The Arctic Challenge Tour, on which this 26-part tour is partly based, is not a speed competition. It's a tour. It comes down to agility, good navigation and anticipation. The participants are obliged to adhere to the speed limit of the country concerned. Participants must find the ideal route with the shortest possible distance by adhering 100% to local traffic regulations. Of course, also take maximum speeds into account. The organization checks for speed limit violations. In the event of gross or repeated exceeding of the maximum speed, disqualification will follow for the relevant stage and for the final classification. The route and speeds driven are checked by means of a track and trace system. This equipment is built into every vehicle. Each team can then be followed accurately in the Back Office. Those who stay at home, interested parties and participants can also see the performance of the teams, because you can be followed live via the Internet. The Back office takes action when a team gets into trouble. (source: The Arctic Challenge website)

That's quite a luxury, having a back office behind you that keeps an eye on you. Most of us will not have that and are dependent on ourselves or the fellow traveler (s). The only agreement you have with the participants is that you must also adhere to the rules. Fortunately, like the participants, you don't have to complete this tour in 9 days, but you can take a little longer.

The highlight of the Arctic Challenge in 2020 was the Lofoten, an archipelago northwest of Norway. The Lofoten archipelago lies in the middle of the wild Norwegian Sea, well above the Arctic Circle. This special region offers a beautiful landscape with imposing mountains, deep fjords and long, wild sandy beaches where the sound of the seabird colonies can always be heard.
The archipelago is best known for its rich fishing tradition. Despite their isolated location, the Lofoten still make a prosperous impression. The whole economy is above all about fishing. The image of the Lofoten is mainly dominated by wooden racks with cod hanging to dry. The Lofoten fishery has been a household name for centuries. In the middle of winter, the ships set sail to catch the fish in just a few months. The rich fishing grounds are due to the North Atlantic Gulf Stream around the islands, where the fish have their spawning grounds. No oil drilling is allowed around Lofoten and the cod spawning grounds there.

The next destination for the participants was Sirkka, also known as Levi, a winter sports resort in Finnish Lapland. They stayed there for a few days to go ice-karting and enjoy the snow by making a trip with a snowmobile or skiing. This tour also takes you to Sirkka, but instead of staying there for a few days, you have the option to continue to the North Cape, the second highlight of this trip.

Imagine a place in the far north, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. This place is the North Cape in Western Finnmark in Northern Norway. From here only the Spitsbergen archipelago lies between you and the North Pole and the sun shines for 2.5 months at a time; from mid-May to the end of July. Many visitors admire the midnight sun or the sunset over the Barents Sea from the North Cape Plateau.

For each route you will find a review with a description of the route, what you will pass by and what to see along the way. It also briefly describes how the participants in the Arctic Challenge in 2020 had to ride it, from which point to which point. Markers (waypoints) have been included along the way that indicate the end points of the stages that the participants had to complete. As mentioned, they covered the distance in 9 days, stages of more than 1000 kilometers were no exception.

Each route ends at a hotel. It is of course not an obligation to use these hotels, you can always look for another place to stay in the area, that decision is yours. However, my experience is that they are all simple but good hotels for a very reasonable price. They are known and can be booked at booking.com.

The routes of these collections:

