This page is made as a small holiday report as future reminiscence for myself.
So, don’t expect a professional blog nor professional pictures and video. It’s just made out of hobby, nothing more nothing less.
If by chance you want to contact me, please go to the contact page and I will reply as soon as possible if a reply is wanted.
!!! This page is currently under construction !!!
In August 2025 I have gone on a second long solo motorcycle tour. This time it was going back to basics with not staying in hotels like in Japan, but on campsites, and once also “wild camping”. For this tour the only plan I had was to head north and see where I wanted to go afterwards, with the ultimate goal to reach the North Cape in Norway.
Each day’s route was somewhat roughly planned one or two days in advance. So the tour was unplanned in the beginning and I just went with the flow.
The complete day to day tour can be seen on the map on the right.
The tour was eventually 25 days long, crossing over 10.000km in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway combined.
Total stats based on mobile phone GPS logging
(accuracy of these values not guaranteed)
Total Distance travelled: 10230.9 km
Total Distance travelled Motorcycle only: 10189 km (ODO meter)
Total Duration: 215:18:43
Total Duration Movement: 166:40:54
Average Speed: 60.33 km/h
Maximum speed: 131.7 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -59 meter
Maximum Elevation: 1484 meter
Total climb: 100070,4 meter
Total descent: 100084 meter
Summary per day
Day 1 - 2025-08-09 - Travel day from The Netherlands to Denmark (mostly Highway)
Finally this is the first day of the tour! A lot of distance to cover, as I wanted to reach the more interesting roads as soon as possible.
This day is practically completely highway, but that is no problem knowing what is ahead.
At the time of leaving my hometown, I didn’t yet know where I would end up this day, like all following days. This as I started this tour without any plan besides “head as far north in Scandinavia as I want and think I can”
I didn’t book the ferry I eventually took, as I thought I might want to ride both major toll bridges in Denmark. Eventually during the ride, I decided that it was better to just take the ferry if possible.
The day started of great, with nice weather, a bit hazy but that only made it better.
After a bit more than an hour I entered into Germany. This after a short border check, where I was allowed to continue without any problem. I guess I didn’t look suspicious enough 
As it is Germany the speed limit is higher than in The Netherlands or even non-existent. Even with knowing this I kept my speed at a maximum of around 130-140 km/h on my speed gauge (which is about 120-130 km/h on my navigation). This for my own safety and because I was in no hurry anyway.
Around Bremen I sadly enough ended up in quite big traffic jams. As I had read that it was not allowed for motorcyclist in Germany to lane filter, I stayed in line for quite some time (behave like a law abiding tourist 😉). This until I had seen several German motorcyclist lane filter. After that I thought “I will just follow their example” as riding in a traffic jam is not only not the most comfortable as motorcyclist, but can also be quite dangerous. Not only because of other people not paying attention, but also for your own body overheating.
Due to the traffic jam, and me wanting to pass Bremen as fast as possible, I did lose a part of the trip, as my battery ran out after about 2,5 hours of recording, just after entering in another traffic jam.
After finding a place to have a small break and replace the battery, I joined the traffic jam again…. but this time with lane filtering 😇
Eventually I arrived at the ferry to Denmark in Puttgarden. I was very lucky with the moment I arrived there, as a ferry was just almost done with unloading, so with a short wait, I and a motorcyclist from Italy could board the ferry.
I ended up talking a bit with this motorcyclist from Italy. Even though there was a clear language barrier, as his English wasn’t very good, it was a good talk for sure. He had a crazy plan, as he wanted to go to the North Cape from Italy and back, which isn’t that crazy on itself. But for the time he had for this trip, he needed to ride at least 700 to 900 km a day! This is definitely the crazy part. I don’t know if he completed his journey as he planned, but respect for the attempt for sure.
After the ferry ride, it was time disembark and ride the first kilometres in Denmark after passing the customs. During the ferry ride I searched for a campsite to stay for the night, so that was the next stop. I planned it not too far away from the harbour where the ferry docked, but also not too close by. A perfect place to continue from the next day.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed
Distance: 598.1 km
Distance flat: 561 km
Distance climb: 18.6 km
Distance descent: 18.9 km
Total Duration: 10:13:12
Duration Movement: 8:18:37
Average Speed: 58.5 km/h
Maximum speed: 125.3 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -12 m
Maximum Elevation: 107 m
Total climb: 2523.5 m
Total descent: 2515 m
Altitude Gap: 8 m
Day 2 - 2025-08-10 - Travel day Denmark to Sweden (mostly Highway)
After a talk with another Dutch motorcyclist on the campsite who arrived quite some time later than I did, and was on a short weekend trip to Denmark and back, I went to bed and had a great night sleep.
This day was just a full throttle highway day trying to get as northern in Sweden as I felt comfortable with.
After about 1.5 hours riding, I arrived at the starting point of the Øresund Bridge crossing into Sweden. Luckily it was fantastic weather as the bridge is high and has no protection from side winds for the driver on the bridge.
A few months before some family of mine also rode this bridge to cross into Sweden, during that time they had heavy rain and wind. This to the level that trucks were not allowed to cross.
During the ride following the west coast of Sweden, there was quite a lot of side wind coming from the west. This made the ride sometimes quite interesting as you can be pushed all over the place by the wind on a motorcycle. Especially when it is gusty wind.
At one of the stops I did during this entire holiday trip, I came across a parking spot only for motorcycles. This was literally the first and only that I remember coming across in Europe so far. During my 2024 Japan tour I came across quite a few.
After about a bit more than 5 hours riding, I finally left the main E6 highway near Uddevalla. Still about 2 more hours of riding until I reached the campsite for the coming night.
This was longer than planned, as I checked for a place to stay closer by, but when arriving there I saw signs that you were not allowed to setup a tent there to stay the night. So I continued on, and shortly after in the distance I saw the first wildlife (a small deer) of this trip crossing the road in front of me.
One small detail to keep in mind during this entire trip: I have normal 100% road tires fitted on my wheels, and due to the road quality in The Netherlands I have practically zero experience in riding gravel/unpaved roads. As I am riding solo,, I take my time and ride careful, as the goal if this trip is to have a great time, see a lot, and most importantly, arrive back home safely and without any bodily damage 😉.
After some nice smaller and winding roads I had to follow some more main roads to finally arrive at the campsite for the night located in Åmål.
Wildlife counter so far: (as far as I have found looking back in through the videos in a fast pace):
– Deer: >=1
– Reindeer: 0
– Moose: 0
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 662.1 km
Distance flat: 603.5 km
Distance climb: 28.2 km
Distance descent: 29.8 km
Total Duration: 9:31:28
Duration Movement: 7:21:32
Average Speed: 89.9 km/h
Maximum speed: 124.9 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -6 m
Maximum Elevation: 213 m
Total climb: 4040.5 m
Total descent: 3997.5 m
Altitude Gap: 43 m
Day 3 - 2025-08-11 - Åmål to Idre
A day of all kinds of road types, but no highway anymore luckily! Naturally still quite a bit of main roads, but also winding roads through endless forests. Both paved and unpaved.
Besides riding in Sweden, today I also crossed into Norway, near Gränsbo, for a short period of time. I found a place to have a break with a pretty nice view, to then continue to return back into Sweden.
Here is where a challenging road, for me, started practically directly after crossing the border.
It was very hard work riding my motorcycle on that road on several long distances. This road was under construction in a way I haven’t seen before. Normally the gravel roads have relatively thin layer of small rock gravel. But this road, especially at some parts had just pored quite tick layer of loose big gravel rocks! For me as an inexperienced off pavement rider, with a heavy loaded motorcycle, with no off-road tires, it was hard work. It was even more difficult due to the large construction trucks also using the road at that moment. Which I wanted to stay clear of, so I sticked to the side of the road most of the time. This to make sure I could get out of their way.
I took my time, took it slow and took several tiny breaks during this part of the trip. Normally these road works aren’t that long distance. But this was around 30km long. Me not knowing the gravity of the roadworks continued on when seeing the signs, as it was either continuing on, or turn back and add at least another extra hour to todays ride.
Even though it was a struggle, It was fun in it’s own way, and a good memory for sure. After a while the worst had passed and it became time for the more comfortable off pavement riding
I was quite tired after the ride this day. After doing some small grocery shopping in Idre, I went to the campsite for this night.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 458 km
Distance flat: 349.5 km
Distance climb: 56.9 km
Distance descent: 51.5 km
Total Duration: 9:32:07
Duration Movement: 7:28:07
Average Speed: 61.4 km/h
Maximum speed: 96.3 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 48 m
Maximum Elevation: 833 m
Total climb: 4535.6 m
Total descent: 4137.1 m
Altitude Gap: 403 m
Day 4 - 2025-08-12 - Idre to Hammerdal (via Falkvålen road)
Today was the first day I would ride a specific road which I found online to be recommended to ride. And pfff what did I have a luck today! The weather was fantastic, a bit cold in the morning, but nothing I haven’t done before.
