yeah, in the north its reindeer, in the south and west its sheep, my bike tops out at maybe 120kmh, so its not as fast as it sounds....

Hi RachelAnne,

I made Nordkapp twice (2009 solo and 2013 with my wife). Your plan is similar to mine. If you are interested I can send you (or any other else) my track log file starting in Hamburg (I got there by DB Autozug) and then rode Danmark to Hirtshals and took ferry to Kristiansand.

Best
Paul

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Carpe Diem

That would be great, thank you Paul. I've PM'd my email address

Rachel

No e_mail adress found...

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Carpe Diem

What month are you planning on going? My wife and I are heading from the north of Scotland to the Nordkapp in June. We intend to arrive there for the summer solstice, 0034hrs on the 21st June. We then plan to return through Finland, Estonia, Lativia, Lithuania, Poland Gernamy and the Netherlands!

I'm leaving Somerset on the 1st July, Norway at lunch time on the 3rd July and overnight at Nordkapp on the 9th & 10th July, so I'm a few weeks after you.

I did briefly think about being at Nordkapp for the 21st June but my opposite number at work is having holiday at the start of June so I can't take time off as well. Also, going a few weeks later gives a little more melt time for the snow

im heading that way....would love to know more and maybe do a few miles together.....

Why go to Finland and Ride back through Sweeden. That seems like it'll eat away loads of time you could be spending taking it a little easier in Norway.

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My blog about touring and adv riding

higher speed limits and better roads, here in norway its all winding crazy mountain roads think of it like taking the A1 from london to cambridge vs taking some tiny little backroads.... well norway has ocean, but my analagy still stands....

I'll be heading up to the Nordkapp going the other way starting on the 8th of July, Oslo then up through Sweden and Finland before coming back down through Norway.

I wanted to get the big miles in early on so I would know how much time i had to ride down the Norwegian coast.

I'm shipping my Triumph Explorer to Oslo from Aberdeen as I don't have time to ride round due to a 3-3 offshore, then flying over and meeting it.

I bought my heated gear recently having how warm it's not going to be...

weather update for you from near bergen...
it snowed 2 days ago, its rained non stop since last week, that stupid drizzle that gets you soaked but you cannot see it.....

Hi RachelAnne

Sorry if I repeat what's already been said, but wanted to share some hints and tips from our trip last year

I think I noted someone else recommending hyttes - they are BRILLIANT! Clean, comfortable, often with amenities I was a bit paranoid and pre-booked as they do book out quite quickly through Summer, and some of the receptions close really early. We only had 14 days total for our trip so we were on a high milage schedule, but if you are on less of a mission then you could probably happily wing it.

I'd recommend carrying picnic type food - a lot of places don't have late opening shops cafes or restaurants.

We did Hull-Zeebrugge ferry/ Zeebrugge - Travemunde road/ Travemunde - Helsinki ferry. Finland is the lowlands and the riding is easy, but it's mostly forest so watch out for the suicidal reindeer! We crossed into Norway right in the North, and as soon as we did the great biking roads began!

Cutting to the chase, the best tip I can give you is to travel to Havoysund - either on your way to or from Nordkapp. Nordkapp was an anti-climax for me - a HUGE car park and literally BUSLOADS of tourists! I'm still glad we did it, but we had ridden to Havoysund the day before on a complete whim, and for me that was the definite highlight of the trip Take a trip out to the Arctic View cafe - it's about 5km of dirt road to the end of the island, but it's a good track with good visibility. At the end is a rock car park which is pretty safe, but have a puck handy in case. The food we ate at the cafe was lovely, and I cannot recommend this place enough. That place to me truly felt like the end of the earth, and I am so pleased we stumbled across it

If you're coming back through Norway then the Lofoten islands are recommended, but again book the Bodo ferry in advance as it books up for Summer. Everyone raves about the Trollstigen. I am not such a fan - mountain hairpins and hundreds of coaches wasn't my idea of fun, but the roads around the area of the Trollstigen were the most immense

We encountered a closed road due to a landslide whilst we were there - the detour was about 100 miles long and involved a ferry!! Very pretty though We did a few detours along the way, what we thought might take us an hour was usually more like 4

Finally, we came back from Oslo-Hirtshals ferry, then had to hoof 1000km in 10 hours. It was a slog, but we made our ferry with a couple of minutes to spare Oh - that is a tip too - Zeebrugge ferry port is like nothing I've ever seen before!! You have to ride for about 50kms from the first port before you get to the passenger terminus!! That was a shocker!!

Anyways... if I haven't bored you - some photos of our trip are here HAVE FUN!!!

Hi all. Any one got any updates on the current state of the roads north from Helsinki to Nordkapp. I'm currently in Hungary and weather permitting hope to get to Finland in about a week's time then head straight north. Am I being practical?

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Martin

finally back on the road again


http://awayonmybike.blogspot.com/

Hi Navalarchitect, you are an early runner.

http://www.vegvesen.no/en/Home
Nothing spectacular on the Norwegian Road Authority website.

Low nighttime temps could be a problem for ice on shady areas and northfacing slopes from melting snow, as well as local flooding or avalanches.

Visit North Cape

might be interesting to you and others

Safe travels

Peter, in Oslo

Peter, thanks for the quick reply. Early running is forced by circumstance, have to be in UK by middle June. Based on what you've said I'll take a punt - so Poland here I come today.

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Martin

finally back on the road again


http://awayonmybike.blogspot.com/