Northtour - the planning

After making some tours with a friend in early 2017 I've got the idea to visit the North Cape. Sure I never would do by ship, neither by car. But on the motorbike - this idea was great! I knew that I can find many tours which are offered mainly across a direct route through Sweden and back, all guided and plannend. That was out of the question - never!

If I would do this I wanted to drive unbounded visiting the countries I have never been before and which I intended to traverse. And I wanted to experience highlights, the landscapes, find a place for the night whereever I wanted to stay either on a camping site or just outdoors. That'd be a tour on which something could happen. And therefore I could find a breath of adventure, the confrontation with nature, with the width, with the wild land and last not least with everthing what lives there.

From somewhere I knew about Oskar Ils visiting the north-east part of Norway. This was a Norwegian king who visited his country and he came up there in the 19th century. Since then it is fixed for all Norwegian people that this territory ist Norwegian national territory and they are guarding it stern. The population hat built a chapel in gratefulness. Today on the other side of the border river lays Russia. To visit this point became one of my targets.

On a whim I let it be said casually that I will take a bath in the polar sea.

Nevertheless it won't be able without any preparation to do an act like this. And that follows as next.

Route of the journey

In 2017 my conception to this journey was immature. But I was obvious that this must be a real long way to drive  - and this route was layed down in my head: Danmark, Sweden, isles of Ä-land, Finland up to the high north, Norway up to the Russian border, further to the North Cape, from there to the Lofoten and back at the salmon river (at Laksforsen) up until Lillehammer and Oslo and by taking back a ferry to Danmark!

Why didn't I think about the other way round, so to say first visiting Norway? There are some motorbikers who made the way on this direction. I had read some travel reports with description of landscapes and I imagined that the truly beautifulliest landscapes should be in the north of Norway and in the western parts of this country. And I wanted to expire the nicest places at the end.

So I've set this for me and then I planned the route meticulously. In a chart I have put all streets, stay ins, overnight stays and ferry connections and also last gas stations before the 'nowhere'. I made a list of all BMW repair centers, I noticed the embassies and their contact data. All in all this might be overdone but I do because you never know what happens next.

Here you can find this chart to be downloaded - as a tip, suggestion and also for private use if you're interested to do a similar journey.

So I planned to drive about 8.000km (nearly 5.000 miles). This was too far for my friend - okay, then I decided to do it on my own!

Weather issue  - the right period of time

Next I asked about the weather question and I saw that early May to early June would be best. At that time there'll be the fewest rainfalls a year as well as far to the polar circle the streets are free of snow and nearly without frost. Although the time between July and August is the time of the year with the highest temperatures I find it better to have fewer raining days and lower temperatures. It took me a longer time to think about this and I decided to start the journey in early May 2018.

Duration of the journey

How many days do I estimate for this tour? I wouldn't spend to much of my working holidays to show consideration about my family. So I set a limit of 21 days including the option for a few spare days to stay a bit longer. While now retrospecting this has lead to very long day trips. That's a fact I will lavishly plan for a next tour.

Luggage

Always I see the vexatious question what you will really need and no one had ever given the right answer. The less you'll take with you the better. Naturally the weather plays its own rules when you're sitting on your motorcycle. An immediate and heavy rain could come and won't give a choice to put on the rain suites and furthermore shortly after that you'll have the best sunshine while sitting in your own sweat because it was not possible to take off the rain suites so fast.

I haven't had so many clothes with me. I thought it'd be important to carry bike clothes for cold times, waterproofed boots, a rain suit, which really stops the rain coming in. And surely warm clothes because I had to expect coldness. So I took warm gloves, heating handles and when I renewed my seat I built in a seat heating. A pair of shoes to use on a camping site had to come with me, t-shirts of course, jeans and the common underwear in commensurably amount and 2 towels.

To go to the north into the wilderness you may not forget tools. So to my on-board tool kit had to be added a complete set of ring spanners, a 22mm nut with ratched, a general pliers, cable ties, screw drivers, inbus spanners, spare throttle cables for gas and clutch and for the worst case tyre levers and a repair kit for the tube. In addition it won't be bad to have some special parts which could be damaged or broken when any repair center is far. One time I have had bad luck with my BMW F650 because the generators rectifier was damaged. These are the things which could let you desparate - a small failure, but a heavy effect.

Furthermore I was on the way of my own with the target to stay outdoors overnight and far away from everything. So I thought to take more things with me. May be a spare battery, a gasoline canister? Sure and for 3 liters. An air pump and an air tester.

In addition I had to put on the winter sleeping bag, a self inflating pillow, a tent (for 4), a desk, a camping chair, a tarp against lightly rain, a garage for the motorbike, gas cooker, camping dishes, some lamps and medicin for few cases of illness.

You think all these things will never get on the motorbike? So look to the picture on the left which I took when I made a test ride with all luggage.

Engineering

To add are the nower days usefull technical gimmicks without them the 'civilized' humans won't dare to go out of their home. Smartpnone, navigation system, action cam, camera and so on.

Financial

Without money you won't come far today. But the countries of Scandinavia are known to be the first to make payment by card for everything. So I decided to take less money with me but instead my banking card and a credit card. Beforehand is to say: you may pay a chewing gum by card and that is normal. When I came back home and proofed my banking account I saw that the transaction fees matched the prices. For example I had to pay 1.60€ for a cup of coffee and the fee was 0.03€. Why isn't this possible at home in Germany?

Dangerous animals

I also took a look into the wildlife of Scandinavia. It was clear very fast that the badly shaken wolves go away from the humans whereever they might meet them. The same ist to say of wolverine. A bit more dangerous are the reindeers which are grazing nearby the streets or the elks (mooses) which think they are the greatest in the land. Later on I will tell more about that.

But the animal of which I think it is the most dangerous in Europe is: the tick! I have had good luck not to get into contact with it. But not the ticks are the really problem. The danger comes from illnesses which are worn by ticks.

With a click on the motorbike on the right side the story starts finally: