The days are long and hot and we haven’t seen rain since the midsummer party. The earth smells dry. During the day we hide in the shadows but both the mornings and evenings are spent by the refreshing lakes.

Despite every day feeling a bit like the endless summer holiday from our childhood, there is no way to resist offline time in nature and a bit of solitude to refresh the mind as well.

While Joeri went to Dalhalla with friends to see Bjork, I packed the camping gear and went looking for that one spot far out in the woods that I found by accident a few years ago. It’s not close to any village but still, there are boats and a charming campfire place. This trip, however, was without a fire because of the high risk of forest fires.

At this moment there are still 50 fires and at least 4 of them got so strong that it will take months to extinguish them. Sweden is getting help from other European countries like Norway, Poland, Germany, and France to fight this disaster.

So what we can do is think about the water we use and be careful. I don’t smoke anyway and I had some food prepared before we left: a pasta salad for the evening, bread for the days, some nuts and a few bottles of water. Oh, and dog food of course 🙂

Since our van broke down a while ago and isn’t fixed yet, we went back to basics and slept in the tent, close to the mesmerizing water. Just perfect! For the dogs, I took some cozy blankets but both Mogwai and Lizzie preferred my sleeping bag :-). I would definitely not be cold with these two.

You might expect a quiet night in the woods this far from any village, but I can tell you right away that the forest doesn’t sleep at night. And of course, I’m listening more carefully, alarmed by more sounds than I would when I’m sleeping in a safe house with doors and windows. Slightly after midnight, some ducks flew by and landed on the water with a lot of noise. I heard cracking twigs around the tent and started singing (that would chase away any living being) or talking to the dogs when the steps came too close to be comfortable 🙂
Somewhere around 3, there was barking that startled me. I almost jumped up, convinced that Oona escaped. But she was innocent as a baby on her blanket, listening as well but keeping her calm.
“If Oona isn’t alarmed, I shouldn’t be either”,” I thought and went back to sleep until the sun woke us up.

“Goodmorning!”

Breakfast with an undisturbed lake view 🙂

“This water is better!”  

Isn’t it funny how only two days on your own in the forest can feel like so much longer? Far from everyday distractions, time feels different, and the senses get a break. It’s a specific and difficult to describe feeling that I love to revisit since my 62 days in a cabin up north as an experiment in solitude.

This little camping trip was just perfect for that!

And hurray, I tamed the wild tent!