It was my last big journey with an Interrail ticket because, starting the following year, I would be too old for it. That’s why I made it a very extensive trip through Scandinavia.
As much as I had enjoyed traveling with the ticket, I also wanted to pursue my great passion: hiking in the Norwegian highlands. For this adventure, I chose the Saltfjellet in northern Norway.
The preparations were quite demanding since I would be far away from civilization, but thanks to the good hiking huts in Norway, one could always have a pleasant hike. Unfortunately, the huts were always locked, and you needed a key. Often, I ended up at a hut that belonged to a different region, and my key didn’t fit. That’s exactly what happened on this tour, making for an interesting start to my journey.
Luckily, I met a friendly man who lived in Norway but was originally from Switzerland. He was a true hiking expert and took a different route than I did every day. He usually covered about 70 kilometers a day—completely unrealistic for me. Even so, he agreed to explore the highlands with me. This was very convenient for me, as I no longer had to worry about hard-to-find trail markers. Instead, I could just follow the man, whose name was Peter, and fully enjoy the landscape.
After three days, we reached a very special hut that looked much more luxurious than any I had visited before. We immediately felt at home. However, we were puzzled by a box we found in the kitchen, filled with luxurious food and even expensive alcohol. This was truly a mystery.
Peter and I wondered what this could mean. As we were discussing it, a small hiking group arrived at the hut, and an older gentleman walked straight up to us. He told us to relax because the King and Queen of Norway would be arriving shortly.
Peter and I looked at each other, assuming it was a joke rather than real information. But we quickly realized how wrong we were when the King and Queen actually entered the hut.
From that moment on, we kept to ourselves and didn’t disturb them at all, focusing only on our own matters.
Eventually, the older man returned to us and politely asked us to vacate the room where the King would be sleeping. That was fine with us, as we didn’t want to get into trouble due to any misunderstandings. So, we immediately went into the room and started packing. As we were doing so, the King approached us and asked what we were doing. We explained the situation, and he told us that we didn’t need to move out because it was an official hiking hut, and we were all equal. Despite this kind statement, we decided to move into an annex of the hut.
Throughout the evening, the King kept coming over to us and offering us snacks. Oh, we found that very kind.
At some point, we withdrew, as we were already quite tired from our hike—at least, I was tired.
The next morning, there was a knock on our door. Peter, only in his underwear, got up and opened it. There stood the King, asking if we had already had breakfast. We said no, as we didn’t have any more food. The King said there was something available in the hut.
We waited until the royal group had left the hut before going back inside. We were amazed to find a table set with delicious food. It was a wonderful surprise that we truly appreciated, and we enjoyed the meal immensely.
At the time, we couldn’t quite understand why we had received this, but we found out a few days later when we met the group again at another hut. They were delighted to see us again and invited us to join them once more. They explained that they were very grateful we had let them enjoy their time in peace, and as a token of appreciation, they had prepared this gift for us.
That wasn’t the end of our hike, but this experience remains deeply engraved in my memory, and it’s always a joy to think back on it.