Week 7 - Goodbye to Sweden </3

Hi!

Post hike glow

We have finally left Sweden to begin our adventures in Norway after spending almost a month visiting Malmo, Gothenburg, Stockholm Kiruna and Abisko. We experienced so much driving from the south to the most northern point. Whilst the cities, archipelagos, and rural stopovers for stealth camping were great... nothing compared to being in the north and visiting Kiruna and Abisko.

This was our most favourite place. In Kiruna, we stayed at Camp Ripan which was a really great place. They have lots of amenities (including a Sauna - dreamy) as well as the ability to rent cabins, use their Spa and more. We saw the Northern Lights for the first, second and third time and had a great time taking the forest and mountain snowmobile tour! It was cold and snowy, around -10c most nights but we had plenty of heat, tea and coffee and blankets to keep us warm.

Whilst it might seem a bit bleak or too cold to others, we absolutely loved it. There is something so peaceful and wholesome about the way the weather forces you to live your life. It feels like a more thoughtful and purposeful process to get dressed and travel places; it was a great excuse to pair our matching jumpers with the rest of our warm winter outfits, share our best tips for not slipping over in the ice, making plenty of time for Fika and admiring the night as well as the day time scenery. The dogs absolutely LOVE playing in the snow, especially when they have an opportunity to play off lead.

matching jumpers!! Bought from a store in Stockholm in the Gamla Stan.

Once we left Camp Ripan in Kiruna we drove to Abisko and stayed overnight at a free park up near another campground. We walked down towards a frozen lake to let the dogs run free and admire the surrounding mountains of the national park. The next day we completed a 5k hike - a HIKE! It felt like a big achievement; I've had problems with my back now for a long time and there have been times where I couldn't walk around the house without being in pain, let alone go on a hike. In addition to this, I managed to fall over twice last year in the space of a few months and sprained both my ankles and injured my leg. All of this knocked my confidence even further when it came to doing 'adventurous' things and being a plus sized girly amongst the skinny Scandinavians is like running a gauntlet too. All of this combined meant that there have been times that I haven't done/haven't tried to do things that I wanted to for fear of further injury or being too fat. But things are different now; I'm glad I didn't wait to be skinny to go on this hike and that I have still had great adventures without limiting myself.

The park up in Narvik

After Abisko, we drove crossed the border into Norway and stayed overnight in Narvik. We saw the most incredible scenery as we drove through the mountain and over rivers. It took us a couple of hours (we are slower in the van) and then parked up at a cool spot by a war memorial, it's 1 of 8 that are positioned along the coast line. Sometimes dolphins can be seen but sadly we couldn't find any. This was just a quick stopover before we finally got to our end destination; The Lofoten Islands. We have 3 nights in a cabin for a little luxury before continuing in the van to explore more of the islands.

This has been on the bucket list for a while! It's a really exciting part of the trip and it's so beautiful here. It's the perfect scenery and space for vanlife with dogs; plenty of beautiful park ups, hiking, mountain climbing, fishing and most importantly; space to roam free. I am excited for the next week in Lofoten and feeling really lucky to have this opportunity in life :)