The off pavement parts of the route were quite easily doable. Yes, I took it slow on those parts again, but that was partially due to the wildlife encounters I had during today’s trip, but also because some parts were quite slippery with my tires.
Nevertheless, a fantastic day, where mother nature was in my favour in many ways!
Within the first 25 minutes I already came across my first two reindeer on the side of the road. These were the first two of this entire holiday. And as far as I remember, the first I have ever seen while being in Sweden over the years.
Time to start the counting of the minimum amount of wildlife I came across this trip! Let’s see if it is possible to see both Reindeer and Moose in all 3 Scandinavian countries I will pass through. 
Not even 25 minutes later, I won another price! Spotted my first moose of this trip! Yes it was far away and only lasted a second or two of it crossing the road. But it was definitely there! It is a shame that it is very hard to spot on the camera, but if you look closely in the distance you can see it pass the middle of the road at around 23:20.
I did feel sorry for the people in the camper who let me pass not even a minute before. I got to see the moose because of this. But I wonder if they have been able to see it pass, as I was riding in front.
As far as I understood, and have experienced in the several times I have been in Norway/Sweden, spotting a moose is really being lucky, especially during daytime.
The next meetup with wildlife was a little bit dangerous, as two of them came running out of the bushes/ditch on the side of the road, just after a small hill. I needed to swerve and break to avoid hitting them.
The next meetup was way more peaceful. This as this reindeer was just chilling near a pond in a field next to the road. At some distance from the road. So I also had some time to stop and to try to make a picture with my phone. About 5 minutes riding later I saw a small herd of reindeer walking in the far distance in the field. Also stopped here for a bit to look. But knowing it would not be visible on either camera, as they were too far away.
Quite some time later, while enjoying a nice landscape view, I came across my next 4 reindeer. This time in the middle of the road. They only started to walk/run after I approached decently close. And what funny it is to see them run, as they have a special gait in running.
While riding downhill with a fantastic open view, I entered reindeer world for my feeling as I had multiple encounters within a few minutes: one, two, three, four, five. Where number five was at least a group of 12 reindeer!
After this very wildlife eventful part of the route, no big wildlife was seen anymore. As this was the end of the special route I set out to ride today, I started to plan and follow a route to a campsite near the area where I wanted to end the day. There where some delays like having to wait for about 8 – 10 minutes before being allowed to continue past road works. This time it where not large gravel on the road, but they where actively laying asphalt. So I could “enjoy” some toxic fumes after all that nice forest/mountain air.
About 230km after reaching the end of the descent of the mountain with the large number of reindeer, I reached the campsite, for a well deserved rest. Here I also chose to have a dinner in the restaurant of the campsite itself. They had a very tasty double burger I must say.
Wildlife counter: (as far as I have found looking back in through the videos in a fast pace):
Deer: >=1
Reindeer: >=31
Moose: 1
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 379.6 km
Distance flat: 274.4 km
Distance climb: 50.4 km
Distance descent: 54.7 km
Total Duration: 9:09:19
Duration Movement: 7:06:52
Average Speed: 53.3 km/h
Maximum speed: 101.5 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 255 m
Maximum Elevation: 980 m
Total climb: 3939.8 m
Total descent: 4090.4 m
Altitude Gap: -151 m
Day 5 - 2025-08-13 - Hammerdal to Storuman (Via Vildmarksvägen)
Today started of quite chilly and damp even though it was sunny. The summer morning sun doesn’t have that much power yet, but the more northern you go the longer the light will be there. Even when it is already several months after the midsummer night festivals, as then the longest day is celebrated and the sun never sets, so it is 24 hours of daylight depending on how northern you are at.
First task of the day after breakfast and packing in my tent and such, was getting fuel and finding a place that sells suitable motorcycle oil. This as I thought seeing that my oil level was low.
After getting fuel I went into the shop of the gas station hoping that there was proper motorcycle oil there. But I was out of luck. They had everything for trucks, cars and snowmobiles…. Even lawnmower oil was on their shelves… but no motorcycle oil. So it was up to the next stop. The people at the gas station pointed me to a shop that possibly had it on my route. They didn’t know for sure, but I hoped for the best.
I found it indeed in one of the locations they pointed me at. Luckily it was the first in a place called Näsviken. about 31km further from the gas station.
On the way to Näsviken there were quite some nice (open water) views from time to time, when the fog cleared out. (some parts the fog was quite dense, which was naturally a bit more tricky, and cold, to ride in)
After picking up the oil, it was time to move on, although within a minute from the shop I needed to wait for construction on the road, as they were working on a bridge I needed to cross. Luckily it was not a too long wait.
As today had a lot of tarmac roads planned in as route, I tried to find some smaller side roads if they lead to an interesting view and/or place. One of these was going towards a waterfall called: Hällingsåfallet. But reaching the road leading towards this waterfall, I decided to turn around as the road was in a too bad condition for the about 29km it still took to reach the waterfall from that point (especially seeing the warnings posted). This in combination with me wanting to reach a certain end point for today, I decided turning around was the best. So after doing so I continued directly onto my route over the Vildmarksvägen, but not before finding a bit muddy buy nice spot to take a break.
From part 5 the route becomes more interesting. This due to the more altitude difference, and eventually ending up in the nice open views I know from Norway. As parts of the route are quite close to Norway, it makes sense that the landscape changes more towards how it is in Norway.
With my luck so far, also here there were road works going on, so time to wait a bit before seeing who ‘good’ the road might be further ahead.
Luckily it wasn’t that bad, as it was scraped off tarmac, where in the beginning around the centre line the tarmac was still untouched, so I could ride normally. Although certain parts were a little more ‘difficult’ due to the way the tarmac was scraped off and the random holes in the road from time to time.
Naturally another point where waiting was needed came. This time it took almost 10 minutes before we could continue. It felt like it took ages… 😅. It made sense eventually that waiting took some more time than usual. This as they were actively paving the road.
Some time later it was time for a break with some food and all, without planning coming across a more touristy parking spot near a waterfall, I decided to park there, as you never know when you have a decent spot to park again.
Trying to cover more distance, I picked up the pace a bit up to the moment I reached off pavement riding again. There I slowed down the pace again. About 40 minutes later, it was back to only tarmac again.
Finally after over 480km I reached the campsite for tonight. This over a quite nice small gravel road of some distance.
On the campsite I met two Dutch fellow motorcyclist heading back to the Netherlands after having reached the North Cape several days before. During the stretch of road they did back an to the North Cape, one of them lost their mobile phone, as it slipped out of it’s holder. As I was heading up north I offered to look around a bit while riding to see if I might find it. (sadly enough I eventually didn’t find it… would have been a fantastic story if I would have found it)
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 483.6 km
Distance flat: 386 km
Distance climb: 48.867 km
Distance descent: 48.649 km
Total Duration: 9:17:53
Duration Movement: 6:57:30
Average Speed: 69.5 km/h
Maximum speed: 112.7 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 272 m
Maximum Elevation: 879 m
Total climb: 4355.9 m
Total descent: 4276.7 m
Altitude Gap: 79 m
Day 6 - 2025-08-14 - Storuman to Rovaniemi (Finland)
Today I had to pack my stuff all wet as it had rained during the night. This was naturally to be expected to happen every now and then, especially when going to Scandinavian countries.
After leaving the campsite, I struggled a bit with my secondary phone I use for navigation. The screen definitely doesn’t like to get wet, as it starts to get a life of it’s own. This happens every now and then during this entire trip, and is one of the small irritations of using an old phone for navigation.
But after (for now) setting up the navigation it was time to start the ride properly. Today it is a long distance to cover as I want to end up a decent distance into Finland.
As today follows the main roads E45, E10, E4, E75 and secondary road 94, this route can be taken in quite a decent pace. Even though I did have a decent speed during this day’s ride, there were still cars feeling the need to go faster. Probably being annoyed by the fast but still too slow tourist on a motorcycle. And even the trucks have a more than decent pace overall… 90km/h and higher is no exception on these wavy two lane roads. Sometimes though, I was also not the most patient towards other tourists and overtook them
.
The recording of the second stretch of riding, had a bit of a dirt/condensing issue on the front lens, so it caused the video to be a bit ‘foggy’, this was not the case in reality though. No matte how much I try, I will sometimes forget to check the lenses before riding…
After about 5 hours riding, I entered into Finland, in a town called Haparanda/Tornio.
