Ever since I first saw a Ducati 916 in Monaco I just new I wanted to have one. Last week I went shopping for bikes with Ruud and Mark who both wanted to buy one. While walking through the showroom I saw this Ducati 748S in mint condition and after a testdrive last friday I just knew that I had to buy one and so I did 
. It’s almost identical to the Ducati 916, 996 and 998 but has 98 bhp and can only go 245 km/h…..
Some better photos will follow soon!
It’s been 2,5 years since I was in India and the wedding of friend of mine was a good excuse to go back again . The wedding was in Delhi and me, Ruud and Shoshannah decided to go in style and got ourselves some nice indian outfits (Kurta with Pajamas for me and Ruud and Shoshannah in a nice Sari) including some really bling bling shoes!
The wedding was a real Indian wedding with lots of music, dancing and especially tons of really delicious food! Seeing Anuj on a horse was off course loads of fun and finally meeting Nidhi was also very nice. The traffic in Delhi resulted in many delays for the guests so all the ceremonies only started at 23:30.
After the wedding me Shoshannah and Ruud went on to Rajastan for a few more days of travelling and sightseeing. Rajastan is the desert provence of India so we had to go for a camel ride! First we introduced our camel with the 4th member of our group: Piggie!
This were 2 nice days of relaxing on the back of a camel or the camel cart and some good detoxing after Delhi! Our hotel was a milion star one with some matrasses on the dessert floor and finding out that sand can be really hard if you have to sleep on it . We also found out that with the sunset you make some awesome shots while jumping and trying out some ninja moves!
The rest of the trip we visited some beatifull Jain temples, old cities and great forts. Combine this with a huge amount of colors, great tasting (and spicy) food and the hectics and weird logics of India and you have a trip that you’re not likely to forget!
For some more photos have a look in the gallery.
As some of you might now I’m quite fond of Scotland! So this November we went up there to enjoy the friendly people, great roads, impressive highlands and off course typical Scottish weather . When you are in Scotland there is one thing you surely cannot miss and that are the sheep. If you’re lucky they are behind a fence but most of the time they just walk on the road!
The highlands were amazing again and at this time of the year the colors and dramatic weather made it even more impressive. The first 2 days we did some really nice hiking, got in the middle of a hail storm on top of a ridge where we got totally soaked!
The rest of the week was a bit more easy and we enjoyed some nice food, great places to stay and some traditional sights and animals….
To see some more photos just follow the link here
Every year my brother and I treat ourselves to a nice weekend in Germany cruizing fast and expensive cars like a Porsche 911 convertible, Mercedes S Class or this year a Mercedes SLK 200 compressor.
It was the perfect car for those nice twisting roads, hairpins, mountain passes and other great roads. The weather was great in July so we had the top down non stop! We drove from germany into Switzerland, stayed overnight at the famous Stelvio pass in Italy. Had a great lunch lunch on a square in front of a Dom and did some nice hiking in the Dolomites.
On the way back we drove through Austria and took some small winding roads over some amazing passes again! The corners just didn’t end and the SLK even with traction control turned off had so much grip that we just flew through every corner.
The last day we just cruized back via the autobahn and some nice country roads and got back in the ICE with 300KM/h back in to Holland. An amazing trip and a destination that de defenitely have to go to again! See some more pics here!
The trip has evolved a bit different then I expected when I started 2,5 weeks ago. Mainly the weather and all the gear that you wear on a bike made an impact. Unfortunately I skipped the lofoten islands due to rain, rain and some more rain . After a few very nice sunny days the prediction was more than 1 week of rain, and after one day of rain on the bike I knew that wasn’t gonna be fun!
So I decided to cross in to sweden and go more to the east and maybe visit Kirkenes in the most north eastern tip of Norway just above Finland and next to Russia. The weather was pretty good and after passing a snowy pass I got in Sweden.
Also the sunset that night was pretty good and I was really happy I decided to go camping! When I checked the weather I saw that I had 1,5 days to go up before the temperatures would really drop and the rain and ‘Snow’ would start.
The trip up north was a really nice one, the sun broke through the clouds now and then and there were some nice gravel roads I had to take. Only problem was that my tire was wearing out quite quickly and there was little profile left. But luckily no flat tires and I reached the town of Kirkenes by night and had a huge pizza .
