North Cape 2017 - tips and guidance very welcome!

[The_Abyss]

Initial route: https://www.motogoloco.com/map?route=17758



After a few years of leaving the UK and heading south, next year three of us are planning to turn north instead, and ride up to Norway's North Cape.

The plan is to get up there as swiftly as is comfortably possible, ideally in 4 days using hotels and cabins. They look like they're long days rather than tough days. We'll stop just short of the North Cape and then run up on the 5th day before turning back south and descending back down the western coast over the next 7-8 days at a more sedate pace, camping where we can, before hitting mainland Europe and just cruising back.

5,250 or so miles in total over 14 / 15 days, so for me it'll definitely be the longest ride I've done but it is a trip I've wanted to do for some time now, and should serve as great preparation for a future trip to circumnavigate Iceland.

Has anyone ridden up to the North Cape before and if so, any tips at all? We've budgeted for 14 days with 3 additional days contingency. Cost looks to be around £1,900 for ferries, fuel, food and lodgings, but we've planned for £2,500 to allow for foul weather and more hotels than desired.

Bikes are S1000XR, Triumph Explorer 1200 and a Street Triple 675.

 

[TallPaul_S]

I'd reccomend watching richyvida's Norwegian tour series, they did 19 days up to the artic circle and back and I think went as far as the Lofoten islands - they encountered the extremities of weather (44 degrees in germany and ice and snow in norway), along with the midnight sun, and some stunning scenery.

Does the guy on the street triple know what he's in for? 5000 miles over 15 days on a street triple... sod that!!!!!

Oh and you probably already know, Norway is SERIOUSLY expensive. Food, beer, everything. And take extremely good waterproofs.

 

[Kreeeee]

The street triple is a very comfortable bike, it just handles luggage really badly as it completely ruins the handling and breaking.

 

[The_Abyss]

I'd reccomend watching richyvida's Norwegian tour series

Well, that's given me confidence. If they can survive it...!

Oh and you probably already know, Norway is SERIOUSLY expensive. Food, beer, everything. And take extremely good waterproofs.

Yeah, I've been to the south and west a couple of times before. We're not going for the beer and we don't expect it to be dry!

 

[Crowze]

I was planning a similar trip last year before my back got the better of me. Aside from the standard things to do before a long tour (tyres, servicing etc.), depending on what time of year you're going you'll want to make sure you book ferries well in advance.

A few more links for ideas:
Caponords to Nordkapp: http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?289466-North-cape-Norway-2015/page45
Vlog from the above trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XqKCGvv3Ws&list=PLfGKYwST9WanB6_PZLEJB2-jvUAIt3vd4
And a great read, this kid did the trip solo on an F650: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/nordkapp-in-september-on-a-95-bmw-f650.828929/

 

[pugheaven]

This looks fantastic mate, can't offer advice as I've only done multiple tours of Europe, but be very interested to see how this goes, as fancy something like this myself, bit different from the usual!

 

[The_Abyss]

I'd reccomend watching richyvida's Norwegian tour series, they did 19 days up to the artic circle and back and I think went as far as the Lofoten islands - they encountered the extremities of weather (44 degrees in germany and ice and snow in norway), along with the midnight sun, and some stunning scenery.

I must admit, I was put off by the first few minutes but stuck it out and have just finished watching the whole series - thanks for the tip.

I found it very useful. Pretty much what we were expecting, although we're going a fair way further north and using a different route to get up there. The route back will be very similar though, and it was great to recognise some of the roads and ferries from a past road trip.

They looked to be very well planned in some respects - route and destinations - but wholly unprepared in others - food and drink basically! I was surprised, and encouraged, that they had that many good, dry days riding.

I bought the first few key parts of the camping gear this week. Preparation is going to be really important for this trip!

 

[The_Abyss]

I should have also said, we're a little worried about the duration of the trip and having to push too hard in places. So we contacted DFDS to see if we could jump across directly to Norway (or back) on their freight service.

The reply was wholly unhelpful to planning ahead:

"Good morning

We can accept a limited number of passengers on our freight service from Immingham to Brevik - Sunday departure only. Bookings cannot be confimed more than 30 days before the departure date however you can send your request through 8 - 10 weeks in advance.
Costs are
€209 per person
€74 per motorcycle
€35 admin fee

Please be advised that passengers are responsible for lashing their own motorcycles."

So you can enquire but you're not guaranteed to have a place until 30 days before departure. Not at all helpful!

 

[TallPaul_S]

Haha, yeah their videos can be a bit interesting at times, but they've done some great trips.

I've recently bought some camping stuff and for me size is key, finding a tent/sleeping bag etc that will fit into luggage is important - you can have a compact tent and sleeping bag but if you're freezing your nuts off it's not much good. I managed to find a 3 person tent and a 3-4 season sleeping bag that fit in my kriega us30 tailpack. A 2 person tent is OK for 1 person and their kit, but still a bit 'cosy'.

If it helps, my compact camping kit consist of:

Coleman Aravis 3 tent
Vango Latitude 300 (long version)
Alpkit brukit (basically a jetboil at half the price)
mountain warehouse self inflating mat

The tent, sleeping bag and brukit all fit in the US30.


I'd say regarding the miles, think more about the hours riding per day - you don't want to be doing day after day of 10-12 hours of riding, that will tire you out.

 

[The_Abyss]

I have gone for a smaller tent - a Vango Sabre 200. Hopefully that'll be big enough for me and all the gear. Sleeping bag is an Andes Nevada 300, on top of a Andes Explora self-inflating mattress. My mate is taking the stove etc - he already has it.

I'll keep the tank bag and BMW top box (secure place for the electronic gear), and ideally will strap down the camping gear on to the pillion. That should leave room for some dry bag panniers with plenty of capacity.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Yeah a 2 man tent will be fine, I just found with all my kit (rucksack, US30, jacket, tankbag, and so-on) on one side, all that took up a 'person' space, so there wasn't much room to move around. If you have hard panniers though a lot of stuff can be left on the bike, everything had to come off mine.

 

[The_Abyss]

Sad news - the Nordkapp trip has had to be postponed until 2018. My mate's just started his own photography business and can't quite find enough time and cash. So we're going to do 9 days in the Alps instead, going east to west through Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France. It should hopefully prove to be good experience for camping in more benign conditions.