Traveling Northern Europe 4x4 Ep06: Rooftop Tent Camping Norway - Part 2

Description

Our six month journey through Europe up to Northern Scandinavian wilderness continues. This is part 2 of our travels through Norway. As I write this we are still in Norway just further north and heading east to Sweden near the Jotunheinen National Park. In this episode though we start off where part 1 ended, at the beginnings of a mountain road that follows the Heddola river. I hope you enjoy the episode and thank you from Me and Megan for watching.

In this episode we have left Asker and begun heading West.

We are currently heading west as we upload this.

Thanks for watching!

Wingfields Quality Adventure Goods - https://www.wingfields.co.uk/alu-box

Ruffstuff Specialties - https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/JeepXJ.html

MCQBushcraft:

If your interested in Bushcraft & Survival skills, fishing, hunting, fire lighting, plants & mushrooms, camp cooking, shelter building, self reliance, wilderness & primitive living skills, weaving plant fibers, knives, axes, saws and maintaining these tools in the field and much much more then check out my channel page below for playlists and more videos.

All my Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MCQBushcraft/videos

Check out my Shop for hand made products and more:

http://www.mcqbushcraft.co.uk/shop/

Follow me on Social Media:

Connect On My Website - http://www.MCQBushcraft.co.uk

Connect On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MCQBushcraft

Connect On Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/mcqbushcraft1

Connect On Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/MCQBushcraft

Tags: MCQbushcraft road trip,mcqbushcraft norway camping,mcqbushcraft norway,MCQBushcraft,mcqbushcraft danmark,mcqbushcraft holland,mcqbushcraft denmark,mcqbushcraft netherlands,mcqbushcraft germany,roof top tent camping europe,mcqbushcraft sweden overland,mcqbushcraft europe,mcqbushcraft sweden,traveling northern europe,mcqbushcraft adventure,mcqbushcraft jeep cherokee,rooftop tent norway,rooftop tent travel,rooftop tent europe,rooftop tent northern europe

Video Transcription

in our last episode we arrived in Norway where we pitched our first camp at a popular location by a lake before heading into a skirt to spend two weeks with our friends getting to know the local area propping up and departing into the wilderness again to explore this truly beautiful country and its incredible landscape and to see some of its history along the way at the end of the last episode we found a mountain road that followed a river hoping to find a suitable location to pitch camp for the night and we found just that and to date we've spent two nights here soaking in our surroundings and just enjoying the wilderness Megan's been doing some incredible cooking while we've been away on this trip and when morale is low it's exactly what you need but after something to eat it was time to test out our new rod down at the river if she is the master fisherwoman nice cast

we had a few bites but the fish were more interested in the Flies than they were our lure but after a short period we did bring in a couple they were just very small and not worth keeping so we put them back we'd been at camp for a couple of days and we were both keen to see where the trail would take us the Flies were pretty tough where we were and they were swarming almost all day so he got camp packed up prepared the vehicle and set off up the trail hoping we'd unlocked some new camp areas that were a bit more exposed to the wind and a bit more rocking which ultimately would mean less flies I still hadn't repaired the viscous span clicking the cow and clicking slowly driving me crazy but the trail wasn't challenging there were just occasional reminders of my no motorhomes would be up here and we'd probably be on our own which is what we wanted

[Music]

when you see this your first thought is to turn back and it's an easy decision to make but then there wouldn't be a story to tell so at times like these it's always good to get out of the vehicle and scout ahead to see what the actual damage is I mean I don't know what the laws are but I'm guessing that someone would come in with a chainsaw anyway and just clear the path but if we had a chainsaw be a piece of cake you just zip through them but there are a tremendous amount of time tree and they're not small ones like this some of them are you know very sizable I mean we could drag them out the way with the truck in terms of once you've cut it you just put a strap around it and reverse and pull it off path but we use a lot of fuel that way won't mean that's not really gonna you sort of fuel it's just the rest of the day will be just cutting dropping dragging us moving stuff out the way and we've got another 15 20 kilometers to go and I honestly don't know what it will be like I mean if it's like that for another 5 or 10k then you know it's gonna it's gonna be a long time it's gonna be a lot of work I'm up for it if you were silky Zubat love it's basically a chainsaw in itself right yeah

