It is starting to look like I may well be undertaking my Nordkapp trip this year after all.

My plan involves setting out from home on the 1st July and hopefully being back home on the 18th July - certainly by the 20th July (as I'll be back at work on the 21st July. Obviously a trip of some 5000 miles in 18 to 20 days is going to involve a high daily mileage rather than pottering around taking in all the culture, but that is what I like to do.

Anyway, from those 18 days I anticipate landing in Langesund, Norway on the 3rd and taking an overnight ferry from either Turku or Helsinki, Finland to leave me the last 3 days to ride home from Stockholm.

That leaves me 12 days to have a relatively slow ride up through Norway on this (initial) route and back down through Finland on this (initial) route.

I don't want to 'race' the Finland leg so I am thinking 4 days to do that, which leaves me 8 days to do the Norway leg (which is what my trip is all about).

That obviously works out as an average of just over 200 miles/day in Norway.

Is this a reasonably achievable target as I've described it and if I were to choose to have a day (or a couple of half days) off, would it still be achievable?

As I say, I know it's covering a lot of ground, but that is what I like to do.

Yes, no problem.

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

In June 2013 i made a similar trip from Dieppe (F) via NL D DK S FIN N up to Nordkapp and down along the atlantic road via Lofotens , 1 week up to Nordkapp and 2 weeks back down to Dieppe 11000 km. it's easily achievable, the only problem is now i want to do 3 journeys of 3 weeks each minimum in Norway Sweden and Finland. Have a nice trip in fantastic Scandinavia.
Roger

Thanks Roger, how about doing the route in reverse if you want similar journeys?

I'm lucky because I work a 4 on, 4 off shift so I can have 2 shifts (8 days) off and it gives me 20 clear days

I've now got some route plans and would appreciate it if somebody could tell me if this is still a viable plan please. I am looking at doing the 1745 miles from Langesund to Nordkapp in 7 day (having arrived at Langesund on the 13:30 ferry from Hirtshals.

Day 1 (3rd July)
Day 2 (4th July)
Day 3 (5th July)
Day 4 (6th July)
Day 5 (7th July)
Day 6 (8th July)
Day 7 (9th July)

I am thinking that if this is viable I could reward myself by 2 nights in a hotel at Nordkapp, instead of the camping and cabins of the rest of my trip

Hi there RachelAnne

I am a norwegian and have done a good bit of riding in Norway. I would say your plan is totally doable. In fact it could be done easily in 3 days. But you will have plenty of time to stop for photos and coffee. And hopefully to admire the scenery too.
I would have considered an alternative route in the northern parts - Route 17 from above Trondheim, ferry from Bodø to Lofoten, ride through the Lofoten islands and the Vesterålen ditto and then a ferry from the northern tip of Vesterålen called Andenes to Gryllefjord on the Senja island. And ride over the Senja island and another ferry to Kvaløya and then to Tromsø - the biggest town on northern Norway.
You will see the nice coast of Helgeland (the lower part of northern Norway, the magnificent islands of Lofoten and Vesterålen, the Senja island (Norways biggest island) and the charmibg town of Tromsø - the biggest in northern Norway.

The E6 route north of Trondheim is rather boring up until maybe around Bjerkvik.

Anyhow - have a nice trip and enjoy!

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

I strongly suggest you go via Hellesylt and take the car ferry from there to Geiranger, which is one of the most beautiful fjord views in Norway... then go north from there via the Eagle's Road. You can also skip Hellesylt, but the southern stretch of Rv63 going down to Geiranger was quite bad - very twisty and potholed (and I was stuck behind a caravan, in the driving rain!).

Then you get to go down the rest of Rv63 via Andalsnes, and do the Trollstigen. You'll be doing it the wrong way around, because the southern approach is very gradual, and you'll be going down the switchback rather than up it, but it's still worth it.

The Atlantic Road is cool, but the tunnel from the end of it to Kristiansund was the only place in Norway where they actually forced me to pay the road toll. :P And Kristiansund itself is a fairly miserable town.

If you go via Bodo, then you can catch a fast ferry from there to the south tip of Lofoten, which would be a tragedy to miss. It depends on your endurance, but this summer I did Narvik via Harstadt, up to Andenes at the north tip, and down to Kabelvag - all in half a day. Harstadt looked absolutely lovely by the way, and Andenes was also a nice place to aim for, with a view of catching the early ferry to Senja island, and ultimately to Tromso.

I wouldn't bother. Honningsvag, the village with the nice hotels closest to Nordkapp, is kind of abysmal. It's an industrial fishing hub. The Nordkapp complex itself is a destination - take your picture next to the globe... the road from Honningsvag to Nordkapp is very, very good, but unless you're going on a puffin safari it's not really worth hanging around. Better to give yourself more time for the ride up through Norway and staying off the E6.

Oh yes, and if you haven't seen the movie "Börning", I strongly suggest it. It will inspire you even more to ride through Norway.

Oh yes, and if anyone is going through Estonia on their way to/from Nordkapp, let me know.

Hi RachelAnne,

Feel free to race the Finland leg. Finland is mostly straight, flat, empty, fast, and boring. When I went to Nordkapp, I had an easy three-day ride up there - Helsinki to Oulu, Oulu to Muonio, Muonio via Alta to Honningsvag. That was without long-distance experience (my first solo season), on a naked bike, with comfy early stops. Going via the eastern route back down took longer, but four days for Finland down the west route on a Pan European? You'll be bored.

Leave yourself more time for Norway, and try to stay off the E6 as much as you can - it's narrow and congested. No point going all that way just to dodge lorries.

i took a trip up north last year (well actually i went everywhere) and i blasted through the northern part of sweden/finland in a few hours, i had my throttle wide open in finland, 1 hour i cut through from Karesuando to the norway border near troms.... it was straight and trees and boring if i recall....
but yeah, sometimes in norway you can get caught up because of the crazy weather, i was stuck riding 20kmh over hardangervidda this summer because of INTENSE fog, like i could see maybe 2m at most.... then there comes all the ferries, it can take considerably longer than you think, or than your satnav says....
but to give an idea, i rode from bergen to kristiansand in around 10 hours, but maps says its 5 hours. (although that was with a leaky fuel tank!)
just send a PM if anyone has any questions, i know the area around bergen quite well, and im free most of the time as i sort of only work for myself.

The problem with pinning the throttle out there is that there can always be reindeer on the road. Reindeer don't give a damn, they will just stand there in the middle of the tarmac over a crest, hanging out.

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.