Norway and Sweden: Scandinavia and the Arctic Circle

Twenty nights to the Arctic Circle and back through five countries, ridden self-guided and deliberately avoiding the motorways. Riders bring their own bike, or hire one.

Harwich starts it, then the Netherlands, Germany and the length of Denmark on back roads, and a ferry from Frederikshavn into Sweden. Pine forest, lakes and meadows follow to Lake Siljan, where the rest day offers a lap of the rim of Europe’s largest meteor crater, formed around 370 million years ago and big enough that several towns sit inside it, or Santa Land, or the preserved house of the painter Anders Zorn.

The Arctic Circle crossing comes next, with the discovery centre on the line, the Arctic Circle Raceway, which is the most northerly racetrack in the world and where a free lap is included, and a motorcycle museum the operator declines to describe in advance.

Norway takes the rest: mountains, fjords, glaciers and waterfalls, the Atlantic Road on its chain of bridges, accommodation in converted fishermen’s huts, and fjord swimming for anyone willing to try it. The route then works south through farmland and small towns to a final overnight ferry from the Netherlands. The price is quoted per rider. This and the operator’s Nordkapp expedition cost the same and take the same time, so the choice comes down to going as far north as the continent allows, or riding the whole way there and back on a rider’s own bike. This one crosses the Circle rather than reaching the Cape, and it spends far more of its time on quiet European back roads getting there.