Hiking at The Break of Day

I love hiking.

I love spending time in nature.

Here in the Northern hemisphere temperatures are a glorious 25 degrees Celsius today. The sun is shining. Birds are chirping. Bird cherry trees and lilacs are in luscious bloom. The light is everywhere.

I went on a hike today.

To me, the preparing of a day in nature is such a good part. I’m into food. I love eating. I love cooking. I love preparing delicious picnic food to bring along. This time I made a potato salad with cashew nuts, parsley, green peas, corn and other good stuff. And a fantastic dressing made out of sesame oil, garlic, freshly grated ginger, home made mayonnaise and honey.

Being into vintage I love using camping gear from long gone days on my exploration trips into nature.

I take special pride in my orange colored camping kit, designed by Sigvard Bernadotte for Husqvarna Borstfabrik in 1959. The kit is called Taffel and was marketed as the practical camping gear for ”engine people in car and boat, for the summer hiking, for the week-end excursion, for camping life in forest and land”.

The bottom part could be used as bucket to carry water, the lid as a basin for washing the dishes. All in durable plastic, the kit contains four drinking cups, four plates, two thermos flasks, two larger and two smaller food containers.

The Taffel kit came in either the orange colored version that I have, or in muted yellow green, vanilla yellow, light blue or light brown.

It’s such an exiting feeling getting up early in the morning, eating a delicious breakfast and then heading out for a day of hiking. All while the day is still breaking.

Walking in silence in nature feels so good. Just taking it all in. The scents. The sounds. The sights. Walking along rocks, past windswept pine trees. Overlooking the vast, perfectly still, ocean.

Watching how the rays of the sun makes the water glitter. A beautiful part of my day was going for a swim in the ocean. Sinking into its mirror-like azur blue calmness. Then spending a silent hour lying in the sun on a warm rock, looking up into sky. Resting deeply. Feeling into the moment.