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Nordkapp · 2025

2025 Nordkapp 2 - Finland

2 August 2025

A red touring motorcycle stands at a fuel pump beneath a bright summer sky, at Lahti in Finland.
Route map showing a motorcycle journey from the Gulf of Finland north through the Finnish lakeland and Lapland across the Arctic Circle to the North Cape. Wind driven waves break on a broad sandy beach bordered by pine forest under a bright sky, on the coast at Parnu in Estonia. Wooden tables and chairs fill the dining room of a Finnish countryside inn, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A log walled reception room opens towards a bright dining area, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A white caravan sits on grass beneath tall birch trees at a lakeside campsite, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Two motorcycles and a small tent share a grassy pitch beneath a large tree, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A luggage laden motorcycle and a small tent rest at the edge of a campsite, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A small wooden jetty and an upturned white boat lie on a grassy lakeshore, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Green trees and tall reeds are mirrored in a calm pond, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A line of ducks swims quietly across the surface of a weedy pond, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A still lake reflects dark woodland and a small red boat on the far shore, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A glassy lake reflects the trees and the pale evening sky, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A shadowed channel of water runs between dark trees, with a small jetty on the left, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A bright lake mirrors a band of green trees and a small red boat in the distance, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A still lake reflects a dense row of green trees under a clear blue sky, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A serene lake reflects dark trees under a deep blue sky, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A small wooden jetty sits among reeds on a calm green lake, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Dappled light plays across moss dotted with tiny white flower spikes, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A small grey wooden outhouse stands on a grassy forest clearing, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A rustic log cabin with a metal roof sits in a grassy forest clearing, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A timber cabin with a sheltered porch and an orange panelled door stands in the forest, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Fine dry grass seed heads catch the light against a softly blurred backdrop, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A sunlit expanse of dry golden grass stretches towards a dark forest treeline, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A green tent and a large touring motorcycle camp together on a leafy lawn, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A blue green damselfly perches on a grass blade with its translucent wings folded, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A white wooden hut has two doors marked M and N beneath heart shaped cutouts, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A wooden jetty with a metal swim ladder reaches over shimmering dark water, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. An old black cooling unit sits on a bracket against a peeling wooden wall, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A Finnish trail map shows the lakes, roads and numbered routes of the Hartola and Sysmä district. A quiet wooden jetty reaches into a still lake reflecting bright green trees, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A clear river flows between boulders and water lilies under lush forest banks, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A clear forest river flows gently past rocks and a fallen log, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Clusters of red currants hang among broad green leaves and wild grass, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Pale green and blushed gooseberries hang from thorny branches in dense undergrowth, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. A loaded motorcycle stands beside a tent and a caravan on a grassy campsite, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Bright daylight glows through the mesh window of a dark camping tent, at Hartola in the Finnish Lakeland. Blue Finnish direction signs point to Kuhmo, Kostamus and Suomussalmi at a junction among pines. A reindeer strolls through a pine wood with wooden cottages behind it, near Suomussalmi in Finland. A flat calm lake reflects a bright blue sky and a wooded far shore, near Taivalkoski in Finland. Tall reeds and grass edge a still lake under a hazy bright sky, near Taivalkoski in Finland. A calm lake perfectly reflects a forest shoreline and billowing clouds, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A tall pine holding a wooden birdhouse stands beside a calm lake that mirrors the clouds, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A green tent stands on a pine needle clearing with a wooden bench by the calm lake, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A small tree covered island floats in a calm lake that holds perfect reflections of the clouds, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Bright yellow water lily flowers rise above the pads on a rippling pond, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A row of tall pines on a grassy bank is mirrored clearly in the calm water, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A mother duck swims at the head of a long line of chicks on calm water, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Pine trees and a wooden bench stand on a grassy point mirrored in the calm lake, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A wooden dock with a railing reaches out over a calm lake ringed by forest, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A single purple wildflower bud opens beside green leaves and dry grass blades, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A calm lake mirrors a dark pine forest under a soft evening sky, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Autumn toned sphagnum moss fills the frame in shimmering orange and gold, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A wooden boardwalk with railings crosses marshy grass towards a calm lake, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A single golden cloudberry rests among serrated green leaves, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A single white cottongrass seed head dangles from a thin arching stem, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Yellow green seed heads stand out among slender grass stems, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. An unripe pink cloudberry sits among serrated leaves and dark berries, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. A close view of dark wild berries hanging on a leafy green bush, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Dark wild berries stand out among glossy green leaves and sunlit stems, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. Two people sit in camping chairs beneath the awning of a white motorhome, near Taivalkoski in Finland. A loaded motorcycle and a small tent stand on grass beside a calm lake among pines, near Taivalkoski in Finland. A motorcycle and a green tent stand on a grassy pine lined lakeshore, by a lake near Taivalkoski in Finland. The sun sets in a golden glow over a calm lake behind a wooden jetty, near Taivalkoski in Finland. Long pines cast shadows across a lake bordered by reeds in early morning light, near Taivalkoski in Finland. Reindeer stand and graze on a straight paved road lined with green forest, near Kuusamo in Finland. Blue Finnish direction signs point to Räisälä and Suomutunturi at a junction among pines, at the Arctic Circle in Finland. A loaded adventure motorcycle stands beside the Arctic Circle monument in a pine forest. A bright diner interior looks out on a wide blue lake and a golden meadow, at Kemijarvi in Finnish Lapland. Fast food menu signs hang above the counter of a roadside service station, at Kemijarvi in Finnish Lapland. A hearty plate of sliced sausage, crinkle fries and fresh greens topped with sauce, at Kemijarvi in Finnish Lapland. A wide parking area holds a blue car and a campervan beside a tall fuel station sign, at Kemijarvi in Finnish Lapland. A white travel centre with a fuel canopy and flags sits beside an empty parking area, at Kemijarvi in Finnish Lapland. Classic red wooden houses line a gravel lane behind a rustic timber fence, at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland. A luggage packed adventure motorcycle stands beside a calm lake and a forested far shore, at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland. A blue cafe building with a roof sign stands beside a gravel forecourt with a white car parked in front, at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland. The blue cafe building, its flag and the open gravel forecourt sit beneath a sunlit summer sky, at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland. Gentle waves lap a green shoreline beside a bench on a peaceful bay, at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland. A blue direction sign at a roundabout lists Utsjoki and the routes to Murmansk and Nellim, at Ivalo in Finnish Lapland. A cream thermometer measures the temperature against a wooden cabin wall, at Ivalo in Finnish Lapland. An orange service building and a motorhome share a waterside rest area, at Ivalo in Finnish Lapland. A dome tent and a chair stand in a leaf shadowed woodland clearing, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. Rippling blue water stretches towards low green shores, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A person stands at the end of a jetty over the calm water, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A person rests on the rocks beside a still lake at dusk, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. Sunlight shapes clear water lapping a pebbly beach, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A wooden frame stands in the water beside a shore with a red cottage, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A sunlit lake bordered by forest and a sandy beach glows at dusk, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A boat is moored at a long wooden jetty beside red boathouses, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. The glow of the sun glitters across calm evening water, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A red framed building with signs and hoses stands at a small harbour, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. Recreational vehicles line a grassy campground among the trees, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A lakeside cottage stands against the glowing evening water, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A blue trilingual sign gives Nordkapp at 343 kilometres, Karigasniemi at 66 and Karasjok at 87, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A long empty road runs between dense birch and pine, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. An adventure motorcycle stands parked on a gravel clearing backed by dense pine forest, at Inari in Finnish Lapland. A long empty asphalt road cuts through leafy forest under a blue summer sky. The bright sun glares over still water with distant tree lined hills, on the shore of Lake Inari in Finnish Lapland. A wooden jetty stretches into still water, holding a simple bench at its end, on the shore of Lake Inari in Finnish Lapland.
Journal Notes

