WEEK 9: 7th-13th June 2020

NORWAY is my favourite country – because of its people, way of life and culture, its wildness, beauty and rich variety of landscapes and seascapes. You can go for miles without seeing any people or houses – and when you do see houses, they are so picturesque, built of wood and often brightly painted, sometimes on stilts at the water’s edge. The sea and majestic fjords are sprinkled with thousands of rocky islands, mostly uninhabited, and there are lakes and rivers amongst the mountains and high plateaux.

I first fell in love with Norway and everything Norwegian when, as a student, I spent a few weeks south of Oslo (the capital) in 1964 as a volunteer working with an international team landscaping the grounds of a new centre of young girls with babies. Then in the 1980s, our family made a “blind date” with a Norwegian family of six, the Sekkesæters, who live in Trondheim. The first year, they stayed with us in Nottingham and we gave them a holiday exploring the Midlands and North Yorkshire. The next year, they gave us a wonderful holiday in Norway – and we’ve never looked back, enjoying many holidays together and on our own in our campervan. Due to their right-to-roam laws, you are allowed to stop overnight anywhere providing you are more than 150m from any houses. We have ‘camped’ in so many beautiful and remote spots with only birds and otters anywhere near us, and so many different wild fruits to harvest.

My problem this week will be choosing just a few photos! I will start today with photos of some of our wonderfully remote and beautiful “wild camping” sites over the years.