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Since our first roadtrip in 2006, xBhp has ridden in more than 63 countries on some of the most exotic motorcycles and cars that this planet has to offer... And the ride is still on. In these pages, let us take you on a journey through memory lanes of all these roadtrips. We are publishing one roadtrip at a time, so keep coming back for more!

Run to the Midnight Sun :: 13 countries & 16,000 km!

Countries: 13

Year: 2014

Distance: 16,000 km

Route and Map: Bologna > Misano Circuit > Innsbruck > Munich > Cannes > Frankfurt > Cologne > Hamburg > Odense > Copenhagen > Gothenburg > Stockholm > Örebro > Oslo > Geiranger > Trondheim > Sandnessjøen > Bodo > Nordkapp > Ivalo > Oulu > Helsinki > Tallinn > Riga > Vilnius > Warsaw > Krakow > Brno > Prague

Ride on: Right Side

Metric System: Speed in km/h and Fuel in Litres

This is one of the most epic roadtrips I have ever undertaken. Not only does this mark the completion of me covering the entire Europe except a few notable countries like Great Britain and lesser known ones like Croatia, but also milestones like riding up to the northernmost point of mainland Europe- North Cape in Norway and shuffling between some of the world’s best motorcycles and a sports car a la Grand Theft Auto, the video game! So join me as I take you through 13 countries and 16,000 km in 35 days on a run of a lifetime, what I call… The Run to the Midnight Sun.

The idea of going to the North Cape, which is the northernmost point of mainland Europe, was fuelled by my childhood fantasy of seeing the Northern Lights (aurora borealis). Watching movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings didn’t help stem this desire either since most of the landscapes that I saw from the Scandinavian countries, especially Norway were literally outlandish and just like in the movies.

The stage was set, I would start from the Ducati headquarters in Bologna, Italy and after attending the World Ducati Week 2014, I would ride with twelve mad Italians on Aprilia Caponords in France before getting into the driving seat of a fine BMW Z4 sports car which would then take me to the Suzuki Headquarters in Bensheim, Germany to pick up my final main steed – a Suzuki V-Strom 1000.

Sounds confusing and a little off the top? It was! But they were also the most thrilling 35 days of my life where I travelled an average of 450 km every day, checking into a new hotel each night while clicking 8000+ photos and many hours of video. So here is an attempt to squeeze all those experiences and memories into sixty pages. I hope you enjoy and get inspired by the fantastic machines that man has built and what Mother Nature has to offer as a motorcyclist’s playground!

Level 1: 500 km | World Ducati Week 2014 | Ducati Multistrada

Italy

Language: Italian

Currency: Euro

World Ducati Week (WDW) 2012 was one of the best things that happened to me. I rode 10,000 km across from Dubai to Italy on a Multistrada for one of the biggest events on the motorcycling calendar of the world. Two years hence it was time again, but this time it was before the start of this epic roadtrip which unfortunately would not happen on a Ducati.

The 2014 edition of the WDW was brilliant as expected with 65,000 plus people attending over three days of madness. There was the new Ducati Scrambler which was allowed for preview in a big yellow container and there was the new Monster 821 up for test rides sprinkled with rare bikes like two Ducati 175s of Tartarni and Monetti (I know… I never knew about them too!).

And now since Audi was the parent company of Ducati it was exciting to see all those Lamborghinis and R8s being driven around the track and kept as eye candy. The Garage Contest was an eye-catcher with all those fantastically modified Ducatis. I was particularly blown away by a Panigale which was modelled like a Cafe Racer.

Though nothing can beat how special and off the charts the WDW 12 was for me, in this edition as well my rides with Ducatis were recognized in the Travel Tent where my photos were displayed on the wall. Seen in this photo is Paolo Pirozzi, the first man in the world to ride more than 500,000 km on Ducatis and a fantastic traveller!

Level 2: 600 km | Aprilia Caponord Test Ride | Aprilia Caponord

France

Language: French

Currency: Euro

Caponord. This means North Cape. The exact place that was the main mission of The Run to Midnight Sun ride! And what could be worse than not being able to ride it to the very place it was christened after? But as luck would have it Aprilia did say that I could join a test ride that was arranged for worldwide journalists on the choicest of roads in France.

