thinking about heading to scandinavia for a 6 week tour
hopefully a bit of off road, wild camping, that kind of thing
anyone got any tips? where to go, good routes etc
cheers
Jim

/pulls up a chair

I did this, albeit on motorbike as part of circle around the continent- i hope you’ve been saving your pennies as Norway is *not* cheap.

When I went, the Newcastle – Stavanger ferry was still running, not sure if it still is?

One things for sure, Norway is a stunning country.

Camping there is about the only thing that is reasonably priced, it worked out about £10 per night if I remember? Most of the sites are virtually empty, so no need to book- just rock up. The sanctioned sites were quite sparse however, although this wasn’t too much of a problem being on a bike with an engine, might be a different story with pedals…

Not quite Norway but I remember reading in a motorbike magazine some years back that Lulea at the top of the Baltic in Sweden can be a bit of a sun-trap and gets surprisingly warm in the right weather conditions. There was mention of 24 hour daylight and naked Scandinavians. From there you’d have a trip over the mountains to the fjord-land that is Norway.

try look up the Norwegian section of the North Sea Cycle route for starts.
You could take the Harwich Esbjerg ferry, then bike up the west coast of Denmark to Frederikshavn, then take ferry to Norway from there.

When in Norway you can then do a loop to return to same Ferry, and if you dont fancy biking down Denmark again, its fairly easy to get the bike on train back to Esbjerg.

Did the artic circle on motor bikes a few years ago. No sailings from newcastle to stavanger any more. As said its very expensive and hilly and you think it rains here but the people are very friendly and the place is stunning.

I live in Sweden and Norway is much more expensive. Not any mountains until you get up north in Sweden though. Flew back to Newcastle from Stavanger on Sunday and met someone that was going to bike up the coast of Norway. Looked beautiful from the plane. Central and northern Sweden does get hot in the summer. Back to cold old blighty now for the summer though 🙁

I’ve been to Norway twice – and loved it.

You can glean some route ideas here:
http://www.crispinbennett.freedomnames.co.uk/Norway.htm

http://www.crispinbennett.freedomnames.co.uk/Norway2004.htm

Main thing to figure out is the tunnels – some allow bikes and others don’t (the long, busy ones). There’s a guide on the web somewhere.

I can highly recommend riding across the Arland archipelago. The fins/swedes are big into “hut camping” and there’s loads of them over the sea of islands.

Norway is beautiful too. Stayed in a gorgeous place called Utne. Touring be aware that Norway exists at two levels – sea level and stratospheric and the route between the two is a BIG climb! 😉

i have some info on touring routes in the above area that i picked up from tourist info. Will see if i can dig if out

Camp anywhere you like, the Nogs don’t seem to mind as long as your away from buildings. As a previous poster said look out for long tunnels, they do like burrowing through mountains and some dont allow bikes. Traffic is great compared to the UK. Beautiful place and great people. The ferry from Newcastle is well and truely off.

The Lofoten Islands are spectacular. It’s an Archipelego extending from the mainland of Norway a fair way to the North inside the Arctic Circle. Well worth the travel to get there. Visited for climbing/kayaking a few years ago and was blown away by the scenery. Sheer, jagged peaks and incredible beaches. I imagine cycle touring would be a great way to see the area – wouldn’t take 6 weeks though, so you’d be able to take it in as part of a longer route. Not sure what the laws are regarding wild camping, but all the campsites we used were great. As I recall, climate similar to Scotland and midges/ticks abound, but don’t let that put you off 🙂

I’d be spending a heck load of time on Google Earth, even more than I did planning a 2 week car/camp/mtb trip a couple of years ago (and that was A LOT!) Look at loads of the panoramio photos and see what kind of landscape you’re drawn to. I was thinknig it’d be very satisfying to ferry/train/ferry to Kristiansand on the southern tip, ride up through the fjords, jog over to Jotunheim and all the way up to Hammerfest and fly back from there. Or do it the other way round, depending on whether you like the idea of riding into, or away from the “wilderness”. That’d be 3000+ kms, or 100kms per day with 2 rest days a week.

Do lots of of route planning in the directions on g. earth – if you want to be riding in fjordland, the roads will be pretty wiggly and you might not get very far as the crow flies in a day in the saddle. Wherever you go, I’m sure you’ll have an incredible trip and want to go back.

There’s a guy on here called Darrell (spelling?) living in Bergen who might be along in a minute with more. Look him up in the Search if he doesn’t.