knut - Help with Norway - Larvik or Kristiansand to Lofoten area - inc Sweden

Udders

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Ok……. so if I get the ferry from Hirtshals over to Norway ( Larvik or Kristiansand ) and want to take a scenic route up to the Lofoten area - but to include Sweden - what route would you recommend? :nenau
I’ll be camping nearly every night and will have 5 weeks to get a good route in and back.

What time of year would you advise to avoid the worst of the mozzies and other tourists? :nenau
 
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Ok……. so if I get the ferry from Hirtshals over to Norway ( Larvik or Kristiansand ) and want to take a scenic route up to the Lofoten area what route would :blastyou recommend? :nenau
I’ll be camping nearly every night and will have 5 weeks to get a good route in and back.

What time of year would you advise to avoid the worst of the mozzies and other tourists? :nenau

Shame you moved this Wapping because it was targeted at a certain member on here who’s name you’ve deleted out of my post. Well done. :blast
The question was about the best / quickest route up north which included Sweden.
 
He'll find it, I'm sure.

Given that Larvik, Kristiansand and the Lofoten area are all in Norway, it's pretty hard to guess why you'd put the request for assistance for your five week holiday into a thread titled 'Sweden only'.

But I've edited the opening post to make it clear that you want to include an excursion into Sweden, too.

:beerjug:
 
Shame you moved this Wapping because it was targeted at a certain member on here who’s name you’ve deleted out of my post. Well done. :blast
The question was about the best / quickest route up north which included Sweden.

Why not just send him a PM then ?
 
He'll find it, I'm sure.

Given that Larvik, Kristiansand and the Lofoten area are all in Norway, it's pretty hard to guess why you'd put the request for assistance for your five week holiday into a thread titled 'Sweden only'.

But I've edited the opening post to make it clear that you want to include an excursion into Sweden, too.

:beerjug:
Because the question was about the route up to the northern area. The bit about roads in Sweden was noted to be more “ boring “ than a route up through Norway. I’ve never been up there so can’t say if my idea of a boring route is the same as a Norwegians. Personally I’d rather get up to the northern area a bit quicker and take more time returning down the mountainous / scenic route. But, saying that, if the Swedish route is mega boring for all ( nothing but trees for day after day ) then a route up the “ less boring “ Norwegian side may be the better option. :nenau
 
Because the question was about the route up to the northern area. The bit about roads in Sweden was noted to be more “ boring “ than a route up through Norway. I’ve never been up there so can’t say if my idea of a boring route is the same as a Norwegians. Personally I’d rather get up to the northern area a bit quicker and take more time returning down the mountainous / scenic route. But, saying that, if the Swedish route is mega boring for all ( nothing but trees for day after day ) then a route up the “ less boring “ Norwegian side may be the better option. :nenau

You now have an entire post and thread devoted exclusivley to your holiday Swedish / Norwegian holiday.

:beerjug:
 
Its been a long time since I lived in Norway but the landscape has not changed much, from Kristiansand you have 3 choices trun left up the coast ish, very scenic ups and downs fjords and ferries, go up the middle bit, again lots of ups and downs no ferries or fjords or turn right up the coast to oslo and then up inland by the time you get to Trondheim they all meet up and its more or less one route north, the boarder between Sweden and Norway in the north is a ridge of mountains, you either travel to the left on the Norge side or right on the Swedish side you can cross over it at a couple of places but you cant really move back and forth, in basic terms Sweden is a nice place to visit but boring to travel through lots of very straight roads with high trees on both sides and not much else to see
(better by the coast of Baltic) Norway is by far the most spectacular scenery, Sweden is cheaper for just about everything (but not cheap).
Remember apart from the scenery the interesting historical bits of both countries are the big bits at the bottom, you aint seeing the whole of both by a long way in 5 weeks.
Me I would go Kristiansand to Stavanger along the coast up to Bergan and across to Trondheim, up as far as Narvik and if you want to see Sweden then across from Narvik to the baltic and down the baltic coast to Stockholm, accorss to Gothenburg, up to oslo and back down to Kristiansand thats a trip right round the outside, you take in coast, and fjords and its pointless going to Norway without looking at fjords, you get the mountain bits and then the flat bits of Sweden whilst taking in most of the big towns with stuff to look at and probably just under 3000 miles which is easy riding in 5 weeks.
Points to note, LOTS of of both countries are still pretty much shut on a Sunday, and from lunchtime on a Saturday, think about that when looking at fuel fill ups etc. Time of year is not relevant you want to be at the most northern most point at the height of summer the far north of Norway and Sweden sometimes don't have much of one and there will still be snow about in June/July/Aug. I know its got a lot milder but we used to start skiing in Oslo in November and finish in April, I wouldn't want to walk in Northern Norway in the snow let alone ride plus there are laws about having studded tyres or snow chains in the winter months but I cant remember exactly.
 
A good scenic route would be the E39 to Trondheim - then the FV17 to Bodo...then ferry to Lofoten. :thumb
 
You now have an entire post and thread devoted exclusivley to your holiday Swedish / Norwegian holiday.

:beerjug:
That’s entirely of your doing not mine. :thumb2

Great reply Bowser. :thumb2 Cheers.
 
Udders, the answer to your question maybe lies in knut's response to the opening post in the other thread.

In it, knut voices an opinion that there are only two ways up (or down) Sweden. The coastal (eastern side) way and the inland (western side) way, which runs near enough parallel to the border with Norway. Of the two, knut says that the western route is the more interesting. That gives you somewhere to start. knut's broader claim is that Sweden is 'boring', I guess in as much as it doesn't have the dramatic mountain scenery and roads that Norway, more easily, offers up. Of course we regularly read that north eastern France is boring. I guess that bods would say the same of the northwest coast of France and inland into Normandy, if it weren't for the D-Day beaches.

I suppose that many might describe Norfolk, much of Suffolk and swathes of Lincolnshire as 'boring' too. But their opinion is arguably biased or they want something different (ie to them more 'exciting') when riding their motorcycle. Yes, Sweden is predominantly flat and very largely empty of anything bar trees and lakes. If you can step away from blindly accepting that sweeping statement, then look instead at what else it might offer that is 'different', then you might enjoy it. The article that prompted the 'Sweden only' thread was lifted out of a German magazine. It's purpose was:

a. For the journalist to tell the readers what he had done. There's lots of words in German and lots of pictures. He purposely stayed within the borders of Sweden, as that is what he wanted to do. I did the same when I lapped the outside of Germany, including all the 'boring bits' along the Baltic coast, then down the 'boring' bit to Berlin and southwards to Passau. Was it all 'boring'? Of course not, it was just different.

b. To hopefully put an idea into the heads of bods on UKGSer that there are other countries outside of Norway to visit, in the hope that it might spark some interest.

Look at the 'Sweden only' post. Get a map or two. Do some surfing around on the internet. Look at the pictures. Get a 'Rough guide to.....' book and create some ideas of your own. In short, use some imagination. You've got all autumn, winter and much of the spring, after all.

:beerjug:
 
Been to the top a few times ,, nearly no “ boring “ roads in Norway .
Sweden seemed to me to be hundreds of miles of trees and lakes with very little feature , wouldn’t revisit .
 
I’ve only done very short visits to Sweden using it as a means of getting somewhere but if my aim was to get north without sight seeing I’d choose Sweden over the E9 in Norway. In fact any direct route north between Oslo and Narvik is pretty dull being a seemingly endless journey between roadworks dodging speed cameras and wobbly boxes in summer.
 


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