HEDAS

59° 30' 34'' N  14° 02' 31'' E

Landing in Oslo

Car between Oslo and Gunnerud in Sweden. Crossing magnificent fir forests.

Building the raft. I carried a ton of wood because my wife isn't strong enough. The water was 10°C despite it being the middle of August.

We set off on our own for 5 days, drifting down the river, without encountering any houses or people. We nearly capsized after 2 hours when the shelter above the raft got caught on a tree branch. I had to climb the tree to free it and prevent it from capsizing.

Every night we had to find a place to camp on the riverbank. I would go scouting with the kayak to find a spot so I could then return to the raft and try to steer the 1-ton raft to that spot using just a long stick to push on the riverbed...

We struggled to put up the tent; every morning we found ourselves with the tent canvas soaking wet right above our faces. We only figured out how to put up the tent on the last day...

We had to be extremely careful not to get caught in the backwater and get stuck without being able to get out.

Out of the 5 days we had 3 days of non-stop rain, extremely cold, frozen water, impossible to wash in the river water.

In the evening we were devoured by mosquitoes and aoutas who had never had the opportunity to see humans; for them it was a feast.

On our last night near Hedas, when we stopped to camp, we found ourselves near a farm. We knocked on the door to ask if we could camp in his field by the river. No problem; it's very common in Sweden to allow campers to use a piece of land. The farmer took pity on us when he saw us eaten alive by mosquitoes and very wet, and offered us a bottle of wine to warm us up and some nice logs for our campfire. He came over for a drink with us to get to know each other and spend a bit of the evening with us. He was surprised to find French people in this remote corner, living on a raft.

At the end of the journey, dismantle the raft and return by car to Oslo via the magnificent wild roads.

Despite all the twists and turns, it's one of the trips we remember the most, and the one we want to do again.