About 1,5 hours later I had arrived in the city called Rovaniemi where I decided to stay on a camping next to the river, and next to the somewhat interesting double layer bridge I had to cross to get there. (especially the Y shaped junction at the end of the bridge was worthy to pay a bit more attention to before crossing it)
After my tent was setup I wanted to treat myself to a nice dinner after a long ride and just to celebrate having reached a point on/very close by the arctic circle!
So I went out to for dinner in the center of Rovaniemi. This dinner was way more fancy than I planned for, but they had a place free for one person. The restaurant is called the Arctic Restaurant.
I was very lucky that they had a spot free for someone who hadn’t reserved in advance. And I was even more lucky as the had a special menu that time called the “Arctic Light Hotel 10-year Anniversary” This menu contained:
- Small set of two types of bread with herby butter
- King crab soup with king crab and fennel
- Reindeer two ways with celeriac, wild garlic and truffle
- Blueberry sorbet with champagne
- yogurt foam with marinated rhubarb and rhubarb sorbet
Next to the food, I splurged myself with a glass of Kyrö Rye Malt and Kyrö wood smoke Rye Finnish whiskey. All and all, a great end of the day. Afterwards a nice and slightly tipsy walk back to the campsite… a perfect end of the day I reached close to the Arctic circle!
Wildlife counter so far: (as far as I have found looking back in through the videos in a fast pace. For this day, I know for sure I missed a few…):
Deer: >=1
Reindeer: >=31
Moose: 1
Fox: 1 <– somewhere I thought this day I have seen a fox on the left side of the road. But I haven’t been able to find it back in the recordings. Soooo many hours to go through when you have forgotten the functions of being able to mark special points in a recording, during recording…
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 552.2 km
Distance flat: 494.7 km
Distance climb: 26.9 km
Distance descent: 30.5 km
Total Duration: 7:45:46
Duration Movement: 6:36:25
Average Speed: 83.6 km/h
Maximum speed: 120.6 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 0 m
Maximum Elevation: 534 m
Total climb: 3030.4 m
Total descent: 3331.1 m
Altitude Gap: -301 mtwo
Day 7 - 2025-08-15 - Rovaniemi to Neiden (Norway)
This was mostly just a day of covering distance, a lot of the typical “road + forest on each side” type of riding. This is just a different style of relaxing while riding. Here and there, the more northern I was reaching the more it was noticeable that there where either less trees, and/or the became less tall. This resulted in quite some nice views every now and then especially when it opens up with nice weather and some nature with (small) lakes.
There were also some (somewhat) noteworthy parts, like for example I past the artic circle today, not long after starting riding. At the artic circle crossing there was a touristy area around “santa claus” but I past that as soon as possible, it was closed by the looks of it but even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have stopped there as it isn’t my type of thing.
There was also a road that changed from only being a road for cars and such, to I think a landing strip for (small) aircraft. After the length of the landing strip was driven it turned back to a normal road.
I absolutely love it when the hills/mountains come again and have open views, for me that gives me so much peace and enjoyment while riding. But also the type of riding that started around the part 5 video, a bit more hilly, lakes here and there, wavy roads and good weather…. what isn’t there to like 😊
During this day I have seen many fellow motorcyclists, more than I ever seen in the wild in one day, next to that I saw some reindeer, and again a moose! But while processing these video’s I noticed that finding them and counting the number that I have seen took way too much time, so from here on out I will only link to the ones I find back while reviewing the footage and stop counting.
In the last part of the route, when I just crossed the border into Norway I had the luck again for some roadworks… apparently this always happens on smaller roads near the borders for some reason… This almost until my planned campsite of today near Neiden. The road was on and off slippery so I kept a slower pace for safety, as it is a border crossing/area quite in the middle of nowhere for your feeling. And at a given moment it was time to stop an wait again before it was allowed to continue on riding. This took about 15 minutes! This feels like a long time waiting there especially after already riding quite a big distance. Luckily it wasn’t raining 😂
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 480.5 km
Distance flat: 426.2 km
Distance climb: 26 km
Distance descent: 28.3 km
Total Duration: 7:40:03
Duration Movement: 6:03:00
Average Speed: 79.4 km/h
Maximum speed: 124.8 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 43 m
Maximum Elevation: 363 m
Total climb: 2868.6 m
Total descent: 2905.2 m
Altitude Gap: 34 m
Day 8 - 2025-08-16 - Neiden to Skippagurra (Via Vardø and Hamningberg)
Today is a big day for me as today it will be the first full day of riding in Norway, and at the same time the day I will reach the most eastern point of Norway, the island Vardø. The day already started in the best Scandinavian fashion, called cloudy and unpredictable rainy weather. A real Norwegian welcome!
Not even 10 minutes in, and I came across the first “small” waterfall of the Norway part of the trip. (a bit hard to see the video). And not even 15 minutes in the first glimpse of more Norway style of nature 🥰
Naturally as a good Norwegian welcome needs to contain, then it is the lovely rain, so just after the first hour riding, the rain started slowly coming in, probably the rain I could already see coming rolling in from the see earlier during the ride. Luckily I have decent rain gear so I don’t mind riding in this weather at all. It actually has something special as well.
Not even an hour later the rain stopped and I was welcomed by another great warm Norwegian welcome, this time not more rain, but a group of reindeer with a nice ocean view.
Next to so tiny towns here and there, you mostly ride in emptiness, just you the road and the nature around you. This emptiness especially increases the more northern (in this case northeastern) you come.
It is so relatively empty I guess that even the seagulls don’t expect humans to come by often, especially not on a black and white motorcycle. This caused a too close encounter with one of two kamikaze seagulls. One ended up against the radiator of my motorcycle between front wheel fender and the dash enclosure.
When I stopped the seagull fell on the road as it was probably fixed in position due to the wind and my breaking. Which I did slowly as at first as I didn’t know for sure if I had hit it, and after I realized I did hit is, I didn’t want to hurt it more than it probably already was.
At first I thought the bird was dead when I saw it laying on the road. But after a bit it started to struggle a bit. I checked on the bird and as I didn’t want it to move further to the middle of the road I decided to carefully pick it up and move it to the nature at the side of the road. While moving I could see that the birds neck was not okay, and probably there was no saving of it. Especially not in a remote area like there.
I stayed with the bird until it clearly passed away after a few minutes. Even though I have the feeling I couldn’t have done anything to avoid it, I still felt very sad after having unintentionally killed it with my motorcycle. I am no vegan, but I still believe all life is precious, so when it is lost, especially needlessly/without purpose, it is something to acknowledge and care about.
Not even 10 minutes later after leaving the past away seagull, I guess I was punished/got a corrective slap by god, as I almost crashed!!
I saw the sign for the roadworks, and I later saw the patch of road which was worked on, but I didn’t slow down enough for the depth of the loose gravel that was laying in the patch of road. It is not rare to see those types of patches of road with gravel, but normally it is quite shallow and compressed by machinery. So normally it is okay to go over it with a decent speed (although I normally slow down quite a bit). I guess I lost sight of my real pace/speed due to the emptiness of the area and road around me for quite some time.
I most definitely had a massive adrenaline rush, and I am surprised to this day that my subconscious managed to keep the motorcycle upright. It was more luck than anything else for my feeling. All next patches of roadwork gravel I slowed down more than ever before to make as sure as possible that I wouldn’t crash in the middle of nowhere, alone, and without a lot of traffic.
No matter what happened, it is a fantastic road to ride, especially the full length up to Vardø and Hamningberg. After about 3 hours riding I could finally see the island Vardø in the distance but before reaching the island, I first needed to go through deep and quite cold tunnel going under the part of the sea separating Vardø from the Norwegian mainland.
After exploring several sights like this one on Vardø it was time for me to fuel up and head over to the quite remote Hamningberg! The road towards there is at some points quite narrow that a motorcycle like mine and some cars but especially campers can’t cross each other without evading and making space. This made riding on those roads somewhat tricky and slow some times. But as it is a holiday I had all the time in the world luckily.
Hamningberg is by itself not that special as far as I have seen/explored, but the road towards it is worth the time and effort.
As this is practically the end of the earth, the only way back is to follow the same road back, so I did until I reached a campsite which was open to spend the night. The road back itself wat noteworthy more windy and sometimes the wind was so strong from the side that it even felt a bit scary, due to the amount that I needed to push the bike in a counter angle some times and lean with my body. But slow, controlled and steady did the trick, so I made it safely to the campsite for tonight, it is not much but good enough for a night for a guy like me.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 438 km
Distance flat: 359.5 km
Distance climb: 38.9 km
Distance descent: 39.7 km
Total Duration: 9:41:37
Duration Movement: 7:28:40
Average Speed: 58.6 km/h
Maximum speed: 94.3 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -2 m
Maximum Elevation: 180 m
Total climb: 3467.9 m
Total descent: 3470.8 m
Altitude Gap: 0 m
Day 9 - 2025-08-17 - Skippagurra to the North Cape
It was a perfect day of riding, not the warmest start of the day, but it was dry and the roads were smooth. As the temperature was not very high, I decided to wear my rain gear as well even though it was not raining. It works pretty well for staying warm even with strong winds and all.
