North Cape – Lofoten

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For many people, the Nordkappt Tour is one of those “I have to do it once in my life” tours.

I want to share a few tips here, because a tour like this is not really a big challenge. As long as you don’t want to ride on the Trans Euro Trail (TET) or other off-road sections, the entire route can be ridden on asphalt. We met scooter riders and moped riders along the way, as well as single ladies and older men. The tour was no problem for anyone.
No aluminum cases with attached spare canisters are needed, even in the far north there are enough gas stations. A range of 200 km should always be enough.
One of the challenges was all the GS drivers with their blinding additional headlights.
Is there probably a law that oncoming traffic must always be dazzled with these things?
In the end, this leads to people seemingly driving into your lane, as the vehicles usually move a little in the line of sight of the additional headlights. According to the motto: where you look, you drive.
We completed the tour from July 14 to August 2 in 20 days. We started and finished in Hamburg.
We drove approx. 7300 km and spent approx. 2800€ / head.
In retrospect, I would say: a few more days and we could have traveled the southwest with its highlights such as the Predigtstuhl, Kjeragbolten, Lysebotn Stiga. But we can still make up for that.
Also check the vacation periods in , Norwegians like to go on vacation in their own country and it gets more crowded. Afterwards we realized that we had been on the road exactly during this time, but it wasn’t a problem, only the prices are even higher than usual.
We decided to start on a Thursday, the idea behind this was to avoid starting on a weekend during the peak season. And then to be on the same route as hundreds of others at the same time. I have no comparison with a weekend, but it worked for us.

There are basically three main routes heading north.
E6 through Norway (main route, very crowded with motorhomes in high season)
E45 through the middle of Sweden (not very busy)
E4 along the Baltic Sea coast through Sweden (very busy but also partly highway-like)
We had thought about driving to the North Cape as quickly as possible and then driving back along the Norwegian coast via , where many of the spectacular highlights on the route can be found.
To keep all our options open, we traveled via Fehmarn with the Puttgarden – Rødby ferry through Denmark and the Öresund Bridge (note that there are inexpensive combined ferry and bridge tickets). From southern Sweden you can take the E4 or E45 northwards, or if necessary the E6 through Norway.

Based on the weather radar, we initially opted for the Swedish coastal route E45, but later changed to the E4. As both the Baltic coast and the Norwegian coast were all under rain.
We cycled the approx. 2800 km to the North Cape in 6 days in largely dry conditions. There we met some motorcyclists who had had 7 days of continuous rain on the E6. Lucky or unlucky.

Sleep – Eat – Drink – Ferry – Toll

We had prepared ourselves with a tent and camping stove, so of course we had a lot of stuff with us. But we could have left most of it at home.

The top case was reserved for food, the red bag with the camping stuff was superfluous.

We always ended up renting a cabin at the campsites. The cabins vary considerably in terms of facilities and price, we paid between €70 and €240.
The average was probably around 80/90€ per hut and night.
Most of the huts could have accommodated 4 people instead of two, but then it would have been very cramped as they are usually double bunk beds. The weak bubbles at the bottom 😉.
With the NorCamp app you can find the campsites with the number of cabins. You can estimate how good your chances of finding a cabin are.

NorCamp

After installation, download the countries into the app.

The best thing, however, is that the phone numbers can be called up from the app to make a reservation.
I would only ever make a reservation by phone for the next 1-2 nights, plans and weather can change quickly.
For those of you who don’t like making phone calls in English, it is sometimes possible to find something via Booking.com, but this is usually switched off (= not available) in high season.

The Scandinavians all speak perfect English, as movies are usually shown in the original English.
There are usually very nice ladies at the campsite reception, who mostly just want to know how many people are staying and from when to when. It’s usually only one night.
You just have to dare to phone, we always had very nice telephone contact 😉
Of course, you can also just drive there if you’re lucky, but you should be there around 4 pm. (we were told)
If you come across a luxury campsite with the option of breakfast, definitely take it with you, the buffets are famous and not that expensive. I think we were there with 16€/person.
The communal showers often cost money, you can get the coins at reception, don’t forget your credit card 😉
WiFi is usually only available directly at reception, cell phone flat rate works and roaming costs nothing.
(I don’t know if there are low-cost providers where it is different)

Cleaning

You must always clean the cabins yourself.
Wash, sweep and mop everything. Cleaning agents are available.

