Norway - Cape North

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Hurricane Steve

New Member
Location
Hamburg
Hi Community
I'm planning a tour for next year from Oslo to Cape North.
The trip will be camping and bike accordingly loaded!!, and I will return to Oslo by train.

Here my question please, has anybody done this trip who can give a few pointers, and is this possible to do in a Month??

Look forward and Regards
Steve
 

sloe

New Member
Location
Banffshire
Oslo to Cape North is 1430 miles on my atlas. That's 2288 km. As the bird flies. Divide by 30 days that's 76.3km each day. Add on 20% (minimum) because roads are not as the bird flies, that's 91.5km each day. One day in every 4 is a rest day, so that's 122km each day cycling. Norway is very hilly. Very.

But there's very good and quick ferries all around the coast of Norway.

I think you should do what you enjoy, and then mount the ferry.
 
Location
Midlands
Sounds optimistic - I was 3.5weeks Bodo to Satavanger (However I am not a strong rider generally average 90 -120k per day-no days off but some not very long ones - weather can be very variable - heavy rain with sometimes very strong winds about 50% of time - can be quite cold I was there in early september and I had ice on the tent in the mornings and water for coffee was partially frozen when I was passing the glaciers- fast ferries along coast could be used as backup but I have no experience of those - if island hopping expect sometimes significant wait for ferry if you don't get it dead right -be preared for very limited diet in north shops are sometimes a long way apart, fairly limited stock and only open at certain times - I make it sound like hell but it was fantastic

Make sure that you get tunnel guide from tourist board before yo go so that you can suss out which tunnels you are banned from - some of them you don't want to know about anyway - long smoggy noisy - often quite steep uphill on exit side - but generally lit - for one that are not some half decent lights are a good idea - can be a little disorienteering (lost navigator?) in total black with only tunnel wall to follow

Long train ride I dont know which way you go to get to north cape but I went bergen oslo 11hrs, oslo trondheim 12hours and trondheim to bodo 13hrs

Sufficiency of camp sites but not very many bike shops so take enough basics - brake blocks I found wore out very quickly in rain with grit from road - roads away from main drag are often unsurfaced but gravel is hard and easy to cycle on

Enjoy


Good Luck

Its raining in Bergen and a visitor approaches a small boy and asks "does it always rain here" - The boy replies "I don't know I am only 7 years old"
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
sloe said:
Oslo to Cape North is 1430 miles on my atlas. That's 2288 km. As the bird flies.
As the crow flies distance is 1430km (not miles) (Google Earth).
The road distances on the matrix in my Norwegian road atlas are Olso - Trondheim 499km, Trondheim - Honningsvåg 1627km, Honningsvåg - Nordkapp 31km. Total 2157 km, for a direct main road route, though that's probably the only route for a fair part of the way.

On the subject of tunnels, there's now a 6.5km tunnel onto Magerøya (where Nordkapp is) that may well mean that there's no longer a ferry. I'm led to believe that the bottom of it is 200m below sea level.

This lot did it in 31 days from Stavanger, so it is certainly possible.


Edit:
and I will return to Oslo by train.
I think the nearest train to Nordkapp is Narvik (732km from Honningsvåg), likely to take you to Stockholm, or Bodø (1036km from Honningsvåg), that does take you back towards Oslo.
There may be something in Murmansk (500-600km from Honningsvåg), but I doubt that would be possible.

I'd suggest either flying back, or checking out the coastal steamers.
 
In no particular order:

1). The furthest north by train you can start your trip back to Oslo is from Bodø,

http://www.nsb.no/destinations/

although you could fly from Bodø to Oslo.

2). Time-wise I think a month is achievable. Daylight hours are LONG in the summer (24 hours in mid-summer) so a routine of sleeping/cycling wouldn't be too bad; sleep/rest when you're tired, not just because it's getting dark.

3). Have you considered cycling through Finland and Sweden? It may be a longer journey distance-wise, but the terrain isn't as demanding and you will save time.

4) Watch out for the tunnel linking Nordkapp to the mainland. It's steep; and FAST. I fell (got a wobble with bike and trailer) after a few hundred metres and broke my collar bone! :evil:

This site may be of some help/interest to you.

http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/norway.shtml

Personally I would recommend cycling south, but that's just my choice.

Good luck. :biggrin:
 

Teuchter

Über Member
Took me two weeks to do it (Bergen - Nordkapp and back) on a motorbike 2 years ago. Not much under 4000 miles total distance though that included a detour to Lofoten (and a day's whale watching) and returning through Northern parts of Finland and Sweden (dull scenery compared to Norway).

Some of the tunnels wouldn't be much fun on a bicycle I'd imagine. Make sure you've got lights for them even if it is continual daylight in summer!

The scenery however is amazing and the long hours of daylight make long days of riding an option if you're up for it.

The Norwegians refer to the Nordkapp visitor centre as the most expensive rock in Norway - it is pricey to get in for what's there and you'll be sharing the roads leading to it with lots of tour buses and campervans. I found it a bit of an anticlimax but the ride there and back was the experience of a lifetime for me and the journey is the destination, after all!
 
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