The first part was quite foresty, but later on it was clear I was getting closer to the coast/Fjords again. It is so nice to see the continuously changing environment from hilly to mountainous from foresty to rocky coastal areas. The same goes with the weather and the sunlight casting through the clouds. All making the most stunning surroundings to ride through. Especially being alone I feel you soak up everything around you more.
The thing that also keeps on being interesting to me is how fast the pavement quality or even existence can change. From time to time there where quite a lot and quite deep holes in the road. Which I did try to avoid as much as possible to save my tires a bit as I still for sure had >6000km to go to reach home.
Luckily this entire trip has been worth it all so far, I am truly in love with the views nature can give us, and these days even are reachable by riding to them (even though the most beautiful spots you will still only be able to reach by hiking)
One other thing I like a lot is the very low number of cars in general. Naturally when you get closer to towns/tourist sites the number goes up. But it is still possible to ride many kilometers without practically seeing any car/person around.
For some reason I had quite some trouble with fogging up visors, even with the pinlock, it still fogged up. This sometimes made it hard and frustrating to see properly, so during this time and the following days you will see me struggle with this every now and then. But that naturally didn’t stop me from looking my eyes out enjoying the views.
Today at a given moment I noticed that my secondary phone, which I use for navigation didn’t charge. I found out that my USB charger port that I added on the motorcycle was soaked in water. so I had to switch to my backup which I used to charge my powerback in my tankcase. Luckily it could charge them both at the same time. So it was only a small issue. Just switching USB cables from one port to the next. Luckily I brought long enough cables with me.
You really sometimes feel you are riding through no-man’s-land which is a great feeling. But with all that riding it is also important to take your breaks and eat and drink enough. It is then especially nice when you find a spot with a good view to enjoy during the break.
When I could see the fjord I needed to follow towards the North Cape I hoped that what I saw would pass over soon. This as that side of the fjord was clearly experiencing rain. I still had a few kilometers to go before I would reach the main road towards the North Cape so I had high hope most of the rain would have been blown away by the wind by the time I reached the road.
During my refueling break near the start of the North Cape road I had even higher hopes as it was even starting to get a sunny again.
Some parts of this road felt quite long, but others passed within seconds for my feeling. There where so many contrasts in light and weather (sun and rain) even soms just a few minutes apart that I almost go a sensory overload. The wind also started to pick up the more northern I went, and especially near bridges or roads with open view to the Fjord/sea and naturally when reaching higher altitudes.
Sometimes, actually quite a few times during this entire tour the view was even enriched with a rainbow and sometimes even a double one, this in Norway in combination with everything feels powerful.
Just like I mentioned before the wind could also be quite powerful, as sometimes I really needed to lean into the wind to be able to keep myself and the motorcycle from swerving of the road.
After reaching the campsite where I needed to wait quite a bit before it would open to accept new camp guests, I setup camp and headed out to have a look at the North Cape. It is an absolutely beautiful ride. a, b (reindeer on the road), c, d, e, f. And I have massive respect to all who are crazy enough to cycle all the way over there.
It is a shame you have to pay for parking at the North Cape, and even more so that you have to pay a substantial amount to be able to enter the restaurant/tourist building there. So I skipped this and just walked around and enjoyed the view and massive amount of wind over there.
While being there I also congratulated my mother with her birthday, even though I was not at her birthday I wanted to give her a little gesture, and that was showing her the North Cape on her birthday. Pictures/videos from the country she loves to go to as well.
Overall I have been massively lucky with the weather and just the day overall. I couldn’t have asked for more!🥰
After getting back at the campsite and making some dinner inside the small kitchen they had (like many Scandinavian campsites) I happen to come across a Swiss couple on the campsite where I had a conversation with for some time. This couple just reached their final destination that day of their cycling holiday. They had cycled for 3.5 months from Switzerland to the North Cape, Norway. What a achievement! They cycled to the North Cape but they did decide not to cycle back and take other forms of transport back. Absolutely massive respect to them for their achievement! They where very nice people and I hope they are doing well.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Part 1: (Previous location to campsite near the North Cape)
Distance: 397.9 km
Distance flat: 291.3 km
Distance climb: 52.5 km
Distance descent: 54.1 km
Total Duration: 7:59:21
Duration Movement: 6:27:12
Average Speed: 61.6 km/h
Maximum speed: 87.9 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 2 m
Maximum Elevation: 372 m
Total climb: 4141 m
Total descent: 4134.3 m
Altitude Gap: 10 m
Part 2: (campsite to North Cape)
Distance: 27.7 km
Distance flat: 9.7 km
Distance climb: 8.7 km
Distance descent: 9.3 km
Total Duration: 1:40:31
Duration Movement: 0:54:18
Average Speed: 30.6 km/h
Maximum speed: 78.8 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 47 m
Maximum Elevation: 308 m
Total climb: 664.6 m
Total descent: 669.1 m
Altitude Gap: -6 m
Day 10 - 2025-08-18 - The North Cape to Skibotn
My ride started around 04:15 in the morning today. (you can also see it in the video that is was early as I forgot to tighten my chinstrap 🫢) This as I wanted to head back to the North Cape to be able to “not so legally” (gray-ish area) ride my motorcycle to the globe statue and make some pictures before starting my way down to head in the direction of the Lofoten.
Many motorcyclist do this when they have the chance, the only condition is that you need to be there well before anyone else, and officially it is not allowed, but it seems to be ‘accepted’ for the time being.
It was a fantastic feeling to reach this point in my solo Scandinavia motorcycle tour. Such a great experience in life to be able to do something like this.
Even though I arrived around 04:30 at the North Cape Globe, other motorcyclists were already there, so I needed to wait a bit before it was my turn. And when that time came, I had the entire area for myself alone, which was also special in a way.
In the first photo reel below this day’s text you can see screenshots taken from the 360 webcam which is located on the tourist center at the North Cape. It is quite funny to see yourself approached the Globe and do your thing. I arrived in my High-vis rain jacked on (which made it very clearly visible on the camera) later on for some pictures I removed that jacked, so you instantly can see I am camouflaged in the surroundings 😅.
But overall I have to say that I have been extremely blessed with the weather I have had when I was at the North Cape. It can change rapidly but besides some light rain and quite strong winds it was absolutely perfect 😊
Around 05:00 o’clock I decided to leave and start the rest of the journey. I wanted to made use of the longer day I had due to the getting up early. This to cover a decent distance today but still have time to enjoy the scenery and such.
Starting off the day early, and in not too long time have to ride through a tunnel on your way back to the more mainland of Norway, does wake you up, as in this tunnel the temperature was quite low. At least lower than I expected. You can also clearly see my visor (with pinlock) fog up. This time it was partially due to the temperature change entering the tunned. As a reference, when I left the North Cape it was around 9,4°C. To make the visor condense while entering the tunnel, the climate/temperature must have changed rapidly.
A big benefit of riding so early in the morning that you hardly come across anyone on the road, so large sections of road I didn’t meet anyone.
Overall it was a great day, not always the best weather, windy, sometimes some decent rain, sometimes almost sunny, sometimes riding though the clouds, but overall enough nice views, a comfortable ride.😊
I had planned out a camping to use at the end of the day, but when I arrived there it was quite messy and nobody was at the reception or could be found anywhere. So I decided to track back a bit and go to another camping nearby. The road towards the campsite entrance and the entrance part of the camping didn’t look good either with the amount of campers/caravans when I arrived, but I was able to get a spot on a tent field in a hidden corner of the campsite. I was quite happy with this basic but good enough place to setup tent.
Some extra links to video fragments:
1. Large reindeer groups in the distance on the right side [1] 50:01 right [2] 54:08, not very visible on the camera but the white, brown and black-ish dots you can see in the field, are reindeer 😅😂 During this ride I saw many more but in smaller groups or alone.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 530 km
Distance flat: 396.9 km
Distance climb: 65.5 km
Distance descent: 67.7 km
Total Duration: 11:22:47
Duration Movement: 8:31:54
Average Speed: 62.1 km/h
Maximum speed: 104.5 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -12 m
Maximum Elevation: 387 m
Total climb: 5522.2 m
Total descent: 5564.9 m
Altitude Gap: -30 m
Day 11 - 2025-08-19 - Skibotn to Hov, Tjeldsund
The start of the day proved to be a sign on how a decent part of the day would be, often quite rainy. So nice and relaxed way of riding today. Especially on the sandy/muddy roads I came across enough today. The first started while on and exiting the campsite.
