This year’s second major home improvement project – we’re having the house repainted. It was last repainted 12 years ago and is definitely due a fresh coat of paint by now.

The paint has cracked and loosened in some places, creating little pockets moisture. Peeling off that loose paint has exposed the siding boards behind, and there are spots where they are not at all in a good shape. (The crosses mean that these boards will be replaced.)

The parts where the loose paint has fallen off completely are actually in much better shape. Exposure to rain is not a problem; never drying out is.

Porridge at the lakeside.

A new attempt at camping today, with more success.

We camped at lake Årsjön in Tyresta, a nature reserve south of Stockholm.

The camping site was a 3 km hike from the parking lot at the end of the road. At first the path was wide and even, accessible even to wheelchairs and baby buggies, frankly rather boring. After a while we turned off onto a smaller path that was more akin to what I expect a forest path to be like: up and down, across stones and pine roots. The path was still very easy to follow with were red markers on the trees all along, so the kids could walk ahead when they wanted.

The forest was full of bilberries. Our hike followed the most popular and accessible paths right near the entrance to the nature reserve, where hundreds of people pass every day, so I would have expected the berries to be gone. But no, the bushes were full of berries wherever we looked. Plump, ripe, juicy, sweet, hanging right there at the edge of the path, they were just screaming at us – “Eat me!” We kept stopping because we just couldn’t pass them by.

When we got to the Årsjön camping site we pitched our tent and unpacked. Ingrid and I decided to sleep in the tent; Adrian and Eric chose to sleep in the lean-to. Ingrid carved in tree bark while Eric made a fire and I walked around taking photos. We grilled sausages and foil-wrapped meals I had prepared at home (potato, salmon, broccoli and bell peppers). For dessert we grilled bananas with melted chocolate, and mini marshmallows.

After dinner I wanted to walk some more so Ingrid and I went geocaching. We quickly got one cache very close to the camping site. Another one was close as the crow flies, but unfortunately on the other side of the lake. We stood on the rocky lakeshore and seriously considered just swimming across – it was at the narrowest part of the lake, literally 20 metres away from us. Had I been there alone I would have done it without a second thought. But with Ingrid, and unknown deep waters, and us all alone in the forest, I didn’t dare do it.

So we did it the hard way – hiked several kilometers around the entire lake. At first there was a path; then the path went off in the wrong direction so we just followed the GPS right through the bush. It wasn’t dense or rough or anything, just a bit uneven ground. Except then there was a bog in our way with no path through. We really, really did not want to go all the way around and were super happy when Ingrid spotted something that was almost a footbridge (two planks and a narrow tree trunk). We took off our shoes, turned up our trousers, and made our way across.

We got the cache in the end but the whole walk took us about three hours instead of the one and a half I had planned. Had it not been a clear night near midsummer, it would have been dark when we got back. We went straight to our sleeping bags. In retrospect, we should just have swum.

We were going to go camping today, in Tyresta.

I had actually planned to spend some time at home (because we’ll be leaving for Estonia in just a few days) but the kids asked if we could go camping, and Eric and I generally encourage all sorts of outdoorsy activities, so we agreed. I wonder to what extent the kids were just bored and wanted something (anything!) to happen, and picked camping because they know that we like being outdoors. Well, it works for me.

The weather report promised rain showers during the afternoon, and that they would then gradually stop. As we drove to Tyresta it was raining harder and harder and showing no sign at all of letting up. When we got there, we took a long hard look at the sky, and despite the children’s teary pleas, turned back. That decision turned out to be the right one – the rain only intensified, and was joined by thunder and lightning when we stopped for an unplanned emergency dinner at a roadside McDonalds restaurant.

We rarely visit McDonalds, and the kids love it. The dinner with its Happy Meals and crappy plastic toys was almost enough to make up for the postponed camping night.

Ingrid made a Totoro hoodie. It came out really nice. (I helped a bit with machine sewing the large white parts onto the hoodie, and making openings for pockets.) It is now her favourite.

Ready for lunch on the deck, equipped with swim goggles (don’t ask) and a battery-operated fan for cooling his mouth (don’t ask).

On our way down from Villeplane, at one point the road filled with sheep – hundreds and hundreds of them. We were glad that we were driving against their flow and not behind them.

For our last day in Mercantour we drove to Col de la Cayolle, a high mountain pass, for a grand finale. Vast views, flowering meadows, turquoise lakes, you name it!

