chapter 1
Nearness to Nature Long Litt Woon is a Malaysian social anthropologist who immigrated to Norway in 1976. One of the things that was hard for her to understand in the beginning was the emphasis Norwegians placed on going for walks in the country. She recalls first of all the embarrassing feeling of dressing up in an old-fashioned outfit, and then the surprise she experienced when she discovered how Norwegians went about walking in the country. In an interview in 2005, she remembers how exhausting it was: ‘We climbed a mountain, and when we reached the peak, there was barely time for an orange, a bar of chocolate and a few photographs. Then it was time to go home. The funny thing was that there was not much conversation. It was not a social event. Everyone seemed happy to walk alone. Now I realise that it is not the destination of the trip that’s important to Norwegians, they focus on the walk itself.’ 5 Walking in the country is for most Norwegians a pleasure and a duty. You need a good excuse to sit inside on a Sunday when the sun is shining and all your neighbours are out in the woods cooking hotdogs on a bonfire or skiing down the slopes. Leisure time is highly valued in Norway. And leisure time should be spent sensibly. The outdoors is looked upon as the place to relax and recharge your batteries. Walks in the country compensate for the daily routine of the city, and national parks, barren mountain plateaus and spectacular fjords even serve as symbols of the nation itself. Norway has a law from 1957 which guarantees public right of access to the countryside. This means that anyone may use private property for hiking, swimming and gathering berries, flowers and mushrooms of all kinds as long as the area is not under cultivation. According to most surveys, 80% of the Norwegian population go crosscountry skiing and hiking. However, this does not mean that everyone goes for a walk in the country on a weekly basis. During Easter, between 13–20% of the total population go skiing in the mountains. But surveys indicate that 70–80% of the Norwegian population wish they could spend more time on outdoor activities. This is a high figure compared to other desired goals, for example spending
5 http://www.long.no/2007/02/hvordan-jeg-lrte-g-tur.html
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