I've been back home for a couple of months now, and the memories are beginning to fade and the reality of life is pressing in.

I left my job not long before setting off on this trip and returned to my former freelancing life, which in itself was quite a change. And trying to settle down to work again after three weeks on the road, answerable to no one, has been a challenge. I travelled on my own for the whole time, suiting myself as to what I did, where I went. Having to be sociable again takes some readjusting. Which is surprising for such a short time away. I wonder how people who travel for months, or even years, cope when they return home.

Thinking back on the trip, there are a lot of things that I could have done differently.

If I were to do such a trip again, I hope I would take more time about it, not press on relentlessly day after day. I really regret that I didn't stop off for a few days (or even one or two) along the way to enjoy what the country had to offer. I had great plans when I set out to fish my way up through Finland and back down through Norway, but in the end I only fished once in Finland (when staying with friends there) and only a couple of times in Norway. I saw numerous places that I would have loved to fish, particularly in the Arctic region of Norway and along the coast, but I rushed on past, obsessed with 'getting in the miles' and reaching my next destination. Part of the problem in Finland was a change in the regulations about where you could get a fishing permit. I was originally told that you could pick them up in fishing-tackle shops, hotels, petrol stations -- basically just about anywhere. But when I asked at a fishing-tackle shop in northern Finland, I was told that the regulations had changed recently, and the only place you could get a permit was in the offices of the Forestry Department. Which was closed on the Saturday when I was hoping to go fishing, so I just kept on riding. Part of the problem was that I had packed my fishing tackle together with my camping kit in a waterproof roll-top bag which was strapped to the pillion seat, which made it rather a palaver getting it out and getting set up. And part of the problem was the weather -- fishing is just not so much fun when it is tipping it down. But, in hind sight, if I had just stopped earlier in the day a few times, and maybe taken a day or two off along the way just to go fishing, it would have been possible.

Another lesson was that using my mobile phone as my only camera was less than ideal, because of the need to take off my gloves to operate it. I think I would have stopped and taken many more photos if I had a compact (waterproof!) camera that could be operated with gloves on -- it was such a pain, especially in the wet, to take off my gloves to take a quick snap and then try to get my wet hands back in my (already soaking) gloves. I suppose the alternative would be gloves with a finger tip that can operate a touch screen.

By the end of my time in Norway, I was getting very run down and my health was beginning to suffer, probably because I didn't take any time out along the way. That, combined with the increasingly poor weather, made me decide to cut short the trip and run for home. Which was a shame, but there it goes. I think I was pretty unlucky with the weather -- I spoke to people who had had nothing but good weather over the same period. I had the Clouded House song in my head much of the time -- "Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you". Unfortunately, I seemed to take the bad weather with me. Ho hum. At least riding in the rain no longer bothers me as much as it once did.

I am glad I made the trip, and that I made it to Nordkapp. I learnt a lot about myself -- primarily, that I am not a roughty-toughty hard-core adventure biker, just a bit of a wannabe. I really enjoyed riding the bike day after day, but I wish I had had the nous to take it slower and soak it all up.

There we go. Maybe next time...