Due to the quite locally varying weather there where quite some moments of natural beauty, in the sense of a place having rain and clouds against the mountains, and on the other side of the view it was dry and cloudy or even sunny.
To be honest, after some time the weather cleared up and was overall quite nice actually. not to warm, not to cold a bit cloudy but also sunny some times.
As I was riding towards the Lofoten I expected to reach some point where I needed to use my first Norwegian ferry crossing with my motorcycle. As I knew that on the route I was planning to take the ferry didn’t go very often, there was some time pressure. Luckily I was riding alone, so I only had to consider my own feeling and planning for if I would happen to miss the ferry.
But before reaching the ferry I needed to cross a interesting and quite high bridge, especially for the length it is. Due to the weather and the changing winds I always am cautious for crosswinds. This is even more important to be aware of on bridge crossings like these. After crossing the bridge I took a small break before continuing on. And the road that followed what quite nice. A small road waving alongside a fjords edge and passing small towns. The next type of water crossing I had to use, was a tunnel, connecting one island to the next.
Exiting the tunnel I was almost directly faced with a choice and/or challenge, depends on how you want to see it. Some lovely road construction works were being done, and looking at the state, track forming, holes [2] in and slipperiness of the road (also due to the rain) I was wondering how it would be further down the road, and what the total distance would be of these construction works. As I didn’t know either, I just went along and took it slow. The sometime passing large trucks didn’t make it any easier, depending if you came across them on a narrow part of the road or a wider part. No matter all those things, I could still enjoy the ride and the views while covering the distance. This until the road changed to more thin but very slippery mud. For this I needed my full focus to maintain control over my motorcycle. Then you really feel that you are riding on normal road tires, and not more offroad oriented tires. after about 35 minutes riding off tarmac in quite a few type of off tarmac conditions, I reached the normal tarmac road again. From there I could pick up the pace again this with the hope I could make it to the ferry on time. When getting closer to the ferry dock I saw a ferry approaching it in the distance, so I felt it would be a close one.
When I arrived at the dock it was not there yet. So I had to wait a bit with the other people there. While waiting two Dutch somewhat elderly women came up to me to have a small talk as they saw my Dutch number plate and there where surprised to see a solo Dutch motorcyclists so up north.
Not even 5 minutes later we all could board the ferry. On the ferry I took between Germany and Denmark I had the option to strap down my motorcycle with gear they had on the ferry itself. On this ferry this was not possible as they didn’t have gear to strap on motorcycles. Luckily I had some straps with me as the water we crossed was quite restless. This causes the ferry to swing and bounce. I know for sure that if I didn’t have any straps with me myself, my motorcycle would have fallen over. As I am quite careful with my stuff I was quite nervous during the crossing. This especially as they advised not to stay with/in your vehicle. If you look closely you can see my motorcycle is practically dry when I just parked it on the ferry, just like the ferry floor. But after the ferry ride it is not anymore. This is all water what came over the edge of the front of the ferry. Seeing how high the bow of the ferry is, this does show a bit how restless the water was we crossed.
Now it was time to get some food at a supermarket for the evening. Always interesting to see the supermarkets and what they offer in different countries than your own. The same goes for the rare to find motorcycle shops. I needed to visit one as my chain lube bottle I brought leaked all it’s aerosol away so it wasn’t useable anymore.
Next up, the road to the planned campsite, which is also located on an island, so a bridge crossing it is and another tall one at that. the further you came on that island the narrower the roads, but first I needed to pass some construction works after crossing the bridge.
Some distance further the final water crossing to the island I needed to be arrived. This time a “ massive speedbump shaped bridge” needed to be crossed. Before turning onto that bridge I saw a sign which made me wonder if I was still allowed to film, as it seemed to warn for military presence/area if going straight.
A few minutes later, following (for a car/truck) narrow roads, I arrived at the campsite. arriving there and searching for a place to register, I came to talk to another Dutch person staying there. He mentioned I needed to call a old Norwegian guy who didn’t speak any English and would come to the campsite riding a lawnmower. Definitely an experience on its own.
After setting up camp and walking around a bit on the beach in front of the campsite, it became clear that there is a military area nearby as two C-5 Galaxy type military aircraft came flying by the campsite. This so low across the water that I could almost distinguish the pilots with my own eyes.
On that note it was time to make some dinner. As it started to rain again I decided to do this in the kitchen of the campsite. Sadly enough for every part of the facility you needed 10kr coins for a quite limited time, and as I only had one or two, I needed to search for a solution.
As a electronic Engineer myself I looked around if there was a solution, as asking the campsite owner wouldn’t help. After some looking around I found a wall plug which didn’t have anything connected to it in the kitchen area. Following the wiring ducts on the wall I deducted that I could connect the electrical stove on that wall plug, the only wall plug that wasn’t behind the coin collector. Lucky it was there as the stove was so bad that it took about 30 minutes to boil so water. Let alone cook something more. As I didn’t want to cause a fire I didn’t use my gas camping stove indoors, but I was tempted seeing how long it took with their stove.
But after having a basic but warm dinner, it was time to stroll around a bit and jump into my tent and sleeping bag to rest for the long trip the next day. The day to reach the tip of the Lofoten, the town called “Å”.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 302 km
Distance flat: 211.1 km
Distance climb: 45.3 km
Distance descent: 45.6 km
Total Duration: 8:04:39
Duration Movement: 6:04:35
Average Speed: 49.7 km/h
Maximum speed: 91.9 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 240 m
Maximum Elevation: -19 m
Total climb: 3432.5 m
Total descent: 3420.5 m
Altitude Gap: 20 m
Day 12 - 2025-08-20 - Hov, Tjeldsund to Moskenes, Å, Lofoten
Quite some distance planned again for today. Luckily the day started of with decent weather, so I could pack up my things relatively dry.
Another pretty start of the ride with nice clouds and sunlight play. The first part I needed to track back to past the last construction work I passed yesterday, but before that first the ” speedbump bridge” again. Then the construction work, and the second way taller bridge.
After that it was new road to explore!
And that road had naturally some more construction work in plan for me to pass. Luckily I could wait next to some nice view and not in the rain. Between all the construction work going on there were quite nice smooth curvy roads to ride on, and just overall enough views to enjoy.
The deeper I went into the Lofoten area, the more spiky the mountains [2] [3] became. This in a quite noticeable way. And the weather worse [2], to be honest. Especially nice when having to wait just in front of a tunnel in the rain, as they also were working on the road inside the tunnel. Thankfully I have good gear, so I stayed dry inside of the suit 😉.
Due to the spotty areas with rain, you could sometimes see the rain patches clearly. Which I always find a beautiful sight, especially when there are mountains like these sticking out of the ocean.
As this road can be quite busy due to the many tourists but also due to the construction work packing up the traffic in big batches, it was sometimes hard to overtake. So, as I also was not really in a hurry, I sticked behind a massive camper, which felt more like a bus for some time. It keeps surprising to me how large of a camper people sometimes buy and want to use.
After having followed the same road for quite some time I saw a small detour from the main road, following some smaller roads. So for a change of scenery/way of riding, I decided to follow that route. It was a small but quite nice route, way better than the main road to be honest.
And more people thought the same way I guess as I came across some other tourists. And one was probably a bit distracted by the nice views, as they landed with their rented Volkswagen campervan in de ditch next to the road. There where already quite a few people around and everyone seemed to be okay and in helping mode, so I just continued on as I will not be able to pull the car out with my motorcycle 😜.
Quite some distance further I made another small back and forward detour, as I felt the need to cross a part of road which is quite famous due to the bridges made. Sadly enough it wasn’t sunny as that shows better how beautiful it is, especially on camera. This road does give you some nice views of the mountains sticking out of the ocean in the distance.
Next up was the I think most famous town views of the Lofoten (also see the pictures below) in and near the town of Hamnøy. Due to how busy it was with tourists I didn’t really feel like exploring so I made some pictures, and continued on.
I then drove further to have a small look in the town called “Å” but also there it was way too busy for my liking. So I head back to Moskenes to find a place on the campsite near to the ferry which I would take tomorrow back to the main land, to Bodø.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 322.7 km
Distance flat: 232.3 km
Distance climb: 46 km
Distance descent: 44.4 km
Total Duration: 7:03:37
Duration Movement: 5:57:06
Average Speed: 54.2 km/h
Maximum speed: 102.8 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -3 m
Maximum Elevation: 167 m
Total climb: 3442.3 m
Total descent: 3432.6 m
Altitude Gap: 23 m
Day 13 - 2025-08-21 - Moskenes, Lofoten to a farm campsite near Akervika
This day started quite rainy so I had to pack up the tent wet. I needed to catch the ferry leaving around 7:00 in the morning, so I was up early. Luckily I didn’t have to ride far to the ferry dock. Only about 2 minutes or so from the campsite 😜. I could ride into the prepaid waiting lane as I already booked my ticket the day before. Just in case a lot of people decided to take the early ferry and no room would be left.
