Norway is a hiking and free camping paradise

While we are seeing a lot of motorhomes on the road here in Norway, there are also a lot of places for those motorhomes to overnight. There are quite a few campgrounds, although they seem pretty busy already and it's not even busy season yet!

But there are also a lot of free camping places. 

It's a good thing most people like to stay in campgrounds. They're pricey though. The one near the village we are at charges 300 kr ($40 CAD, $32 USD) per night. And that's just for your site. But we've learned that many of the campgrounds here don't have an actual site the way they do in Canada or the U.S., ... it's really just somewhere to park. And that 300 kr doesn't give you any extras. You have to pay another 50 kr ($6.65 CAD, $5.25 USD) for electricity per day, and another 30 kr ($4 CAD, $3.25 USD) if you want a timed five minute shower. So for the average motorhome with two people staying, you're likely spending 410 kr ($54 CAD, $43 USD) per night when all is said and done. 

So we are glad that Max is set up to not need any of that. We likely won't stay in a single campground during our time here.

Norway is a free camping paradise. And, we also see a lot of people doing just that, most of them set up very close to the main roads. So it's also good that Max likes to get a bit more off the beaten path to find prime spots all by himself where most others don't venture.

Yesterday, we got up early and did some driving. Only about 60 kms (36 miles), but it took about an hour and a half! It was a narrow road with pullouts for passing when necessary. Wouldn't like to do it during busy season!

Climbing higher.

We see a lot of these little weekend communities.

Zoomed in, they have traditional sod roofs.

Scenery along the way.

This part was some kind of protected area for elk. But we didn't see a single one. It stretched for about 20 kms (13 miles).

Road block!

It was funny, I had to get quite close to them but they didn't budge an inch!

A bit of rain.

The day had started off with sunshine and blue skies. But by the time we passed that protected park area it was overcast and spitting with rain. We're learning that conditions can change rapidly and if you're out hiking you have to be prepared for pretty much anything.

We ended up at the town of Valle. A nice little mountain town with a couple of decent grocery stores, a couple of banks, a library... and a high end outdoors store!

We had quite a bit of computer work to do, so we connected to the free WiFi and got to it. We needed a day of rest anyhow.

Afterwards, we went for a walk around town. We ended up at the outdoors store. Very high end hiking and camping gear and clothing. But, Ruth needs some new hiking boots. It's not the best idea buying high end equipment in an expensive country, but that's the way it worked out. She tried on a pair of Mammut hiking boots... and they fit perfectly. Mammut is a quality Swiss brand. They're almost $300 CAD, but she should get three years out of them. We scrimp and save on other things, but good quality boots are one thing we don't mind splurging on. 

We didn't actually buy them yet... we are going back to the store this morning though. I double checked the online price from the Mammut store and they are only a few euros cheaper. I'll try and get them to price match, but I doubt it.

And then we did a little more grocery shopping. Yes, Norway is expensive, but we're getting the impression that it's not that much more expensive than Canada. Which really, gives you an idea of how expensive Canada is.

We drove up to a nearby trailhead and found a beautiful parking spot for the night.

Max, parked at GPS 59.214905, 7.545947

Doing a short hike this morning right from where we are parked, and then down to the town to buy Ruth some boots!

Then a beautiful waterfall hike this afternoon!

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