Touring in northern Norway

We toured there a few years ago when cycling Nordkapp to Greece. The camping then was set up well for renting accommodation on site. Chalets/mokkis etc about the same cost as 2 in a tent. Saves the aggro of tents as they come with bunks, fridge, hotplate etc. We'd arrive late afternoon, do the daily supermarket run then hunker down for the night. Also watch out for 24hr daylight/dusk. Take your sleep mask. The only other thing I recall is really long road tunnels (many KM) so take some hiviz and lights.

Kvaloya and Senja very good, and much quieter than Lofoten. We went last July and inland the midges, horseflies etc were brutal

we went to Lofoten in june 2019.
flew to Tromso, and spent 2 weeks pootling down Lofoten to Reine, where we got the ferry to Bodo to fly back.
simply stunning. stunning views and stunning weather. we had 2 weeks of crisp clear sunshine. but i was told by a hostel owner that you can have a month of grey mist, with views of nothing but grey mist.

beers is expensive, food is expensive, but well worth it in my eyes. the ferries between the islands are always ontime. everything is nicer, cleaner and better than home.

we recycled our bike boxes at Tromso airport. and picked bike boxes up at a bike shop in Bodo. there are 3 shops.
we had no midges or flies at all.
and i had stock fish most days. smoked haddock on steriods.

we will go again.

Not been to northern Norway but long time ago did some touring from Bergen. The Tunnel guide for cyclists was a very important book!! Guess it's online now!

Senja is breathtaking. Norwegian tunnel map is your friend for planning cycling routes https://www.cycletourer.co.uk/maps/tunnelmap.shtml. Check out Mattew Norway on YouTube for inspiration.

all the tunnels on Lofoten are fine to cycle.
some have a light that you press on entry which lets cars know you are in the tunnel.
it turns off when you exit.

I work in Tromsø. July will be nice. It’s often stupidly hot around then. It might be empty and a lot of things could be closed though. We generally shut down for the whole of July and the locals decamp to Spain or Italy for both heat and darkness.

Yep take a face mask for sleeping. In a tent it’ll be impossible but I’ve also found Airbnbs and hotels lack good curtains. The sun thing can really mess with your head.

Eating out can be expensive, however I don’t see it as that much more expensive than here. Beer is £10 a not-quite-pint. Wine is ruinously steep. At least £50 for a crap Shiraz in any bar or restaurant. You can easily pay over £70 a bottle.

Food in general is great. Yes there is a lot of fish, which can stay in the sea, but also fabulous steak, venison and (prepares to hide) whale, which I have moral problems with, but have to admit is the most astonishingly lovely meat.

Harstadt is more beautiful than Tromsø, though the airport is either a bankrupting taxi ride or an inconvenient bus journey away. The high speed cat ferry down from Tromsø takes 3hrs and is a nicer way to get there.

Flies are a pain. Though you’ll mainly find them up the mountains. I’ve never seen midges within town or the surrounding mountains or forests. I suspect further inland they might be an issue.

Check the prices of flights carefully. They go up down randomly and the recent bankrupting of Flyr has meant wideroe, sas and Norwegian have seen fit to hike prices horrifically - a £600 round ticket went up to £500 a hop, it takes 4 hops to get there! Through tickets to tromso are rare so I
Usually go NCL-AMS-OSL with KLM overnight in Oslo then OSL-TOS with whoever I can. You will have to collect your luggage and go through customs wherever you initially land in Norway, even if you’re on a through ticket - build that into planning.

Tick

Watched this the other day, they refer to a overland\motorcycle gravel track in the North.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fcAVqryczdw

I'll leave this channel here. Say good bye to a few hours while you watch stunning riding venues...

https://youtube.com/@matthewnorway

Lucky you - I'm envious! You might like this pannier.cc piece about a ride from Trondheim to Narvik.

I did Bodo to Tromso through the Lofoten Islands then on upto Nordkapp in 2019. Two four day blocks of riding with a day off in Tromso in the middle. Stayed in hostels and hotels. As above - ferries great and ferry dogs are cheaper food, views are stunning. Senja was a highlight for me - Bergsbotn view point definitely one to visit.

Weather was a real mix a few days of going on holiday to March others blue skies and sun shine. Lofoten was still stunning with storms rolling in. North of Alta Finnmark was a bit more austere. Unfortunately Lyngen was on a wet grey day so didn't really see that much of it. Didn't have any issues with the tunnels - North Cape tunnel was an experience but that was more for 200m+ of descent and ascent involved. There are also sections where you can take the old road shore road rather than the tunnel.

beicmynydd
Free Member
Watched this the other day, they refer to a overland\motorcycle gravel track in the North.

Have just "wasted" too many hours over the last week watching the PanAm Highway and Nordic (as well as truck build) episodes! What a way of life!
Weirdly, though, I can't work out why they opted to use the gravel route mentioned above. The routes mentioned by MatthewNorway below see much more scenic

matt_outandabout
Full Member
I’ll leave this channel here. Say good bye to a few hours while you watch stunning riding venues…

https://youtube.com/@matthewnorway/blockquote >

Another several hours lost.... can't help feeling, though, that CyclingMickey and/or Road.cc would be posting endless videos of close passes. Some of the roads he rides on seem super-sketchy and that's not even including some of the scary tunnels...