arctic-cycler.com

Part of my big cycle trip through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Norway from Eindhoven to the North Cape in Norway.

I am putting together a planned route for the trip along quiet roads through pretty areas. In the past, I have found that just ‘going’ lands you on ugly roads with lots of traffic. If you know some of the places I am cycling through, and have some suggestions, please let me know!

The Swedish leg is part of the ‘Cykelspåret längs ostkusten’ until just north of Tornio, and then followed by Sverigeleden cycle path. For the Cykelspåret längs ostkusten, I downloaded the gpx files from Lonvia OpenStreetMap overlay to the OpenStreetMap open source map project (as the official wiki gpx files were not complete).

Many thanks to two swedish cycling forums: happymtb.org and www.cykelforum.se . In these forums, they advised to use the Sverigeleden route in the north rather than another (shorter) route I had put together by just pasting together some paths on Google Maps. Using the Sverigeleden route, I can be sure of having nice roads with little traffic.

I realise that once I leave the sea, I will be really entering the never never country with few facilities. Is there anything I need to bear in mind? Thanks to the forums for answering my questions: Yes, it is OK to camp on the side of the road. Yes: there is enough water (from streams and lakes).

All further suggestions are welcome!

Below is my old route which does not follow the Sverigeleden path in the north, but rather the Swedish/Finnish border.