Motorcycle travel in Norway
 

Hi guys I have just joined the site and i am looking for some advice on motorbike travel in Norway - any tips,travel routes or must see places i am booked on the ferry from harwich to esjerb we will be traveling from ireland our travel dates are 29th june -13th July2013

1) are their plenty of campsites around- should we book in advance?
2) will we have enough time to make it up to the north cape
3) we were hoping to travel to the loften islands I assume their are campsites there
4) anybody know the price of these log cabins pp
5) is visa accepted most places
6) I hear that speeding is frowned upon

Hi
Look at this link below. I am planning almost the same. You will get plenty of tips form this one.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...way-trip-63241

1) Never camp myself but there are camp sites. What you might not know is that you (unlike many ither countries) can camp more or less anywhere
2) Possible to do Oslo-Nordkapp-Oslo in less than 10 days. But at least 2 weeks if you want to do the good roads. Alternatively do coastal road up and main roads back.
3) Sure there are
4) Depends I guess but Norway isn't cheap
5) Yes (but cash is King...always)
6) Don't speed in 50kph and 60kph or big main roads. On back roads normally not a problem as never any police there anyway (1 car cover enormous areas in rural areas). I always speed and only got 2 tickets, both in 60kph zones. BUT if you get caught, it's expensive, up to 1.000euros. And don't drink and drive or you'll get in jail, lose license for 2 years and get 1 month salary fine.

National Tourist Routes in Norway - www.nasjonaleturistveger.no
Home - | www.suleskarvegen.no DON'T MISS DETOUR TO LYSEBOTN!
Lysefjorden Turistinformasjon
Nordsjøvegen DON'T MISS

Welcome! - Nordkapp.no

Norges beste MC-turer - VG Nett om Bil og trafikk and google translate

Travel to Norway
 

Hi Pingvin.

I am also doing a trip on the same dates and likewise traveling from harwich. I have not booked my ferry yet. but I am going through the same motions as you, MY girlfriend lives in Norway so I have been there a few times but this is my first time on a bike tour. I'm taking three months to do it. I'm spending the first 3 weeks south Norway then hightailing it up north (the south is more populated so the north is where the REAL Norway wilderness is)

But if you are hanging around south then definitely visit stavanger cliffs. lysebotn is a must and is on my route plan, if your in no rush don't bother with ferrys. ride AROUND the fjord. . after all this is why you are going (bike's are no good on water) - of course I do realize ferry's are necessary in some instances, head to sognefjord (again ride around it) Flam (really pretty- mirror lakes) and you MUST head to lofoten. This is the place I am most looking forward to.

You will get more frequent bad weather on the coast. so don't forget to head inland to escape it- My girlfriend is from oppland- really pretty place. open and quiet roads. Which brings me onto my next point- Camping. yes you are allowed to camp anywhere- as long as it is 150Meters away from someones property or not cultivated land. like I said south is more busy. so you may find yourself using campsites (everywhere) usually around 100NOK per person per night, cabins are expansive between 350-700NOK per person. but I am looking to get a place at least once a week to dry off and wash :/

VIsa is everywhere- the norwegians look at you funny if you spend cash- they visa everything (watch you don't get charged by your bank though) I am looking to find a debit card with 0%loading

Don't speed. . .simple (but everytime I have driven over there all the norwegians drive faster than the speed limit.

What bike are you doing it on? I am doing it on a triumph bonneville.

All the best and good luck

Tommy

Any driving related offense will be very expensive, not just speeding, but also running a sign, not using your turn signal, etc. Running a red light is BIG bucks. The police also don't have any discretion, that is, if they catch you they have to issue the penalty.

I'm just back from a trip to Scandinavia which I cut short for many reasons. But first Norway. After two nights in hostels (Meppen, Germany, and Blokhus, Denmark) I caught the ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, Norway, and stayed in the Budget Motel, just yards from the ferry terminal, and chilled out for a couple of days there. Meppen to Blokhus was a bit of a nightmare slog of 524 miles in 12 1/2hrs of non-stop riding, and I arrived there at 9.30pm to find the place all locked up. Not getting my smartphone company to enable International Roaming BEFORE I left UK was a major factor in spoiling the entire trip as I could only use the phone when I was experiemcing free WiFi.

