceland. It was a mare trying to kip. From Iceland it was a 2 day boat trip to Hanstolm, Denmark. I headed from Hanstholm to Thisted to Aalborg to Frederickshavn where I spent the night watching England power past Ecuador. At 0345 I caught the boat to Gothenburg where I now wait about to catch a bus to Malmo and then onto Karlshamn for the ferry to Lithuania. This post sounds quite dull but I can promise you it has been fantastic. Sitting in Gothenburg observing the rat race is brilliant. The people I have met thus far have been great. A Yank from Minnesota in DK, the cockney geezer going to Greenland with whom I spent 4 days, a lass from NZ, a lass from Berlin, the Faroese fishermen, a Suffolk couple motorbiking around Iceland, 2 French Canadiens who have cycled the silk route, a Norwegian fish farmer working in Shetalnd. Some great folk who have all past on their details and reckon my own trip looks good. In Frederickshavn I was in a bar with a Danish prison Officer who was warning me about the perils of the Russian mafia types with whom he has dealt with in jail…..mmmmmmm. Then a Cheif Engineer on the merchant ships who grew up in Greenland reckons Shanghai is ace! So things are going well and I would recommend packing in your jobs, selling your hooses and buggering off round the world like me………its mint man!