Gone Camping!

I would consider us being quite outdoorsy people. We love to kayak, hike, ski, snowboard, bike and camp. But this camping trip just wasn’t meant to be. The weather was in the borderline somewhere between sunny and stormy and we were not on the best of moods. For no reason.

In Norway (and Finland also) we have a thing called everyman’s rights. This means that you can camp pretty much everywhere, as long as you are not too close to inhabited buildings. And you leave the nature as it was. Untouched. But even before the car started the decision was made; let’s find a campsite. And few minutes later the plan was even further developed; let’s find a campsite with a cabin to rent.

By chance we found the perfect mountain campsite. Clearly this weekend we were not really into any of the “into the wild, alone” type of stuff as we were looking for a site with people in it. Music playing quietly from the caravans. Children playing around. Parents walking dogs. You get the picture. And this was all of that plus a swimming pool carved in the bedrock! Not that the weather was too inviting for swimming but I liked the idea of being able to swim if I wanted. I didn’t.

Let’s just say that the only cabins available were way outside our budget and we headed for another spot. Pretty typical Norwegian campsite with very basic cabins, especially if you go for the cheapest option like we did. But we got the dog walkers and the music playing quietly from the caravans. Country music.

In campsites you can find pretty interesting people and this time it was even more than ever so, for Norway anyway. The nearby village was the venue for the annual country music festival and we had clearly landed almost in the middle of the celebrations. The actual venue was swerving with cowboy hats, pick-up trucks with naked women painted on the sides and confederate flags flying in the wind. For moment I had to recap “where are we again”, but no, we had not been transferred to Midwest, we were still in Norway. And no, I don’t have any picture evidence.

I wonder if the desire for comfort comes with age. I hope not. I would still like to think we are outdoor people who like to camp, despite the weather. But sometimes it is just nice to be kind of outdoors while still being indoors, watching you new favorite movie on the laptop while listening to the raindrops on the roof. Like we did this weekend.

Useful links in order of appearance:

• The perfect mountain campsite: Dønfoss Camping in Skjåk, cabins NOK550-950 per night ($90 -160 / €75 -125)
• Our campsite of choice: Furuly Camping in Skjåk, cabins NOK200-900 per night ($35 -150 / €25 -120)
• Annual Skjåk country festival
• My new favourite movie, ever!: Salmon fishing in Yemen with Ewan McGregor & Emily Blunt