A northbound ride of four days from the Gulf of Finland to the North Cape, through the Finnish lakeland and up across Lapland. The route runs north from Helsinki by Hartola, Suomussalmi, Kuusamo, Kemijärvi and Sodankylä, crosses the Arctic Circle, and continues by Ivalo and Inari to the Norwegian coast. With roughly 1,300 kilometres of riding, this track carries the journey from the Baltic to the northern tip of Europe.

The Finnish stage began on the far shore of the Gulf of Finland. The ferry from Tallinn had put the motorcycle down at Helsinki in the late morning, and the road that followed was the first real taste of the north. From the coast the route turned inland, away from the sea and into the wide, wooded interior that covers most of southern Finland.

The first stop came at Lahti, where the tank was filled before the road left the main corridor and turned north east into the lake country. The country changed at once: open fields gave way to forest, and stretches of water began to appear between the trees on either side of the road.

By the middle of the afternoon the ride reached Hartola, a village on the eastern shore of Lake Päijänne in the heart of the Finnish Lakeland. The road there passes low ridges of moraine and eskers, and the village itself is strung out along the water. A lakeside inn with a timber dining room and a log walled reception made the first proper stop of the day.

That evening the tent went up at a campsite among tall birches a little further along the shore. There was a white caravan on the grass beside the pitch, and the motorcycles were parked under a large tree. Late in the evening the lake lay almost without a ripple, and the pale northern light held until well past ten.

The camp stands inside the Hartola and Sysmä lakes district, one of the largest connected water systems in Finland. A trail map on the site set out the lakes, roads and numbered boat routes of the district, and the evening walk followed the shoreline and a small river that runs between boulders and water lilies. There were red currants and gooseberries in the undergrowth along the way.

The night was short and the morning came with bright daylight on the mesh window of the tent. It was the first full day of the Finnish ride, and it opened with a long run north east across the lake plateau towards Kainuu.