What they did not mention is that I would be riding with ten other Italians. I should have known what mayhem awaited me for the next two days over 600 km and countless corners and some of the most exhilarating and varying landscapes that I have ridden through in such a short time. This ‘short’ ride started from a hotel near Cannes in France and followed the twisty and narrow roads into stunning Verdon Natural Regional Park before meandering into the Mercantour National Park, which would have equally blown my mind, had the mad Italians not been riding like they were on fire!

By the time the ride ended, it was a miracle that no one had crashed, though there were enough unnecessary risks taken on the ride! Moments like you see in this picture were far apart and rare, there was hardly any time given to take in the beautiful scenery because everyone was riding like it was a race RSV4 and not an ADV bike! And this brings me to the main point – just how good the bike was! I am living to tell this tale – that’s how amazing it is!

My first impression about the Caponord was always that it didn’t look seductively good as an Italian thoroughbred machine is usually supposed to. This is one fact that Aprilia itself somewhere recognizes along with the plenty of reviews in magazines and on the internet. The looks are nothing to write home about, but like they say, real beauty is not skin deep. So let’s delve further.

I am a motorcyclist and a gadget geek. And this motorcycle satisfies both of me! Like everyone, I must talk about the insane amount of technology it has packed inside it. It needs more acronyms to describe the tech running it than the new iPhone 6! The Aprilia Caponord that I was given was loaded with the Aprilia Travel Pack which is the name given to the colour code panniers and tech collective.

The bike was also mounted with an iPhone 5s charged and connected to the bike with the AMP (Aprilia Multimedia Platform) displaying an alternate digital dashboard which can show and record parameters like thrust percentage, roll angle and lots more! The most incredible and useful feature of the bike to me seemed to be the uncanny traction control which refused to allow the rear tyre to have a mind of its own – even when leaning in wet conditions.

That is something which I cannot expect even from a bike like the Multistrada, which just cuts the power if the rear wheel starts spinning faster than the front. RbW (Ride by Wire) was a technology introduced by Aprilia a few years ago. One more industry first is the Auto damping technology which sets the rear suspension dynamically according to the load you have on the bike! So if a pillion joins you in the middle of a ride the suspension settings will automatically shift to two people without you having to do anything. Brilliant!

A feature which I could not use on this fast and thrilling ride is the cruise control, which would be welcome on the straights in lands like Australia and the USA, but not here. Power is enough at 125bhp, however not as raw or relentless as the Multistrada but pretty usable with a relatively flat torque curve for long and effortless touring. I will also be interested (even though it might be a little impractical) to see (and hear!) a V4 engine in some special limited edition version of the Caponord in the future!

Level 3: 3,000 km | The Z Factor | BMW Z4

Austria

Language: German

Currency: Euro

The next stage of The Midnight Sun Run saw me pick up a BMW Z4 SDrive 28i from the BMW Munich HQ and drive it through some of the choicest of mountain passes like the Timmelsjoch and Stelvio before going to France for the Aprilia Caponord ride and then to Frankfurt to pick the Suzuki V-Strom 1000 for the final ride to North Cape. This photo is a selfie at the Timmelsjoch Pass (2,474 m).

The BMW Z4 is an absolute delight to look at. Even its low-end version, the S Drive 28i, which I got is powered by a 2-litre Inline 4 engine pumping out ‘just’ 240 Hp. It is fast enough to propel the car, using a 6-speed with overdrive, rear-wheel drive to 100 km/h in just 7 seconds.

I could feel a substantial push along with the meaty sound of the engine as it pulled the car from a standstill to good speeds. The fastest version that you can get of this car is the sDrive35is which gets a 335-hp version of the twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline six. The quality of the interiors was pretty good and posh and reeked of luxury. There was no doubt that it was attracting eyeballs wherever I went, and I am talking about Europe where these cars are not a rarity.

I particularly enjoyed the car while taking it on the hairpin bends of the Stelvio (the photo on this page is from the Stelvio Pass at around 6 PM) where I often felt like being part of a video game! And since I had sandwiched this car between two very capable and powerful bikes (the Ducati Multistrada and the Aprilia Caponord) back to back a few things had dawned upon me concerning the advantages of a car over a motorcycle and vice versa.

4 Wheels

Come rain, snow or sunshine. I don’t have to worry about my camera equipment getting wet.

