When last night I was packing the pilots (the books telling you about harbours and routings) for the Baltic away, my eye fell on this map:
In the left bottom corner you can just see the Netherlands. Kiel looks quite near to it. Stockholm, the furthest point of this trip is also clearly marked. You can more or less see our trip, from Kiel up the Danish west coast. The island in the Kattegat is Læsø. Then Göteborg and the Trolhätten canal, lake Vänern, the Göta canal, north to Stockholm and down the Swedish east coast via Vastervik, Kalmar, Karlskrona and Simrishamn back to Denmark and then Kiel. Quite an adventure to be sure!
With some sadness we saw the lock doors at Kiel Holtenau close behind us this morning. It means the entry to the Kiel Canal and therefore we have left the Baltic. But the thought that we'll be back here next year makes it easy to carry on!
We were fortunate in that a group of yachts were allowed into the 'small lock' together with a coaster (a smallish sea going vessel). Usually they don't allow yachts when they use the small lock for 'big ships'. The ensuing trip to Rendsburg, which - from this side - is one third of the way down the canal was as usual: interesting but uneventful. You see a number of big ships either coming towards you or passing you, but as they go relatively slowly there are few waves and its no hassle. We stopped at the Rendsburg Sailing Club, a harbour known by most Baltic crews. It has good facilities, reasonable WiFi and a nice restaurant where we treated ourselves to a 'meal ashore'.
From here its about 5 hours to Brunsbüttel where we enter the Elbe. To Otterndorf it is only 9 miles from Brunsbüttel, but a tricky stretch it is: the Elbe is a very tidal river and you have to go to Ottendorf on the outgoing tide. But the prevailing Westerly winds will create a very nasty steep chop against that tide if they are more than about 10 knots. So we need relatively light winds for that stretch and at the moment it looks like that will not happen before Tuesday or Wednesday. And as Rendsburg is a much better place than Brunsbüttel to wait for the weather, we might be here for a few days, which is no problem.
If there is no news tomorrow, there might not be a blog post. But before we start moving again, I'll let you know!
Today we took the ferry from Laboe to Kiel. Its a nice one hour trip, during which the boat stops at about 5 different places. It takes you right from our harbour to the centre of Kiel for 4 Euros. Pretty good we thought!
The purpose of the trip was to see what Kiel looks like but also to buy some stuff for the boat. Quite simple stuff, like prop shaft grease.
According to the Pilot (the book that tells you everything about sailing in the Baltic), there is a 'large and well stocked chandlery in the Kiel city centre'. So we asked the Tourist Information and they told us there was a small shop in town and a big one a few KM away. So we first went to the small one. We asked for what we needed, whereupon the owner tried to sell us winch grease. When I explained that this was way to specialised for what we needed, he started a long diatribe which boiled down to telling us that the reason he was so poorly stocked was not him, the shop owner, but us, the customers who buy things through the internet. Well, with that attitude it is no wonder that there is no 'large and well stocked chandlery' in Kiel anymore for the thousands of yachts that arrive here and cannot even buy things through the internet!
So we went to the big shop instead. It was big indeed, but 75% was clothing and the rest mainly expensive bottles of boat cleaning materials. The prop shaft grease was only available in very small (250g) containers of dubious specification. Again the manager was most unhelpful. When we needed something in Denmark a few months ago, everyone went out of their way to help us. Not here: take it or leave it.
Add to that the queue jumping to get on and off the ferry and we wish we were back in Denmark or Sweden again! Just a different people. See my post about the Elbe - Lübeck canal last year. The Germans (and I dont want to generalise but it feels like it) see everything like a competition that they have to win!
Anyway, the ferry ride was nice, we treated ourselves to lunch in Kiel and still enjoyed the day. Our plan is to enter the Kiel Canal tomorrow and get as far as Rendsburg. From memory there is reasonable WiFi there, so there might be a blog past tomorrow again.
We have not shown you any sunsets for a while and yesterday in Bagenkop we were treated to a nice one, so here we go:
After getting ourselves and Onbekommerd ready for another 'crossing', we set off around 9:30. The weather was as promised: sunny and no wind to speak of. Ideal! A bit over an hour later we noticed the horizon disappearing. The visibility decreased and soon we could not see more than 50m! The two yachts that had left the harbour just before us disappeared from view too. Fortunately we were not near any shipping routes. We could see up to 2 miles on the radar (including the yachts mentioned) and on the VHF there were several yachts closer to the shipping lanes asking the big ships to look out for them on the radar. This lasted for over an hour and then the visibility improved slowly. First we could spot the yachts and a bit later a big ship in the shipping route quite far away. We had already changed our course so we would pass West of Kiel lighthouse so we did not have to cross the Kiel - Baltic route at all, only the much quieter Kiel - Flensburg one.
