Direction north

Caroline Mills takes an epic Scandinavian tour of Nordic countries to witness the midnight sun, and discovers a land of snow and ice

- Caroline Mills

If you're driving north, be careful of the reindeer,” said Father Christmas as I sat beside him at Santa Claus’s Main Post Office in Rovaniemi. “We have 230,000 reindeer here in Finland,” he said, “but only one of them has a red nose.”

I promised Santa I'd look after the reindeer for him when driving, including Rudolph, should I happen to see him. My meeting with the white-bearded gentleman was one of countless memorable experiences on an epic road trip of the Land of the Midnight Sun, so-called because the sun never sets below the horizon north of the Arctic Circle during June and July.

It doesn't set much below the magical 66.5° either, including from where I set off on my Scandinavian adventure, in Denmark.

My aim was to reach Nordkapp and Knivskjelodden, Europe's northernmost point at the top of Norway in time for midsummer, followed by touring a selection of Norway's 18 National Scenic Routes as I made my way south through the country. These signposted tourist routes have been specially selected by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to showcase the best of the country. I managed four of them, and, from my experiences, I can't wait to travel the other 14, looking out for the specially designed rest stops, as public art installations, by leading architects.

Direction north

My route north to reach Nordkapp began by travelling across the flat plains of Lolland, Denmark's fourth largest island, to bypass Copenhagen and visit Rungstedlund, the renovated former home of writer Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. Now a museum about her life and work, the attractive coastal property is a serene stop-off before reaching Helsingør. for a visit to Kronborg Slot, otherwise known as 'Hamlet's Castle', as the setting for William Shakespeare's tragedy.