Kaunas, Lithuania

Kaunas

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania. The beautiful old town is situated at the confluence of two rivers, where there is a historic fort and cathedral. Having seen many capital cites over the last decade or so, many are so overrun with tourists that it detracts from my enjoyment. Kaunas on the other […]

Tallinna Hoolekande Keskus, Homeless Project – Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinna Hoolekande Keskus

One Cool Ride is about combining my passion for both ‘overland motorbike travel’ and ‘Cool to be Kind’, the homeless support organisation I’m a founder member of. If you want to make a donation, please visit my JustGivng page. I visited ‘Tallinna Hoolekande Kesku’ (Tallinn Welfare Centre, NGO) in June 2019 and met with Kasper and Sille who work […]

Housing First Europe Hub, Helsinki

Housing First Europe Hub

One Cool Ride is about combining my passion for both ‘overland motorbike travel’ and ‘Cool to be Kind’, the homeless support in Chelmsford, England, I’m a founder member of. If you want to make a donation, please visit my JustGivng page. Taina Hytönen welcomed me to Housing First Europe Hub, in Helsinki at the end of June […]

Nochlezhka, Homeless Project – St Petersburg (Film)

Nochlezhka

One Cool Ride is about combining my passion for both ‘overland motorbike travel’ and ‘Cool to be Kind’, the homeless support organisation I’m a founder member of. If you want to make a donation, please visit my JustGivng page. I visited Nochlezhka, St Petersburg in June 2019. I was welcomed and shown around by Dasha, […]

St Petersburg, Russia

St Petersburg

A fantastic, beautiful, vibrant city. It is without doubt one of the great cities of the world. Wide roads, creative architecture, statues and art everywhere. Rivers, islands, grand palaces, cool people, bars and restaurants. I’ve been in Russia twice now, St Petersburg gets my vote for ‘best place to visit’, Moscow maybe second, but it’s […]

NW Russia

NW Russia

Not for the first time I’m enjoying my time here. Having spent a week in the remote wildness of NW of Russia, I rode south from the Murmansk region to St Petersburg. I started out north of the Artic Circle with cold, wet weather, sparse forest and wetlands, as I rode south blue skies emerged […]

Kandalaksha, Russia

Kandalaksha

Having rode through the wilderness from the western border with Finland, when I found civilisation, it was like arriving in post apocalyptic Russia. Cloudy, raining, awful road conditions, old cars, ruined buildings, complete disrepair… The petrol was cheap though, 33p / litre! I arrived in the town of Kandalaksha, nestled between the wilderness of NW […]

Russian Border

Russian Border

Russia is the ninth country I’ve visited on this trip, and without doubt crossing the very remote border near Salla (Finland) felt like I was entering a new world. I was aware that I was the only vehicle approaching the border, and when I arrived there were no other vehicles. Getting through the Finish customs […]

Norway

Norway

Garth and I spent 10 days riding in Norway, 1,500 miles (2,500 km) of blue skies, beautiful scenery and the odd reindeer. I hadn’t realised what a long way it was from Oslo to Nordkapp! From my research I expected, cloud, rain, the odd sunny day and mosquitoes, what transpired was total blue skies and […]

Nordkapp, Norway

Nordkapp

It’s a long way to Nordkapp, 1,500 miles (2,500 km) north of Oslo, and 700 miles (1,150 km) north of the Artic Circle. Is Nordkapp worth visiting? No! Is the journey getting there worth the effort? Yes! If Nordkapp wasn’t the most northerly point of Europe nobody would go there. However I’m not the first […]