The danger in a car in bad weather is substantially less, especially in places like the Stelvio Pass at twilight.

It is horrible and irritating to edge along in traffic in the cities and on the highways during construction periods.

It is damn cool to be able to listen to your favourite songs and dubstep in the car and feel like you are in a video game!

You cannot park the car in many places like small shoulders on mountain roads or city centres.

There will be no fellow car owner waving at you while you tour in a car.

2 Wheels

All said and done it is a nightmare to handle so many electronics in the rain! You can’t even make a phone call without finding shelter.

The thrill of riding a motorcycle in dangerous conditions does give me a high, but it doesn’t negate the omnipresent danger in bad weather conditions, especially in the mountains.

I can just take the shoulder or filter lanes in traffic, this was especially useful on the miles-long traffic jams on European highways, especially near big cities!

There is no decent system yet that I can listen to except in-ear headphones which I think are dangerous as they block out other necessary audio inputs while riding.

The best part about motorcycles is that you can park them in tight spaces and you usually get more respect and caution from motorists if you are on a bike!

More often than not fellow bikers will wave and acknowledge, which gives a great sense of being part of a brotherhood!

These photos are from the famous Stelvio Pass at an elevation of 2757 metres which also makes it the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, just 13m (43 ft.) below France’s Col de l’Iseran. The Stelvio has around 75 hairpin bends.

Level 4: 12,000 km | Run to the Midnight Sun | Suzuki V-Strom 1000

After dropping the BMW Z4 back to the Munich BMW HQ I went to Frankfurt in a rented Volkswagen Passat! The Suzuki Europe HQ is located in Bensheim near Frankfurt where I picked up the Suzuki V-Strom DL 1000. From there my ride from Frankfurt to North Cape started, and it was a long way to go. The photo on this page was taken around 8.30 PM on the way to Geiranger Fjord in Norway. The sun used to be up at this latitude until around 10 PM or so, giving me a lot of time to ride and shoot.

Germany

Language: German

Currency: Euro

Look at most lists documenting the best roads to drive on and it will have the Nurburgring on it. Often termed as ‘The Green Hell’ I finally ‘rode’ it on this trip. Having gotten the Suzuki V-Strom from the European HQ in Frankfurt, this mecca for petrolheads was rather too close to give it a pass! I headed to the ring just in time for the evening public sessions to start.

You can ride/drive on open session days by paying a certain amount of Euros per lap. And what a lap! It is 20 odd km of some of the most technical and demanding pieces of tarmac I have ever been on, mostly because this is a racetrack which looks like a great piece of ‘public’ road – the only difference being that everyone will drive/ ride as if it is their last day on Earth!

Well almost everyone, since you will also see people in minivans and with family negotiating the track at a relatively sedate pace than the serious petrolheads who go around the track as if there is a demon on their tail and it will possess them should they slow down.

Riding on the Nurburgring (I did one lap in around 10.30 minutes, the record is around 6.20 in a Porsche) was one of the best experiences so far in all my rides. However, I cannot stress how dangerous it is to push there, more so when cars are on the track at the same time. Plus the elevation changes, blind corners etc. make it a tough but memorable adrenaline-inducing challenge.

210 km/h is how fast the V-Strom went with all the panniers on the Autobahn!

Miles-long traffic snarls on the Autobahn.

Note the poor Ferrari on the left!

The Cologne Cathedral.

Denmark

Language: Danish

Currency: Danish Krone

Beautiful Danish country roads, however after the liberal speeds in Germany, the 130 km/h speed limit on the Danish highways was a disappointment! However, I had no idea at that time what hell awaited me in Norway in this respect!

My second day in Denmark saw me find out about an open-air museum which was modelled after 18th-century Danish villages. This was very close to the city of Odense where I was staying on my first day in this country. The Funen Village (or Den Fynske Landsby in Danish). To give you a little bit more connection this village is from Hans Christian Anderson’s era. Remember The Emperor’s New Clothes, Thumbelina and the Ugly Duckling? They were Hans’ creations and gifts to the children of the world! And he was born in Funen, Odense somewhere right around there! 

