To be a sardine or eat one?

Mellanfjärden marina with guest and shop houses.

We have been riding along the Swedish coast for two hours trying to find a camp site. There are plenty of them but choosing the right one is as difficult as choosing the right hotel. As the margin of the camp site business is low and usually nobody books a camp site in advance there are no intermediaries like booking.com that provide all required information to make a good choice in advance.

We have a few guide books and directories but the information provided is sparse e.g.:

Sun, summer, swimming!
Family campsite with lots of experiences in the surroundings.
Many activities for children.
GPS: N 61°43’12.24” E 16°2’26.92”.

As you can see, a lot of useful information. In the end the proof of the pudding is in the eating and we need to drive there and see what we get.

Venice style bridge in Swedish fishing village.

Today we our search was not yet successful. The first place we saw was a small Disneyland with over 600 pitches for tents and RVs. Coming closer to the reception area gave us a good impression that this is not the place for a quiet afternoon at the beach. So we left.

The next one was smaller with only 200 pitches but only 5 free ones. After walking over the site I felt like a sardine in a can. There was not a single tree and it had gravel on the ground. Dogs not allowed to come close to the beach. On top they charged top fees. So we left.

Swedish style but not IKEA.

The next was even smaller on a hill side facing the sea with a wonderful view of the sea. It was built on a steep hill side with more than narrow terraces. The distance to the next RV was about 3m and the sardine feeling popped up. Unfortunately the sea view was not complemented with access to the sea. The prospect of being squeezed in between my two neighbouring RVs, the highway and the cliff to the sea made us leave again.

We decide to follow our Norwegian approach and take the small coastal road and drive until we find a small camp site that is not in the guide books. However, in Norway there is usually only one road to follow while in Sweden the main road has many smaller roads to the sea that are often dead-end roads.

Happy end after a desperate search.

With a lot of optimism we follow the driver’s gut feeling, leave the highway and turn into a coastal road. The small road meanders through the fields of golden wheat, small forests interrupt the yellow landscape from time to time until we reach the coast line. The coast is rocky and difficult to access. We are passing through fishing villages with marinas and nicely arranged houses but no sign of a camp site or a place to spend the night. After driving nearly one hour we are about to give up.

Bildunterschrift hinzufügen

We can´t agree whether we go for the Disneyland or the sardine can when we enter another village and see a hand-painted sign board announcing “Guest camping”. We follow the sign boards and arrive at two spacious meadows close to the guest marina. One meadow with about 15 RVs has electrical outlets. The other one has no electricity which is why there is only one other camper. We are happy to share the vast plot of land with them. A black board explains the rules: Please put the envelope with camping fee into the letter box of the red house next to the harbour restaurant. We feel like we were in Switzerland.

We have a great tea time in thick green grass with a wonderful view of the sea with a few islands in front. Instead of feeling like a sardine we decide to eat some. And Umbria can be without a leash all day long.

Often the best camp sites are in no guide books. Enjoying the view from the lounge chair.

From fjords to birch trees

Birch trees all over the place.

After a few sunny and hot days in the Trondheim area we finally say good-bye to Norway and brown cheese. We are heading across the mountain divide to the Swedish region of Jämtland, the land of reindeer, elk and skiing.

The term ‘mountain divide’ has a real meaning. We left the coast at 28°, bright sun light, rocks and pine trees. 100km farther east on 650m elevation, we have grey sky, sporadic rain showers at 16°, a hilly scenery with many birch trees.

We are driving on the main connection between Norway and Sweden which is a small country road with a single lane for each direction winding through the hilly area. A mixture of forests and green bushes, rough rocks like in the Alps, not as smooth as in Norway. A few mountains rise up to 1,500m. The south facing slopes have their trees cut and ski lifts cables replace them. At the lower end of the ‘lift worm’, villages with many apartment houses form the Swedish ski centre. But it is summer, the houses are deserted and a depressing atmosphere surrounds them. At least we can find an ICA grocery shop that is open on a Sunday. ICA is the IKEA counterpart for food and can be found in every Swedish village.

