Stage 5 - Norway

We fly over the steppe. An indescribable vastness surrounds us. Behind, in front, left, right, wherever we look - vastness! Rocks, moss-covered, grassy, and wildflower-covered, glaciers in the background, and turquoise or deep blue lakes. Gray and white wild clouds move across a clear blue sky. We are speechless. But we don't need words. Our hearts are open. Both hearts. They beat in rhythm. The music completes the film we are in right now. Can it get any cooler? Just us, the land, and what we want. The only boundaries are the ones we set for ourselves. Forward, backward, stop. We decide. Life is ours! If we want, we are free...

Two days earlier, we drive once again along the curvy road in the dark. We left Oslo on a sunny-rainy-sunny afternoon. 'Way too late again.' But successful. The first specialty store in the Oslo area already has the long-awaited light bulb. We also find a few other utensils and just as the rain begins, Chris opens the engine hood and starts working on the cinnamon bun himself. I hand him towels and give compliments from the bus. With a steady hand, Chris quickly manages to make the change. Amazing what he can do! And that's how you get to know your vehicle. I am happy and proud, and he smiles again.

Now, we only need to take care of the device that converts the camper's 12V power into power for my laptop. So that I can work in the wilderness in two weeks. The device we need is not easy to find. 6 electronic stores and just as many roundabouts later, we have found the right one. Now we just need to return the second right one that we bought in front of three stores. In the meantime, we have also found a few outdoor bargains for tough hikes in the Norwegian steppe. And we have found the cleanest, most comfortable public toilets of all time. Guest towels included. Thanks to Hannes' remote help in real time, it seems that we have found what we were looking for. So now let's go. Away from Oslo. For real this time!

When we arrive at the Sandviken campsite at quarter to ten, it is more than spontaneous. We were just on our way to Geilo, one hour away. But the darkness and the view into a picturesque mountain valley and the app that praises the campsite convinced us to pause. We call the owner on the phone number displayed at the already closed reception. 'Of course, just come in and choose a spot. You can pay tomorrow.' Cool! Of course, we choose the most beautiful spot. Right by the lake, with a view of the picturesque mountain valley. A dream. It seems like everyone else is already asleep. But we don't need to eat anymore either. I had already prepared sandwiches for us on the way. (I love it: everything you need, always right there, as the landscape changes around you.) Instead, we cuddle up in our cozy bed, eat chips, and read the newspaper. Catwashing is also possible in the bus.

The next morning, we wake up around 9:30 or 10 am after our usual sleep-in. The sky is blue, it's warm, the place is peaceful, and in front of us is the quiet, huge lake. We immediately decide to finally give ourselves a day of rest here.
The day is beautiful! Vacation!
We have breakfast with fresh croissants from the kind campsite owner in her picturesque cottage and good fresh coffee. And we leisurely read the newspaper. There is an extensive reservoir of interesting articles that has accumulated over the past few weeks. Then Chris starts to tidy up. Cleaning up, organizing, cleaning feels good. At some point, I join in. Together, we clean our vehicle, while the sun shines outside on a beautiful summer day. At some point, Christian starts working on the reverse light, as it is also broken. We fix it together and are happy that it works. We are roadworthy again!

As a reward, we go swimming in the ice-cold lake. My new swimming goggles from one of the sports shops we visited in the meantime prove to be very useful. We can't stay in the 17-degree cold water for long and prefer to dry off quickly in the hot sun. Then we head to the city.

To the 'city'. There is a bank, a supermarket, a boutique, and a bakery. Just right for us. We absentmindedly browse for small furnishings for about an hour. Our taste is quite similar, but we rarely have so much peace and time to engage in such aesthetic considerations. So it's even more beautiful now. In the end, we save and only take two small items with us. Then we have coffee and cake at the bakery and then we walk hand in hand, like Hansel and Gretel, along the forest path back home, the one we came from. Everything is so dreamy and idyllic.