The village only allows people to walk in it, however, when the management there heard what I was doing they allowed me to go in with the bike and take photos and videos. I will let photos do the talking now on how beautiful the whole setup was. There were people dressed as 18th century Danes and you could also have horse cart rides inside the village with a couple of restaurants. Everything seemed out of a movie.

After having ridden in the beautiful village it was time to head to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. For this, I had to ride over the Great Belt Fixed Link (or Storebæltsforbindelsen in Danish ) bridge (photo right above). This is an 18 km long bridge connecting the islands of Funen and Zealand (where Copenhagen is). This bridge along with the Oresund Bridge has enabled riding from the European mainland to Scandinavia unbelievably easier. Copenhagen had a few interesting structures; one of them was the Copenhagen Congress Centre.

From Copenhagen, I rode north towards Gothenburg in Sweden. On the way, I encountered a track called ‘Ring Knutstorp’ in Sweden where a car club had arranged a track day.

Sweden

Language: Swedish

Currency: Swedish Krona

Most of the roads and landscapes in Denmark and Sweden are flat and affirmatively boring compared to what motorcyclists love – curves and mountains!

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is the most populous city in Scandinavia. The old city centre turned out to be one of my favourites so far with its beautiful buildings and atmosphere.

Norway

Language: Norwegian

Currency: Euro

From Stockholm, I headed out west towards Norway. Sweden is very flat with a lot of forests which tends to get boring and repetitive rather soon. This was a far cry from what Norway would be, and truth be spoken I could not wait to cross over!

Oslo, the capital of Norway, turned out to be a huge disappointment with a lot of construction going on and a waterfront boasting of their Opera House, which is the most exciting outdoor building probably there. If you want to go to rich city centres, then this is definitely not the one! In contrast, the old town of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia was right out of a fairy tale! More on it later.

Just 50 odd km from Oslo I started getting a taste of Norway. Rugged mountains in the distance with green hills in the foreground and some amazing skies were a far cry from the dull and flat Sweden and Denmark. This is also where I first met a Reindeer, without Santa unfortunately! As I progressed north towards the Geiranger Fjord it became even more beautiful! If you are riding Norway then this is one place you must visit!

Above, you can see a ferry which is a crucial part of riding in Norway especially if you plan to do RV 17, which is one of the best riding roads in the world. Follow these directions to ride around 600 km of bliss with six ferry crossings. The ferries make the journey much longer (waiting plus loading and unloading) than what Google Maps might suggest. However the route is: Geiranger Fjord > Steinkjer > Brønnøysund > Sandnessjøen > Bodø.

You will be required to pay in Norwegian Kroners and most ferries accept cards. Just be careful to plan according to the ferry timings which run every 15-45 minutes between the two land shores depending on how far they are. Just be sure not to run too late into the night.

And yes that’s a real jellyfish which I spotted practically on the side of the road in the waters! So enchanting and different is Norway!

Between Halsa and Glomfjord, on RV17, there is a branch of the Svartisen Glacier descending almost to sea level! At Bodø, I caught yet another ferry, but this time a bit longish to Moskenes which took 3.5 hours. This brought me to the Lofoten Islands group. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world’s largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude. Lofoten is known for its distinctive scenery with mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands.

Sure enough, I was stunned to see hills rising from the sea and a rich kind of atmosphere everywhere with a lot of colours in the water and on the mountains. The fishing village of Å is situated at the southernmost tip of the Lofoten Islands and from there I started my ride again to the North Cape.

From the Lofoten Islands to the North Cape was a long run with uncountable curves and stupendous landscapes. I finally reached the North Cape at 10 PM in the night and it was still very bright. In fact, at this latitude, the sun only sets for 2 hours at that time of the year.

This photo was taken at 10:30 in the night and you can probably see the North Cape marker from there and the crowd of people.

The biggest disappointment was to see hundreds, if not thousands of people in all sorts of vehicles and tens of buses loaded with tourists at 11 PM destroying the sanctity of this place! It was loud and like a playfair!

To me, this is the biggest black spot in all of Norway which they should be ashamed of. A place like this deserves to be isolated and not overrun by tourists. I am thinking of other extreme points that I have done – Cape Sata and Soya in Japan or Cape Reinga in New Zealand.