I decided to go camping again and found a nice spot near a bay even more north past the 70 degrees circle. Unfortunately it was a lot colder that night and also the wind had a lot of fun with my tent. So when I woke up around 5:30 half my tent was coming down on me now and then and I was pretty cold. So a great incentive for a nice and early start since the sun didn’t set anyway no problem waiting for it to get light (so useless that I brought my flashlight…). The start of the day was fairly cold and when the rain changed into Snow I decided to skip the last even more northern detour of 250km and went down south back into Finland. The weather cleared up and I enjoyed the beatifull nature!
After a good night stay in Overkalix-Sweden I made it to Umea in Sweden on the last bit of rubber on my tire and in an amazing 15minutes they changed my rear tire for a new one. With my bike cornering like a racing bike again I went full power to Hoga Kusten where I decided to check out a national park. After a hike at night towards a cabin I first spotted 4 beavers in a lake and after listening to them chewing on trees and smashing their tails on the water I went on. A nice waterfull and finally after an hour I reached a cabin at possibly the most beautifull spot on earth.
Today I visited the Orsa Bear park in the middle of Sweden. This was good fun again and I really enjoyed all the bears, wolverines, tigers and wolves. I’m slowly headding back home again and just uploaded a bunch of my photo’s so feel free to take a look here.
I’m really starting to experience Norway now! Since it late may there is still plenty of snow in the mountains and even some lakes are still full of ice! On one of the mountain passes I had snow on 2 sides up to 5m high, how do they ever go through there with a snow plow???
I changed from camping to taking some nice Hytte since the weather changed from sunny to rather rainy. I have to say they are quite nice, the first day I even had an entire wooden house for myself with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and my own livingroom with fire place for only 400 kroner. Currently I’m next to a nice fjord in a nice small but warm and dry hytte or cabin…
After visiting a nice icefield yesterday I decided to head into Alesund today since the weather forecast was mostly rain for all day. The day started with the predicted rain which I can now say from experience isn’t the most fun to drive in when your on a bike 
. But luckily I have plenty of waterproof gear to keep myself dry and the heated grips on my bike are the best buy since I’ve gotten the bike. With them on the ‘fry your hands’ setting for 5 minutes and no more cold hand!
At the moment the sky is clearing up again and the next days should be sunny and a bit warmer again so I’m realy looking forward to that and to enjoying the fjords and Trondheim a bit more!
Now that I have my new bike it was time to take it out for a proper drive! In between switching positions/jobs at work I was able to take 1 month off in wich I’m taking my bike and driving it past the article circle again towards the lofoten Islands and more north.
After packing the bike I went up to Denmark, the drive was really good and the German ‘Autobahn’ flied by and no trouble keeping up with the traffic like, unlike the Land Rover . Also the fuel economy is a lot better than my 2000kg LR, but then again you would hope this is the case with a bike of around 250kg…..
After finding a very nice camping site in Denmark I headed of to Hirthals in the north to catch the boat to Narvik in Norway. The crossing went rather quick and before I new it I was in Norway. I got of the boat and after 10min already found the roads I was hoping for! Small winding roads with hills on both sides and a nice sun that broke through the clouds now and then. At night I found a perfect camping spot again and I setup the tent and did some easy cooking.
Today I drove a bit more to the north again with a lot of nice winding roads and also saw quite some snow again! After trying some off roading and finding quite a few dead end roads I found out that turning the bike on a small dirt road is not the easiest thing to do . Also don’t try to drive it of a small slope and then back up again if it’s to steep. Then you’ll end up jumping of your bike once you lose your balance and you and the bike fall of the slope . Luckily it wasn’t to steep but and me and the bike weren’t damaged but it still took me 30 min to get it back on 2 wheels and up the slope again! Now I’m chilling in my nice cabin with a even beter view over the mountains and at 11PM it’s still kind of light outside. I can’t wait to cross the artic circle for some 24h midnight sun!
Last christmas I decided to give myself (Always take good care of yourself ) a nice new toy in the form of a KTM 990 Adventure.
