Road to Nowhere

Ronda in the Nowhere. GPS refusing to work.

We are driving on scenic roads northwest of Norrköping searching for our next camp site. The roads are small, winding through golden wheat fields, going up and down, and shaking Ronda and her passengers from left to right. It takes us nearly two hours and to cover just 80km.

In one of the blogs you have heard about the difficulties of finding the right camp site. Sometimes we know which the right one is, but actually finding the place is another challenge. We use modern equipment like Google Maps or Ronda´s navigator. The ZIP code of the address in the Swedish guidebooks can be found and marks an area 20km wide. Any farther detailed location is unknown. We decided to go to the centre of this area and hope to find signboards for the camp site.

Golden wheat fields accompany us for hours.

I like modern navigation assistants. For many years and in many countries they have helped me to stay on track. But sometimes technology is a real pain in the cockpit. My GPS navigator accepts postal addresses like ‘Schmiedstrasse 8 in 6330 Cham, Switzerland’ or GPS coordinates in the modern decimal notation like N 58.35321°, E 16.40882°. The official guidebook, of course, prefers the sexagesimal notation like N 58°26’47.24”, E 16°35’50.14”. And the poor driver is lost in translation.

This was two hours ago. My wife who is the DJ on duty has chosen Brit Pop hits of the 80s and 90s which we like a lot. JY played songs by Travis when she picked me up from the KL airport for our first date a few years ago. Now I am listening to Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere” which is inspiring to find our way. The navigator tunes into this scenario and displays the mystical phrase “Road with no name” (Strasse ohne Name). And we drive through fields and small forests with sporadic houses far off the road. But no signboard for a campsite, and nobody to ask.

Human navigator preparing the route of the day.

We decide to select another campsite close by and type in the name of the closest village. The navigator starts calculating. The result is not too bad: 24km distance, arrival time in 1hr 33min. OK, that´s is a bit faster than walking, but the road is not too good and we probably have to slow down. We continue meandering through the crops.

Suddenly the female voice in the black box says “please, take the ferry ahead“. We turn the corner and in front of us the sea appears with the campsite on the left that was lost in translation. There’s also a reassuring triangular traffic sign warning of a car slipping from land into the sea.

After this adventure I decide to build an EXCEL® based converter for the GPS coordinates to reduce the amount of adventure on our tour. Happy testing during the next trip.

Stegeborg's ferry indicating the end of today's tour.

Brown Cheese = Chocolate + Cheese

Light and dark brown cheese - a delicious starter

After two months in a caravan I slowly start to understand my wife’s cravings. The first one is not uncommon among Asians: she loves chocolate. The second one is surprising because my wife doesn’t like durians: she loves cheese. Probably this is the result of training her taste buds for seven long years in Switzerland.

Our trip to Norway found its culinary highlight when we met JY’s old friend Jeannie in Raudeberg, a small but lovely village on the west coast between Bergen and Trondheim i.e. in the nowhere. JY had read about ‘brown cheese’ which is a kind of cheese that tastes sweet. As our Danish ‘red sausage’ experiment was disappointing JY was careful in buying unknown food in large quantities without expert guidance.

Practicing the art of cheese slicing.

Jeannie was our perfect expert: her Asian heritage guaranteed the right taste. Living in Norway for many years gave her the right market overview. And the most important fact: in her fridge was brown cheese in various strengths ready for tasting.

Brown cheese is cheese that is fermented or cooked in a special manner that makes it light brown with a savoury and sweet caramelised taste. When JY tasted the first thin slice of brown cheese her eyes started glowing and a subtle smile was on her face. In this moment I knew (a) we needed massive storage space for brown cheese in the fridge, and (b) the beer cans had to be kicked out. A perfect opportunity to make my wife happy.

Yes, I love it!

An important requirement is that the cheese is cut in very thin slices. As our space for kitchen tools is also limited we cannot buy a cheese cutter. We have to reuse an existing tool. The choice was clear: it is the potato peeler.

I wouldn´t eat brown cheese with my strong flavoured German bread for lunch or dinner. But for tea time with a light cracker or crisp bread it is a perfect combination. From now on my wife brings the potato peeler, crackers and the collection of brown cheeses for tea and starts the cheese ceremony. Brown slices of sweet cheese melt on our tongues, make us dream and convert each camp site into a perfect place for happiness.

Relaxed connoisseur.

 Before we left Norway we stocked up our brown cheese. JY promised that it will last until we come back to Switzerland to share it with all her friends.

Tea time at a marina. What else is needed for happiness?

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.