East of Oslo, towards the Swedish border, the land flattens into a quiet country of spruce forest, bogs, small farms and lakes, and Aurskog-Høland is one of its largest municipalities. Aursmoen and Bjørkelangen are its main villages, each with a few thousand people, a church, a supermarket and a petrol station, and between them lie long roads through the woods where you may not meet another vehicle for minutes at a time.
The lakes are the attraction on a hot day. Bjørkelangen sits beside a lake of the same name, and there are many others scattered through the forest, from small ponds to long, narrow waters like Rømsjøen near the border. Most have a small beach or a wooden jetty used by locals, and the water, dark from the peat, warms up surprisingly well in July. Expect mosquitoes in the evening, and bring repellent.
This part of Norway has a quiet history. The narrow-gauge railway called Tertitten, the Urskog-Høland line, once carried timber and passengers through these forests; a short section near Sørumsand is now a museum railway, with old steam engines running on summer Sundays. The rivers that drain this land flow into the Glomma, Norway's longest river, and at Fetsund, west of here, the old timber booms, where floating logs were sorted and bundled, are preserved as a museum, the last of their kind in the country.
The roads are easy riding, with gentle curves, long straights and good surfaces, though there are also gravel roads deep in the forest. Watch for moose and deer, especially at dawn and dusk, and for tractors and logging trucks. Speed limits are low and enforced. It is not dramatic scenery, but it has a peaceful beauty, with the smell of pine and the light falling through the trees.
Aursmoen and Bjørkelangen have fuel, supermarkets and cafés, and Fetsund, about nineteen kilometres away, is the nearest larger place. Stop at a lake, take a swim, buy something sweet from the bakery and let the forest quiet settle over you.