This is the first article in my Epic Adventure to Nordkapp series. In this article I’ll describe how I went about Planning my trip of a lifetime. I’ll also Give You Some Tricks and Tips you can use to plan YOUR Trip of a Lifetime.
“Every journey starts with a single step”! and for me the first step was to actually decide to do the trip. I’d been “thinking” about doing an Epic Adventure for a few years now but had never actually committed to doing something, until now that is. So why “Nordkapp”? Well it’s pretty simple really – I’ve not been to Sweden or Norway for years, and Nordkapp is one of those destination on the “must do” list for every Adventure Biker – so Nordkapp it was for my 2023 Adventure.
Planning a long distance trip can be an exciting and fulfilling experience, but, let’s face it, it can also be overwhelming and stressful; especially if you don’t know where to start. When I started to look at planning an adventure like the 5000 mile trip to Nordkapp from my home in the south west of the UK, there was a bit of a “chicken an egg” that started to rear its head. Do I book the accommodation first?; or do I book the ferries first.? Well neither really – I decided to plan my basic route as the start point.
The route there
In planning my adventure to Nordkapp I used Google Map’s route planning tool to plan my approximate route. As you can see in this map of the outward section of the journey, the plan is to route via Ferry at Dover, through France, Belgium, Germany Denmark and into Sweden. I have decided that the costal route (the quickest according to the Route Planner) is not the one I want to follow on this trip, so I will be routing up through the centre of Sweden and into Norway all being well.
the journey back
Know your limits
I’ve done a lot of touring on a motorcycle and, for me, the ideal day is between 250 and 350 miles, although I do like to stay toward the lower end of this range. So with this in mind you can now use something like the RAC Route planner tool to break down the proposed route into “bite sized’ chunks. Doing this also lets you refine your route and book your accommodation.
On this adventure I will be camping and using AirBNB. In general I find that an “AirBNB” every 3 days makes the trip enjoyable for me – you may have a different view. It also allows you to identify the exact dates you will need to book ferries in order to complete the route.
In general I will look to book the ferries early so that I can be sure that I can get a sailing on the right day and time. If you can’t then it’s pretty straight forward to adjust your route.
So in order of activity this is how I go about planning my Adventures:
- Decide on the destination and rough dates of travel
- Rough out the route using Google Maps
- Break the route up into travel days using RAC Route Planner
- Book my ferries etc
- Book my accommodation
- Refine the route and booking to reflect the real world.
When I’m looking for Campsites (or wild camping spots) I use a website called iOverlander which I can’t recommend enough. I have their App installed on my phone so that I can find things quickly even when on route.
Here’s a quick look at the sort of things that helps me refine the plan.
As you can see this is basically an itinerary of part of my journey. I have put a downloadable version at the end of this post .
There’s an old military saying that goes “Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents, Poor Performance” – the 6P’s. While this is true also remember that you are planning an adventure so make sure you build some flexibility into your itinerary. If you do you will be able to “follow the roads less traveled” – which for me is the whole point.
Here’s a spreadsheet to help with your planning
