A couple of year ago, I got out camping at least once a month, and aimed at sleeping 10% of the year in the tent. These last years I haven’t gone camping close to as much as before. But in February I got out on a two night trip. My first camping trip since November, and the first two night trip since my September trip with C.

Day 1

I hadn’t really decided exactly where to go until I sat in the car. I had considered both Stenshuvud National park and the (somewhat secret) location in Skåne where C and I have hiked and camped a few times.

In the end I decided to go to Stenshuvud, as I haven’t camped there before. I’ve read that there’s only one spot in the park that you are allowed to camp, but I didn’t know how that spot was. Sometimes these spots are really beautiful, and sometimes they’re very uninviting and just used as a lack of alternatives. Unfortunately, Stenshuvud proved to be the latter.

I drove for 2,5h to get there, and came down around 15.30. The sun hadn’t set yet, and I parked near the camping spot. The first thing I did was to explore the camp site. It was boring. Very boring. 50 meter from the parking lot and park entrance, right next to the main trail (more of a road) leading into the park, without any bushes or anything to shield the view or give a sence of privacy. It was also placed at the border of the park, right next to a cider factory, so instead of the nature sounds and sounds of the ocean, you see street lights and listen to the humming sounds of an industrial fan. The park itself was beautiful, and it gets a lot of visitors during peak season. I understand there are many aspects to consider, when choosing a camp site, but in my opinion, basically anywhere else would have been better. I did write an e-mail with my opinions and suggestions to the park management.

I was really disappointed, but it was too late to drive to another place. I explored the park, and hiked up to Stenshuvud and enjoyed the beautiful views. There wasn’t many people there. I saw a couple on the beach far away, and met a couple on the rock, while hiking back down.

There had been a storm the day before, and there where fallen trees everywhere, and I had to both walk around, over and under the ones blocking the trail.

I got back to the camp site, as the sun begun to set. I set up my camp, and ate dinner. For this trip I just wanted to do as little as possible, and just wind down and relax, so I had only brought MREs and freeze dried meals. This night I had a Chicken Masala MRE from 24H meals, that I bought at a low price store. I didn’t expect anything from it, but it was delicious. I was really surprised how good it tasted, with a lot of large chunks of chicken. A lot of these meals tend to skimp on the meat, but not this one.

I layed tent and listened to the industrial fan nearby. When it comes to relaxing in nature I’m very sound sensitive, and it really affected my ability to relax and enjoy the moment. I had planned a two night trip, but decided that I would leave Stenshuvud and go to another place the next day.

Day 2

I woke up early the next day, had breakfast and packed up. I left camp around 0800, and had almost 2h drive ahead of me. I had decided to go to the same place in Skåne that me and C had been at a few times before, but this time I would get into the reserve from another entrance. It was a nice drive along small roads passing villages, farms and beech forests.

When I approached the nature reserve it felt like all stress just poured off me. I drove a winding road uphill, in a tunnel of old tall beech trees, and felt really glad that I had decided to leave Stenshuvud for this.

I parked at the small entrance, and hiked a relatively short distance to the place that I had looked up on a map before. It was a nice peak, with beautiful views. There was really no question of whether I would set up camp there or not.

There were a couple of fire rings there, and a line tied to a tree, to get down in the gourge. I didn’t want to go down though, but instead set up my tent and my hammock. Much of the day I just spent laying in the hammock under the quilt and did as little as possible.

I did however go out on two excursions during the day, both south and north of my campsite. I passed a lot of possible campsites, but I still think mine was the best one. While hiking north I startled a fallow deer. I’ve seen fallow deer every time I’ve been here.

When I got back in camp I got back into the hammock and mostly just relaxed and took it slow.

I had beautiful weather the whole day, and as the sun begun to set I got into the tent, and made dinner in the tent, before going to sleep.

Day 3

It started to rain during the night, and the wind picked up. But it is really cozy to lay in the tent and listen to the rain against the tent roof. It’s less pleasing to pack up a wet tent though. But by the time I got up and had gotten some breakfast the rain had been reduced to a drizzle.

I packed up camp, hiked back to the car and started the 2h drive back home.

It was a well needed trip, and I keep coming back here. It’s one of my favorite places, and still close enough for overnighters.