Scandinavia over the top

bladerunner

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I’d be grateful for your experience/advice

Planning a trip (2022 ish)
Harwich hoek of Holland
Up Denmark
Across big bridge
To Stockholm
Ferry to Helsinki
Up and over Finland and Sweden
Then across middle to west coast Norway
Back down Denmark and home.


Have ridden across to Stockholm before and up to Arctic circle Norway
Sadly doesn’t seem to be ferry UK to Norway or Esjberg anymore.

Alternative would be long overland to Tallin then ferry to Helsinki.


If anyone has done it, are the roads around Gulf of Bothnia worthy of the expense and hassle?
 
Be careful with ferries between Sweden and Finland. There is an island in the middle which is tax free.
The ferries stop there so the locals can get cheap booze, so the second half of the journey their all pissed. :beerjug:
You could go through Turku (Abo) which is the old Finnish capital before it moved to Helsinki
 
We got a ferry back from Helsinki to Germany a few years back on the way back from nordkapp. 3 of us in a cabin worked out quite reasonable. It was about 30 hours or so but saved an aweful lot of riding from Estonia back home. I'll check what portwe went to in a minute. It might have been Lubeck.
It was indeed Lubeck.
You could travel on that to Helsinki, then do your tour round to Norway and get A ferry back from Norway to Denmark.
 
We have a Nordkapp trip planned for September (hopefully) ... we are saving a bit of time (some of the team are still working and annual leave is in short supply) so hopping from Trevemunde North Germany to Helsinki ... 24hrs or a bit more but with 6 of us that works out at only £125 each one way. Not bad I thought for a 3 berth cabin and a day off ! Hope it works out for you.:)
 
... 24hrs or a bit more but with 6 of us that works out at only £125 each one way. Not bad I thought for a 3 berth cabin and a day off ! Hope it works out for you.:)

You sharing or hot bunking? :)
 
LOL .. :):) Didn't mention TWO yes TWO cabins for the 6 of us. I just hope Norway gets its act together and we can get there and get on with it !
 
With a third Covid wave sweeping Europe it's looking unlikely, my own Scandi trip is likely to get put back to 2022, annoying as we had booked and paid for our ferry a year ago for an August trip.
 
We have a Nordkapp trip planned for September (hopefully) ... we are saving a bit of time (some of the team are still working and annual leave is in short supply) so hopping from Trevemunde North Germany to Helsinki ... 24hrs or a bit more but with 6 of us that works out at only £125 each one way. Not bad I thought for a 3 berth cabin and a day off ! Hope it works out for you.:)
You could probably check with others , ,, but I would say Sept is getting late in the year for am M/c trip to the “Kapp”
 
You could probably check with others , ,, but I would say Sept is getting late in the year for am M/c trip to the “Kapp”

As with many similar intentions, it depends on the timing and luck. The first week in September might be very different from the last.
 
I remember Steptoe proposed that we do an Easter ‘Dash’ to Nordkap. Had we gone, I told Neil that we could have maybe broken two records:

1. Had it been colder than -18, would have been one.

2. Had it been warmer (it’s a relative term) than -8, would have been the other.

We went to Morocco instead.
 
One advantage of going out of season is that you might be able to secure decent cabin accommodation.

In Sweden, many camp sites have cabins that are like big garden sheds, but with everything you need for 2 people. I discovered them on a really wet trip through Sweden and they are an absolute godsend if you're wet at the end of a day and putting up a tent is too depressing to contemplate!

I don't know whether other Scandinavian countries have them, but it's likely - someone else will no doubt know.

So they're great, they're cheap, but in peak season they're in massive demand. In Sept, you may find you can just turn up and book one.
 
I’ve not gone across the top of The Gulf of Bothnia but I’ve ridden to Helsinki and if you’ve got the time it’s a much more interesting ride going via Tallinn than cutting across Sweden.

If time is tight then I found the fastest way to do it is Hook of Holland to Frederikshavn on day one, catch the morning ferry over to Gothenburg then across to Stockholm and onto the evening ferry and you’re in Helsinki by 11am.

It’s not an expensive way to go if you catch the freight ferry from Kapellskar rather than using the normal passenger ferry out of Stockholm and it goes later giving you plenty of time to get there and you don’t have to mess about in Stockholm. Free food on that ferry as well 👍

Edit: if you don’t actually want to go to Helsinki the freight route is good because it drops you at about 7am in Naantali and you’re immediately onto the road going north.
 
One advantage of going out of season is that you might be able to secure decent cabin accommodation.

In Sweden, many camp sites have cabins that are like big garden sheds, but with everything you need for 2 people. I discovered them on a really wet trip through Sweden and they are an absolute godsend if you're wet at the end of a day and putting up a tent is too depressing to contemplate!

I don't know whether other Scandinavian countries have them, but it's likely - someone else will no doubt know.

So they're great, they're cheap, but in peak season they're in massive demand. In Sept, you may find you can just turn up and book one.

Norway too.
 
We did the Kapp in September in 2017 - weather was fine if a little windy at Nordkapp, but steadily deteriorated the further south we rode.
 
One advantage of going out of season is that you might be able to secure decent cabin accommodation.

In Sweden, many camp sites have cabins that are like big garden sheds, but with everything you need for 2 people. I discovered them on a really wet trip through Sweden and they are an absolute godsend if you're wet at the end of a day and putting up a tent is too depressing to contemplate!

I don't know whether other Scandinavian countries have them, but it's likely - someone else will no doubt know.

So they're great, they're cheap, but in peak season they're in massive demand. In Sept, you may find you can just turn up and book one.

You'll find them in Denmark too... Stay away from July, then it shouldn't be difficult to find one, unless pre-booked
 


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