Minimum equipment (in our experience)

hotplate
Double bunk bed (mattress – blanket – pillow all without covers, and also rather old)
table
chairs
refrigerator
heater
Broom
(Shower, toilet, kitchen with pots and pans in the common house)

Maximum equipment

Own kitchen fully equipped with dishes, pots…
tea towel
cleaning products
single beds
Comforter cover
Several rooms
TV
Toilet
Shower room
Breakfast bar

What you should have with you

GPS (offline maps: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway)
Personal hygiene articles
Bathing slippers
Towel
cutlery
Drinking cup
plate
Tea towel (usually missing)
Bed sheet (large sheet, the mattresses usually have an old fitted sheet on them)
Sleeping bag (no winter sleeping bag, heating always available in case of doubt)
Inflatable pillow (luxury)
Garbage bags (always needed)
Mosquito repellent (we only needed it once)

Recommendation

Camping cooking set The condition of the pots and pans on site is not always as you would like it to be
Can opener from Ikea (!) approx. 2€
(The cans in Scandinavia are extremely thin-walled, my old opener from home didn’t work here)

Rinse aid + sponge
Rei in the tube
Folding bowl (laundry – washing dishes)
clothesline
Battery fan (dries your laundry – boots – gloves faster)
Earplugs (in case someone snores)
Sleeping goggles (it doesn’t get dark at night, the curtains are just screens)
Woolly hat (there can be a cool breeze at the North Cape)
Something long-sleeved (mosquitoes and cold)

Can stay at home

Socket adapters
Cash in any currency
tent
camping mat
Camping stool
Camping table
Camping stove (hotplates – there’s always a communal kitchen)
Flashlight (in midsummer it is light all night)

Food

brought along:
Tea bags & coffee pods
Oil, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup
Salt, pepper, mixed herbs
Everything else from the local supermarkets.
Beer approx. 3€ / 0.5 liter can, with luck there were sometimes slightly larger cans😊

Some supermarkets are also open on Sundays, but on our route we had the impression that most of them were also open on Sundays.

Everyone gets something like this conjured up on the table.

For me, the polar bread with tube cheese was a small discovery, available in every supermarket.
Always welcome as a snack.

Traffic

As a rule, the limit is 80km/h, we only saw a few speed cameras. These were all announced with signs. The prices of the race control are famous, we kept very strictly to the limits. The locals all drive very defensively and cautiously. It’s best to let them roll, as you won’t be overtaken and rarely overtake yourself. Cruise control is worth its weight in gold.
At least the driver in front should have one. The tires should last at least 7500 km, after that they are unfortunately a bit square.
At the weekend we had the impression that many people here have a special hobby: American classic cars

Toll

We motorcyclists don’t need to worry about that, it’s free for us in these countries. There are probably a few private roads where we have to pay.

Ferries

You should register on FerryPay. The crew will come by with their cell phone and scan your license plate, and the amount will be debited later. The nice thing is that you can limit the validity period to your journey.
Pre-booking ferries is only necessary for the Lofoten Islands. Especially the Moskenes – Bodo route.
If fully booked, go very early, about 30% of the seats are only allocated on site,
There are extra queues for this (always queue correctly at the back).
Motorcyclists also join the queue of cars, it is not possible to drive to the front. If it gets tight, you will be taken out of the queue by the staff and squeezed into the corners. Only on the ferry itself can you optimize a little and not stand behind 10 motorhomes if there is a free lane next to it.

Money

Credit cards are used everywhere, cash is not required. We stayed in a private hut once, where we quickly drove to the nearest ATM (cash machine).

Refuel

Payment is made directly by card at the pumps. There are special features here.
Approximately €150 will always be blocked on your credit card, but you will only be credited with €150 after a few days, which can quickly amount to a few hundred euros if you fill up frequently.
If there is a store, the pumps at the entrance are designed for you to pay in the store. There is a notice above the pumps. No security amount is blocked here, but especially in the morning and at lunchtime there are often queues, many locals buy their snacks there (sandwiches and burgers). As a result, payment can sometimes take a long time.

Some filling stations are very small.

North Cape

There is little infrastructure up here. The number of huts available is manageable and the prices are reasonable.

But you can also save a few euros.
Admission to the North Cape is €0. If you only want to park, just say Parking Only at the ticket office and you’ll get a free parking ticket.

Disadvantage: you can’t enter the building with the museum, restaurant and souvenir shop
So if you really want to buy a sticker, you have to pay the 30€ entrance fee.

If you really want to get a photo of your bike in front of the sphere, you should try your luck after 2 a.m., until then there will probably be employees on site.
Or arrive with a TV crew 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha8Sb3pHBJc

The weather can change quickly. We had sun in the afternoon and fog in the evening.

Lofoten

The Lofoten Islands are definitely one of the highlights of such a tour.
However, the pictures that appear on YouTube / Instagram are only ever taken in three or four places. It can get a bit crowded there when all the “influencers” are taking their photos:
He photographs you from behind while you look dreamily into the distance. Most people will know what I mean.
We didn’t have a drone with us, the photo was taken by a work colleague who was there a few days later.

We had originally planned to take the ferry Moskenes – Bodo (fully booked but standby but possible) back across, but as we had rain and fog on the day of arrival we decided at short notice to travel part of the Lofoten in the opposite direction and then took the ferry Svolvær – Skutvik further north back to the mainland. The ferry could be booked online the evening before.

Here are a few POIs