Two Stroke Films present Rogue Crew’s Manchester to Sweden – Part 1 | PREMIERE

It’s been a while since we showed one of Paul Woodsy’s Two Stroke Films video creations on ScooterLab, but that’s because he lost all the footage from last year’s Belgian Euro Lambretta. 

He’s chosen to show the premiere for part one of his latest Euro jaunt to SLUK readers and some highlights from his recent ride to Sweden and Norway. Here’s what he had to say…

Mamma Mia, here we go again.

I remember the night, in Adria when it was announced that Poland was to be the location for the next Euro. The next thing I remember was looking at the map and going, “No way Jose.” Of course, I didn’t want a FOMO, so I went along and had a jolly nice time. We all did. Two weeks of it. In 2022, Belgium was ace, we made a good fist of an extended trip. However, Peterborough (or as it turned out – Lincoln) for us lot, as a Euro that was never going to be enough. So we hatched a plan.

Via some connections (that I can take no credit for being part of), we – the usual Manchester Lyons Euro crew, got asked if we would like to tag along to a trip some rather fine chaps had planned. A trip to Denmark and Sweden. I love Sweden and have had a couple of excellent trips there. So how could we resist?

The placing of this image of Seamus is coincidental and has nothing to do with the “Well-worn” comment below…

The plan…

Eight of us, well-travelled and well-worn ‘should know betters’ headed off to the ‘Scandi Raid’ to Ängleholme. Various other groups were en route and we’d be meeting others in Germany before heading en-mass to Denmark. After a night of camping there, we would cross ‘The Bridge.’ Yeah, that one from TV. All 25 km of it.

We would be met and entertained by fellow scooterists from Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Stay a few days and then come home. Pretty standard fare for a ‘European’ Euro.

The Horror of Hamburg

So many bridges, so many tunnels and lots and lots of ferries. Nothing will ever get close to the ‘Horror of Hamburg’, where a small group of us fought the manic rush hour traffic over bridges, through road works, and under long, long tunnels to get through the city on the main motorways. My scooter, still not running right was fouling plugs and dying frequently. It failed about 400 meters after we exited the motorway!

Note to self on running an open-mouth carb on a hairy Casa engine. Change the needle more than once every five years. Mine wore all the clip gaps away! Thank goodness Seamus Murphy had a spare needle and the internet for the needle charts. I made it to Copenhagen and Peter’s Garage where a correct replacement awaited me.

Two Stroke Films

How do you splice nearly 400 video clips shot over a ten-day trip into a short movie? You can’t, so for the first time, after some suggestions from my fellow travellers, I’ve cut this one up into two parts. Here is Part one. Manchester to Copenhagen. That ended up being the only night we camped, which was good as it was brass monkeys overnight. I had to sleep in my clothes!

Rinse and repeat?

These trips are rewarding, epic fun, and full of memories, but they are hard work. Loading up every morning, hours on the roads, the inevitable breakdowns, pit stops, piss stops, near misses and relief when you arrive at the end of the day. Into the room, unpack, shower, get a pint, then another, then recount the day, talk about tomorrow, eat something and sleep. Every day, rinse and repeat.

Off we trotted to Sweden, giddy with excitement as we left. Not a single drop of rain was had for the entire trip. In fact, the weather was perfect.

Blind navigation

This year was the first trip where I had a satnav. It makes a huge difference having the route in front of you. Well, it would if I could read the damn thing. I wear glasses for driving so I can’t really see the map on the screen!

Host nation

Our hosts in Germany, Denmark and Sweden were superb. Helping us get back on the road, bringing spares (saved my trip) and taking us on a wonderful ride out around Sweden, via a custom/vintage car rally and a lunch stop for traditional Swedish meatballs. Better than Ikea as we hoped.

Epic movie

Ferries, bridges, The Horror of Hamburg. This trip had it all. So much in fact, the run time on the film is currently 30 minutes! Part two will follow soon, of course via this fine ScooterLab website. And then, a release of the complete film in one file.

Words, photos and video: Woodsy