Traveling Northern Europe 4x4 Ep05: Rooftop Tent Camping Norway - Part 1

Description

Our six month journey through Europe up to Northern Scandinavian wilderness continues. Myself and Megan have landed in Norway. In this episode we take you with us as we progress through the South of Norway into Asker to stay with our friends, then gradually make our way West using mountain roads and rooftop tent camping in some stunning locations in some of Norway's beautiful wilderness.

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We are currently heading west as we upload this.

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Video Transcription

[Music]

hey there guys Mike and Mikey from mcq bushcraft ape everyone's well well we finally landed in Norway caught the ferry over today and we're up in one of the main temples at the moment heading towards a camp area mehgan's mark something on the map for us it's pronounced Michael but I'm not too sure you didn't pick it because of the name it just looked like it was in close proximity to where we got off the ferry and we're staying with some friends for a week tomorrow where are we going tomorrow

Aska that's it yeah and then we're gonna stay there for for well a few days with some friends and just spend some time with them and then carry on exploring Norway beautiful landscape and the great thing is is no more campsites that's one of the reasons we wanted to get here so we're gonna carry on I'm probably gonna just let the tire-pressure down a bit that's why we pulled over and then carry on to the camp area we drove for another 20 minutes this was our second visit to Norway the first time as backpackers along the west coast but I'm sure regardless of where you are in the country the scenery is always breathtaking when we reach the camp area that Megan had pinpointed on the map it was clear that it was a very popular location the weather was unusually hot this year in Norway and lots of people had come to the lake in their camper vans to enjoy the weather one side was very crowded and one of the benefits of being in a 4x4 is we could navigate to the less popular side of the lake where the ground was boggy and the rocks are uneven but it just meant using a few stones we could level out the suspension and have a quiet area all to ourselves at this point in the trip setting up camp had become something of a streamlined routine and we were both pretty excited to be in Norway it really marks the beginning of an adventure for both of us but after camp was set up Megan made a really nice lentil curry for our dinner while I washed our clothes and took advantage of the good weather provided the water isn't drinking water you're allowed to swim in the lake so he couldn't pass off the opportunity and we needed a wash anyway has it had been a very long day for the both of us shortly afterwards though we were invited over to a local Norwegians Caravan where he offered us a drink and we told stories to each other of our travels before calling it an end to the day it was the morning and the weather was glorious much like the day before we wasted no time in eating breakfast getting camp squared away and making our way to ask her back down the mountain [Music]

but before we reach Tasker we decided to pull over at a picturesque stop at the side of the motorway and Megan had a go at completing a jigsaw puzzle that we had on the rear window of the vehicle there is a very interesting thing just landed on my head so we never got sent the map on the back the guys who he ordered the maps off of ebay the stickers that are on the window just that I showed you in another episode they never sent an all-way and we have one shot are you sure Meg I mean it's not gonna look no one's on there I'm very good it looks like a turkey from Justin I can go in out I can cinch in more there no you have to be stuck over Sweden like that yeah so like and then and then once we find one it needs to be torn off and burnt after sticking on our turkey drumstick we carried on to ask her but on our journey stopped off an outdoor store called biltema it was literally the store of my dreams they had everything from tools to car parts exhausts outdoor equipment you could literally spend an entire pension in there but my shopping experience didn't last long as Megan quickly dragged me out the store because we were short on time and we needed to get to our friends and askin it was great to get to Angie maurices house and finally see them again it's been over a year since we last seen them and their daughter Amelia had grown up quite a lot as kids do in those short periods of time Megan's a natural mother and seems to bond with children almost immediately whether it's in my case they tend to just look at me and run to their mother we did a lot of cycling around the local area which was great fun and also on the odd occasion I joined Megan for a run we also ran a bushcraft afternoon for Angie's primary school class out in the woods it was nice to take a break I had fun trying not to draw scary things on the chalkboard in the garden and Marius also let me use his garage so I could give the Jeep a once-over just have a look at it and see how it was doing so far in the trip but two weeks passes by quickly and it was time to leave I put air in the tires got the Jeep out of the garage we said goodbye to our friends bought them a fig tree which will probably die and it was time to head back out in the wilderness again makes using Google Translate to tell artillery range shoot and training areas shooting range of numbering I don't know what it went to even the last one is women after finding out the zones where we couldn't couldn't go we set off into the mountain to find a nice place to come

as someone who works on their own vehicle you become accustomed to the slightest unusual sound that you might hear as you're driving along and as the vehicle hit a bump I'd hear a clinking tinny sound come from the engine bay I feared the worst and started wondering what this was but remembered I'd made an adjustment to the fan cowl back in maurices garage this is something I would have to fix later as it was no big deal