So finally I flew the India flag at the North Cape after riding more than 10,000 km and it was time to turn back and go via the countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Finland

Language: Finnish and Swedish

Currency: Euro

Finland is again very flat and covered with characteristic forests and trees. Lapland is the northernmost region of Finland which is also the most sparsely populated. Reindeers are a common sight on the roads in Lapland. On my way down to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, I met with two Hayabusas which were actually turbocharged.

And here’s a bit of Helsinki before we move on…

Estonia

Language: Estonian

Currency: Euro

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, has one of the most beautiful old towns (listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List) in the world. I was absolutely blown away by the medieval-ish atmosphere and the architectural beauty of it.

Not only this, this relatively lesser-known capital of a European country is listed as one of the Global Cities of the world and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture in 2011, along with Turku in Finland.

Here’s a street in Tallinn (St. Catherine’s Passage) which looks straight out of medieval times.

Latvia

Language: Latvian

Currency: Euro

From Estonia, I headed down towards Riga, the capital of Latvia which is situated on the banks of the Daugava River.

Lithuania

Language: Lithuanian

Currency: Euro

From Riga, I rode further down south via beautiful forest-flanked roads to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Along the way, I came across a very strange place called the ‘Hill of Crosses’ (photos below). With more than 100,000 crosses this is one of the most surreal and eerie places on the planet!

The city of Vilnius itself was pretty small and unlike the capital cities, we are used to seeing in India or the USA. Here are some photos from Vilnius…

Poland

Language: Polish

Currency: Polish Zloty

Poland often evokes images of an unknown cold land and lots of military. But my ride through the Polish towns and villages was a delight. I visited two of the most important towns-Warsaw, the capital of Poland and Krakow, the second largest city of Poland. The worst thing about roadtripping in Poland is the lack of expressways. Most roads are single lane undivided where traffic is in a constant bid to overtake each other. Although it is much better than the insane traffic in India, it is quite bad relative to the other European countries and if you are in a car you will be frustrated to death overtaking slower vehicles.

This is the city of Krakow (pictures above and gallery below). The city centre was extremely beautiful with a lot of things to do like horse rides and cafes.

One very interesting thing to do in Krakow is the ‘Lost Souls Alley’ (pictures above and gallery below). This is an apartment which has been modelled as a real-life haunted video game in which you solve a few puzzles and go through 4-5 rooms with real humans dressed as ghouls and evil spirits. It was truly a different and terrifying experience!

Czech Republic

Language: Czech

Currency: Czech Koruna

The last country of the trip was the Czech Republic. Brno was the first city that I visited there. Brno Ossuary is an underground ossuary (An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce). It was rediscovered in 2001 in the historical centre of the city, partially under the Church of St. James.

It is estimated that the ossuary (pictured above) holds the remains of over 50 thousand people which makes it the second-largest ossuary in Europe, after the Catacombs of Paris. This was something which I had never seen before!

The next day I rode on the legendary Brno track with the V-Strom which surprised me with its track capabilities, though it was quite slow compared to the full-blown superbikes there.

Next was the legendary city of Prague, the last big city of the trip (pictured above).

The Run to the Midnight Sun was finally over. But not before I met the legendary Chris Pfeiffer (World Stunt Champion) at his home in Germany. He then took me to his secret training spot where he tried to teach me to wheelie on his F800 and also gave me the best seat in the show – on the front seat as he wheelied and did all sorts of tricks! It was a befitting way to end the trip.

I shall always remember this trip, not only because I rode a massive 16000 km in just 35 days while doing an insane amount of photography, videography and social media updates, but also because it involved four of the best motorcycles and cars in the world.

This is the small but great team at Edelweiss in Mieming, Austria. They are the world’s foremost motorcycle travel tour company and I paid them a short visit en route!

The number of experiences I had was simply insane and mind-boggling. From the frenzy of the World Ducati Week to riding with mad Italians in France, to taking the Z4 to some of the best roads in the world, to visiting some of the most beautiful cities on the planet, and the capital of 13 countries in a go, to seeing how 60,000 humans’ bones look like, to riding on the legendary track of Brno, to flying the Indian flag at the northernmost point of Europe, to witnessing a never-ending night, to…

I guess the next step in sharing my experiences would be to make a video documentary and show it to you! I thank Suzuki Motorcycles Europe and India, Shell Advance India and the thousands of xBhpians all across India for supporting me and making this possible.