Back home, Chris starts cooking. Spaghetti with pesto or onions and tomatoes for me. When Chris cooks, it means he has time and leisure. Very good! And above all, very delicious! We sit for a long time, looking at the lake merging with the darkness, the flickering candle next to us, our heads tilted back and looking for shooting stars. This time we don't find any together, but a fox runs past us with food in its mouth. That's also rare.
I fall asleep while Chris reads to me from the GEO magazine about 'The Joy of Simple Living'.

The next morning, the sun is gone. It's cloudy and much colder. It starts drizzling during breakfast. We had planned to go hiking, but like this... well, in any case, we continue driving. These small farewells are always difficult. But they are necessary if we want to discover new things. Chris hesitates and I encourage him to take the plunge. He manages it and overcomes his inner resistance - he goes swimming again in the 15°C cold water. Great! I stand by and take photos while he calmly and steadily swims a few hundred meters along the shore of the lake. We promised Carola to always keep an eye on each other and to stay close to the shore, as she knows the area well and cramps in the cold water are not uncommon even for professionals. Chris says that his face feels frozen. Nevertheless, he does it well and even poses for a photo on the floating water slide. Then a hot shower and off we go. I wait for him with coffee and pastries and Norwegian literature in the cozy reception café. He writes via Threema, it takes a little longer. The headlights had another problem. I feel sorry because I know how much it bothers him when something is not working on the car. Since I can't help, as he says, I enthusiastically plan our next stops. A route! We haven't had that until now. When I present it to him a short while later, I am very excited. Fortunately, he likes it and shares my joy. So we can go and we have a plan. Yeah!

After just a few kilometers, the Norwegian panorama opens up before us in all its vastness. Land, hills, mountains, clouds, sky, earth! As far as the eye can see. And us and the cinnamon bun. We get out, take pictures, I dance, we cheer. No one hears it. Absolutely incredible. And this is how it continues. We drive and drive and the landscape flies by. Or are we flying?

In Geilo, all the stores have already closed. Of course, it's already after 5 pm and we are in Norway. I wonder if people here only work until 3 pm? So no more shopping in the sports store ('Geilosports'), but continue through the vastness. Always along the Hardangervidda National Park, where Chris would actually like to go hiking. In the distance, we see glaciers and the setting sun creates unique atmospheric images within us. Some motorhomes are already parked in the bays along the roadside, and we wonder: Where should we stop? It's slowly getting late and we wanted to arrive before 8 pm for once. The loosely planned campsite near Eidfjord is not far anymore. But another campground already? Chris says he would also like to camp freely. I check the app, but there are no more designated spots. Of course, that doesn't mean that there are no more spots available. Should we turn around anyway? Chris considers it. No, let's continue, it's silly to go back and maybe everything is already occupied. We keep driving. I consider it. 'Oh, come on, let's turn around. You're right!' Intuition guides us. I already know when turning around that it is a good decision. And we always find each other as a pair easily. Then everything is usually fine. Head, heart, gut, head, heart - move forward!
So we drive back 15 minutes to the fork in the road. A bit further in is a spot described as beautiful and unique. However, we have to pay a 20 Euro toll. Oh, here it also leads into the national park. Hmm. And what if it's already occupied? Come on, let's do it anyway!
We do it and are overly rewarded:
The national park is huge, the narrow gravel road winds through the tundra, and we are the only ones as far as the eye can see. However, there are parking spaces every few hundred meters along the roadside. So it's all ours now. We have free choice! I am excited with joy again and want to take the seemingly best spot right away. But Chris knows better and says it's worth patiently driving a little further. Even better spots appear. It gets even more beautiful, more lonely, more vast. Wonderful.

