Camping weekend

To be perfectly honest, I was not sure it was quite feasible... - three children, a buggy, a tent, sleeping bags and mattresses for five people, food and the bare essentials in terms of clothing and toiletries: this sounded a little bit too much to carry to envisage a three-day escapade in the archipelago. But. But... we still did it!!! Off on the 8.45 boat to Nämdö on Friday morning, we reached our destination a few hours later. We were not even deterred by the few drops of rain that fell on us as we were dragging our Chariot across a cows' field to get to the camping space on the island! A few families and friends had already pitched their tents there, or were using the spot to light a fire and have a Midsummer picnic, so we joined them on the idyllic rocky bank by the shallow water. A quick note here: a campsite by Swedish standards is just an area where visitors are allowed to camp for a few nights, but there is nothing there apart nature itself. No water apart from the sea, no facilities whatsoever. Pure scouting experience :-)

How calm, how wonderful, how amazing to go to sleep by the sounds of owls and be woken up to the quacking noises of ducklings! We even had a nearby sauna (to warm up with burning wood, the wood being chopped by the user with the axe and block provided) to enjoy before dipping in the very refreshing water - the best way to get a wash, really. We walked through fields and woods, we saw deers and spotted swans flying above our heads, as well as cranes. The wild flowers were beautiful, everywhere in bloom. We met some friendly campers, a good mix of nationalities, ranging from Swedish, British, Estonian, German to American, Russian and Indian.  

Apart from the annoying mosquitoes and the nasty puncture on our buggy, we had a great weekend! We are all VERY tired tonight and in desperate need of an early night, but we are already considering a future trip if we can before the end of the summer :-)

Comments

[Grandma]

WOW!! I am really impressed at your very courageous and exciting "back-to-nature" camping weekend! So pleased you managed to survive and enjoy it too! Well done!



Our weekend was much more sedate but enjoyable nonetheless as we were round helping Linda this weekend (and last) with her Open Studio and "Garden Safari". Close to 250 visitors in all (!) and some good sales of brooches, pendants, pen holders, light catchers and terrariums - with some possible follow ups. As it was much quieter today, I was delegated to clean and polish about 15 terrariums (!) for an order just completed tonight!



Speak to Pete tomorrow night. Love to all

Rosemary/Grandma/Mum

XXxxx