We would get the Eurotunnel. We love that service and it’s much quicker than the ferry to get to the same point.
Yep. I’ve also consider getting a ferry from Sweden across the Baltic to Finland and heading north through Finland as well. I think my trip might be getting longer… 
Not if you live 10 miles from Harwich 
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Leaving work on a Friday and getting the overnight ferry from Harwich is brilliant. wake up, breakfast on the ferry, get moving by 8am.
Do the same from the eurotunnel and you’re staying in a B&B, finish breakfast and packing by 8 and you’re still 2 hours behind.
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How long do you need to get to the Arctic and back, round trip of Norway and Sweden?
I’ve not managed a trip longer than two weeks since I was a student…a very long time ago. Every year I promise myself a month off but it’s never happened.
So my mates caught the morning Eurotunnel getting to the hotel in Germany 8ish. I was on the day ferry - and made it a couple of hours later.
So much easier if you live close - obs not if you are south of the smoke. Defo worth a look if you are heading east.
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Quickest Route is 2300 miles. Realistically if you just going to plough the miles you could feasibly do it in 4/5 days. But you’re not really going to see or do anything other than ride. You’re going to be tired, and it’s not going to be fun. If you do 300/400 miles a day you’re looking a week minimum.
So yes you could do it in 2 weeks, but doing less miles a day you’ll get to see and do stuff.
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If I’m doing a long trip on the bike it’s because I want to do a long trip on the bike, I can’t be arsed with all the “seeing and doing stuff”, I just want to ride!
I know many on here already follow Itchy Boots - she did a whole Nordic tour this autumn. Plenty of videos of lovely roads and scenery to whet your appetite.
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I met some Dutch bikers in a bar in Oslo. They had just done Amsterdam > Oslo that day. It was still only around 8 pm when we met them, their eyes were on stalks and when I heard the speeds they had been doing it explained why they were still on a bit of a high. They must have halved Google’s suggested time.
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autobahns!
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Was hoping the title was a typo and had a missing R 
Beast Ralert?
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I understand that speed limits are low and rigorously enforced making for a leisurely ride. 300 miles a day can mean many many hours in the saddle, though given enough time I’m sure it would be worth it.
What’s the weather like in the height of summer?
Depends Sweden tends to be dry, because of the mountains of Norway blocking most of the rain, can be a bit chilly in the far north. Norway can be a bit wet.
Lots of information here:
Norway is 80 kmh on national roads, I can’t remember what motorways are but there are very few motorways, you’re on national roads 99% of the time.
I went from Oslo to the west coast and back in a rental car. The roads are spectacular and I regretted not being on a bike.
It might have changed but the thing I remember most was how awful, and how expensive, the food was. Very little choice and shockingly dear. This is going back a good few years, but I remember paying £10 for a microwaved burger in a petrol station. In one large town on the coast we couldn’t find a restaurant - not that we were being fussy, we could not find one - and ended up talking the supermarket check-out staff to let us use their staff microwave on a pizza from the fridge which we then ate standing at the check-out. You don’t go there for the culinary experience.
I have heard that about Norway. The coastal roads are some of the best and most scenic in the world, so that does make up for the food situation.
Sweden has some pretty awful food as well though:
I’ve smelt this stuff and it is foul beyond reason. Here some roughty toughty Texans trying to eat some, the trick is too fill a sink with cold water and to open the tin under water:
I’ve heard of this but didn’t dare try them. What surprised us was the total lack of food. As Londoners we’re spoiled having every cuisine on our doorsteps, Oslo does have some ethnic restaurants which are closer in price to London than Norwegian restaurants are, but once you get out of Oslo there is nothing: no ethnic, no Norwegian, no international, no burger chains, nothing. Microwaved pre-packaged burgers and hotdogs in petrol stations is all.
We had a similar problem with hotels. We went to Molde on the west coast, population 32,000 - not a small village, and we couldn’t find a hotel there. Not that they were full and turned us away, we actually could not find a hotel. Drove to the port, drove around the centre, drove around the suburbs, couldn’t find a hotel. Eventually after much internet searching we found a hostel in a converted lighthouse (which was cute) miles away.
I see the internet has improved things since then and when I do a quick search now on Booking.com it returns a choice of results. I also noticed Itchy Boots had no trouble finding accommodation in random places using the power of Google. Maybe the food situation has improved too.
Yeah we found the food extortionate when we did a trip to Lillehammer a couple of years ago. Even self catering and shopping in supermarkets was eye-wateringly expensive.
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Trains are cheap as hell though. Go figure. It’s amazing what a socially-orientated, competent government can achieve.
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