“Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods.

Every time you do, you will be certain to find something you have never seen before.”(Bell)

I'm a wanderer by heart. Traveling is a great pasion to me. But sadly it comes only two or three times a year, that I can...

just wander ...

Combining love for nature, water, hiking, photography and freedom - the decision was made - interrail travelling through Norway and a quick stop in Sweeden :)

Googled Norway and the official travel guide to Norway said

"Find your fjord or arctic destination, explore the long coast or choose a holiday destination in the mountains and wilderness." - enough said, there will definately be a thing to do for me in Norway.

Starting from Oslo up to Bodø and Lofoten islands, and then back to the south. Wraping our journey with a visit in Nyhyttan, Sweeden.

Langøyene island in the innermost Oslo Fjord where tenting is allowed

In Oslo we've had to find a place to stay, and because we knew there is a law in Norway wich allows setting up a tent almost everywhere, we decided to find a place under the stars :) "allemannsretten"- means that every one has a right to access to the countryside and it's based on a respect of nature, countryside, landowners, farmers, others and of course enviroment. Basicly, you can set up a tent almost every where for free, if you respect the rules of allemannsretten.

Intresting sight at gasstop for our ferry

Storm above Oslo

Evethough Oslo, as a capital of Norway, is a nice and quite small city, it's known as the fastest growing city in Europe by population. It's also a centre of commerce, industry and shipping, and all together gives you a feeling of crowdedness and nit at all that nature power I was looking for. That's why we decided to leave Oslo and head north, to Bodø, which we used as a starting point for ferry trip to Lofoten.

Leaving Bodø and countinuing with a ferry to Moskenes, Lofoten

Lofoten are located at the 68th and 69th parallels north of the Arctic Circle. The islands are known for fishing, beautiful nature, small villages with restored fishermans cabins and whale watching. As you step on the islands a fishy smell comes into your nostrils and it won't leave, until you leave the Lofoten :)

Morning sun in Vesfjorden (Norwegian sea)

Picturesque villages - island of Moskenesøya

As I slowly realized, people in Norway are very enviromently confidential as a nation, but very unpunctional and with a flaw of unknowing the distances and times used for it (they're not able to guess the aprox time needed to get to some place).
So... we've walked a lot :) and missed a lot of means of public transport :)

Lofoten islands are surreal, inspiring, magical, if you want, all you need is to look around!

Reinefjord

From all the activities offered in Lofoten, I chose hiking. Sun was on my side, and the views are breathtaking.

Village of Reine

Staying at one of the "rouber" - fishermans cabin in village called Å and hiking around "small" lake on, again, sunny day - priceless!

Fishermans cabins in Å

Lake Ågvatnet

A view from the lake to Å

Drying flake for Stockfish

After the surreal nature and views in Lofoten, it was time to get back to the mainland and visit the fjords.

A day log train trip and a lot of waiting for public transport, but we did it! :)

Over Trollstigen mountainroad to Valldal, countinuing to Geirangerfjord. Amazing highland nature, glacier lakes, isolated mountain cabins and rainy weather :)

Trollstigen mountain road

Wieving point at Trollstigen

As we woke up in the morning the sun was waitnig for us to explore the Geirangerfjord listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Filled with tourists, but still... magic :)

Geirangerfjord

Rainbow at Seven sisters waterfall

End of summer and rain kicked us out of the campside in Geiranger. Headed to explore Norway's cliffs of southern fjords, but as usual train had a delay of almost an hour, and we missed the night train. After spending night inside Oslo's train station, we decided it is time to wrap up our journey around Norway for this year and wander to Sweeden (interrail one country pass for Norway is also valid for railway from Oslo to Stockholm!).
From the rain in Norway to the sun in Sweeden, from sleeping in tents on the ground to the cosiest bed and the most important from canned and fishy food to homemade food :) Thanks to our dear friends in Nyhyttan ;)