Farm house next to camp site.

We decide to stay in a small camp site at one of the many rivers and lakes that attract many anglers. We enjoy the sunset after a rainy afternoon with about 10 other RVs. The small camp sites don’t have good infrastructure. WiFi is usually “not working because there was a recent thunderstorm”. All of them have shower and kitchen facilities that we only use for dish washing. For showering we prefer Ronda´s facility that is more convenient and often cleaner.

These flowers grow all over in both countries.

Both, Norway and Sweden have vast forest areas. The difference is that in Norway (similar to Switzerland) most of the space cannot be accessed because the rough mountain landscape makes it impossible. So, locals and tourists focus on few locations and it is always crowded. In places like Geiranger, there 100 inhabitants that are flooded by 1,000-5,000 tourists every day in summer. Just imagine a large cruiser releases its load of 3,000 tourists that drown the village like a tsunami.

Sweden is larger than Norway and the landscape smoother. There are less spectacular sights that attract tourist hordes. Only true nature lovers are here for hiking, fishing and outdoor sports. This gives it a real quiet atmosphere. When driving on the one regional highway that has still only 2 lanes we often don’t see any car for minutes.

Solitude has its price. The price that we have to pay is being offline. And we share this burden with our readers who have to wait longer for the next post.

A great place for anglers. Neither piranhas, nor caipirinhas.

Tuffa: Dog fun in the early evening

"Am I a trailer trash dog?"

Since we moved into Ronda we faced many changes. For us it is usually easy to adapt because we anticipated the major changes, and the many small ones are not worth mentioning.

However, Umbria had not anticipated the move into the RV and has to accept what´s happening. As dogs like their daily routines and environment, Umbria´s view of the trip is certainly not as positive as ours. If you look into her eyes you can see her concerns.

She had to trade her home and familiar surroundings for a small RV with not many opportunities to run around. Sometimes we are driving for long hours. In mountain areas with many turns and rough roads, this is not always fun for her. In some areas many cattle grids span across the road. Driving over them causes loud rattling noises and intense vibrations, and Umbria immediately starts trembling like she does during the 1^st August fireworks in Switzerland. Ferries are also loud, vibrate and sway. No fun for Umbria.

IKEA-Björn is one of the last friends from Switzerland.

We do our daily morning and evening runs like we did in Cham but the Villette Park with the lake – and neighbouring meadows -- were special to her. There she met her furry friends, played frisbee or just sniffed around. On the tour we sometimes have places with green meadows or sandy beaches which offer many opportunities to run and explore. Other camp sites are crowded, have no free space for dogs and Umbria needs to be tied close to the car.

As Umbria is a social dog, she enjoys meeting other dogs and chasing each other. However, many Scandinavian dog owners like to have their dogs on the leash or even prevent them from interacting with other dogs. Aggressive behaviour is also not uncommon. It looks like the Swiss mandatory puppy kindergarten program is an effective way to socialize dogs.

Tuffa and Umbria posing for the couple of the year. Photo credit: Steinardamm.

On our last camp site we met Tuffa, a 10-month-old black fur ball. He was on a long leash at our neighbours’ RV that was facing away from ours. This was not enough to prevent him from crawling under the car to us and start a friendly barking at Umbria to initiate a run. Thank Dog, the camp site was not crowded and we were close to a huge meadow perfectly made for dog chasing. The Norwegian neighbours were as friendly as Tuffa and let him off the leash.

Tired out dog with young challenger after a wild chase.

Instantly the two blackies ran off and chased each other like hell. Though Tuffa is still young he was faster than Umbria and had enormous stamina. At the end it was too much for Umbria and she needed a rest. To our luck the neighbours couldn´t resist the sad begging look of our dog and gave her food. For the rest of our stay, they had a second dog under their table, and we had time to relax and write a new blog post.

Quiz: Who is the boss: Dogma, Dogpa or Dog?