Thinking of going to Norway in September.

[billy.fish]

Right, so i have a month off work/college in September. Yes i am a lucky git, thanks

I'm thinking of Taking 3 weeks and doing the Dublin - Uk - Europe - Nordkapp trip i've had in my head for years. I don't know what it is but i like going to cold northern places.

Has anyone been up there before? Any recomendations? Any things that i need dont need.

I'll have my RD07, topbox, set of Zega panniers, and MP3 player.

What else? And anyone interested in coming?

[cbrpaddy]

I was up there two years ago and loved it. I'd absolutely kill to go again but unfortunately there's no way I can get time off up til December.

Just note that three weeks to get all the way up and back down is a helluva lot of riding and won't give you a lot of chill time or a chance to explore many areas in detail. But if you like being on the road that's not a prob.

One thing everyone mentions are the speed limits. I only saw cops once on the entire trip so I wasn't bothered with strictly sticking to the limits after the first week, especially once up in the real boondocks. But if you are nicked prepare for a real wallet-lightening experience, one of the guys I was with was lucky to get away from something like a 400 euro fine for being 3mph over the limit. Luckily it was a Sunday and his credit card wouldn't work in their machine. They were going to hold him overnight til Monday when they could bring him to a bank but he managed to sweettalk his way out of that and was told to pay in a PO or somewhere before trying to leave on the boat, so came back via Sweden, Denmark and overland!!

There's signs everywhere warning of moose and the like. I was very blase about them but did nearly cream myself several times when a gang of moose tried to do a robbin hood by leaping out from behind some trees onto the road. Who woulda thought such big feckers could hide so good ! Up north reindeer are just as bad and come in even larger swarms.

Also, I brought a small tent last time but I think I only used it about once in the first week and a half. Most of the time we stayed in these small wooden huts at the campsites, but that was mainly because it lashed rain a bit and they were handy for drying out. Prices were about 20-30 euros a night for them and there were three of us so it was the same cost each as a tent pitch. On the way down I mainly camped wild as they're very relaxed about that which is great.

Defo bring some of the usual spare parts. Having been nobbled by Honda twice before I always bring a spare regulator/rectifier, and would like to have a replacement fuel pump. I did have breakdown and recovery, but the one time my bike didn't start was of course right up at the Nordkapp visitor centre and I'm sure it would have been one helluva battle trying to get recovered from there, the phone call would certainly have been interesting anyway.

Oh yeah, eating out could be very expensive so I used my stove and cooking gear a lot. I'm a savage so breakfasts and lunches mostly consisted of cheap hotdogs (pulse) at petrol stations, then dinner would be whatever I'd pick up in a supermarket.

The weather was also very variable so bring a full range of gear - at times I was riding alongside glaciers up in the mountains in a tshirt, and by vineyards (much to my surprise) down by the fjords in seriously cold rain, sleet and snow with everything I could wear squashed on.