The road climbed steadily through forest and past countless lakes, and the traffic thinned until long stretches passed without another vehicle. Somewhere past Suomussalmi a junction pointed to Kuhmo, Kostamus and Suomussalmi, and further on a reindeer walked across the gravel in front of wooden cottages. Reindeer roam free across northern Finland, and from here southward they are a regular sight beside the road.

That evening the tent came up again beside a lake near Taivalkoski, a small town on the road to Kuusamo. The water lay flat and clear under a blue sky, with reeds along parts of the shore, and other travellers had parked a motorhome on the same lawn. The evening belonged to the lake: a wooden jetty with an upturned boat, ducks crossing a reedy pond, and everywhere the still water holding the reflections of the trees.

Later, as the light began to go, there were log cabins and a small outhouse among the pines, seed heads and dry golden grass on the meadow, a white rest hut with two doors, and a damselfly on a grass stalk. A clear forest river ran over mossy rocks a few steps from the tent.

The sun did not set so much as slide along the horizon, and it closed the day in a long golden glow over the water. By then the ride had left the Lakeland behind and was well into the northern forests.

The following morning was grey and quiet over the reeds. Not far up the road a group of reindeer stood on the asphalt itself, unbothered by the motorcycle, and they had to be waited out before the ride could continue north towards the Arctic Circle.

At midday the road crossed the Arctic Circle. The line is marked on the road north of Kemijärvi by a monument of steel with the words Arctic Circle on its ring, and by the small yellow sign that gives the Finnish name Napapiiri. From here on the summer nights are truly light, and the sun stays above the horizon for weeks.

Lunch was taken a little further on, at a lakeside service station where the dining room looked out over a wide blue lake and a golden meadow. The menu was the plain Finnish road food of the north: sausage, crinkle fries, fresh greens and a sauce over the top, served under a menu board of snack specials.

Beyond Kemijärvi the route joined the long empty road north. Red wooden farmhouses stood behind timber fences, and some forty kilometres north of Sodankylä the ride stopped again at Cafe Harianna, a small blue summer cafe on the shore of a lake. Its forecourt, its flag and its view over the water made one of the most pleasant pauses of the whole stage.

The next town of any size was Ivalo, in the municipality of Inari and the last real centre before the Norwegian border. At the roundabout in the middle of the village a blue sign pointed straight on to Utsjoki, right towards Murmansk and left towards Nellim. A rest area above the lake beyond the village offered fuel, a thermometer on a cabin wall and a place to sit out the afternoon.

The day ended at Inari, beside the third largest lake in Finland and in the middle of the Sámi homeland. The tent went up in a pine clearing a few steps from the shore, and the evening turned into a slow walk along the water: a mirror still lake with the clouds in it, a birdhouse on a tall pine, yellow water lilies among the reeds, and a mallard leading her brood across the bay.

In the bog grass behind the camp the tundra showed its small harvest. Purple wildflowers opened among dry blades, the sphagnum moss glowed orange and gold in the low sun, and a boardwalk carried the path across the wet ground towards the lake. There were ripe golden cloudberries on the leaves, cottongrass on bent stems, and dark wild blueberries ripening in the shade of the pines.

Back at the shore the sun came out for the last hours of the evening. The tent stood in a leaf shadowed clearing, and the lake turned gold: a jetty reaching out over the water, people resting on the warm rocks, and the low sun glittering on the surface. On the far side of the bay red boathouses and a harbour building caught the light, and motorhomes stood among the trees of the campground.

On the last morning of the Finnish stage the road ran north from Inari towards the Norwegian border. A blue sign at the roadside set out the distances in three languages: Nordkapp, or Kåhppa, at 343 kilometres, Karigasniemi at 66 and Karasjok at 87. From there the road was long, straight and almost empty, running through birch and pine until the border country began.

So the stage closed at the northern edge of Finland, and the last morning in Lapland broke over a calm lake and a wooden pier standing out from the shore. It was the end of the Finnish ride and the beginning of the Norwegian one.

In total, the stage covered roughly 1,300 kilometres of riding, from the Gulf of Finland to the North Cape, and it took the journey from the Baltic coast right through the country to the Barents Sea. The riding days were long and the roads were good throughout. Where the south still carried the traffic of the Helsinki corridor, the north gave mile after mile of empty forest road with nothing but lakes, pines and the occasional reindeer to break the line of the horizon.

Seen in the context of the whole journey, this track is the second stage of the run to the North Cape. It carries the route from the ferry port across the Finnish lakeland and the Arctic Circle to the coast of Finnmark, and it covers the whole length of Finland in four days of riding. What gave the stage its character was the slow change of country: the wooded lakes of the south, the wide forest plateau of Kainuu and Koillismaa, the open fell country of Lapland, and finally the bare coast of the Arctic.