On the Telemark Canal and a beautiful evening with camping neighbors

After visiting many stave churches, we leisurely traveled along the Telemark Canal towards Tønsberg. We took our time. The canal is located in the Telemark region of Norway and has earned its name. It has a total of 12 locks (according to the internet, we only counted 8) to overcome the elevation from the mountains to the sea. Many ships pass through the locks daily. It is hard work for the employees as everything here is still manually operated. No pressing buttons on a computer, but pure muscle power. The rest of the day we spent at a small bathing spot. Although there were several campers here, everyone was quiet and nice. Our direct neighbors, Marlies and Detlef from near Bremen, were very entertaining. So we all jumped into the water together. Or rather, Marlies jumped in and Ronny bravely followed, while Detlev and I enjoyed a standing bath together and shivered in rhythm.

After many fun camping stories, we played a round of dice. Time flew by and before we knew it, it was almost midnight.

The next morning, we said our usual goodbyes, wished each other safe travels, and continued on. We went to the most beautiful lock on the Telemark Canal. It has 4 levels. We followed the first two levels downhill and then observed the rest of the activity from a cozy bench.

With these images in mind, we finally continued towards Tønsberg, where we made a stop to do laundry and plan the next leg of our journey.