I'm setting off from home (SE Manchester) on 1st March and riding a fat bike all the way to Nordkapp, Norway arriving 25 days later. I've mapped the route out and it stands at 2871 miles

If you guys are interested the route I'll be taking is here. https://karlbooth.com/2017/02/14/nordkapp-the-hard-way/

I'm hoping to raise £2500 for Water Aid, any donations are much appreciated http://www.justgiving.com/wheelcrazy

I'll keep you posted on progress. I'll have a spotwalla page available soon.

Twitter updates here https://twitter.com/Wheel_Crazy

Good luck fella - riding a fat bike 28.71 miles is enough

Wish I'd planned to use a Yorkshire fat bike aka e'fatbike

That's bonkers. Good luck to you sir.

Most excellent :)

Nice one Karl, I'm jealous. Fat bike should be the tool for the job in the far north - good luck and look forward to the photos.

Thanks guys. Just getting to the north might take a little longer

Should be fun Karl. Hope you enjoy

Good luck Karl. It looks like a great trip and I look forward to the updates. Mark

When you said the hard way I thought you were going to be riding through Norway and not taking the easy way through Sweden...

2871 miles ... in 25 days... in winter.... 114 miles per day (no days off) do you think this is ummmm a bit unrealistic? I have been that way (in summer mind) and its a long way.

Looking out the window, its snow on the ground, so frozen ice roads. I cant see this changing over the next few weeks - hence the fat bike I suppose? Do you have studded tires on it? Going to need them - just not until you are in Sweden, so will be warn away to nothing if you are riding from Manchester to Stockholm! The roads are not always the soft loveliness in your picture(on your blog) but when the wind gets on the compacted snow, its just sheet ice.

You may have issues with the Nordkapp Tunnel (it has automatic "doors" in the winter... google it) but its also not a nice ride with 10% down and up (240 ish m subsea) makes an interesting, just not pleasant ride! I dislike riding in the tunnels over here, mostly (in Norway) you are banned and have to take a longer detour (the old road in many cases) but "up north" with the lack of traffic you can ride most of them anyway. Its an experience riding then I can assure you (if you haven't already done so).

Mostly thought, I hope you like trees... your route has lots of trees.... more trees than you can shake a stick at.... oh and some more trees. You may end up thinking Sweden is just trees... Then all of a sudden, no trees and a wind that can cut you in half as you hit the arctic proper.

All I can say is RESPECT for attempting to do this in the time limit you have set yourself and please do not underestimate the cold and how dehydrating it is.

Cheers NorwayCalling. It is a long way I know. I'm expecting very long days in the saddle at the start to give me some contingency, training has gone well though and the fat bike is pretty quick which is good. Thanks for the info about the tunnel. I was aware of the doors, hopefully me and the bike will trigger the door to open or I could be a while

It's a challenge. I've kept the route fairly flat(ish) to help get the distance in at the start. The lovely snowy pic was in the Jura mountains with Gian in January doing some "training". The snow was lovely but slow going in places.

I wanted a challenge which was a step up from the highland trail...I think this is it

Karl wrote:
I wanted a challenge which was a step up from the highland trail...I think this is it

As one of (possibly)the few on here to have been that way, i know what is ahead of you and I will say it again... RESPECT for doing it in March.

At least its getting lighter now, I think its around March 20th that we will be getting close to the equinox so at least 13 hours of "daylight" to ride by and more every day you go higher up.

Ive started my adventure. You can follow me here...
https://karlbooth.com/2017/02/28/follow-me-live/

Somethings not right... spotwalla suggests he is heading back towards Maidstone...

Not something you would do voluntarily in my book

Back in the right direction again now.

It was great meeting you this morning Karl, hope you got everything sorted in Maidstone. Look forward to following the rest of your adventure.

Sam

Hi Sam.

Thanks for helping us out. I ended up sat on a bench outside a pub with a gas soldering iron and my dyno to usb converter in bits....amazingly it worked.

Starting to make progress but I'm sure this bloody rain is following me!

Thanks for following me guys!

Good luck Karl.
I have experience of Northern Scandinavia in both winter and summer. As Norway Calling has said... respect. Lots of luck to you, will be watching closely.

All the best

Paul.

I thought this deserves to be bumped as he's nearly there. Only a few km to go.

Nearly there - well done lad

Weathers not playing fair, to get so close and so quickly then to get snowed off, must be frustrating. Looking at the local cams and weather, its not looking great tomorrow either and the road to the tourist center at the Kapp itself does not look like it has been plowed, so maybe more fun and games ahead.

Either way, fantastic ride.

I made it...at last. Like NorwayCalling said the road hadn't been plowed until this morning (and it was deep). I sneaked past the barrier and followed the plow to Nordkapp. Weather was good this morning, think I got lucky. I'll write a full report when I get home but I can promise you it was an adventure. Randomly off to a fatbike race tomorrow after meeting a nice bloke who was helping organise it on my way up to Nordkapp....happy days

Well done fella, looking forward to hearing the stories first hand

Very easy for me to sit here in the pub and say 'oh jolly well done'.... and then I pause.. and I think a little harder... and I try to feel it.... then.... 'well done'??? What am I saying...Two and a half thousand miles to the North Cape... no words.... stunning....

Well done Karl - ITI next?