Camping 2009

Every year we have a special project at school, a week where there are no ordinary classes. Every other year we do something in Stockholm, day trips and tasks, and every other year we go camping. 3-4 teachers and 3-4 classes rent a bus and go far out into the country and set up base on an island many kilometers from nearest village and even more remote from nearest town. This year, as I am main tutor for one of the classes, I had to come. I don't do camping. Mankind has been capable of building perfectly good houses for thousands of years, I see no reason at all for sleeping in a tent. The task that most people have to perform roughly every 4 hours is another business and I won't even go there... But... Advantage with being a teacher is I'm sometimes forced to do things I wouldn't normally do. And of course it was great!

First day was spent setting up camp. It is amazing how long it takes 40 students to raise their tents and cook for themselves. They were divided in groups and had bought their own food and did their own cooking throughout the week. They liked that, they got the food they wanted, and also enjoyed the responsibility and took great pleasure in planning their meals. Us teachers loved it as well, since we only had to care for ourselves. First night I made a fish soup. It was gorgeous.

First day, me and my colleague Anders and two of our students went for a walk. We set off through the woods to find the highest peak in the area. The walk was about 9 kilometers. And then back again. I have to admit it was exhausting, but it was so worth it. Most of the piccies I took are from that day. Deep forests, moss, mushrooms -yum yum, and blueberries blueberries and more blueberries. I must have eaten a liter while walking!

The heather was gorgeous!

 

This is the cranium of a wild boar. They are plentiful in this area and we saw where they had attacked the earth in many places. This piccy doesn't do it justice, I did bring the bits back home and gave them to my mom for her birthday. =D

 

I love how the moss has started to take over this wooden bridge! I love moss!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 6 or 7 kilometers we came to this lake where we had our lunch.

 

And watched the water lilies.

 

Anders had a swim and picked lilies for the girls.

 

About 3 kilometers further on we came to one of our destinations, some strange rock formations where the ice from our last ice age has formed canals and caves in the rock. Look at the strange shapes where rocks, ice and water has washed through the rock!

 

 

In here if you climb down you'll find the caves. One of our students was brave enough to climb down to the first room inside. I decided to stay outside though, I was afraid to get stuck, it was really narrow!

 

Not far from there was our second destination. The highest mountain in the region. On top of the highest mountain there was a tower that we climbed to see the view. The view is.. trees. It is incredible how many trees there are in Sweden! This picture is facing north.

 

This is facing east. Towers are possibly Nyköping, but not sure...

 

This is facing south.

 

And this one is looking east. Strange, there are so many villages, farms and lakes, but you couldn't see any of that for all the trees.

 

At the tower we turned around and went back home. We took a bit of a shortcut, mainly walking on small dirt roads instead of cutting across the forests. It was still an impressive walk and I estimate we walked at least 18 kilometers that day, if not more! The swim when we came back felt sooo good!

At the base we had canoes and they were being used from early morning till late night.

 

 

Another popular activity was fishing, here is Johan, very concentrated. We had fried fish as a side dish on a few occasions.

 

 

 

 

Anders was probably luckier with the rod.

 

In the background is my tent. It looks so Swedish... =D

 

A lot of time was spent gathering wood for our fires. Here, the boys have given up and require some assistance from the woodcraft teacher with their log...

 

Last night after dinner we burned the remains...

 

Just kidding, but omg it looked like a skull! Hehehe.

 

Many great memories. The students behaved exemplary and appeared to have a wonderful time. If it only wasn't for the tent... And the knees... I could do this all year round! =)