After this very long two minute ride, the waiting game began for the ferry to arrive, unload and later on the waiting for the onboarding. This as first most of the pedestrians would board, then the rest would be able to board row by row.
After boarding it was time to strap and secure my motorcycle for the long ferry trip. This ferry had proper straps and hooking points available. So, I had no doubt my motorcycle would be secure even if the sea would be restless or even rough.
It was a very nice ferry trip with rainy and cloud but amazing views of the Lofoten from a distance at sea. It gave an mysterious feel.
During this part of the journey of today, I have spend most of the time outside on the rear outside platform. Due to my raingear that was totally fine to do so. Due to the unstable and not the warmest weather it was quite calm outside as not many people where on that platform, on and off there were people. Oftentimes I was there alone.
Probably due to the fact I was often alone there staring over the sea, someone made some sneaky pictures of me while I was doing so.
That someone later came walking to me and asked me if she could make some pictures. (Something no stranger ever asked me before, so I was surprised 🫢). Knowing that I don’t see myself as a good “model” for on pictures, I warned her that those pictures probably wouldn’t be the best. And for my feeling that was the case seeing the results. But luckily she had her sneaky made pictures which were pretty nice in my opinion. 😊
She was most of the time on the ferry hanging with some other girls she met during her (solo) travels. She’s a Ukrainian who loves making pictures with some depth and emotion in it no matter if it is from animals, people or nature/cityscapes. Nice and relaxed girl to talk to. Always nice to have these random interactions and getting to some total strangers a bit.
Not long after I continued on chilling on the outside deck, and she and her travel friends when back inside.
When we were disembarking from the ferry several hours later I saw her walking and “waved” goodbye (girl in front with white jacked on). Later during my holiday she send me the pictures she made, and we had some back and forth via email.
Disembarking from the ferry took some time as the motorcyclists were all the way in the back so practically the last to leave.
As I noticed the chain of my motorcycle had way too much play I needed to adjust the chain tension but I didn’t have a proper strength torque wrench with me so I decided to try to find one in Bodø. This took naturally more time than I hoped for, but as during the ferry ride I already had searched a bit on where to possibly find one, I went to that shopping center. There was still one left, but naturally not really a pocket sized tool, so taking it on the motorcycle was a bit of a challenge to figure out what was the most practical. I was by the way quite surprised that they had motorcycle specific parking spots, as I hadn’t seen those often in Europe.
After having bought the Torque wrench and had a small lunch I went on with the trip, as I was planning to do the work in the evening.
Quite a decent part after the ferry was not the most interesting road to ride, but slow but surely it became slightly more interesting. The more interesting the road became to ride, the more it also started to rain at the same time, so it was a nice timing 😅.
Not long after I had refueled and taken a small break I could see that the area I was trying to pass will probably be kind of cold, as some snow was visible on mountain peaks in the distance. When the moment arrive the road when up in altitude to head to the Arctic circle center, I could indeed instantly feel the temperature dropping. But it was a nice road to follow up the mountain next to a river streaming down.
But due to the cold wind and some problems with my heated grips I decided not to stop to look around until I had reached the Arctic circle center. Looking around while riding was also more than enjoyable enough 😊.
I arrived at the Arctic Circle Center at the same time as a old Danish man riding a oldtimer motorcycle out of the sixties. A wonderful piece of machinery and massive respect for him riding all over on a classic motorcycle like that! (see picture below)
After the visit at the Artic circle center it was a smooth ride zigzagging up and down the mountain, slowly back to sea-level. The roads in Norway can be quite bad for European standards, or nice and smooth like this road was.
As I naturally try not to continuously ride on a main road, at some point I choose to get of it and see where I end up. Naturally I had done some preplanning using some online maps, but you never know the state of the road for example or if the campsite you plan to go to is (still) open.
The choice of going of the main route was a good one, as the type and flow of the route I did take was quite nice and hardly any people around [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] but naturally it is still Norway, so you can expect to come across a big truck racing up the hill on a relatively narrow road. So you always need to be alert. (next to how surprisingly slippery gravel/mud roads can me 😉)
After folling this road for some time, I came across a campsite that was not on my planning to stay, as I didn’t know it was there. So at first I doubted a bit, and passed it, but chose to turn around and call it a day. So I asked if there was place on this farm campsite, there was, so I setup camp to spend the night there.
After setting up my tent, I took the time to adjust the chain tension of my motorcycle, which was actually the first time I performed that action on my own motorcycle. I did follow a short motorcycle ‘side of the road’ maintenance course some time before my trip, where patching leaks, replacing inner tires and so on was all part of. But as the motorcycle I used for this trip is my daily drive, I didn’t want to tinker and test those things on it before the trip myself.
Having finished the maintenance some time later, I did a short test, which was successful. So then it was finally time to make some dinner and relax.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 430.7 km
Distance flat: 300.4 km
Distance climb: 67.6 km
Distance descent: 62.7 km
Total Duration: 11:51:32
Duration Movement: 8:57:30
Average Speed: 48.1 km/h
Maximum speed: 96.4 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -82 m
Maximum Elevation: 690 m
Total climb: 5171.5 m
Total descent: 4783.1 m
Altitude Gap: 389 m
Day 14 - 2025-08-22 - Campsite near Akervika to a campsite near Åsenfjord
Quite a chilly start of the day, but what a good one. So nice to be able to just head out and directly ride through nature on a interesting road to ride. Just waving through the hills, along forests, lakes and rivers.
At a given moment I saw some thick smoke in the the distance hanging in the valley so I was quite curious of what it was. As there are not many roads here, I naturally ended up seeing what it was. Some type of wood milling factory, or maybe even heat/power generation location due to the sheer amount of logs laying next to the industrial building. That singular factory clearly pollutes that valley quite strongly. At least with it’s smoke output.
At a given moment, after already have switched the more rural roads to a more main road, I noticed some movement in the bushes next to the road and I couldn’t help myself that I needed to stop and check it out. Eventhough it was directly next to the main road. It was for sure worthwhile as was a moose standing there with two young! Naturally they are very hard to see on the 360camera but, I have made some pictures with my phone. So see the images below for a better look. It took some time before they were leaving so I took my chance and stayed there until they decided to leave.
It was a special thing to experience and made the whole trip complete wildlife wise, as I had seen both reindeer and moose in Sweden, Finland and Norway! And I can say as somebody who has been there several times over the years as a tourist, that is being massively lucky.
One part of the route I choose passed through a quite narrow tunnel high in the hills. For sure no two cars can pass here at the same time. I hoped to not come across a car (or truck) coming from the opposite direction. At the end of each tunnel you pass it is always a surprise on what you will be welcomed with, and I was quite happy with what I saw when exiting it. Fun roads for quite a few kilometers to go!
Eventually I started to get closer and closer back to the Norwegian coastal area’s, so the mountains/hills became more noticeable in height and there was more and more water to be found. A nice change of scenery.
Not long after I started to notice a slight headache coming up. This became more and more, so I decided to stop and get some extra food/drinks and “force feed” myself so I’d know if energy levels within my body were low, or if something else was going on. After having done this, I started riding again. About 20 to 30 minutes later I started to feel better again. Maybe it was the food (likely) or maybe it where the calm twisting roads with fluctuating weather but nice flow and views that solved the headache.
After another break, this time for refueling and with also taken in some extra food again, I was about to leave, and I noticed a familiar sound…. It was the old Danish guy on his oldtimer motorcycle stopping for fuel at the same gas station as I did. So due to this random event I decided to have a small talk with him about his motorcycle and the tour he was doing. And man, he did some travels with that motorcycle among others. High respect (an jealousy a bit) for the things he must have experienced in life during all those tours of exploration.
Now it was time to mostly follow the main road again up to the campsite, most of this part of the route was very sunny. But at the end some rain started to fall.
