Polar Problem Express

Thirteen nights from Poland to the North Cape and back, self-guided, over seven thousand kilometres in winter, with ice drifting in Sweden on the way.

Driving to the northernmost point in Europe in January, in a cheap car, is the sort of idea that sounds better in a pub than on a map, which is more or less the point of it. The organisers call the conditions extreme and they are not exaggerating.

Twelve days of driving cover more than seven and a half thousand kilometres, north through Scandinavia to the North Cape and back, in the depth of the Arctic winter when the daylight is measured in hours rather than from sunrise to sunset. The ice drifting breaks it up: an afternoon session on a Swedish circuit from two until five, or until the driver has had enough, or until the car has. A full roadbook is supplied with a route that can be followed or ignored, though as the organisers note, for most of the way it is the only road there is.

Every night is spent under a roof, which on an event of this kind is not a given: hotels, hostels and cabins in the woods, all included in the entry, along with access to the ice circuit. Each person in the car needs a ticket. Late January into early February is the window, and that is deliberate rather than incidental: the whole appeal rests on the snow and ice being reliable. Winter tyres, a plan for the cold and a realistic view of what an old car will do at minus thirty are all worth sorting out well before the start.