After twelve happy years ownership of a Gentleman's Express (Honda Pan European) I found the buffeting on my R100GS-PD very tiring and each day's ride wore me out. There was also a slight hesitation at low revs making town riding a bit rough, and in rain, this became worse. It rained at some point or other each and every day, sometimes a slight shower, sometimes a deluge.

I headed up to Stavanger riding to Lysevegen on route, a series or hairpin bends leading down a steep hill to a village of the same name at the eastern end of a fjord.

By the time I reached Bergen, and with the bike left in the street 200m away from my budget hotel, I had the map spread out on the floor and realised I still had days and days in the saddle before I reached the northern tip of the Baltic and to begin my southwards route down the Finnish coast. I was tired and dejected, and the very high cost of everything in Norway (Small beer = £10, pizza = £18. hotmeal = £23) really depressed me even though I had known this before I left home. Once I experienced it, it weighed on my mind. I'd sit in a bar at night and drag a small beer out for an hour or so. Credit cards are used all of the time - no need to get currency - and the excellent Cardinal Pub in Stavanger even had six credit card 'machines' screwed to the bar counter. Nobody used currency even to just buy a small beer.

I decided I'd had enough, or the constant ache in my back had, so changed my plans and headed east to Oslo, then Malmo, then Copenhagen, then Aachen, then Calais/Dover, then home.

Norway has a blanket speed limit of 55mph which everybody STRICTLY adheres to - the fines being swingeing, although I saw no signs at all of police outside the towns. Speed cameras are painted in grey. It's just that with everybody else complying with the law, I'd have felt a bit of a houlighan doing an overtake. Some days I saw maybe only two or three overtakes all day long.

I gave up the idea of hostelling as searching and booking rooms on my bloody smartphone was difficult. I wish I'd taken an iPad.

So what of Norway? Decent twisty roads where 55mph is about the 'right' speed anyway, and sometimes 40mph is enough. More tunnels than you can imagine, some as long as 15 miles long, but many 3 or 4 miles. Some poorly lit. Some with roundabouts halfway along their lengths, with a further tunnel shooting off to the right. Pine forests. I've seen enough pine forests to last me a lifetime.

Regrets? Well I either need a bigger screen or another bike (a TransAlp?) or perhaps at 67 I should take up something less gruelling like golf? Malmo and Copenhagen were great and the highlights of the trip. 2,700 miles in ten riding days was too much for me on an unfaired bike.

I spent 11 days in Norway at the start of June, in this time I managed to get from Kristiansand to Vardo on the arctic sea, via Innviksfjord, Gerigenfjord, Trollstigen, rode the Helgelandskysten route & over to Lofoton islands, missed Nordkapp due to the expense, over to Vardo carried on to the end of the Northern Lights route, then back tracked & dropped in to Finland.
I found that 220 miles a day was the average I managed, roads are too small & scenic for any more than this for me.
I camped everywhere, usually for about 100 Kr, £10, including WiFi at many places, use of the kitchen & hot shower. I mostly ate camping food that I took with me to keep the costs down & bought food & beer from supermarkets. I free camped for 2 nights, took lots of ferries including one to Lofoton. Biggest expense was fuel & crossing from Denmark, managed to keep to budget of £60 a day.
Norway is very expensive & it takes place long time to get anywhere but if you allow 16 days & are frugal with dining out & drinking in bars its doable on a budget, you would really need 3 weeks to do the country justice.
Apologies to all the Norwegians for misspelling of place names, I am writing this from memory.
It is a beautiful country, I lost count of the number of jaw dropping vistas I saw!

Andy, You are of course right, it CAN be done but at my (great) age, I need the comfort of a hotel bed and at least one beer in the evening. The main problem was the wind buffeting on my R100GS-PD which simply wore me out. Perhaps I'll return one day when I've ironed out the niggling problems as the Scandinavians are delightful, friendly folk. But no more dimly lit tunnels with a worrying weave problem on the bike. :scooter: