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....

Ah, okay. :) I was definitely doing more than that on those roads... started in Rovaniemi around 8am, got through half of Finland and all of Sweden sideways, was at the Polar Park north of Narvik by ~2pm. (Including time change.) Was a boring ride until the mountains around Riksgrensen.

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

The plan is totally doable and its not too much riding so you'll actually enjoy it! :) Be sure to camp in Norway if that's your thing, if weather is good its the best!

Skip through Finland, the forests are only interesting for the first hour, nothing exciting apart from dodging reindeers on the road (and the revenge comes at the next petrol station in the form of reindeer burger).

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.

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!!! bier

Thanks for your comments Diablo, especially the recommendation of Havoysund, I'll have a look at including that on the way up through Norway bier.

I've got everything booked now - hyttes, (major) ferries and Le Shuttle.

I am doing it at a flying pace because I'm riding alone and for me it's all about the travel rather than stopping to find the history of various towns etc.

My itinerary in brief is:

1st July: Leave Somerset crossing on Le Shuttle and head to Hirtshals
3rd July: AM Ferry from Hirtshals to Langesund followed by about 150 miles in Norway
4th to 9th July: Make my way to Nordkapp where I'm booked into a hotel for two nights
11th to 13th July: Run down through Finland (probably diverting at the end of the 11th to see the Finnish/Russian border), picking up the overnight ferry from Turku to Stockholm on the 13th.
14th to 16th July: Stockholm to Calais
17th July: Calais to Somerset.

As with you, that is quite a pace at nearly 310 miles/day average and a maximum daily mileage of about 550 but the point of my trip is Norway, where I reduce my mileage to an average of (only) 250 miles/day - still a lot for many people I know but I do like being on the move.

Maybe in my case it was because I was there in late June, which is before most of the tourists, but I've found that the fast ferry from Moskenes had room for any bikes that arrived... I got to the port with everyone already lined up, just rode to the front of the line to join the other bikes, bought a ticket from the lady walking around the staging area, and got on. The way the deck is laid out, there's plenty of room for bikes in a corner that would not fit a truck or car. I can definitely imagine it being sold out for cars, though.

Just a thought, if you want to see the Russian border, it might be more interesting to go in the very far north, the Kirkenes-Murmansk road.

Border control between Russia and Finland
 

In case you are planning on doing a little side trip into Russia, it looks like the two border crossings between Lapland and Russia are closed to all but Finnish or Russian citizens (avoiding refugees). The Kirkeness crossing (Norway) is open, and so are the southern crossings into Finland. Of course, this may change on a daily basis so be sure to check.

I'm hoping to go to Murmansk, then south and back into Finland just north of St. Petersburg. Anyone have any experience with this part of Russia?

Hello
I'm living in Moscow. I went to Murmansk in 2013 as part of my trip to Norway. In that part of Russia there is one good road and plenty of less good roads. The good road called Kola (E105). It connects Murmansk and Petrozavodsk. It's in good condition and possible to ride even on HD. The only issue is petrol stations, you will not meet it very often. I drove Honda XL600 Transalp and fill the tank (from south to north) in Kem' town then in Louhi village then Apatiti town and finally in Murmansk. To south from Petrozavodsk there is no issues with roads and petrol.

There are also few gravel roads along Russia-Finland border which may be funny but I didn't ride there and can't comment its.

Hope it was useful.

Hi Chainflinger. Thank you for the information... it is very useful.

I'm also planning on coming to Moscow at the end of July or beginning of August. I'll probably be entering Russia from Latvia. It would be great to meet up and share a few beers (vodka?). Let me know how to contact you.

touring Norway
 

Hi RachelAnne, and others, they are getting your road ready for you.


I couldn't resist this clip

.Se den spektakul�re br�ytevideoen - NRK M�re og Romsdal - Lokale nyheter, TV og radio

The article doesn't autotranslate, but I think you understand.

Safe travels to all, hope you have weatherluck.

Peter in Oslo