It’s our 5th visit to Norway as we just can’t get enough of this country. We were feeling pretty burnt out on our backpacking trip around the world, it’s exhausting planning every day, taking uncomfortable public transport, getting food poisoning and surviving the stifling heat. So we made the decision to go somewhere cold that makes us happy and of course the answer was Norway. We’ve spent one summer in Norway and three winters but we’ve never explored the country in autumn which is renowned for rough storms and lots of rain. To be fair I think I will end up preferring the winter which is typically best from January to March when it’s cold enough for the snow to last and it brightens up the landscape on those dark nights. But hey, I’m happy to explore Norway in any season.

We made a bit of a poor decision at the start and wound up in southern Norway, normally we spend all our time in the north as we love the mountains and northern lights but we arranged to help a friend in the south, looking after her malamute dogs which sounded like a fun experience.

The area, as we suspected, was a little boring by our spoilt standards. There were no mountains, only forest covered hills. To be fair the area would probably be considered a beautiful national park in the UK with plenty of lakes nestled between the forest but in Norway it’s just a bit simple when you compare it to the dramatic fjords and pointy peaks. The good news is the trees were changing colour so it was very beautiful in that sense but as I say, we’re spoilt and have seen too many impressive sights on our travels.

Anyway, we were there for the 4 dogs who were absolutely fucking massive considering they were ‘puppies’. They were 10 months old and the size of large dogs already. We were told the girls couldn’t meet the other girls because they were all alphas and fought too much. They all had traditional Inuit names to match their background from Alaska so we had Aslaq (boy) and Anjij (girl) who shared a pen which had a dog flap leading into the lounge and they really came across as giant puppies. In the garden were two separate pens where Aanaq (girl) and Ataneq (boy) lived and these two were beasts. To be fair Ataneq was a big friendly giant but could only be walked by Craig as he was too big for me whereas Aanaq was smaller, still about 30 kilos but she was the most feisty dog and a bit of a bully to the others.

Apparently if you trace the malamute family tree they almost became extinct one hundred years ago so there began to be blank boxes in the family tree and those blanks were literally wild wolves!!! To keep the breed alive they were bred with wolves but 100 years ago isn’t a long time so those genetics are still very much in their blood which is pretty crazy to think about.

Walking them was a challenge to say the least, they’re built to pull things and we became human-sleighs. We had a waist harness with the lead coming off it so at least we had our hands free and when they pulled too much we could almost lean right back to brake. But most of the time we had to keep our hands on the lead to control them from pulling us off the track and to get a good hold we had to wear grippy gloves. When they weren’t walking they were absolutely adorable, rolling over for belly rubs and licking our faces.

I didn’t expect them to pull so much though, the idea of taking them on camping trips seemed laughable now as it took our whole mind and body to focus on walking them. If we let our guard down for a second they could spring and yank our body. So we decided it wasn’t actually very fun and we’d be best off just heading north after a couple of weeks to our happy place.

We managed to do some nice trips without the dogs to the surrounding area. One time we cycled alongside a lake where all of the forested hills were reflected in the water. We passed some beautiful classic Norwegian houses with bright red wood. It’s funny how big the houses are in Norway and we literally look at their summer houses in gardens and say ‘that’s all we need to live in’. One of the houses had a verge covered in wildflowers which was lovely and unexpected to see in autumn.

We enjoyed lunch by a river and then cycled back but the day was still young so we did a hike in the afternoon to a day-use cabin in the woods. It was totally free to use and a quintessential part of Norwegian culture. To reach the hut we had to walk through an extremely boggy track. After hearing all the squelch noises Craig made as he tried to leap his way ahead I opted to remove my boots and socks and walk barefoot through the waterlogged moss. The hut was fabulous, the sort of building you’d see on Grand Designs. It was made of black wood with huge windows that looked across two different lakes through the forest.

Inside the hut were lots of seating areas, a lovely modern log burner, a basket full of wool seat-covers and felted socks and even a book library for kids. It was such a perfect little cabin but the sun was shining so we decided we should sit outside and get some vitamin D. Craig began making a fire so we could toast marshmallows and enjoy the view with some hot coffee.

Another adventure we went on was an 8km bike ride to a hiking trail leading to another hut. The trail clearly wasn’t used much as it was overgrown in areas and hard to follow so we took the wrong way multiple times. We eventually arrived at a very rustic hut which wasn’t very appealing compared to the last one. It was made of big wooden timber beams and had a fire in the centre but it didn’t offer a view and just felt dark and gloomy so we continued our hike to a lake. It was like glass when we arrived, the autumnal colours reflected in the water and after doing a walk around the shoreline we found a perfect rocky ledge to have a little fire and cook our lunch.

I had a vegetable burger while Craig cooked hotdogs on a stick and it was all finished off with some toasted marshmallows. We couldn’t believe how hot the weather was, the sun was beaming down on us and there was no wind so Craig even had his top off. It was tempting for a swim but the water was a reddish, brown colour that turned to black in the depths and was way too creepy for me. We continued the walk back a different route to create a loop, passing dozens of moose tracks in the mud.

The modern hut we visited the first time ended up being our favourite so that’s where we tended to go when we didn’t have the dogs, even on rainy days it was lovely as we could have a cozy fire and stay warm inside.

Our 17 days in southern Norway ended with a fabulous sunset. On one side pale pink clouds hovered above the forested hills and on the other were intense orange and pink clouds filling the sky, it was beautiful but the photos didn’t stop there because we had a high chance of seeing the northern lights once it was dark.

We had cloud on the forecast but I managed to pop outside as it partially cleared. I could see some slight colour in the sky but not like in the north where the colours are vibrant to the naked eye. My camera showed me the true colours though and a long exposure revealed a beautiful pastel coloured sky that was almost like a rainbow. It was green at the base and pink at the top but there were also hints of yellows and blues in between. Gradually the aurora faded and the clouds grew thicker so we headed to bed, after all we had to wake at 4am the next morning to catch our bus back to Oslo.

As soon as my alarm went off I looked out the window and saw aurora beams! I couldn’t believe how strong it was in southern Norway and it wasn’t just to the north anymore, it was all around us. There was even a pulsing green corona right above us with incredible red beams raining down towards the horizon. But to the naked eye it was a light grey colour with a hint of green or red. I’d of loved to have spent longer watching and photographing them but we had to dash for our bus. The lights were still wiggling in the sky above us but they seemed less powerful than when I took my photos so we timed it well! What a great way to end our time in the south of Norway.