but it would eventually drive me crazy but after some picturesque trails and 20 minutes of driving we found the location by a lake which we like the look off but little did we know the wind was about to teach us a very valuable lesson this could have been a lot worse than it looked as Megan was in the roof tenement when it folded back on itself we were very lucky to get away with no injuries and minimal damage it could have destroyed the roof ton we still had another four months of living in it to go and it was a lesson for the future so I get some of your tea because I gave you more so I'm not good the weather's finally run out we said in the last video it just been amazing weather the whole time last week it was like 35 degrees rain and now we really do take that back yeah I mean rains cool but but it's the heavy winds there's a problem makes putting the top up difficult it's already damaged our roof 10 which is a shame not the material they cracked some of the plastic edges yeah meg was fine I knew she'd be alright she's tough the roof tent isn't we've weighed the ladder down with some tree stumps and big boulders it's all a learning curve and you know if you're watching this video and you're gonna buy a refund then you won't do that and you won't have cracked plastic edges like us but it's not the end of the world so the weather's supposed to chill out we're just gonna have a cold dinner that we can't really be bothered to cook we've had some pretty good meal yeah we've been with our friends so I think yeah we've had some serious meals like an eating for two so I'm sure I'll live cheese sounds nice after a bite to eat we retired to the roof tunt it was amazing how comforting the roof tent had become on this trip it was like our place of sanctuary hopefully it'd still be there in the morning well if ever there was a test for this roof tent in the wind I think last night was a good one it was absolutely howling last night and the tent was taking a beating we slept pretty well it's just that their intervals in the night where the wind really came in the vehicle was rocking the tent was going crazy I was half expecting it to suddenly be torn off the top of us and it'll be all hands on deck but it was okay and it stood up to quite a lot of abuse oh I'm really impressed

I'd say quite happy I think that's the worst we've experienced the wind on this trip so far well hopefully it'll be the last of it but I've got a feeling I'll be wrong there so we're just gonna get things squared away this morning makes just having a bit of a wash and I'm going to hang our clothes up make use of the wind and the Sun despite how useful the wind was at drying our clothes and our tent given the rain the day before we both made the decision to pack up camp and find a new location that was a little bit more sheltered all of our gear was taking a beating even the camera gear yeah

[Applause]

once we were packed up we took a walk up some of the old trails into the mountains Megan wanted to do some photography and I was keen to see some of the wildlife I've always had a great fascination with insects and always enjoyed seeing them in other parts of the world interestingly the ground was littered with discharge blank ammunition from military exercise and the further up we went the more spectacular the view it was absolutely breathtaking and we both looked at each other and smiled as this is what we've been waiting for once we finish hiking it was time to keep heading west another hours worth of driving and we found a new camp location that looked almost perfect I was kicking myself that I didn't have a fishing rod it been something I've been meaning to pick up for the entire journey and the next town we were driving through I was gonna get one along with a permit have any chalk say shox rocks

there you go that's

oil stains on these things is unusual doing in a vehicle like this you'd think last kind of vehicle you get all those things it they might not be oil then Micah tell Megan was a little tired it was unusual for her to miss my sarcasm but our sleep was broken the night before by the wind Megan wanted to wash the bedsheets so we took a walk down to the lake to fill up the washing machine aka dry bag I also filled up the solar shower just so we could have something hanging up that we could use to wash our hands if we needed to engines not that hot anymore so we'll give the camp shower a bit of a boost this is normally how we do our washing line just run from there over here back to this are you here do you know any washroom in songs we wash the linens where you wash them clean after hanging our bed sheets to dry it was time for some downtime and in my case that meant hunting around on the ground for trinkets like a magpie just found a clip this is actually a clip as well it's not what you would call a magazine which is something different and it's obviously for this these five five six blanks that they use I found something else this is the bane of your life isn't it when you first met me it's a peg partly explosive and I was kind of getting worried no we could use it they come on to something Meg

to find loads of stuff show me your treasures Mike you found another peg found two punks that's a jumbo another jumbo pair ridiculous just a piece of iron that's been bent to shape an actual peg box of matches a rifle clip cleaning brush and a discharge 556 round have your treasures no my treasures I Stephanie from a flare gun I'm all treasure tank Meg surrounded by max treasure hunting is the first thing he finds really special and then sort of becomes obsolete maybe we should just have some lunch then

we sat down for a bite to eat and afterwards I couldn't help but turn my camera rig into a minigun and quote Jesse Ventura lines from the film predator Meghan wasn't impressed so we took a walk to the lake he had a look at some of the plants and bushes that were growing around the lakeside and other tracks and signs that other wildlife had been here mystery solved and it was a flare signal cartridge red it was a very quiet evening very peaceful and the wind died down quite a lot a contrast from the night before and we were grateful for it

Megan had something special planned for us today so we got camp packed up and made tracks out the moans him you were visiting the he'll stave Church the largest stave Church in Norway was also a museum around the back of it so he went back down the mountain and joined the main road and made our way there when we arrived the church was very very impressive from the outside there was also a wedding taking place so we had to wait a while before he went in but once we got in there you had to admire the time and work that went into producing a structure like this and what it must have meant to people and still does and from what I've read it was produced from Pinus sylvestris what we call Scots pine back in the UK the thing that I enjoyed the most though was seeing the traditional farm there was about 500 metres back from the church showing a more traditional way of Norwegian life from a farming perspective mainly they had lots of things on display cooking implements copper pots bedding it gave you a good insight and feel into how people used to live and still do in certain parts of the country but we finished sightseeing for the day and it was time to head back up into the mountains and find somewhere suitable to camp meg had marked a mountain road and we followed the road driving alongside the river where we could find a suitable location to call home [Music]

why

we'd find a perfect location right by the river and the solid axles and six and a half inch lifts on the Cherokee had prevailed once again leveling out the vehicle on uneven ground one of the many advantages of traveling in a vehicle like this you're able to take the less trodden mountain roads and get to places where most people traveling in mobile homes wouldn't be able to we'd set up camp for the night and we were in a great location and I was keen to try the road I bought in the town we passed through when we looked at the church and little did we know it but we had some surprise trees to deal with as well through the following days to come but for me and Meg thanks again for watching and we'll see you in the next episode you