This also caused me to have to setup camp quite wet. But after some time, the clouds broke up more and very spotty periods of rain started. This in combination with the setting sun made for very beautiful views, and I was in luck that I have seen several different rainbows during this evening while on the campsite. It was amazing! I so love nature! 🥰
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 410.5 km
Distance flat: 287.8 km
Distance climb: 57.8 km
Distance descent: 64.9 km
Total Duration: 8:16:40
Duration Movement: 6:28:26
Average Speed: 63.4 km/h
Maximum speed: 97 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -4 m
Maximum Elevation: 622 m
Total climb: 4698.4 m
Total descent: 5099.9 m
Altitude Gap: -392 m
Day 15 - 2025-08-23 - Åsenfjord to somewhere near Drevsjø
Another great Scandinavian day today! you guessed it…. RAINY very rainy today! (and sometimes quite cold, like here when the wind picked up decently due to the altitude gain) For the rest today I don’t have many specific points to point out during the entire trip, I was just mostly covering distance and looking around in the meantime, as rainy or not it is still a beautiful country. [1], [2], [3], [4],
Slowly getting closer to the planned destination for today luckily the rain seems to pass, the wind didn’t but it became a quite nice day to be outside. The road also started to feel again like less of a main road, and the nature became slowly rougher traveling more inland, which was nice.
Not long after passing the town of Drevsjø I went offroad/off tarmac to a place for wildcamping which I searched for yesterday.
After having setup camp, I went back to Drevsjø to get some supplies at the small supermarket there. Getting back at camp I started making some dinner, which was challenging as the strong gusty wind was coming out of the direction of the lake straight into the camping area and shelter place.
While making dinner a German couple also arrived in a more offroad style camper. During the evening we had some talks and a German beer they kindly gave to me. It was overall a good evening even though the campfire made was struggling due to the wind, and it became cold fast.
Before jumping into bed I collected some large branches with as much small side branches on it as I could find, which I placed near my tent as a make shift wind blocker. This as my tent was not very happy with the wind gusts.
This eventually made for a quite restless night of sleep as several times the fabric of the tent slapped me in the face. The tent was really close to giving up, but luckily it didn’t.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 338.2 km
Distance flat: 255.6 km
Distance climb: 45.7 km
Distance descent: 36.9 km
Total Duration: 6:12:31
Duration Movement: 5:05:07
Average Speed: 66.5 km/h
Maximum speed: 94.1 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 2 m
Maximum Elevation: 922 m
Total climb: 3683.4 m
Total descent: 3007.4 m
Altitude Gap: 677 m
Day 16 - 2025-08-24 - Drevsjø to Gjøra
Said goodbye to the German couple when leaving the campsite in the morning, starting a way less windy and actually it was a very nice start of the day weatherwise. The day started with empty roads zigzagging through the hills and variating nature. Overall a very nice ride today, so many beautiful sights especially in combination with the dry sunny (but still sometimes windy and chilly) weather. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
After some time I arrived on a road with one of the most beautiful long distance views I have seen in several days, the Fv385 Fylkesvei 2204, especially on a day like this with fantastic weather. Here I am at the part where I am climbing to higher altitude where the views start [1], this was already a very nice area to look around while riding. As a good tourist naturally I stopped to take some pictures, once with the camera still running, the next I walked for a bit and stopped the camera. After a small picture and walking break I continued this for me at that time unknown but fantastic but very windy road. [continuation of the road until next stop at the highest point of this road]
Having reached the highest point of this road I naturally had to go down again, so for the next couple of kilometers it was time to descent to the lowest altitude of today. Which took about 20+ minutes. Luckily still enough beautiful nature to be seen during this descent.
Having descended to a town it was time to get some fuel for both the motorcycle as for me.
Now we both were all ready again, it was time to ascent again, starting almost directly after I left the fuel station. This ascent leads up to the main road running through the Rondane National Park. [1], [2].
After passing through the Rondane I followed the E6 main road, passing through the Hjerkinn/Kongsvoll/Drivdalen on my way to a campsite I had been before years ago in Gjøra. [1], [2], [3], Slowly getting closer and closer to the destination of today, the riding more up an down distinct valleys between mountains became more common again. [1], [2]. After a long and sometimes quite steel descent for a main road like the 70 from Oppdal to Gjøra, I arrived at the campsite where I found a spot far from everybody to setup camp.
After having setup the tent, I went with the motorcycle to the supermarket in town as it was stated it was open, even on a sunday which is not very common in small towns. So I thought I am in luck, lets get some fresh food.
Arriving at the supermarket it indeed seemed open, but I couldn’t enter as I needed a Norwegian app to be able to enter, which I couldn’t download on my phone. But as some Norwegian people were about to enter, they let me in so I started to collect the things I wanted to buy.
Almost all people had left except one woman, se came up to me and asked me if I had the app, where I naturally said no to. She mentioned to me that you are unable to enter without, but even worse, not able to exit the store (no matter of you paid or not) without the app. She kindly offered to wait for me to grap the last thing I needed and paid, so I could have my supplies and still leave the store. I appreciated this a lot.
While packing the supplies in my panniers, a man arrived in a Norwegian car, stopped next to me and asked in a non-Norwegian English accent if the store was still open, and he explained he was a tourist. I explained what was needed to enter and exit the supermarket and that sadly enough no Norwegians where present anymore. He also tried to install the app, which also didn’t work. We searched a bit online afterwards, and apparently it is a service of some supermarkets to be open for only Norwegians after certain hours.
This man wasn’t as lucky as I was and needed to leave emptyhanded.
Back at camp it was time to cook, eat, clean and take a well deserved shower afterwards before jumping into my comfortable sleeping bag to take a nice rest for tomorrow.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 363.1 km
Distance flat: 254.5 km
Distance climb: 51.2 km
Distance descent: 57.4 km
Total Duration: 6:57:58
Duration Movement: 5:38:33
Average Speed: 64.3 km/h
Maximum speed: 91.2 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 192 m
Maximum Elevation: 1148 m
Total climb: 4335.8 m
Total descent: 4819.6 m
Altitude Gap: -469 m
Day 17 - 2025-08-25 - Gjøra to Åndalsnes via Aursjøvegen
Finally a day where I could start riding again without rain gear on. It wasn’t rainy, nor cold, so I could just ride perfectly fine without the rain gear.
On the planning for today was to go to the Aursjøvegen A road I came across for the first time several years ago when I was traveling with car around Scandinavia. This time I wanted to ride it again but with the motorcycle. As I kept an eye out on the weather forecasts since days before, I had been able to plan my route to travel around it. This so I could be as sure as possible to have decent weather.
First town to reach after Gjøra was Sunndalsøra. This is the town I would recommend starting your travel on this road, as I believe it is the direction with the most beautiful view to drive/ride towards on the Aursjøvegen.
The road towards Sunndalsøra was already very nice as due to the low hanging clouds against the mountains on each side of the road, in combination with the early morning light fall.
This also made me stop at a parking area on the side of the road, with a interesting piece of art. I didn’t stop for the man made art. No, naturally I stopped for the always changing art made by mother nature.
Exiting Sunndalsøra the narrowing road towards the Aursjøvegen started, showing up coming massive steep mountain walls [1], [2], [3], you will pass by quite close. Close enough to be very impressive, and they make you feel small as a human. So tiny and fragile compared to nature.
Near the point where actually the Aursjøvegen are announced on a sign, you will also pass a small town where the people shouldn’t be scared of boulders dropping down from the cliffs practically next to their houses.
Naturally, as this isn’t a main road, far from it actually, it turned to dirt/gravel quite soon. Almost at the same time I came across a sign next to the road mentioning that stopping was forbidden. This due to the (high) chance of rocks falling down on this section of road. No matter this risk, I took it quite slow as I wanted to look around as much as I could, and the road was also somewhat slippery. At one part it was clear they had some form of (small) land/rock slide which they had cleared up. Clearly showing that the warning is not for nothing.
It was a splendid section of road next to a lake slowly climbing up to the dam near the top of the largest part of the ascent.
Reaching the part where most of the ascent had been done, the nature changed drastically. It became more like a lunar landscape but with greenery and water. Typical Norwegian high lands. Also with the more rough rocky tunnels every now and then depending on what type of area you ride through. Definitely not a place you want to drive with you caravan for example. Especially also not due to the sometimes overhanging rockfaces .
While riding this road a campervan caught up with me and eventually overtook me, this happened several times until at a given moment he stopped next to me to have a small chat before continuing on. The man inside was elderly and came from Sweden traveling here alone enjoying the nature. I couldn’t really hear him properly while standing next to the road, so it was a short conversation at first, until I came across him again a while later.
A few points of the route to jump directly to, as this is the best to see to experience instead of me writing about it: [1], [2], [3], [4].
Passing about the halfway mark there was another dam, where at the end of the dam is a place where water could freely flow over the dam if the water level becomes to high. Last time I was here there was a big waterfall here. This time there was nothing. Very interesting to see how much it can differ each time you go to a already known location.
From that point on it was a up an down road waving through the hills [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], on this highland, until a hidden gem of a place to visit, the Aurstaupet.
