Welcome to RoadworkX 
This has been the last big trip this year [], you can read all about this adventure in my last book Terra Nova. Riding through France and Spain in search of nice roads, trails and autumn sun on the Spanish Costas. As usual this book can be ordered on Amazon or in the Webshop.
This year on Day 36 of the Scandinavia trip on Monday July 3th I made it to the Nord Kapp for the tenth time. I have a feel it was the very last time, nothing else to discover there.
In December I finished my second book, this book discribes the Scandinavian part of of my Cape 2 Cape Project for the year 2022. More than 365 pages with about 120 never published full colour photos. I am actiing as usual as a bystander looking at Sweden and it's customs from a distance. Outside Looking In as a knowledgeble Food Critic, Part Time Enduro Ridert and Full time Idiot. I visit many beautiful and unusual places that may be interesting for those who would like to visit Scandinavia in the future. Or have already been.
The books can be ordered from Amazon or this website.
After a week at home I got bored and started writing a book. This is something a lot of people have encouraged me to do. So I started With the Corona year of 2021. I usually keep notes, have a good memory and kept all my blogposts. This in combination with all the archived gpx tracks from my Garmin and the thousands of photos formed the start of the book. It discribes a solo trip around Sweden in diary form or logbook style if you like, Sweden was at the time the only country open for tourism in 2021. I hope you like it. The eBook can be bought on Amazon. The paperback version can be found in the Merchandise shop.
By the time of writing now in November the Trip from Tarifa to North-Cape is nothing but a distant memory. After coming back from Scandinavia I even went back for a long trip to the French Alps-Italy-Perenees-French Atlantic Coast and again into Spain. I ended up with 22.500 kilometres of advenure roads.2022 was finally a North-Cape year again. I promised myself to do it one more time and limit the North-Cape visits to 10 times. 5x by Bicicle and 5x on Motorcycle.
February 2022 - The old 20+ year old Honda is once again ready for another road-trip.Last year I covered about 21.500 kilometers crossing mostly in Western Europe.
This year I have a grand plan in my head, I call it C2C, it stands for Cape to Cape, and these capes are North Cape in the far north of Norway and Tarifa the most southern point of Spain.
While most people of my age, already 62 this year, have less ambitious plans, I am planning yet again another long road-trip along gravel trails or small back roads to explore the lesser known places. I leave as soon as the weather permits me to ride through France and cross the Pyrenees from France into Spain.
over the next couple of weeks I will update a rough new route onto the gps page , any sugestions for special locations will be greatly appreciated.
Let's Ride, 2022 will be fun....
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August 2021 - Completed the Trans Sweden Trail (TST) and an extended tour off Sweden. The whole trip was a little over 11.000 kilometers. After servicing my motorcycle I have found a new project. The next trip will take me to the African continent. A rough plan is to travel trough the Alps to Genoa and get a ferry to Tangier in Morocco. Where the real adventure will start. Locations to visit and other sugestions are always welcome.
June / July 2021 - Roadtrip planned to follow the Dutch TET from South to North and loosely follow the German TET towards the Stena Line Ferry in Kiel. Than from Gothenburg traveling to the Vikanga Grill my starting point of the Trans Sweden Trail.
April 2021 - Welcome back on my travel pages. The last two years have been a real nightmare, My health failed me in more than one way, and getting back into some sort of physical shape has not been easy. The best way way to get to an acceptable level, was to stop working. And what a wonderful feeling it is to not have a schedule any longer.
Because of this, 2019 was my last adventure year and 2020 was completly lost due to ill health and Covid-19.
At the moment I anxiously follow the news and hope to be riding again this spring or at least the coming summer.. So Follow this space, I now have an unlimited amount of time but limited funds and many great travel destinations on a budget in mind ....... :: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::
July 2019 - Time to kick off with a bit of trail riding, After a more than quick visit to the Nordkapp I am back in Sweden, it was very cold and raining most of the time and skipped the Russian route for now. More about this later,,,,, The Mysterious road to Kabdalis Part I..... 2019 - Time for an all new approach, normally I travel alone, not that i'm anti social but more out of practical reasons. Traveling alone gives you optimal freedom of movement, you can revise previous plans multiple times a day just the way your mood flows.
