2026 North to the Nordics and Nordkapp

Overview

Following the French Rivera Tour with Kathi, Chris is headed back to Milan, picking up the Sh350i and then driving north to the top of Norway. This approximates a Norway adventure which has been planned for years now.

A loop from Milan to northern Norway and back is 9300 km / 5800 miles, 150+ hrs of riding, broken out into 6hr days, that's 25 riding days. Add a rest/contingency day every 5 days and it requires 30 days which would put me back around July 20.

The Stockholm option. I found a place to leave the bike for a few weeks/months in Stockholm, a shop called MC-Varuhus. I'll return later in the summer (Aug 29) to finish the return to Milan.

On the map below, I've plotted my track logs for each riding day. You can hover your mouse over any route to see the endpoints and then click to take yourself to that day's page.
You can also click the calendar days or use the fat arrows at the top and bottom of the pages to navigate.


France → Italy → Switzerland → Germany → Luxembourg → Netherlands → Denmark → Norway → Finland → Sweden
24 riding days
Day 0, Nice → Milan by FlixBus Day 1, Milan → La Tine Switzerland Day 2, La Tine → Gérardmer France Day 3, Gérardmer → Luxembourg Day 4, Luxembourg → Brussels Belgium Day 5, Brussels → Zwolle Netherlands Day 6, Zwolle → Hamburg Germany Day 7, Hamburg → Øster Assels Denmark Day 8, Denmark → Feda Norway Day 9, Feda → Flørli Day 10, Flørli → Stord Day 11, Stord → Florø Day 12, Florø → Hustadvika Day 13, Hustadvika → Snåsa Day 14, Snåsa → Mosjøen Day 15, Mosjøen → Bodø Day 16, Bodø → Svolvær Day 17, Svolvær → Mjelde Day 18, Mjelde → Alta Day 19, Alta → Havøysund Day 20, Havøysund → Inari Finland Day 21, Inari → Kemi Day 22, Kemi → Vaasa Day 23, Vaasa → Sundsvall Sweden Day 24, Sundsvall → Stockholm

Daily Stats

DayStart→End km my time GoogleTime %over
0 Nice → Milan by FlixBus
1 Milan → La Tine Switzerland 415 km 9h45m 7h26m +31% ( 3h12m over)
2 La Tine → Gérardmer France 331 km 8h41m5h37m +52% ( 1h15m over)
3 Gérardmer → Luxembourg 334 km8h42m 4h54m +77% ( 3h48m over)
4 Luxembourg → Brussels Belgium 278 km 6h22m 4h33m +40% ( 1h49m over)
5 Brussels → Zwolle Netherlands 312 km 8h49m 5h34m +58% ( 2h25m over)
6 Zwolle → Hamburg Germany 378 km 8h16m 6h27m +28% ( 1h49m over)
7 Hamburg → Øster Assels Denmark 451 km8h59m 5h16m +71% ( 3h43m over)
8 Denmark → Feda Norway 300 km 5h54m 4h7m +43% ( 1h5m over) long ferry 3h56m moving + 2h25 waiting
9 Feda → Flørli 285 km11h24m 5h6m +124% ( 5h57m over) includes 1 short ferry ride
10 Flørli → Stord 441 km9h54m 6h17m +58% ( 3h01m over)
11 Stord → Florø 374 km11h24m 6h50m +67% ( 4h6m over) includes 3 ferry rides
12 Florø → Hustadvika 322 km 8h40m 6h45m +28% ( 2h24m over) includes 4 ferry rides
13 Hustadvika → Snåsa 481 km10h21m 7h35m +27% ( 2h46m over) includes 1 ferry ride
14 Snåsa → Mosjøen 353 km 9h23m 6h12m +51% ( 2h31m over) includes 3 ferry rides
15 Mosjøen → Bodø 356 km 9h51m 6h53m +43% ( 2h44m over) includes 2 ferry rides
16 Bodø → Svolvær 129 km 3h8m 2h29m +26% ( 39m over) long ferry 3h36m moving + waiting
17 Svolvær → Mjelde 445 km12h19m9h13m +34% ( 3h4m over) includes 2 ferry rides
18 Mjelde → Alta 434 km9h17m 6h10m +51% ( 4h13m over)
19 Alta → Havøysund 446 km 9h02m 5h53m +53% ( 2h11m over)
20 Havøysund → Inari Finland 391 km 7h25m 4h46m +55% ( 1h21m over)
21 Inari → Kemi 486 km 7h49m 5h38m +39% ( 1h40m over)
22 Kemi → Vaasa 438 km 7h29m 5h7m +46% ( 1h52m over)
23 Vaasa → Sundsvall Sweden 332 km 7h33m 4h53m +85% ( 4h10m over) long ferry 2h23m moving + 1h34m waiting
24 Sundsvall → Stockholm 528 km10h05m 6h32m +54% ( 1h52m over)


Total: 9,063 km over 24 riding days (Odometer showed 9,315 km covered). Roughly 10% more distance and 1/7th more days than planned.
19 ferry passages!

Averages: 388 km/day 9h9m elapsed time 5h50m google maps time + 53% (min +26%, max +124%)
Plan for 6hrs/day and expect 9hrs. Leave at 8am, arrive around 5pm.
A typical day is 340km, a shortish day is 300 and a longish day is 400 km.