meg wasn't completely convinced so he continued scouting ahead and I don't think what we found next helped the situation at all oh wow someone's had a bad day I don't know how they would have lost that here so Drive looks like a front drive shaft CV joint Oh dear me I could be wrong but I showed her that this was just a one-off and probably someone driving stupidly down the track at the wrong time of year but the more we walked the more relics we found it was actually very disappointing to see all these parts of vehicles left along this track I could see why the locals didn't like the idea of four-by-fours coming down here but this aside we carried on hiking a few kilometers up the trail where it opened out into a crossing that gave us a clearer view of the mountain and we made the decision together to clear the trees to see where this trail would take us

like she cool all right level one complete we were both unsure of how long this would go on for but we were both enjoying it and making progress and when you can see a making progress it drives you on we're also taking it in turns to do the smaller stuff just so we weren't stopping all the time it's always tempting to just drive over or through something when you're in a vehicle like this but there are sensitive elements underneath the vehicle like rubber boots that hold grease and protect certain components brake lines fuel lines things that twinks can get stuck up into and brake so it's best always just move things out the way [Applause]

after about three hours we reach the open area where we found the crossing and decided it was time for something to eat

[Applause]

so that's where we came off the main road onto the track yeah we camped there from all the way around here we still thought I mean the thing is look and there's two river crossings by Alexa as well yeah the river levels low though I know but we don't know whether but the bridges are in fact or not this is where technology comes in and like in the future when there's no wilderness left you like push a button on your 4x4 and a drone goes moose at the top but then that is future at us now so I just don't really know I'm all about the treasure you could make the bums brass

maybe someone out there he's got Cherokee or be like that piece of aluminium exactly

make it ridiculous they said it's a perfect fit we can mark it like a on a treasure map and some Norwegian can come or trap someone that's traveling Norway can come and pick it up there is an over landing Jeep Cherokee forum or not in Norway people with those vehicles so if you're watching which you probably won't be let me know if you want let's go and get it and put it on your vehicle if you want them and aftermarket top quality comfort people gave aluminium they like the magnet

after a bite to eat and a bit of treasure hunting

we checked the map and made sure we were happy to continue and then it was back to work cutting trees and dragging them out the way mehgan's confidence is slowly growing driving the Jeep more so off-road than on-road it was more fun for me as well to be out of the hot seat and see her driving and enjoying herself a little bit further down the track another tree in our path this time a fairly sturdy pine and despite our best efforts to clear the branches and move it by hand it was just dug in too deep so it was time to get the recovery kit out and try and tow the bulk of it off the track so we could get past [Music]

it seemed to go fairly well and after a bit of Megan's handiwork we were ready to move on to the next obstacle which again required the use of the strop simply because the trees had come down and twisted round each other one of them was under quite a lot of tension when I didn't wanna risk as cutting the tree releasing the tension and potentially getting injured

