Past Brummell adventure issues have brought you news of the often-madcap expeditions organised by Malle London, maker of high-grade motorcycle kit and organiser of two-wheeled odysseys. We’ve told of riding the entire length of mainland Britain from its southernmost point at Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula to its very northernmost castle, Scotland’s Castle of Mey. We’ve reported on traversing the whole Alpine range from Austria to Monaco almost entirely on small roads and gravel tracks.

But last year, Malle’s founding cousins, Robert Nightingale and Jonny Cazzola, announced a plan to go to the extremes of extreme long-distance riding – by guiding 100 motorcycles into the Arctic Circle and on to Norway’s North Cape (or Nordkapp), where Europe’s most northerly sealed road ends and from which the next stop is the North Pole, over 1,000 miles across the Arctic Ocean.

Initially, it sounded too cold to contemplate – but the plan was to tackle the trip in mid-August, when the days would be long and the weather would (in theory) be about as warm as it gets in that part of the world. As with all such Malle rallies, the journey is one that anyone could organise and complete by themselves. But it’s also the type of trip that many motorcyclists have on their “bucket list” but never actually get around to doing.

From a UK perspective, that’s partly because the “scenic” route from London to the Nordkapp covers a distance of more than 3,300 miles which, even with long days in the saddle and not much chance to take in the landscape, means a week’s journey just to get there.

But Malle makes it possible to compress the entire trip into just 10 days by offering punters the facility to have their machines safely trucked from transport hubs in the UK or France to the start point in Copenhagen. As an alternative, Nightingale has struck a deal with the city’s Yamaha dealer for favourable rental rates on suitable machines, which is the option I went for.

The theory is that bookending the trip with two weekends enables “working people” to arrive on Friday in time for the rally’s start the next morning, and to get home at the end of the following weekend ready (if not exactly fresh) for a return to work the following day.

If riding to the top of Europe by starting from Copenhagen sounds like cheating, believe me, it’s not: the journey as we did it – hugging the Swedish coast to a point just south of Gothenburg, heading inland through Norway’s Reinheimen National Park and following a route that crosses numerous fjords and inlets before entering the Arctic Circle – covers a solid 2,500 miles.

Even for the most hardened of motorcyclists, clocking up that sort of distance in less than 10 days, mostly on small roads and in every type of weather imaginable (this is the Arctic, don’t forget) is a good way to gauge both mental and physical fortitude. But don’t get the idea that the Arctic Rally is nothing more than an endurance test. In a world where taking on challenges has often been substituted with touchscreens and virtual reality, riding to the Nordkapp represents a great way to revisit the sheer joy of achievement as well as providing the chance to see some truly breathtaking scenery in the best way possible – from the seat of a motorcycle. The Yamaha 900cc Tracer 9 I tackled the journey on proved smooth, fast, comfortable and perfect for the job – although it didn’t quite fit with Malle’s original idea of its rally participants using ‘inappropriate motorcycles’ (ie home-built specials).

Day one comprised a 232-mile stage which took us to Hovås Kallbadhus, a delightful Swedish seaside resort south of Gothenburg where we spent the first of nine nights under canvas, “glamping”in bell tents set up in advance by a relay team of Irish tent-riggers who were always a day ahead of us, preparing the next night’s camp.

Little did we know – because each day’s route is kept secret until the night before departure – but the run into Sweden was the second shortest of the entire trip and, on three of the subsequent days, we clocked up well in excess of 300 miles between dawn and dusk.

That might not sound much, but the roads became steadily smaller as we climbed north – and, once into Norway, we were subject to the country’s low and severely enforced speed limits which top out at 90kph (around 56mph). But as we passed by glistening fjords, took ferries across magical inlets linking the country’s meandering coastline and encountered rutting reindeer, gushing waterfalls and majestic mountains, it was more about taking in the remarkable sights than getting from A to B as quickly as possible.

It did rain. But thoughts of damp riding kit and long miles of motorcycle-unfriendly weather were quickly forgotten amid the camaraderie of communal dinners filled with that day’s tales from the road – including stories of £500 fines for exceeding those speed limits by a reckless 10kph, close encounters with wandering elk and even the joys of a visit to the Arctic Circle Classic Motorcycle Museum.

And when we finally made it to the Nordkapp – the “end” of Europe – the feeling was little short of magical. In theory, looking ahead at the vastness of the Arctic Ocean should have felt little different to looking out to an empty sea anywhere else in the world. But knowing that there is absolutely nothing and no one between where one is standing and the North Pole itself inspires a genuine feeling of wonder – and a reassurance that maybe the world isn’t such a bad place, after all.

Due to the complex logistics of organising The Great Malle Arctic Rally, Nightingale originally intended the 2025 event to be a one-off – but demand for a re-run means a second trip has been scheduled for August 2027.