Compared to original plan

427 km,
435 km,
460 km,
420 km,
366 km,
416 km,
315 km,
440 km,
250 km,
422 km,
356 km,
531 km,
402 km,
225 km,
419 km,
516 km,
437 km,
424 km,
439 km,
349 km,
324 km,

Total: 8373 km in 21 riding days averaging 400 km/day
What changed: I did more rural riding, rode for 3 more days (less rest and no full rest days),
about 25km less distance per day, and overall rode ~10% farther than planned.
Next time, increase the estimated distance by 10% and divide by 360 km to get planned riding days.

The best stays

Average price over all stays was €80/night.

Cost stats for 30 days

Hotels €2,450 51%
Fuel €816 17%
Eating out €599 12%
Groceries €346 7%
Ferries €330 7%
Misc Transport + Trains €48 1%
Scooter storage €77 2%
Museum Tickets €77 2%
Souveniers €61 1%

Total daily expenses, not including air travel: €4,809 for an average of €160/day.

Unusual Letters

In American English we have 26 letters (21 consonants and 5 vowels called A E I O U).
In some other Roman Alphabet languages they have some extra letters. This was confusing to me, so I'm making this guide.
French: é, à, è, ù, â, ê, î, ô, û, ë, ï, ü, ç, æ, and they hardly use K and W
Italian: à, è, é, ì, ò, ó, ù and they don't use J, K, W, X and Y
German ä, ö, ü, ß
Swiss German like German minus ß
Dutch IJ
Danish æ, å, å, ø, ö
Norweigian same as Danish
Finnish å, å, ö, š, ž, and Sami adds ŋ and đ
Swedish like Swiss German, å, å, ö
Icelandic Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý, ð, Ð, Þ, Æ, Ö, æ Æ ö they don't use C, Q, W, and Z
Coming up on the next trip
Polish ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż
Estonian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Czech

Daily Details and Naration

0) Jun 16 Tue Kathi → PDX
11:55am NCE -2h15m-> LHR 1:10pm $4,255 business
2h30m layover
3:40pm LHR -10h0m-> PDX 5:40pm British Airways A321neo BA 327

Chris Nice → Milan by FlixBus 5h30m €35.98
12:05 PM from Nice Airport Bus Station Terminal 1 — 5:25 PM Milan Lampugnano Bus Station
Then a M1 train and Bus 53 to hotel Convertini
1) Jun 17 Wed Milan → La Tine Switzerland (415 km)
2) Jun 18 Thu La Tine → Gérardmer France (331 km)
3) Jun 19 Fri Gérardmer → Luxembourg (338 km)
4) Jun 20 Sat Luxembourg → Brussels Belgium (280 km)
5) Jun 21 Sun Brussels → Zwolle Netherlands (312 km)
6) Jun 22 Mon Zwolle → Hamburg Germany (379 km)
7) Jun 23 Tue Hamburg → Øster Assels Denmark (462 km)
8) Jun 24 Wed Denmark → Feda Norway (300 km)
9) Jun 25 Thu Feda → Flørli (285 km)
10) Jun 26 Fri Flørli → Stord (442 km)
11) Jun 27 Sat Stord → Florø (374 km)
12) Jun 28 Sun Florø → Hustadvika (322 km)
13) Jun 29 Mon Hustadvika → Snåsa (482 km)
14) Jun 30 Tue Snåsa → Mosjøen (353 km)
15) Jul 1 Wed Mosjøen → Bodø (356 km)
16) Jul 2 Thu Bodø → Svolvær (129 km)
17) Jul 3 Fri Svolvær → Mjelde (445 km)
18) Jul 4 Sat Mjelde → Alta (437 km)
19) Jul 5 Sun Alta → Havøysund (446 km)
20) Jul 6 Mon Havøysund → Inari Finland (391 km)
21) Jul 7 Tue Inari → Kemi (486 km)
22) Jul 8 Wed Kemi → Vaasa (438 km)
23) Jul 9 Thu Vaasa → Sundsvall Sweden (332 km)
24) Jul 10 Fri Sundsvall → Stockholm (528 km), lasagna dinner
25) Jul 11 Sat Hiking and Kayaking with Jeremy, Roger, and Francis
26) Jul 12 Sun Vasa Museum and Vrak Museum
27) Jul 13 Mon deliver bike to Stockholms MC Varuhus then walk Stockholm
MVH Daniel
Verkstadens kundmottagning,
Stockholms MC-Varuhus AB
Telefon: 08-50620500
28) Jul 14 Tue Vasa Museum and Nordic Museum, Walk Stockholm
29) Jul 15 Wed fly Stockholm ARN 1:45pm -3h20m-> KEF 3:05pm, 4:50pm KEF -8h5m-> PDX 5:55pm $1,059.80 EconomyFlex IcelandAir FI307 & FI665

click a calendar day to see daily details


Note: calendar days are clickable to see each day of the trip
day 0 day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6 day 7 day 8 day 9 day 10 day 11 day 12 day 13 day 14 day 15 day 16 day 17 day 18 day 19 day 20 day 21 day 22 day 23 day 24 day 25 day 26 day 27 day 28 day 29

Where we stayed



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