we trimmed a few more branches and the trail was clear and after this it seemed to be smooth sailing no more down trees and we gained a little bit more elevation away from the river into the rakia parts of the trail unlike many of the areas we've been in Norway it was a very beautiful area you couldn't help but drive steadily and just be taken in by the scenery around you and even though this wasn't the typical touristy place where people would visit these little areas have their own Beauty these were the places on maps that we'd often look out for places where we knew it would just be the two of us and the nature around us as we descended back down to the river I was certain we were to face more down trees and a lot more clearing but instead we got a different surprise we'd seen the bridge on the map we knew it was coming we just didn't know it had been completely destroyed so when you said there's no bridge the water level along with debris had obviously damaged the bridge sadly there was no getting around it although we did find an alternative path about half a kilometre up from the bridge which we decided to investigate the trail continued on for quite away and seemed to stop when it got to a large rock face so he decided to admit defeat turn back and make our way back down the mountain road to the main road and try and find somewhere to camp we followed signs to the nearest campsite which seems counterintuitive in Norway given Camping's free and accessible to all but we hadn't showered in a long time and still hadn't bought a DC charger for the laptop which made us dependent on electricity to charge it and create these videos we ended up arriving in a camp site called hog stool Heitor situated in the mountains although we didn't have time to appreciate the view on arrival as we were swarmed by biting midges almost immediately the Norwegians refer to them as not and they were absolutely relentless our head nets didn't seem to do any good they got through the smallest of holes it's like it never stops never stops even with the flying net on your head they just they just come in like 20 inside my flying net fortunately the campsite owner took pity on us and offered us her smallest cabin at the price it would be to pitch a tent it was basic but it was everything we needed and the best part was as there were no flies provided you didn't open the door for too long Megan had reacted quite badly to the bites and was in quite a lot of discomfort i've known to people in my life develop septicemia from high volumes of midge bites when someone's been bitten hundreds and hundreds of times it's always good to just keep an eye on them being in the cabin though just gave us that short break we needed we could take a shower charge the laptop even use the hob provided in the cabin to do the cooking and save on what little gas we had left it also meant Megan could recover from her bites it meant I could keep an eye on her as well the following days brought with it a steady breeze and with it it took away the Flies it was one of the first days we could step outside and not be swarmed within minutes and this really marked our cue to leave so we got the vehicle packed up thank the owners for allowing us to stay in the cabin and set off back down the mountain to our next destination after a quick resupply we joined another mountain road this time heading to a popular tourist attraction and hiked up one of Norway's tallest mountains Gauss topping but before getting there we couldn't help but stop at the side of the road and admire the view it was an incredibly beautiful area a short break and we continued to the base of the hike which is a parking area where you could prep your gear by food and look at a trail map taking refuge from the wind on the concrete I think we should need to take it with us and then say it free somewhere where there's very little wind or try and find the spot for it we've prepped our gear packed some lunch and got our day sack ready and then we set off up the mountain it's approximately 8 kilometers there and back and at the summit you're around about 1880 meters above sea level with some incredible views on a clear day allowing you to see almost all of the south of Norway we were both quite excited for this especially Megan given she really enjoys her photography the hike is rated challenging and involves a lot of climbing and scrambling over rocks because of this I'd recommend boots with ankle support to avoid injury and definitely take good clothing the weather is very changeable and the wind chill can make it feel like - conditions the further up you go but after a steady pace we reached the summit and the only battery with a hint of life left in it was Megan's phone despite this the views were incredible and we'll remember it forever you could see almost all of the south of Norway and we were very lucky that it was a clear day and that there was no cloud cover at the time we were up there and after spending some time at the top we gorged ourselves on peanut butter crackers chocolate and some juice and then made our way back down the mountain once we got back down it was time for something to eat but it was getting late and the wind and cold were cutting through us so we decided to move on and found a lay-by at the bottom of the mountain where we could cook some dinner and decide where to go next [Music]

support dogs are near Dana Knight you don't have the reserves I've got you ain't got the stamina and the strength I do have standing just a minute ago you attack about like I'm so hungry after dancing around like idiots singing and attempting to keep our morale up we made some dinner and decided it would be a good time to leave as we didn't realize it was almost half 11:00 at night and people were probably trying to sleep so he continued heading west and decided to drive a little bit later at night we also drove past vie Mork a hydroelectric power plant with some history behind it Adolf Hitler was using this facility in the Second World War for heavy water for his nuclear weapons program there's a film about it the heroes of Telemark sadly it was late though and we couldn't stop for the tour but certainly something for the journey home after a couple of hours more driving we finally found a spot to camp and it was actually very difficult in the area we were in as there are a lot of holiday cabins around and the infrastructure ironed out travelers made it difficult to find places to camp in a vehicle but it was a beautiful spot with the Hardanger Vida National Park in the background somewhere we were heading to later in our travels

you never quite get used to opening the window in the morning and seeing the incredible views you see from the tent they change almost every day depending on where you go but they're all equally as amazing in their own way we were still 1,000 meters above sea level and you could feel it in the temperature as we were awoken by a cool breeze but this is where this part of the story ends and hopefully you'll join us in the next episode where we travel West and then begin to head north through Norway before entering Sweden so from me and Meghan thanks again for watching and we hope we'll see you in the next episode take care