Driving to the Arctic Circle?

Ok, I know its not the biggest/longest expedition here, but it could be my first. I know its been done in a Fiat 500 and an Ariel Atom, but I reckon a Landy would be better suited to snow-covered Norwegian roads.

So, what do I need to know? What tyres would be best (BFG M/T's would be my first choice)? What about accommodation?

I'm not doing it on a whim - it probably won't even happen until 2015 (by which time my 90 should have a nice new galvanised chassis), and I want to plan it properly.

Has anyone here done it? All advice appreciated!

I drove up to the arctic circle in a fiat cinqucento dumped it at a junk place by bodo airport and flew home. my advice is bring lots of beer money because its dammed expensive up in that direction

Depending on when you go it is a legal requirement to have proper winter tyres and/or snow chains.. I am planning something for next year, through Belgium, Denmark, Sweden up to Nordkapp in Norway then down into Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic and Germany then home

As Jason said you will need lots of cash, everything is expensive but particularly alcohol so stock up in france on the way

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f15/nordkapp-how-many-days-drive-199885.html

Buckhandle - thanks for the link!

Not initially planning to go any further than the arctic circle, Nordkapp would be nice but as its my first trip I don't want to over-reach myself.

The plan so far is to catch the ferry to Esbjerg and drive from there - the back of the 90 will be loaded with beer and food before we go in order to save a few quid.

Are BFG M/T's classed as proper winter tyres?

Not planning to camp, are there any forms of cheap hostel-type places to bed down in Norway?

Also, do I need to worry about diesel freezing? I'd guess a mix of diesel and avgas would be the answer?

Re the diesel freezing I would fill up local with diesel and it will have additives in to stop it freezing up.
Change fuel filter before you go and you should be fine, the locals don't freeze up on local bought fuel but they may have fuel lines and filter lagged.

Don't think about the diesel - it works fine But do fit a new filter before you go, just as already suggested.

We had -42.5 degreeC two years ago in Jokkmokk/Sweden - with no fuel problems. The cold create different problems though. If you have no external heat source (220v coolant water dip-heater or a diesel-heater etc) you will not be able to start your Landy at those temperatures. I have two batteries and the battery power is limited - but not the reason why we could not start the engine. It cranked fine for 10 min but never started. Same with many other diesel cars. I cannot explain what happens but I believe that that the diesel spray pattern in the engine is influenced by the low temperatures?

Be 100% sure that your coolant additive provides 100% fluent coolant water at -45C .. for two reasons:
- You may split the engine head or different parts if the coolant freezes
- If you use an external diesel-heater it will not be able to circulate the coolant water if just a bit 'mushy'. If no circulation - your external heater is worth nothing (own experience).

Change your oils to low viscosity winter oils. The gearbox feels like stuck in caramel when cold.

In terms of tires. Don't use M/Ts - they are, by my opinion, dangerous on icy roads. A/Ts are far better. I bet you will primarily be facing roads covered in ice and compressed snow. maybe also fresh snow - but not deep snow. The M/T are only good in the deep snow.

Any Norwegians reading this? .. comments?

Have FUN!, I'm considering going at the beginning of march (again) Nordkapp, camping all the way... juhuu can't wait.

Lars

cartoonhead said:

Depending on when you go it is a legal requirement to have proper winter tyres and/or snow chains.. I am planning something for next year, through Belgium, Denmark, Sweden up to Nordkapp in Norway then down into Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic and Germany then home

As Jason said you will need lots of cash, everything is expensive but particularly alcohol so stock up in france on the way

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When in the year are you doing this? Funnily enough, we are doing the exact same trip but the other way round mid to late sept. Time might not allow us to get to Nordkapp as we have friends to meet in Oslo and a lot of places in Finland and Norway we want to check out (most of the music we listen/used to listen to comes from these parts, so there is a lot of bars and record shops we need to visit) so I think we will just be going over the top of the Gulf and straight across to Norway.

I'll be starting a thread closer to the time.

having driven in northern finland in the depths of winter i wouldnt consider anything less than studded snow and ice tyres, and some places we could only get to on a snowmobile or with snow shoes or skis.

I jumped in a snow drift off what i thought was a low wall and went in to above my waist lol

If you do rent a snowmobile deffo get one with heated grips and footpegs

I was in Northern Norway last year with work near tromso and we drove 110's, the best bit of kit on them was studded tyres they make a notable difference.

There's two types of winter tyres used in nordic countries. Studded or friction tyres. Both good but on ice defenetly studded better. Any AT's or MT's is a bit dangerous in my opinion, even tough i have driven at's in winter. You just have to be more careful.

Alcohol is expensive, specially in norway where everything is.

i the scandinavian countries i think it is still illegal to drive in winter without appropriate tyres

That's right but any tires marked m+s is legal. So most AT tires goes.

Hello chaps, long time no see. Me and the missus are keen on doing this trip, and we think it's time to start investigating the logistics properly.

It will be our firt big expedition, so we'd want to go in summer the first time round. We'd like to see the northern lights but maybe that's for another trip. So it looks like you need 18-22 days to really take it all in, i don't know how people wangle this with jobs and stuff, any tips?

We've been thinking seriously about touring tents, with an Oztent RV4 being the current front runner to add to our current gear. However the "park and camp" convenience of a roof tent is also appealing. How easy is it to camp in the way? Are there places to pitch up near the roads and wild camp ? If we have to find campsites to stop at every night so be it, but we'd rather park up in a nice spot and make camp if it's ok to do that.

We'd like to be as self sufficient as possible, taking food and equipment with us and keeping the costs down that way. We're thinking it would be great to go north through sweden and then come back down through norway to see as much as possible .

So yeh I'd just like to get in on the conversation really and hear from people who have done it. What we should prepare for etc.

My personal situation with work being self employed obviously gives me some flexibility but still anything over a week, at least in the summer, is a struggle. I tend to just go for it and deal with the consequences later. I've missed deadlines and its cost me rep but I ultimately don't care.

In terms of camping, finding a spot to camp close to the car isnt always that easy. I would say be prepared to have to leave the vehicle parked up. The terrain in Norway can make finding a nice spot difficult, though this can depend on how cheeky you feel when making use of the right to roam. I found that the smaller the footprint of the tent, the better. Rooftent would work well though I always get the impression that a roof tent takes away a little bit of what's special about camping.

Larry365 said:

Rooftent would work well though I always get the impression that a roof tent takes away a little bit of what's special about camping.

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Yeh I've been trying to decide between an OzTent and Gordigear Explorer rooftent. Both Australian quality and about the same price though oztent is much bigger. We already have a Kyham Igloo and Rigidome, the Igloo is what they used on the G4 challenge and is a great compact touring ground tent so I'm leaning toward the Gordigear RTT as that's the current gap in our gear.

I use a Range Rover for all my trips and have made it so we can sleep in the back and don't have any roof rack or trailer to worry about .
I have been to Mongolia twice and through Russia 5 times and the last trip was to Georgia Albania and Azerbaijan .I was away about 7 months and only spent about 4 nights in a hotel.I have been in turkey where the temperature dropped to -26c and there was snow on the passes and although I carried snow chains I didnt have to use them . The tyres I was using were Michelin latitude cross and i also got about 40 000 miles out of them.
If you want to read about my travels type in bennyybeanbear blog in google and see what it thows up. also overlandlyn 2010 for earlier trips