Ian Stewart

So what goes up, must come down and since we had reached our northward most point, it was time for us to start following the swallows and heading back South. But first, we had to drive East to scoot around the Gulf of Bothnia (the sea btwn Sweden and Finland). The highlight of this drive eastwards into Sweden is we saw our first ever REINDEER!!😁 Only our 2nd animal in these desolate landscapes.😁

Now, if you didn't know this already, Norway is regularly rated from various sources as the most EXPENSIVE country in Europe! Up there with Switzerland and Iceland. I think it's safe to say that if our credit card were a dog, its tail would be firmly tucked between its legs as we departed this beautiful country. So in this regard, we were happy to be heading back into Sweden (which I think highlights the fact that Norway is pricey when you start looking at Sweden as a 'cheap' country). But to hit the ground running with cost saving, we decided to exercise our "Allemansrätten", the Swedish word meaning "every man's right", which basically means you can camp anywhere free of charge (provided it's not right next to someone's house of course). We had had such a good experience earlier on our trip with these free shelters in the Swedish wilderness, that we thought this might be a good option. Well, where the other wild camping was one of the highlights, this was certainly one of the lowlights! With the shelter being a bit dilapidated and the road to it miserable (Olaf - our car - almost got stuck), we decided to move onto greener pastures. Sadly, it would seem our 'greener pastures' had been victim to Lord Kitchener's 'scorched earth policy' and were no better than the crappy shelter. We drove to a dead end in the forest and decided it was here that we'd camp. On closer inspection though, this area seemed to be someone's fly tipping haven, but we were both too tired to head out again and look for another spot. So we set up camp in a mosquito infested rubbish dump where I thought the tyre hanging in the tree really completed the Feng Shui of the place. A place to remind us that it's not all roses travelling and that will be remembered but which we would really hope to forget!Read more