So, where were we…? Oh yeah, so shortly after our first camping trip we made a big jump to the north and drove to the ‘Nötön-Åråsviken‘ Nature reserve.
The reserve is located in a bay of the Vänern lake, Sweden’s largest lake. We drove along the shore right around sunset. So of course we had to stop and take a look at it! And the lake is absolutely humongous and resembles more of a sea than a lake! (it is the 2nd largest lake in Europe, that’s what Wikipedia says so it must be true).
Shortly after this break we headed into the woods and I spotted over 4 deer on the way there. Lisanne was driving right behind me so she missed all of them…
We did some exploring of the area and then hiked to our campsite, which was only 2km away from the vans. The campsite was a large open area with a big fire-pit, firewood ready to use and it even an outhouse! (if you were wondering: that’s a toilet, you spoiled modern human)
We stayed for 3 days, and what did we do? Not much, just swimming, sunbathing, eating, walking around (barefoot) and sleeping. This is also probably the most time I spent walking barefoot my entire life. It’s a bit strange feeling at first when you start to really walk the forest floor without shoes, but I got used to it really quickly and it is actually quite relaxing to feel the ground you’re walking on. And you’ll use muscles in your feet that you never use. I can recommend trying it out sometime. Maybe not in the Netherlands, or you have to be really good at avoiding glass and bottle-caps 😉
Oh and the quietness of the place was amazing, for the whole 3 days, we didn’t see or hear any other human being. Even airplanes don’t fly over that much in this area. The nature surrounding us felt a bit like the area around ‘Giethoorn‘ but only without there being a road behind the first treeline with a 30-tonne truck rushing by. Oh and without the tourists.
Before you think it’s all the dream to be here, it’s also the dream of every mosquito to be here. So I’ve had a lot of mosquito kisses here as well. As soon as we left the fire pit they’d rush in to attack. Even through thick socks and vests. One bite caused my entire hand to swell up and stay that way for 3 days :/