This pass was higher up than the area around Villeplane where we had been walking until now, so the landscape looked quite different and everyone walked with extra energy. There were no trees here, only grass and a few low shrubs, and bare rocks in many areas.

And marmots. When we saw the first one we were all excited and crowded each other to get a glimpse. By the time we had our fifth (or whatever) marmot encounter, it felt rather ordinary.

The notes for this walk said it would be 12 km which we judged to be definitely too much for the kids, especially since a few walks have turned out to be longer in reality than on paper. But for once the numbers seemed to be too high. When we had walked about a third of the way and looked at the time, we decided that we would be able to do all of it, especially since the 2nd half was generally gently downhill.

Which was all very good, except we had gotten a late start (letting Adrian sleep in so he’d be well rested for our long hike) so we got caught out by an afternoon thunderstorm on our way down. First some rain, then a pause, then some more rain, then thunder and a torrential downpour mixed with hailstones as large as the tip of my little finger. Luckily the actual thunder and lightning was clearly and definitely on the other side of the mountain so we didn’t have to worry about getting hit. But we had hail hitting us so hard that it actually hurt even through a rain coat; so much rain and hail that we were wading through deep icy puddles towards the end. And that continued for roughly an hour I believe.

That whole last section is a blur in my memories; I remember green views and paths that resembled piles of kids’ building blocks, which I would really have enjoyed otherwise. But mostly I just remember all of us running to get back to the car as fast as possible; in the end I was running while carrying Adrian to protect him from the hail. Fortunately the path was stable and not slippery so nobody fell, but we all got very wet. Yet another one of those experiences that was pretty miserable while we experienced it, but that we can afterwards remember as a bit of an adventure.

A thunderstorm is approaching

We had aimed for an easier walk yesterday, to rest after the two long walks to and from Sauze. But the hike was longer than the trip notes said, even though we followed the planned route to a dot. Add the heat, and the hike was not a bit easier than the previous days. Today Adrian really needed a rest, so he and Eric stayed behind today while Ingrid and I did a walk on our own.

(Eric and Adrian drove to Valberg where they did a summer luge ride, had ice cream, and bought fresh bread for us all. The gîte has been serving the same bread since Thursday dinner, and it is by now very stale and unappetizing.)

Ingrid and I also wanted an easier day today, so we re-did the first day’s walk, which was a short one and also had some of the prettiest views in my opinion. Not the most spectacular ones with steep cliffs or wide vistas, but the ones that best combined mountains and greenery. On the first day we had the donkey to think about so I couldn’t always look around as much as I wanted, and definitely not take enough photos.

At the very prettiest spot we stopped for selfies. I also handed my camera to Ingrid so I could get some action shots of myself.

The hiking trails here are very user-friendly: well maintained and clearly marked. There are yellow painted markers at regular intervals, and signposts at each fork in the path. The signposts are numbered and marked on the maps, so they tell you not only which path to follow but also exactly where you are.

Some sections of the paths are narrow and steep, others are flatter but still rough. Very occasionally we walk on an actual road for a kilometer or two. Mostly the walking is easy for adults but challenging for the kids. They need frequent breaks, especially Adrian, so our average pace is only about 1.3 km per hour, including lunch and all other stops. (For comparison, when Eric and I used to go walking, we’d average about 3 km/hr on easy terrain, so I’d have estimated about 2.5 on these trails.) Our hikes have been about 8 or 9 km per day which is about 6 hours of walking, up to 7 hours on the longest day.

Much of their tiredness is in their heads and can be cured at least temporarily by interesting views, games, challenges etc. Adrian liked looking for and counting the yellow markers.

Both kids had very definite wishes about marching order, and of course the wishes were incompatible and changed over time. One wanted to go first, to be followed by me; but the other wanted to be second and definitely not third. And so on. Mostly we ended up with the kids in front and Eric and I at the back, which is why I mostly have pictures of the others’ backs. Sometimes I jogged ahead to get some variety in my photos.

Today we had a very, very hot and sunny walk today to the gorges de Daluis, the red sandstone canyon of the river Var. In the middle of the day we were crossing hot sunbaked rocks, totally exposed to the sun, and got so hot that we cooled off the kids by pouring water on their heads and clothes.

The highlight of the day was a viewpoint with excellent views along the canyon of the river Var. The viewpoint was a popular destination for tourists and we saw more people here than during all the other days together. These paths were off the beaten track so most days we never met any other walkers. The two exceptions were today, and the very last day when we drove to an even more popular site.