It’s finally summer! I was confused for a while, deciding which season is my real favorite. BUT I have come to the conclusion many months ago that I am 100% a summer gal. Slippery, icy and freezing cold winter – absolutely dislike it. Spring = allergy and still unpredictable weather. Autumn.. well, the colors are beautiful and crisp! However, the thought that winter is around the corner makes me anxious. So, yes, summer it is!

Our first camping trip this year was to a beautiful, highly recommended Sandviken Camping by Lake Tinn (Tinnsjå) in Telemark, Norway. It’s about a 2-hour-drive from Drammen, and luckily, we were graced by a very nice, sunny weather (hello, June). The plan was: a bit of sightseeing in Rjukan, which I visited in 2016 with the UiO International Summer School students, and just relaxing in a tent by the lake.

We left home at 10 and had a beautiful drive, passing by Kongsberg, and taking a stretch by lake Bu (Buvannet).

On the way to Tinn, we passed the 100,000 driven kilometers mark! Yay! Kudos to my amazing husband and to our Missan (Nissan Qashqai).

We reached Mæl train station at around 12:30 pm. It’s a nice viewing point for the elongated lake Tinn, which has a surface area of 51.43 km2 and depth of 460 meters, making it one of the deepest lakes in Europe. Tinnsjå is also a landmark because of the heavy water sabotage in 1944. Germany was transporting heavy water from Rjukan, when the ferry they were using, SF Hydro, was sunk in the lake by the Norwegian resistance. There’s a very good miniseries about it which can be watched here: https://tv.nrk.no/serie/kampen-om-tungtvannet.

I’ve also just learned this today, but a rare small fish was also discovered in the lake in 2004-2005. The said fish was swimming at a depth of 430 meters. It’s transluscent, blind, lacks a swim bladder, and can grow up to 15 cms.

Driving on, we found ourselves on a lovely road surrounded by green fields and mountains, with herds of sheep and other farmy animals grazing. And a glimpse of the snow-capped Gaustatoppen, the highest mountain in the Vestfold and Telemark region, with a height of 1883 meters. I first saw the mountain in 2016. I hope we can get to visit the top one day. 🙂

What do you think? Can Gaustatoppen be the most beautiful / graceful mountain in Norway?

At 13pm,we stopped by the Tinn Open-air Museum. It’s open all day to the public, and private tours can be arranged.

We wanted to go further to Rjukan, but the roads were closed. So, we decided to turn back and move on to our accommodation. But first, we checked out a strong waterfall on the way, the Kvitåefossen. It is privately managed, so it is not allowed to touch the water. This is probably one of the first waterfalls visitors will spot in Rjukan, and there’s a few, most of which are producing energy.

And now, finally, the camping place! Sandviken Camping in Austbygd delivers and meets all expectations of a wonderful, scenic camping ground! Seriously, it’s sitting by the Tinn lake, with snowcapped mountains in the background, and it has clean facilities, and a refreshing nature trail nearby. I loved every bit of the stay, even the weird incident at night, when I mistook the strong gush of wind for a small fox visiting the outside of our tent. haha

Once we’ve put up the tent, we cooked some pasta pesto and enjoyed dinner. Because of the wind in the afternoon, it took a while to cook. But meh..

In the evening, we enjoyed exploring the nature trail. It leads to the small village center, where we bought some icepops from a kiosk, and then we followed the trail back. It was amazing 🙂 I enjoyed the sunset, the gushing water, the swing!, the amphibian lake.. A very peaceful evening ❤

In the morning, there was less wind. So the cooking went faster, and we had some delicious pancake!

Sandviken Camping really set the bar high for the season 🙂

Then, it was time to go home to the kitts. We took the road on the other side of the elongated lake Tinn, and had lovely views of Austbygd in Telemark. We also passed by the Mæle Stone Bridge, built in the 1800s.

Norway is so picturesque – it’s a bit hard to choose which photo to use as the entry cover. 🙂 Anyway, I can’t wait for the next camping trip this summer! #spreadloveandpositivevibes. ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ENTRY ARE MINE. 🙂 Cheers!