Camping in the ‘wild’

Posted on August 2, 2013 | 2 comments

Planning the trip to Norway and Sweden, we were really looking forward to camp where ever we like thanks to the Right of Public Acces (Allemansrätten/Allemansretten). According to this right you are allowed to put up your tent nearly anywhere.
But, as it turned out we didn’t really get a chance to camp in the wild in Norway, so in Sweden decided to use the Right and to test what possible the variations on the theme of ‘Wild camping’ had to offer. (Summary posts on Norway and Sweden are on their way)

Here are a few spots we slept at.

First, a Danish cycling family tipped us about sleeping near a Unesco site with Stone-age rock carvings in the region of Tanum. They were thinking about pitching our tent near the car parking. This is how we defined near that afternoon:

The runes were really interesting and there were almost no other tourists visiting the site. As a bonus we had access to toilets and drinking water! So, happy with our first ‘rune-night’, we took our map and circled all the rune-sites in the region going South. This took us to Torsbo.

An information board from the Torsbo council informed us about the site:

“Torsbo is worth a visit not only because of its rock carvings and ancient monuments but for its nature and scenic beauty.[….]These pastures have been pastures have been restored and are kept after by the Council Administration.
There are tables and benches and a more pleasent setting for a pastoral luncheon is hard to imagine.”

Who could have imagined a better pitch? Flat lawn, toilets, water, no tourists. Our own private camping.

Next, thanks to a fortunate meeting, we slept at Munkedal’s Kaserna.

The second evening at the Kaserna, a big storm seemed to be coming up, Jonathan rushed (with lots of help from the kids) to break camp and take shelter on a outdoor stage used for plays in the summer. Just before the pourdown and in time for dinner and a bedtime story.

The yellow curtains are our tent, which we used for exactly that: curtains. It was perfect, even darker than most hostel rooms we slept in.
Waking up was a litlle less idyllic: Monday morning was mowing time, around the stage. We thought planes were landing on the lawn!

After a stop in a youth hostel (laundry, showers, online payments, tickets, etc…) we headed out for our next leg. We were supposed to find a lovely beach 20 km further. The trouble is we managed to make our latest start ever 7.30pm. We stopped after 9 km (all uphill), where a new neighbourhood is being built.
All the roads, pavements, cycle paths & lamp posts are ready. Only the houses are missing. And a detail the kids spotted immediately: 2 playgrounds are ready, just waiting for the kids to come and play…or a tent to be pitched:

When we marked all the rune-sites on our map, we also spotted some shelter places for the Bohusleden hiking trail (360 km trail Northwards, starting in Gothenburg). We tried to get to one, but luckily bumped into Kenneth & Gerd, who invited us to sleep in the garden of the house they were staying at in the middle of the forest. Well they also invited us to sleep inside, but we didn’t want to abuse of their warm welcome. We did eat in their kitchen away from the swarms of midges.

Well, wherever we have been camping in the wild, it was many times better than the few campings we’ve visited. On average, 1 to 2% of the available spaces are reserved for tents. So you usually get stuck somwhere between parked cars. Trust us, this isn’t the worst we’ve been in.