How do you dispose of the plastic? 

It depends: when you’re in complete wilderness, you put them on the back deck of your kayak and try to get them to the next town. Sometimes you have to paddle a day or two longer with the bags on your back deck. Sometimes I give the bags to fishing boats on the water. There’s a pretty good system on the south coast of Norway where you can leave rubbish for collection in designated boxes. 

To be honest, of all the places I’ve paddled, I’ve only ever seen this level of public awareness in Norway. Everyone is aware of the problem – thousands of people collect rubbish every day, and if you buy a plastic bag in the shop, 10 cents goes to an organisation called Rydde, which provides an infrastructure for voluntary clean-ups around the country. They also have boats collecting rubbish from Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm. Volunteers come from all over the world to help with the clean-ups. There is a real need, though. Because Norway is towards the tail end of the Gulf Stream, I think the islands act a little bit like a rake going through the water. I thought there would be less plastic, but there’s more there than anywhere I’ve seen so far – even more than in the US, where there’s very high plastic consumption. 

Physically, was the challenge what you expected? 

To my surprise, I discovered that Norway doesn’t have currents, unlike the UK and the US. Elsewhere you might be going against the current for six hours, but then have the current with you. The lack of momentum in the water just means that an 8-10 hour paddle can be pretty hard-going.

Were there any particular highlights?

After kayaking for such a long time, you become pretty attuned to the landscape. At times the coastline reminded me of Tierra del Fuego, with snowcapped mountains right by the sea. Steigen has some amazing sandy beaches, where the mountains were incredibly high and the water was the colour of the Caribbean sea. Going North, the islands actually look intimidating – they’re not just big, they’re really sharp and look very unnatural. But after a couple of days, you relax and appreciate the beauty. 

Beyond the landscapes, people can be a real highlight too. On the island of Naustholmen, north of Bodo, I met a woman called Randy. She’s a kayaker and Mount Everest climber, and was the first Norwegian woman to climb the seven highest summits. She has an island where she offers kayak trips, and I stayed there with her for four days. We went fishing for her guests. She's a great person, really artistic, very outgoing and positive.

And so you’re going back again to finish the route off this year? Tell us why you’re returning. 

In the last 10 years I haven’t paddled that much, I’ve spent a lot of time playing in bands in Germany and so I haven’t really been in the boat. But I like that way of travelling more and more: I’m still fascinated by what you can do with the boat, how versatile you can be on the water, and how it can lead you to meet people you never would have met otherwise - like Randy. 

I’m not resolute on finishing the route in 2026 – I’ll just see how I feel when I’m out there – I have no job to return to. I do want to do more public beach cleanups this time, which will mean I meet more people. It can be tricky because you don’t really know where you’ll be in three days’ time, and whether you’ll have a mobile phone connection.

How do you manage food supplies, and was there anything you packed that you didn’t use the first time?

As a kayaker, you try and cut down your weight as much as possible. I know from previous trips you know what you need and what you don’t need, but I somehow always have too much water: I carry five litres, when there’s fresh water everywhere in Norway. 

Before I started my last trip, I did a huge food shop so I could send parcels to post offices along the way. Three weeks in, I saw that the food had been sent back! The Norwegians are pretty good with organising stuff, but that wasn’t good… It turns out they only keep poste restante for three weeks and don’t put that information on their website. It was ok in the end though – on every island in Norway there is a little shop, even if there are only 20 or 30 houses. 

What was your go-to snack?

It’s a German power bar called Raw Bite. If you go to the ingredients, you think something’s missing – it says ‘Ingredients: figs, cashews’. That’s it. It tastes really good and only has natural sugars.

At the end of your trip, did you come away feeling that you’d made a difference, or did it make you realise the scale of what we’re dealing with in terms of plastic pollution? 

Based on my experience in Norway, I feel quite hopeful about the problem. Plastic pollution is really significant there, but they are really proactive about it. Humans are not always the smartest or the most considerate but, over there, you only see electric cars, they use hydro and wind power for electricity, and sell the surplus to mainland Europe. I think people only get frustrated when there’s no change in awareness, but there they are proactive and the government is doing a lot. In my mind, you can’t be hopeless in that context because the Norwegians are really motivated to make a change.