September 1st, 2015
Sweden/Norway 2015
On August 14th my trip to Sweden and Norway with the scouts started and I was filled with excitement about the places and adventures to come. A 27-hour long bus ride brought us to Bengtsfors in Sweden were our trip through the Scandinavian landscape would start.
As soon as we arrived in this small town I knew I would miss this place when I had to leave. The place where we spend the night was in the woods that were filled with endless blueberrybushes.
There was a place at a cliff where you could see over the town and watch the sun going down. We sat there all together and sang songs and my heart was filled with happiness and love for the people around me. It was there that I felt most alive in weeks.
The next day we hiked to the place where we started our canoetrip over lake Lelång in Sweden. I felt the water crashing against the canoe I was sitting in and the beauty overwhelmed me. Paddling over the lake, stopping at an island to eat lunch, my heart began to ache about the thought that I had to leave this country in a few days.
We camped at an island and found an even better place than the night before to watch the sundown. Sadly I couldn't bring my SLR and the small digital camera I brought with me instead wasn't able to catch all the beauty around me. We slept under the stars and the wide open sky. Never before have I seen as many stars as in these nights under the Scandinavian sky.
The trip went on and we canoed for the next three days, stopping at islands to sleep under the stars.
On the third day we paddled over the water when suddenly the wind changed and "big" waves appeared. The canoe I was sitting in drifted away from our small group. We did everything to get back to them but it was impossible for the canoe was loaded heavily. S who was driving a kayak came to rescue us and towed us to the left side of the lake which was the leeward side. Unfortunately we couldn't find the third canoe of our little group for when S saw them we drifted away again because we weren't connected to the kayak anymore. G, who was waiting at a small island, saw S and waved at him and he waved back, so when S paddled off to the right to catch us again G thaught we changed plans and headed to the right so he began to canoe there too.
Sadly we didn't change our minds and headed to the left instead so we lost them. The next few hours we paddled over the lake without a map, searching for our friends. We didn't exactly know where the place was where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of our big group so we just rode on until S met some nice Swedish guys who gave us a map and in the evening we were finally united with all of our friends.
On the third day we paddled over the water when suddenly the wind changed and "big" waves appeared. The canoe I was sitting in drifted away from our small group. We did everything to get back to them but it was impossible for the canoe was loaded heavily. S who was driving a kayak came to rescue us and towed us to the left side of the lake which was the leeward side. Unfortunately we couldn't find the third canoe of our little group for when S saw them we drifted away again because we weren't connected to the kayak anymore. G, who was waiting at a small island, saw S and waved at him and he waved back, so when S paddled off to the right to catch us again G thaught we changed plans and headed to the right so he began to canoe there too.
Sadly we didn't change our minds and headed to the left instead so we lost them. The next few hours we paddled over the lake without a map, searching for our friends. We didn't exactly know where the place was where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of our big group so we just rode on until S met some nice Swedish guys who gave us a map and in the evening we were finally united with all of our friends.
The next day our canoe trip ended and we began to hike to Norway.
Our small group af seven was the slowest one but that was alright. In the afternoon we walked over the Swedish/Norwegian border and it was a really good feeling for never before have I done this.
Our small group af seven was the slowest one but that was alright. In the afternoon we walked over the Swedish/Norwegian border and it was a really good feeling for never before have I done this.
In the evening we were supposed to meet up with one of the other small groups but we didn't find them so we slept next to the road in the woods. It was nearly dark when we arranged our camp so we cooked our dinner on S's camping stove.
Suddenly the gas was empty so S wanted to change the gas cartridge. G was reading a book to the little girls in our group because he wanted to cheer them up for they got a little homesick while hiking with their heavy backpacks for the first time for so long. He used a candle to provide himself some light.
S didn't really know how to change the cartridge so he asked if G knew how but he didn't really know either. So S thought he could do it with force. Suddenly the gas began to exhaust from the new cartridge and because S did all this near the candle a huge fireball, like 4m high, appeared. We were all shocked by the sight of it but reacted quickly and stopped the fire. Gladly nothing really bad happened and S was only burned a little in his face around the mouth. But he was really, really shocked. G and B talked to him and calmed him down and I did the same with the three girls for they also shivered heavily.