R01 - Puttgarden to Angelholm, 280km
R02 - Angelholm to Alingsas, 281km
R03 - Alingsas to Mysen, 261km
R04 - Mysen to Rena, 312km
R05 - Rena to Orkanger, 306km
R06 - Orkanger to Grong, 292km
R07 - Grong to Mo i Rana, 290km
R08 - Mo i Rana to Bodo, 231km
R09 - Roundtour Bodo to Lofoten part 1, 314km
R10 - Roundtour Bodo to Lofoten part 2, 250km
R11 - Roundtour Bodo to Lofoten part 3, 291km
R12 - Bodo to Arjeplog, 295km
R13 - Arjeplog to Jokkmokk, 244km
R14 - Jokkmokk to Pajala, 239km
R15 - Roundtour Sirkka to North Cape part 1, 257km
R16 - Roundtour Sirkka to North Cape part 2, 300km
R17 - Roundtour Sirkka to North Cape part 3, 244km
R18 - Roundtour Sirkka to North Cape part 4, 275km
R19 - Roundtour Sirkka to North Cape part 5, 332km
R20 - Sirkka to Kemi, 299km
R21 - Kemi to Ylivieska, 251km
R22 - Ylivieska to Jalasjarvi, 236km
R23 - Jalasjarvi to Turku, 279km
R24 - Stockholm to Askersund, 271km
R25 - Askersund to Varnamo, 224
R26 - Varnamo to Trelleborg, 259km

Have fun riding these routes!

Finland is a land of tranquility, of unspoiled nature, of a thousand lakes, of reindeer, of moose and of the northern lights. Steer along the thousand lakes like the famous rally drivers do in their rally cars.
Endless long days in the summer, so enjoy the midnight sun. During this tour you will discover the Finnish Lake District, the largest lake area in Europe! The blue lakes and green islands are interspersed with forests, hills, rivers and canals.
In any case, bring equipment to chase away the mosquitoes, because there are plenty of them, and what always remains are the moose that come out of the woods on the road, so watch out!

You will usually drive on good roads this trip, but keep in mind that it will often be gravel roads. The routes in this collection through the untouched nature of Finland, let you enjoy every bend and countless lakes.

The Finnish road network was developed relatively late. Until the 1960s, many continuous valtatites were still unpaved or gravel roads. The Finnish road network was numbered for the first time in 1938. Because many roads were still gravel roads for a long time, the main roads have often been built over a new route, so that Finnish main roads often have a more optimal alignment compared to other European countries, where they follow historical routes. In 1952 the Olympic Games were held in Helsinki. At the time, the country had almost no continuous asphalt roads. Finland's first motorway, Helsinki-Espoo, opened in 1962. In the 1960s, only a few short motorway routes were built around the major cities. It was not until the 1990s that longer stretches of motorway were completed between the Finnish cities.

Finland has a limited network of highways called moottoritiet, with 4 longer radial highways from Helsinki to Turku, Tampere, Heinola and towards the Russian border. In addition, there are a number of shorter highways around the largest cities, such as at Oulu, Vaasa, Imatra and Kuopio. Finland also has the world's northernmost highway, Valtatie 29 between Kemi and Tornio. The motorway network is being expanded on a limited scale, mainly because the traffic intensities are low. Often, roads from 15,000 vehicles per day are widened to motorways. The priority is the construction of the Valtation 7 to the border with Russia. There are 3 ring roads around Helsinki, Kehä I to III, although Kehä II is hardly a ring. These are not (yet) classified as moottorition.

A Moottoritie (plural: Moottoritiet) is the term for a motorway in Finland. The country has a relatively small network, connecting most of the major cities in the south. The Moottoritie is a status, Moottoritiet often run on the main roads, called Valtatie. European roads can also be part of this. The Finnish motorway network is 995 kilometers long.

Best travel season
The best time to visit Finland is in the months of June, July, August and September. In these months the chance of precipitation is lowest and the chance of good weather is greatest.

Let off steam in one of the many Finnish saunas
Finland is truly a sauna country. Every Finnish family has at least one sauna on average. For the Finns, it is the best way to relax, and it is very different than in the Netherlands.
What to do? First you have to take a short, cold shower, after which you can enter the sauna dry. You also get a bundle of branches, also called a Vihta, with which you can hit your skin (ouch!) To increase blood circulation. After this, you dive into a cold water bath to cool off. (The real diehards also rub themselves with snow!) Then you can enter the sauna again.
It takes some getting used to, but if you have done this a few times and feel the difference between hot and cold, you will feel completely relaxed.

Hyvä matka!