 THE VIKINGS ON THEIR WAY FROM THE LAND OF SNOW AND ICE The Vikings Returns to York 2004. This years Harley Cruise from Norway to UK was a fifth anniversery cruise and a very sucsessful one. Hog Chapter Bergen & Fjord Line had 4 years of experience to back up their efforts this year together with a wonderful support and a co-arranging commitee consisting of Newcastle Dealer "Just Harleys" with Hog Aire and Hog Geordie Chapters. Hog-Chapter Bergen had already hosted Bergen Bike Week the week before and had a lot of visiters from UK. And this lot picked up other bikers in Bergen, Haugesund and Stavanger on their way across the North Sea the last days of May. Bikers from all over Norway attended and many had more than 350 miles run on their back that day to reach the Fjord Line ferry. Since the bikers from the Bergen area had already embarked in the early afternoon, you might imagine the welcoming the last of us got when the ferry finally arrived Stavanger. We were afraid they would dive from the 7th.deck just to say hello. Onboard the cruise-liner, Hog had their own party-hall, their own band "The Texas Twisters" and the whole staff dressed up in latest Hog-o-fashion. If you looked closely you could see kaki-dressed elderly people tucked away in remote corners close to the liferafts, eating their meals in the early mornings and then making themselfes scarces. This was a Viking battleship headed for the British Isles once more. In all bars, pubs and dance halls the colour black was dominant. The norwegian band Texas Twisters were signed up for the whole trip and made a great show onboard as well as onshore. Friday noon we all packed our bikes and rumbled ashore in Newcastle. Some with ease and some with less....I wished I had a helmet not filled with ease but .....ice. But no fear: The Chapters Geordie and Aire had it all organized for us. The Tyne Tunnell was closed for a few exclusive minutes in front of the stamping bank holiday traffic - but not closed for us: A parade of Harleys thundered though the tunnell in all lanes - four bikes - side by side - with our friends, the Newcastle Police's Biker Division with blue light up in front. They guided us through the multitude of round'abouts in Newcastle on the "wrong" side of the road out on to the M-19 direction York. And I must say theres nothing like curing a headache with blue lights and a sirén right in front of you. Two hours or less we entered the old center of York with people hanging out of the windows and cars flagging the english flags at us - 285 Harleys or so - in a row. Little did we know that this was a salute to Englands participation in the Euro 2004 Socker Tournament. - and a row of Harleys wasn't bad either? Our English road captains piloted us right to our different hotels and invited us to a great pub evening at Kings Arms Pub right in the center of York. For many that was the right way of recuperating - others had a meal and fell right down flat after an exiting day. The next day was reserved for tending to ones hangovers, do some shopping or enter a faboulous trip to the Yorkshire Moores. We chose the latter and had a day out of this world! Driving through the Yorkshire Moores is a bit like a trip up to Hardangervidda in Norway. Only....Hardangervidda is so high up- so cold- and so demanding - and NO PUBS - that thats another story. But the Yorkshire Moores are so beautiful with roads rising from green valleys with small farms and villages to moores with heather and heards of sheep down to new valleys or "holes" as they call them. This trip took us all the way up to 'Aidenfield' - the well know site from the BBC-series "Hartbeat". We had a great day there with a visit to Harry Potters railway station and all the other well known sights from BBC films and series. The trip back was a tough one in mist and rain - even one of our beloved road captains had to go down in a tight turn and ended up sideways nearly hit by Beregen-Morten, Gun and me following right behind him. The bike, as the man, was to tough to get a real damage, but we heard he suffered a bit of "dented pride". Shopping, touring or tending to ones throath - this day's highlight was the main event on the Harley Cruise: the big Barbecue Party at Elvington Royal Air Force Station. The party took place in a air museum run by a force of volunteers and enthusiasts and our english Chapters had it all lined up for us: Two hangars with pubs and rock bands and a great outdoor barbecue with two whole hogs roasted just for us. Our humble and pretty hotel, the Best Western York Pavillion, was a little pearl situated in a beautiful romanesque garden. and very comforting to retreat to that night...ehumph...morning. Very homely service and a wonderfull breakfast with fried tomatoes, ham & eggs, homemade sausages, blackpudding, beans and crisp thinly cut toast with a choice of lovely teas served with a smile in a quiet atmosphere. Wow...back to bed for a little nap ? No! It was time for a Hog family photosession at the Holiday Inn at 9.30 a.m. And at 10' sharp the whole parade of Harley were on its way north again. We headed for the small green roads this time, and let them take us through the beautiful estate of Howards Castle. We never saw the castle, but a seemingly endless needlesharp road passing antique gates and columns and monuments, phaesants and rabbits. Are we experiencing this or are we watching a film on the Telly? Next up was the city of Hartlepool. The Mayor had invited us to embark there next to the Historic Quay and Museum. But we had felt his hospitality long before that. For the last 15 miles the local Traffic Police had their cars and bikes in service for us. It seemed like they had just as much fun as us stopping the traffic for us in one roundabout - and the same car, speeding along in 130 mph reaching the next one, already parked there and blocking that one as well. Our line of Harley thundered in towards the quai with big crowds of people cheering us from the sides of the road. Entering Hartlepool we even noticed the Norwegian flag at the top of the Cathedral for the first time- even the first not-english flag there- ever. Our Bikes was then parked on display for the hundreds of enthusiastic spectaters while we were channeled in through the gates of the museum. The museum was like a recreated time capsule with ships and buildings from the 1700th century and actors playing roles in time-fitting costumes. We enjoyed a nice meal with "The finest importer of Teas & Coffeys" before beeing warned by soldiers on our way out - notice the gunsmoke ! ! Next stop was at Just Harleys, the dealer in Newcastle. They had scrambled up a rockband for us playing right inside their showrooms. Even though the bands beautiful blond rock-babe had the highest heales and shortest skirt you'd ever see, Edgar and me managed to consentrate on the chrome parts to cover our last nuts and bolts (on the bikes). The prices on chrome and mechanicle parts were half of the norwegian prices, leather and T-shirts the same level as in Norway, but bikes ....we could not believe it: One third of the price back home. After that shock we headed for the ship and some more rock'n roll and a very lazy breakfast around noon the next day. The wheater was now full summer and the trip seemed like one gigantic sucsess. The whole trip was so well organized that we can only recommend it for all you loosers that didn't bother to check it out. Many thanks to Bergen, Geordie and Aire Chapters for their efforts. Remember that guy on the FAT BOY, Arnold ? We'll be back ! Entering our own farm yard that night in Soon south of Oslo a little past midnight, after five days, we could read altogether 1700 km on our odometers before falling into a restless sleep dreaming of sounds and speed and roads and waves.  |