Anyone toured Finland/Sweden?

[foxyrider]

It's just a pie in the sky idea atm but looking at something a bit more exciting for perhaps 2018's trip and the idea has come up to ride from Helsinki to Stockholm overland, something like 2000km.

So, has anyone done this or even just toured in those areas? I'd be hoping to do it as a camping trip over maybe four weeks in summer. The route is pretty simple either north through the lakes and down the Swedish coast or just follow the the Finnish coast. Nothing is fixed, as I say it's in the very early planning stages atm.

I've never taken a bike to either country so any hints, tips, advice eagerly awaited.

[Vorpal]

I've been across Sweden to Stockholm and took the train back. I have not been further north in Sweden, nor been to Finland. We do have a member in Finland, but he's not been about for awhile. An overland route in Sweden is likely to be mosquitoey in summer. Also, I think you are likely to find that the landscape changes only slowly; might be worth haing a look at some alternatives on Google Earth.

[F70100]

There's a CGOAB journal here that might cover some of the ground you're interested in.

[teamonster]

There's some lovely scenery once you get a bit North of Sundsvall and into the Höga Kosten, I've travelled between there and Härnösand a few times in the car as the in laws had a summer house up there. I've cycled around bits of the coast, near the summer house its' not called the high coast for nothing, there are a few hills. Further south towards Stockholm it gets flatter and you will need to get accustomed to lots of trees and lakes ! By the time you get to Uppsala it's fairly flat open farmland, but if you start on the coast there are lots of nice seaside towns. I suspect route planning will be the biggest challenge, the main road North the E4 is effectively a motorway and I think bikes are banned from lots of it, certainly on the sections further south. Alternatives are likely to be much less direct. I'm sorry I haven''t got more direct experience of actually cycling in the area - hope this helps. One thing to remember is that Sweden is huge and the distances between towns and food stops/supermarkets needs to be borne in mind - nothing that can't be coped with but its as well to plan ahead. If all this sounds a bit downbeat, I'll finish on a positive note - I love the place, and am hoping to do some serious touring across it next year.

[psmiffy]

I did a loop Stockholm -- Turku - Vaasa - Umea - Stockholm - its wasnt very exciting - too many trees - but I enjoyed it - just great visiting interesting places and meeting people I was not familiar with - cannot have been too bad because I did the west coast of Sweden a few years after and Gothenburg - Stockholm - Turku - Helsinki the year after

[albal1]

There's a CGOAB journal here that might cover some of the ground you're interested in.

Thanks. That was me. Loved Finland incidentally we pretty much followed the 4, calling it the highway to Hel! It wasn't that bad considering what we have to put up with here in Britain.

[khain]

I wouldn't go near Finland in the summer. The mosquitoes are an absolute nightmare.

If cycling all day and staying in hotels it wouldn't be so bad but camping will be miserable.

The scenery is kind of boring too, and everything costs a fortune.

[MartinBrice]

A far better and less midge ridden route would be to fly to Alta then get the bus to Nordkapp and ride south through Norway asking the coast. The Lofoten Islands are particularly beautiful and world famous. CGOAB has various journals about it. You could fly home direct from Trondheim but further north than that involves a change at Oslo.