It's already getting dark when we somewhat straighten out the camper with four eyes. After driving so much, Chris still stands in the onboard kitchen and makes fried potatoes with eggs and Salsiccia. In two batches, of course - our pan is small, our hunger is great.
So delicious! It's stormy outside, the wind shakes our bus. We are the only people for miles around. Does anyone still live here on this planet? When a car drives by, Chris rushes to the window. They drive into the darkness. Our cozy illuminated home is slowly getting colder, and I take a hot water bottle under the blanket with me. While the master chef and driver fall asleep, I continue reading with my headlamp on, about Roald Amundsen and his expeditions to the North Pole. It's good that we don't have to discover that anymore, but that our adventure here and now ends so warm and cozy. I turn off the light and the moon disappears, orange and round, behind the hills.

We wake up as always without an alarm clock. Both with cold noses. It's wonderfully warm under my duvet. We could lie here forever, as usual, but we don't want to miss more of the day. Chris looks at the thermometer: 3°C. We bundle up, and after the catwash, we have tea. He goes for a walk and I clean up. Our cinnamon bun still smells deliciously of fried potatoes. And not a word about diesel... almost forgotten already.
We drive out into the bright expanse of the national park. The clouds break up and the blue sky appears. Now we see a few more campers that apparently also found a spot along the road before or after us. There is simply space for everyone here, yet everyone is on their own. Wonderful!
The landscape takes our breath away. Again and again, we pass small stone huts that are covered in moss and hardly recognizable. The plain is flat and yet hilly. Vast and yet nature is so close. Actually, we are close to it. A part of it? Where do we end and where does it begin? Are we one? These thoughts come to me as I sit in the grass on one of the hills an hour later. We followed the advice of a hunter who pointed out the nearby reindeer herds to us. Equipped with hiking shoes, windbreakers, and above all binoculars, we set out to search for reindeer. But instead of finding them, we find 'only' ourselves. Merged with the colors, trembling in the wind that tugs at us, and happy hand in hand. Our gaze lingers in the distance, at one or two lakes at our feet, moss, and wildflowers beside stones and marsh all around us. Wild Norway. Chris's wish to go hiking in Hardangervidda has come true.
We continue driving. Or should I say, flying?

We fly over the steppe. An indescribable vastness surrounds us. Behind, in front, left, right, wherever we look - vastness! Rocks, moss-covered, grassy, and wildflower-covered, glaciers in the background, and turquoise or deep blue lakes. Gray and white wild clouds move across a clear blue sky. We are speechless. But we don't need words. Our hearts are open. Both hearts. They beat in rhythm. The music completes the film we are in right now. Can it get any cooler? Just us, the land, and what we want. The only boundaries are the ones we set for ourselves. Forward, backward, stop. We decide. Life is ours! If we want, we are free...

We make one more stop and go on a small adventure hike to the foot of a 200-meter-deep waterfall. The landscape has changed dramatically. Steep dark rock walls line the road. It feels like driving into a ghostly valley every time we enter a tunnel. We then roll through the sparsely lit mountains for several minutes at a time. Water is always on our right; everything already looks like a fjord, but they are lakes. Shortly before the first fjord, Chris spots a campground. And because we are a bit tired and REALLY want to arrive early for once, we drive there after a short stop in the tourist town of Eidfjord. We take our place with the cinnamon bun in the front row, right by the lake. Chris blows some air onto our headlight again (unfortunately, it rained when we changed the light bulb), and I heat up a can of noodle soup, one of the last emergency supplies from 2020. While we eat, we look at the mountain and lake panorama in front of us like it's a painting. Unreal. Can one be any luckier?

While I'm writing these lines here - by the way, laboriously with just one thumb on my phone - Chris is lying next to me, writing about Oslo. It's raining outside, lightly drumming on our roof. Through the window next to us, we still look at the painting. It's warm in here. We are full, content, and grateful! Nothing hurts us, nothing is missing (well, except for our readers, we miss you a little bit), no plans need to be fulfilled, and everything is fine in all its uncertainty. Tomorrow we will experience new adventures again after sleeping in. That much is certain...!