“Aurstaupet cliff in Norway has a sheer drop of about 700 meters straight down into the Eikesdalen valley” compare this to “the Preikestolen (also known as Pulpit Rock) rises 604 meters above the waters of the Lysefjorden”.
It is truly a impressive cliff, view and drop which makes you feel weak in the legs if you get to close to the edge, at least if you value your life. So, if you value you life, don’t get to close to the edge. The advice is about 10 meter is the closest you should go to the edge of this particular cliff.
While I was at Aurstaupet the old Swedish man I came across before was already there. We both walked to the cliff part, and agreed to help each other make some pictures while standing near the cliff. I haven’t placed the pictures I made for him on this website, but I did send them the same evening to the email address he shared.
During the walk and afterwards he mentioned he had seen quite a bit from the world in his lifetime, as he worked as a intercontinental schipper for a decent part of his life. We spoke about all kinds of things, but mostly about his experience in life and how it is to travel alone. Not many people really like or dare to do so. Eventhough it can be very enriching. This as you can only absorb what you see yourself at the moment, so all excitements but also frustrations you can only share and deal with yourself. This creates a deep lasting impression of the travels done in my opinion.
Next to this you have a way bigger chance of random interactions like I had with this Swedish man. I truly love to be able to have done this, just like my other travels. I work very hard for it to be able to do something like this. But I still understand by heart it is a privilege. A privilege I hope many people would be able to experience in their life in the area/field/experience they would like to have.
Leaving the Aurstaupet, there was some small parts of ascending left, but soon after it was only going downhill, where some parts where quite steep, [1]. But a fun and again a beautiful road to ride.
One part was especially interesting as it was a rough rocky and dark tunnel like the one before, but this time way longer and it circled downward over itself, so a more than 180+ degrees turn within the mountain, on a wet gravel/dirt road hoping that no traffic is coming uphill in the tunnel while I am going down. At the end of the tunnel I slipped a way a bit, and luckily I controlled my motorcycle well enough to not be one of the people who shoots out and flies over the unprotected cliff edge. As here this cliff was also sharp and deep next to the road. Still continuing with a decent steep descent.
Having descended downhill, this was the end for today in the sense of riding highlands, but it was for sure not the end of beautiful typical Norwegian great weather views. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7].
After arriving in Åndalsnes, I fueled up for the next day, and did some grocery shopping in a nearby supermarket. While standing next to my motorcycle packing in my supplies, a Dutch elderly couple came walking up to me and asked a bit about my travels, naturally I did the same back. They where not planning to go up as far north as I had been, but stayed below the Trondheim level. Exploring the country in their camper.
Then it was time to head to the campsite of tonight. Also a place I have been before, but sometimes the places are good enough and convenient to want to go back. It is convenient as it is near the start of the Trollstigen road which makes a early arrival possible, before most of the tourists arrive. Just the way I like it 😉
At the campsite during the evening several motorcyclist arrived as well. One of which setup camp next to me. It was also a Dutch guy traveling alone. During the evening we relaxed and talked a bit until the sun set behind the mountains. A sunset I hadn’t really seen/noticed for days. This due to the midnight sun north of the arctic circle. A perfect time to get into the sleeping bag for another great night of sleep in the fresh air outdoors.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 215.1 km
Distance flat: 141.4 km
Distance climb: 37 km
Distance descent: 36.8 km
Total Duration: 7:06:09
Duration Movement: 5:03:20
Average Speed: 42.5 km/h
Maximum speed: 87.4 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -3 m
Maximum Elevation: 952 m
Total climb: 3043.7 m
Total descent: 3190.2 m
Altitude Gap: -146 m
Day 18 - 2025-08-26 - Åndalsnes to Briksdalsbre via Trollstigen, Dalsnibba utsiktspunkt, Strynefjellsvegen
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 236.3 km
Distance flat: 137.8 km
Distance climb: 49.6 km
Distance descent: 48.8 km
Total Duration: 7:33:42
Duration Movement: 5:51:47
Average Speed: 40.3 km/h
Maximum speed: 91.6 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -12 m
Maximum Elevation: 1484 m
Total climb: 4261.6 m
Total descent: 4190.3 m
Altitude Gap: 74 m
Day 19 - 2025-08-27 - Briksdalsbre to Tvindefossen via Gaularfjellsvegen
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 271.1 km
Distance flat: 170 km
Distance climb: 50.4 km
Distance descent: 50.7 km
Total Duration: 7:10:39
Duration Movement: 5:21:29
Average Speed: 50.6 km/h
Maximum speed: 101.5 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -7 m
Maximum Elevation: 994 m
Total climb: 4135.4 m
Total descent: 4145.1 m
Altitude Gap: -8 m
Day 20 - 2025-08-28 - Tvindefossen to Geilo via Aurlandsvegen, Lærdalstunnelen
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 296.6 km
Distance flat: 191.4 km
Distance climb: 52.5 km
Distance descent: 52.8 km
Total Duration: 7:07:22
Duration Movement: 5:49:25
Average Speed: 50.9 km/h
Maximum speed: 87.9 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 6 m
Maximum Elevation: 1315 m
Total climb: 4969.5 m
Total descent: 4321.8 m
Altitude Gap: 647 m
Day 21 - 2025-08-29 - Geilo to Forsand via Røldalsvegen Fv520
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 389.3 km
Distance flat: 231.6 km
Distance climb: 78.2 km
Distance descent: 79.6 km
Total Duration: 8:39:24
Duration Movement: 7:18:25
Average Speed: 53.3 km/h
Maximum speed: 88.2 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -25 m
Maximum Elevation: 1253 m
Total climb: 5767.8 m
Total descent: 6498.3 m
Altitude Gap: -731 m
Day 22 - 2025-08-30 - Forsand to Tuddal via Lysevegen, Svineroivegen Gaustatoppen
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 309.8 km
Distance flat: 150.6 km
Distance climb: 81.9 km
Distance descent: 77.4 km
Total Duration: 10:18:25
Duration Movement: 8:18:00
Average Speed: 37.3 km/h
Maximum speed: 89.7 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -14 m
Maximum Elevation: 1261 m
Total climb: 6362.2 m
Total descent: 5944.5 m
Altitude Gap: 418 m
Day 23 - 2025-08-31 - Tuddal to Hirsthals (Denmark) via Kviteseidvegen E41
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GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 399.2 km
Distance flat: 285.9 km
Distance climb: 53.7 km
Distance descent: 59.7 km
Total Duration: 12:48:09
Duration Movement: 7:18:06
Average Speed: 54.7 km/h
Maximum speed: 103 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -59 m
Maximum Elevation: 481 m
Total climb: 3584.8 m
Total descent: 4033.8 m
Altitude Gap: -448 m
Day 24 - 2025-09-01 - Hirsthals to Heidenau (Germany) (mostly highway)
This day was really just a day of covering as much distance as possible so I could be able to arrive back home the day after. Still I needed to be careful as at this moment I practically had no front brake pads left.
I had tried to arrange a brake pad replacement while I was on the ferry yesterday and the day before. But I wasn’t able to. This as no one replied, both not in Norway, nor in Denmark. Probably because it was weekend and it was a very last minute thing. And probably they wouldn’t even have brake pads laying around for my type of motorcycle.
So I just continued on with trying to maintain an extra defensive riding style, and engine and rear brake as much as I could, this to spare the front brakes. This was also what I agreed on with the repair shop in the Netherlands where I would bring my bike to for maintenance after the tour.
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 563.9km
Distance flat: 533.7 km
Distance climb: 15.3 km
Distance descent: 14.8 km
Total Duration: 7:44:41
Duration Movement: 6:18:14
Average Speed: 89.4 km/h
Maximum speed: 128 km/h
Minimum Elevation: -1 m
Maximum Elevation: 118 m
Total climb: 2685.2 m
Total descent: 2664.2 m
Altitude Gap: 25 m
Day 25 - 2025-09-02 - Heidenau, Germany to the Netherlands (mostly highway)
After spending the night on a massive campsite, but having a spot all the way in the back of the campsite, next to a small lake with practically nobody around. It was time for me to leave and head back home.
This was a shorter day of riding, but still long enough. Highway riding is never the most fun. But I had all my nice memories of the tour I would finish after arriving back home. What a fantastic experience…. It calls for more, and I can’t wait to do something like this again!🥰
GPS stats of this day, accuracy is not guaranteed:
Distance: 374.7 km
Distance flat: 362.5 km
Distance climb: 6 km
Distance descent: 6.2 km
Total Duration: 4:29:11
Duration Movement: 3:56:44
Average Speed: 95 km/h
Maximum speed: 131.7 km/h
Minimum Elevation: 5 m
Maximum Elevation: 111 m
Total climb: 1406.3 m
Total descent: 1440.6 m
Altitude Gap: -27 m