That sucks! One of the great things about heading over to Stockholm for work is that I'm now on the Swedish vacation plan which means taking 4 weeks off in the summer! Unlike in the US where it's rare that anyone would even take 2 weeks off at once! I'll be sure to post up on the trip which will be the most 'epic' trip I've ever done on the bike and if you need a place to crash if you come through Stockholm, let me know - I'll have space. BTW, I spent a few years in Lausanne and would LOVE to do a trip around La Suisse!
darrach, you are welcome to stay at my place when you come to switzerland! :) I do not live in Lausanne but close to some very scenic pass road through the alps :) Just give me a pm when you have plans, so I can get the flat ready for visitors and prepare some bbq :)
Look at post http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7121027&postcount=757 there is link to a lowresvideo from Northern Part of Sweden. "Norrland! who has done this had som great pictures from Northern part of Scandinavia, but they seems to be gone in that thread.
If you are in Sweden i the end of july you can´t miss this!! Offroad event of the year in Sweden... Go to : http://www.systran.co.uk/ Choose to translate from swedish to what ever language you want. and enter http://www.adventuredays.se /Joachim
hey everybody reading this post i've found a lot of useful infos and helping people. i'm planning to get to nordkapp in 3 weeks between june-july 2010, solo as usual. my idea is to travel on gravel as much as it's possible. i'll start from turin (italy) on an old 89 transalp.the plan is to cross mountains, wild campings, meet the nordic culture , wild animals included . i do not really knows wich country to cross, but one thing will be sure: lost my self to find some peace from the ordinary life. does anyone has gps track to check on google earth for point some marks, or even good wild spots? thanks u all 16
Hi If you travel in Finland please read http://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?contentid=58490&lan=FI everymans rights in Finland , shortly you can camp free in Finland and also drive on gravel roads if the is no signs .. ps. Best roads are in east part of Finland a lot of forest and hills , west coast is more flat and fields.. Finland is the heaven of the gravel roads and forest roads . br. Kastelnya noga
thank a lot man, i'll definitely wanto to come along the finland/russian border, and travel along the finlad rallyes roads. 16
It's not exactly an afternoon's ride for me either, but you can always ask the guys doing it: http://www.afgruppen.com/en/Environ...ne-vraket-av-den-russiske-krysseren-Murmansk/
Although the Hurtiguren is a beautiful boat ride, Kystriksveien (Rv 17) is a very, very, very nice road not to be missed. I find the ferries along the coast to be a nice break while still moving. Actually I would recommend dropping Trondheim (unless you have a thing for big old cathedrals), the road between Oslo and Trondheim is not very exciting. I would drive to the western part of Norway which has a great number of fun roads and nice scenery and, if you wish, take the Hurtigruten from any city on the west coast (Bergen, Ålesund, Molde etc) to Brønnøysund or Sandnessjøen. From there follow Kystriksveien, Rv 17, to Bodø and take the ferry to Lofoten. Drive through Lofoten and Vesterålen and stay the night in Nyksund. This is as far North I have been. For some tips on great roads in the western part of Norway go to http://mc.orgabeke.com. It is in Norwegian but Google Translate works pretty well. GB
Looks like I come back to that offer this year I cannot go to Cape North but southern Sweden and southern Norway is possible maybe :) I have like 2500-3000km from Malmö as my time is limited, but much better than nothing would I say :)
Lots of good info in this thread. Any1 got more highlights to visit like motobear posted on page1. Cos Im planning a 10K ride but i need some main goals on the way just riding gets boring to. Btw my plan now is to go solo but would be fun to do parts on the journey with other people. Im leaving end of July begin August.
I'm planning to be in Kegums, Latvia on 08 August for the Latvian Sidecar Motocross GP before heading up through Finland and down through Norway and Sweden to be in Stockholm for the end of August (dates not yet confirmed). May or may not get to Nordkapp depending on when I have to be in Stockholm. Would be good to meet up for a few miles if it fits.
Im planning more or less the same ass what you have in mind also going to Stockholm to visit some friends I have not yet decided what way im going to do it though, up trough Norway down to Finland or other way around like your planning.
In Finland I recommend sticking close to the eastern border, lots of dirt/gravel roads there. Even some of the "bigger" roads are partially dirt/gravel. May be a bit difficult to navigate on the smaller dirt roads without a map in small enough scale (1:200 000). Avoid roads with one or two numbers. The best ones are four number ones or don't have a number at all (private roads). Lots of stuff for military history buffs, at least check out the Raate Road. There's a museum, monuments and the road itself is a dirt road. Hattuvaara, the easternmost village in the EU. Taistelijan talo has a small museum about the fighting around there, accomodation, restaurant etc, again more war monuments in the area etc All roads in Finland are legal to ride on unless they are closed with a gate, chain or such. Sometimes the small dirt roads go through farmyards etc so exercise caution. Here's a brochure about "everyman's rights" in Finland (camping etc).
Site in Swedish but try translate.google.com http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhem.passagen.se%2Felving.solli%2Fatlantergrus.htm&sl=sv&tl=en I have been experimenting with maps.google.com and google earth, change to sattelite view, zoom in to max possible (some regions cannot) and you can often see which routes are gravel and tracks, plot a course based on that. Sattelite imagery has been blurry lately, don´t know if they update and they are worse because of recent volcano ash. This week has not been able to zoom in to see road surface. Another tip is that in Norway and Sweden (perhaps Finland) roads become smaller the more numbers they have. 3 number roads are often more fun to ride. Can be slab, gravel, combination of etc. Do not expect high quality surface, but often better quality views :). Many turn into gravel in many parts outside city centers. You can cross all our coutries only on 3 number roads if you have the time.