This year I'm thinking about another concept, namely group touring! As a try-out I would like to test some of my own favorite destinations on other travellars.
Not your traditional tour, including guide and prepaid hotels, but a loseley organised event where everybody is responsible for him or herself but also some shared responsibility for the group.
Meeting point will be end of June in the far north of Finland (1), details will follow. Then we will be traveling into Russia and our first night will be spend in a small town on the White Sea. (2)
1. Saana Finland
2. Kandalakscha
3. Kuzomen
4. Kirovsk
5. Revda
6. Murmansk
7. Teriberka
8. Rybatshy
9. Kola Super Deep
10. Kirkenes Alta
From there we will be traveling to Remote Kuzomen (3) on the White Sea coast, There will be Gravel, beach riding and forest roads. Be prepared for bogs and extremely deep puddles.
Then we will be heading north over the old "Highway" from Umba to Kirovsk (4). about 170 km of missing bridges, water crossings, deserted villages, swamps and deep bogs. This is the part where we help each other. Last year I had to turn around after about 30 km. Did not dare to go on by myself.
From Kirovsk we will get into the Apatity mountains (4 & 5). After that we will round the eastern shores of lake Umbozero following sandy trails and a disused railway track until we arrive via Revda in Lovozero the Sami capital of Russia, also twin town with Karosjok in Norway which is the Cultural Sami capital of Norway.
From there we ride back over mostly tarmac to Murmansk (6), a modern city with excellent hotels and restaurants. For those interested a day trip to remote Teriberka (7) on the far northern shores of the Kola Peninsula can be made. But Murmansk can also be a day of rest or repairs.
From Murmansk the trip goes on to the fabled Shredney and Rybatshy peninsulas. An off roaders heaven, some roads were build by Germans and Russian Prisoners of War but that was more than 70 years ago. Over these roads we will navigate to the north western shore where a magnificent huge free standing rock formation can be found, it's called the two Brothers. (8)
After we will visit the site of the Kola Superdeep (9), a totally deserted scientific research and drilling location where the deepest hole in the ground can be found. One the complex permanently housed about 350 people but after the collapse of the Soviet Union it was abandoned. Finding the place is a challenge because mining activity has destroyed the original road.
On our way towards the Norwegian border we make a quick visit to the town of Nikel, where we will be able to fill up with cheap Russian petrol before heading to Kirkenes (10) in Norway.
Heading back home I can give you some suggestions or you make your own way down. Last year I boarded the Hurtigrute in Kirkenes and got of in Honningsvag just 30 km away from the North Cape.
If you are still reading, you may be interested?
What do you get and how much is it going to cost? All Russia stages will have detailed GPX tracks, either from one of my previous trips or carefully put together on the basis of detailed Russian maps and / or Satelite imagery. There will be about 9 or 10 stages all with information about shops and petrol stations in remote places. These tracks can be had for FREE!
If you have questions please send a mail to: kola-2019XXXroadworkx.com
Please replace XXX with @
* Kuzomen
*Rybatchy
* Kola Super Deep
* Kirkenes - Alta
bijzonder. Tegenwoordig is daar motorfietsen voor in de plaats gekomen. Graag maakte ik de laatste jaren in de zomervakantie een extra lange fietstocht. Dit heeft mij in 2010 in het jaar dat ik 50 werd voor de eerste keer naar de Noordkaap gebracht..
2018 - Dit jaar in Juni de start van een nieuwe motor expeditie naar het hoge noorden. De gezondheid is niet wat het geweest is maar wel een stuk beter. Deze keer hoop ik niet alleen de Noordkaap weer te kunnen halen maar ook nog een stuk Rusland meet te kunnen pakken. op het programma staan de Terski Kust, Umbozero, Murmansk, Teriberka, Kola Super Deep en de plaats Nikel.
Start vanuit Helsinki Finland 10 juni 2018 volgen kan op de GPS Pagina.
2017 - Zes keer Noordkaap inmiddels. 5x fiets en 1x motorfiets. Het blijft wel op twee wielen voorlopig. De motor fiets is nog steeds de trouwe Honda XR650R, bijna 20 jaar oud dus dat past wel bij mij. Vorig jaar reed hij al goed maar nu rijd hij nog beter. Voorzien van hoop nieuwe spullen en de motor zelf is ook grondig nagekeken.
