Opening the rooftop tent season in Finland

Our first campsite south of Porvoo

Camping with a rooftop tent

We bought our rooftop tent two years ago, inspired by friends we have spent lots of time with outdoors. We thought of it as an upgrade to the hiking tent we had used for years and it proved to be a major improvement in convenience and level of shelter without costing a fortune. The James Baroud model we got was easy to mount on the roof of our old Mercedes C200 and weighing at 70kg, it didn't even come close to the 100kg limit of static weight allowed in the cars specifications.

The first summer we spent almost a month in it driving around Northern Norway and Finnish Lapland. Our German Shorthaired Pointer loved sleeping in the tent and especially enjoyed laying there in the mornings, looking out at everything from above. To make life easier on rainy days, we suspend a tarp on the side of the car using four 2m poles kept in place by ropes on all sides.

So, after a pretty chilling spring we decided to open the season on the first weekend in May, with an early start already on Thursday. Our first night was by the sea, just south of Porvoo, by a beach with no other campers even close by which is always a bonus. The weather was still chilly but at least the sun was shining and the sky was clear the entire trip.

When we take these trips with our friends, we usually park the cars next to each other and set up our camp between the cars in order to maximise the wind cover and also give us some cover from potentially curious bystanders. This time the place was a challenge as the ground tilted enough to where we wouldn't have been able to keep the car level, even with wedges under the tyres. So, we left our car a bit higher up and made the main camp around our friend's car.

The first night outside is always so refreshing after a winter more or less inside. Having said that, it did get quite cold as the temperature dropped to almost zero and without electricity, we had no heating. But this is the busiest time of the whole year for migratory birds in Finland so the sounds throughout the night (at this time of the year it no longer gets completely dark around these latitudes) were really loud. All kinds of birds from swans and geese, to a whole host of different kind of ducks, seagulls, waders and smaller song birds played their symphonies, all trying to outsing each other.

Morning coffee outdoors, is always one of the absolite highlights of the day, no matter where you are, what time of year it is and where you slept. But when you get your first cup sitting in the warm sun after a chilly night it gets close to divine. One of life's small gems that you can enjoy without spending almost anything.

The following day we packed up our camp, which is remarkably fast compared to drying and folding tents, mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows that usually are damp after a night in a small tent. We then drove further east to a slightly more luxurious campsite. A proper camping ground with toilets, showers and of course, saunas! This time we could park the cars so that we had our own little inner yard shielded from view. As we often take turns cooking dinner when we travel together, today was our turn. The menu was Coc au Vin with Rice and some breadsticks we brought from Italy last year. Again, it doesn't really matter what you make. Food always tastes better outdoors even if it's a simple sausage grilled over a fire with a bit of mustard.

The dogs all love this of course. They get to spend the entire days outside, sleep in the sun, go on long walks and (when it gets a bit warmer) swim if we are camped by water (which is often).

Our next trip with the rooftop tent will be in a few weeks when we go scuba diving with friends in the western parts of Finland. More to come after that trip. If you are interested, you can check out our videos from all our trips on YouTube <HERE>.

Taking the dogs for a walk along the shore.

Making dinner for a delicious outdoors meal.

Seaside sunset view from the campsite.