My previous bike was also a KTM Adventure but only 620 CC. The new one has 999 CC which results in 100 bhp in stead of 55 bhp on the old one. Luckily the new one has some nice Brembo brakes with ABS and 6 gears for some easy cruizing.
This summer it will be though to choose between this bike which can be packed with all my travel gear or my trusty Land Rover. I think the solution will be to do both !
Blijkbaar ben ik niet de enige die het leuk vind om met zijn Land Rover in de blubber te spelen. Een collega belde mij op of ik meeging naar een meeting met andere Land Rovers van de prikpagina. Ja ik zeg prima tijdsverdrijf voor op de zondag middag dus in de Laro gesprongen en die kant op gereden.
Zoals je aan de foto kan zien stonden we na 5 minuten natuurlijk al muur vast in de eerste modderput . Tja mijn plan om buiten de sporen te blijven van mijn voorganger (die ook muurvast stond) mislukten natuurlijk compleet zodra ik het gas erop zette om de bult op te komen. Ik gleed netjes zo de sporen in en met mijn 110″ wielbasis stond gelijk vast.
Kijk de perfecte mogelijkheid om de lier van Jesse uit te proberen. Met wat geblibber en geglij en het ommaaien van wat onnodig riet stond ik weer terug aan het begin. Toch maar even de kans geven aan Jesse om het voor te doen mijn zijn mooi verhoogde 110 die met al zijn extra’s wel ruim 2300kg weegt dus. Het begin was goed en de voorwielen bleven uit de oude sporen, helaas doordat hij de bocht om moest kwamen zijn achterwielen wel net in de sporen terecht en stond ook hij daarna mooi vast .
Mijn 2e poging ging gelukkig wel in 1x goed toen ik de andere kant gebruikt en nog even wat riet plat reed . Daarna nog lekker door het water gecrosst en wat zand heuvels gepakt. Al met een een zeer geslaagde middag!
My first impressions of Ethiopia were different from my expectations. I was thinking of Africa so a lot of sand and a very dry and hot climate. As I already previously mentioned Ethiopia has many mountains and the capital Addis Ababa is 2300m above sea level so the climate is a lot more mild than I expected and now at the start of the rain season there’s also quite some rain. Last Sunday we left for the Afar region more in the east of Ethiopia which was clearly more what I expected of Africa! The temperature only went down to 30 degrees Celsius a night and with the sun during the day high at the sky it got quite hot during the day. The purpose of the visit was to go by one of the primary schools for basic education in a remote area that is sponsored by ING. During a visit a few months ago by Chances for Children they met with Mohammed. The goal is to keep track of his performance over the next few months. For this some of the youth I trained last week that work for Speak Africa came along on the trip. They could practice their photography and journalism skills and will be following up on Mohammed during the coming months.
Part of the millennium goals is that every child has the right of basic education. Unicef in Ethiopia has the Alternative Basic Education program that together with the government trains teachers, builds schools and provides school material. These schools are located in the more remote areas of the country where otherwise children would have to walk for hours to reach a school. The school was in a small town called Alola near Awash in the Afar region. Fatuma an 18 year old girl was one of the teachers and was working at the school for over 2 years now. She explained us how the kids got a three year curriculum where they where taught Amharic (The main language in Ethiopia), English, math and science.
The school in that area really provides the children a chance of a better future but there is still a lot to improve. The main problem in these areas is that because of the drought there is no water near the town. So the parents complain if we don’t even have water how can we send our kids to school? Instead going to school some of the kids have to go out and get water a few hours walking. Also the school building provides a good shelter from the sun the walls only exist of sticks. The wind can just go through the school and the children are very easily distracted by what is happening outside the class or in other rooms.
This could easily be fixed by putting some mud on the walls but the materials for this are not available in this area and there is no budget to get it transported. One or two hundred euro’s would probably be enough to greatly increase the effectiveness of the classes for the 68 students in Alola. One of the other issues faced in these remote areas is that there are only a few girls in school. At first the parents encourage them to go to school but later they realize that the daily tasks of the house are no longer being done so the girls have to stay at home to do these. Seven year old Amina was one of the few girls I met at the school. She had four brothers and two sisters and really enjoyed going to school!