2017 zal weer gaan naar het hoogste noorden, vorig jaar was ik nog niet helemaal hersteld en was ik te zwak voor het tripje naar Murmansk. Dit jaar staat dat wel weer op de planning, het eind doel is een plaatsje voorbij Murmansk met de naam Teriberka en als het lukt nog verder. Het leuke is dat er op de kaart nauwelijks wegen zijn dus het is afwachten hoe het eruit gaat zien. Kijk op de GPS-Pagina voor de route.
Na 5 keer Noordkaap in 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 & 2015 was het tijd
voor iets anders.
In April 2017 heb ik een zware longembolie gehad en is het jammer genoeg niet mogelijk om op korte termijn weer fit genoeg te zijn om in 2017 de Noordkaap per fiets te kunnen halen. Vandaar plan B..... met de motor(fiets).
Over de grote weg zou te simpel zijn, dus kies ik voor een enduro motor (cross motor met verlichting) en heb ik een paar lange gravel en offroad stages op het programma staan. Dit is de kans om plaatsen te bezoeken in Zweden en Noorwegen die anders buiten het bereik van de fiets liggen. Denk dan aan weg te slecht of te ver omrijden.
Helemaal duidelijk zijn de plannen nog niet en de verdere uitwerking kan ook onderweg gebeuren. Op de motor is een kilo meer of minder niet zo van belang dus de laptop kan weer mee.
Het is al meer dan 10 jaar geleden dat ik motor gereden heb, maar het is net zwemmen je verleerd het nooit.
Honda XR650R.
Omdat dit zo'n overweldigende ervaring was heb ik het in 2011 nog een keer gedaan. Het fietsen in scandinavie is zo mooi dat het altijd voor herhaling vatbaar is.
Het fietsen door schijnbaar eindeloze bossen en kale toendra's laat op mij een diepe indruk achter.
Als de bomen lager en dunner worden krijg ik het pas naar mijn zin. De zon die niet meer ondergaat geeft tijdens de nachtelijke uren een prachtige lange schaduw, tevens is de fietstocht een moment van reflextie en rust in drukke tijden.
Met een relatief lichte uitrusting van tussen de 12 tot 15 kg, is het mogelijk om met de ligfiets flinke afstanden af te leggen. Fietsdagen van 200 kilometer zijn geen uitzondering.
Nog nooit ben ik helemaal vanuit Nederland met de ligfiets naar de Noordkaap gereden. Hiervoor ontbreek me gewoonweg de tijd. De tocht starte tot nu toe altijd vanuit Gothenburg [Zweden] en meestal neem ik op de terugweg een stuk van zo'n 850 kilometer de touristische zomer trein de Inlandsbanan vanuit Gallivare naar Mora.
Welcome to my website about cycling Scandinavia, For three years nrow I have dedicated my summer hollidays to cycling to the Nordkapp in various ways. The edge of the world as I call it.
Cycling trough endless forrests is my freferred route. Twice the journey started from Ghotenborg. The first time I followed the E45 that runs trough the middle of Sweden, then at Karresovando into Finland down to Kautokeino in Norway. From there I followed the Alta route to Skaidi to continue allong the mighty Porssanger Fjord.
Second time in 2011 I cut trough the south of Sweden to take the ferry to the beautifull Alands Islands and then to Finland. From there I followed the whole of the Finish coast to Rovaniemi and from there to Ivalo and Inari. I did not follow the road to Kirkeness in Norway but took the beautifull road to Kariegasniemi and from there on to Jokmok in Norway. Then there is only one way to continue to the bottom of the Porsanger Fjord again, and that is via Lakselv.
In 2012 I left from Helsinki to follow the Via Karelia all along the Russian border. To end up in Ivalo and Inari. This time I wanted to avoid the super commercial Nordkapp en was really heading for a place called Mehamn and Slettnes Lighthouse. Two remote places on the next peninsula. People told me not to expect all the campers and busses you will see on the "real" Nordkapp. Faith decided otherwise. The weather had been so bad the last couple of days that cycling was hardly any fun. Strong winds never ending rain and the cold made me decide to follow a known route. So I eded up on the little road to Karigasniemi again. from there I continued like the year before and reached the North Cape on June 30 2012.