When we had all calmed down a little G read on one of the cartridges how to really change it and did so, we then cooked dinner.
S wanted me to sleep next to him and I did so for I knew how bad he felt and that I was the person he knew best of our small group. When I lay in my sleeping bag that night, everyone sound asleep around me, I got overwhelmed with all the feelings I so hardly tried not to feel. It felt like I needed to cry my heart out but I didn't because I didn't want to wake up anyone. All I wished for was to hug my brother to know everything would be okay again.
Suddenly the gas was empty so S wanted to change the gas cartridge. G was reading a book to the little girls in our group because he wanted to cheer them up for they got a little homesick while hiking with their heavy backpacks for the first time for so long. He used a candle to provide himself some light.
S didn't really know how to change the cartridge so he asked if G knew how but he didn't really know either. So S thought he could do it with force. Suddenly the gas began to exhaust from the new cartridge and because S did all this near the candle a huge fireball, like 4m high, appeared. We were all shocked by the sight of it but reacted quickly and stopped the fire. Gladly nothing really bad happened and S was only burned a little in his face around the mouth. But he was really, really shocked. G and B talked to him and calmed him down and I did the same with the three girls for they also shivered heavily.
When we had all calmed down a little G read on one of the cartridges how to really change it and did so, we then cooked dinner.
S wanted me to sleep next to him and I did so for I knew how bad he felt and that I was the person he knew best of our small group. When I lay in my sleeping bag that night, everyone sound asleep around me, I got overwhelmed with all the feelings I so hardly tried not to feel. It felt like I needed to cry my heart out but I didn't because I didn't want to wake up anyone. All I wished for was to hug my brother to know everything would be okay again.
The next day we hiked on and met a some of the other small groups, except the one my brother was hiking with. When we reached the place where we should meet up with the others my brother was there. When I finally got able to hug him it felt like all the shattered pieces of myself fell back into place, I was whole again. I know I will never forget what happened that night and that it will be a part of me forever.
On August 21st we all hiked to another lake and spent two days there. We celebrated two birthdays in this time and spent one whole day in the sun at the lake. The sunrays warmed my skin and the cool water felt like heaven, We camped in the forest next to a shack of Norwegian scouts. And still there were hundreds of blueberrybushes, just like in Sweden.
When these wonderful two days were over we hiked to the next lake and the day after that to the next city, Halden, to go to the supermarket again and to take a train to Fredrikstad. Sadly it began to rain around midday but it was alright. When we reached Fredrikstad we walked outside of the town and camped in the woods again, but this time on the rocks for we were near the coast.
Because everything on the ground was rock we couldn't really built up our tent so G, B and S built a roof with the tarpaulins so we could sleep without getting wet. Meanwhile I cooked dinner, couscous with vegetable-tomatoe-sauce, and one of the little girls assisted me. We all came through the night without getting too wet but on the next day it rained even more and we had to walk around 15km to reach the place where we should meet with a lot of other scout groups the next day.
Hiking through the rain is not one of my favourite things to do when I don't know that I will be at a dry place at the end of the day. But the landscape around me was even more beautiful than the days before because everything was covered in thick fog. It was a long, wet walk but we reached the campsite in the early afternoon. It stopped to rain and we built up our tent next to the sea. We were on the island Spærøy in the south of Fredrikstad. The next day most of the other scout groups arrived and I met some of my friends for the first time in weeks or even months.
In the evening we all walked to a church that was near our campsite. This way we had a dry place were we could all sing together and tell the other groups how our time in Norway was. It was one of these precious moments when time seems to stand sitll.
On the next day it stopped to rain around midday but we hat to built up our tent at another place at the campsite for another tent of our group got swallowed up by the water on the ground and we didn't want the same thing to happen to us.
The last evening in Norway came closer with each minute and I could feel my heart ache by the thought of leaving Scandinavia. We all sat together again to sing, this time under the wide open sky next to a bonfire.
On August 28th we packed up our things and took a long bus ride home, leaving behind a country that has filled us with bliss and a lot of magical, wonderful and sometimes frightening but adventurous moments.
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