Soon we saw Kiel lighthouse, which is quite a landmark. And to the East of it there was a lot of shipping. By this time it was nice and sunny again:
From the lighthouse it is about 6 miles to Laboe, one of the popular stopping points for yachts coming from or going to the Kiel canal. So that's where we are now, back in Germany and the Danish courtesy flag has been replaced by the German one. Laboe is not a 'guest harbour' at all. Like so many (if not all) German harbours it has no guest places but a system where a green shield indicates that the normal occupant is away and the place available for guests. Now it is out of season and mid-week, so there are very few places available as the owner is 'at home'. I think we have the last one (and we arrived at 2pm).
We'll stay here tomorrow and take the ferry into Kiel itself, which we have never seen. On Friday we'll go into the canal, to Rendsburg which is not quite halfway to Brunsbüttel which is where it connects to the river Elbe.
I think I forgot to mention that we were in Spodsbjerg yesterday, the only harbour on the East coast of Langeland. Today we moved to Bagenkop on the southern tip of the same island. It was an uneventful but pleasant trip, with still between 1 and 2 knots of current against us which added a bit to the 18 mile voyage. The harbour was almost empty when we arrives around 2. Now, at almost 8:30 it is full.
With the expected conditions tomorrow, we expect there will be an Armada on its way to Kiel although it should be better for us than for the sailing yachts as the wind is predicted to be between 3 and 6 knots (from the North).
So tomorrow we should be in Laboe, just outside Kiel. Now in Germany we don't have a SIM card for the iPad. It's a very difficult process to get one, with registration of your passport etc. and very expensive too. So we'll rely on WiFi in the harbours. From experience Laboe is ok, as long as the harbourmaster is on duty and you can get an access code from him (if he is not on duty you pay the harbour fees at the beer stall and they don't always have the cards with the access codes. So the long and the short of it is that the regularity of our posts will suffer a bit in the next week or two. For family: we can be reached on my (Dutch) mobile phone number if and when required.
We were aware the the Smålandsfarvandet, the waters between Sælland and Lolland can get quite 'choppy', even in not too strong winds. Last year, on the way from Omø to Fejø, we experienced 'washing machine conditions' in light winds. So we were not surprised today when, in a 12 knot breeze' it was choppy again shortly after leaving Femø. And as expected, when we emerged into the Langelands Sund, between Lolland and Langeland, and passed the windmill park there, the sea conditions improved enough to make coffee. Perfect! As we crossed the Langelands Sund, the wind picked up (it was a nice East North Easterly, right behind us) and we felt the current which was going in the opposite direction, in the end at about 2.5 knots. This 'current against wind' condition made the waves steeper and although still from behind it got a bit uncomfortable for the last 10 miles or so. Closer to the harbour, the current dropped and there was no problem once we had located the harbour entrance. We tied up without a problem, which is more than can be said about some of the yachts that came in after us....
Sorry, no pictures today. I have a short video that I took before the waves got steep, but as we only have a slow Internet connection, that is not going to work. I'll try to post it at some future time.
The wind is supposed to drop significantly tomorrow and we plan to go to Bagenkop, the last Danish stop of this year's trip.
As mentioned yesterday, we stayed on this island for another day. The weather continues to be really nice, we can't even remember when last we had a cloudy day! It was still windy, but many people left as they have to go to work tomorrow....... Our neighbours, with the friendly dog, stayed as well:
We took a nice 2 hour walk on the island before lunch.
Tomorrow, the plan is to go to Spodsbjerg, on Langeland. Should be a 4 hour trip.
As mentioned yesterday, we stayed on Femø today. Quiet day, reading, a bit of work and piano playing (Lyn). Doing some checks on the boat and planning routes. It has been relatively windy with almost no-one leaving and a few boats coming in. So it's full now in this small cozy harbour. Almost all are Danes, probably visiting for the weekend. This is a picture I took a few minutes ago, when the ferry also arrived:
Before we get to our current location, I would just like to add a bit to yesterday's post by telling about Gåbense. We usually prefer small 'places' to big ones and Gåbense is no exception. The 'rules' in these small harbours are interesting: the harbour master (the boating club member who carried the title for the week) stopped by last night. Handed me an envelope with the request to put the 130 Kroner harbour fee in it and put the envelope in the box at the clubhouse. I was also handed the key to the clubhouse where the toilets and showers were. And the fridge with beer. If I wanted a beer, please put 6 Kroner in the box. When we got to the clubhouse this morning at 7:30 there were already 2 beer drinkers. We just posted the envelope with the money and the keys...
Lyn got up early to catch the sunrise:
The clubhouse at Gåbense:
We then spent 3 hours with a light following wind and a nice current behind us too. We got to Femø before midday. We have been here twice before, last year, and really like the island. The church is very typical for a Danish island:
And the houses are nice too:
The harbour is full on a Friday night. A lot of Danes, they have probably come for the weekend. A few Germans, we are the only Dutchies.
End of the day:
Our plan currently is to take the shortest route to Kiel in Germany via Spodsbjerg and Bagenkop but to 'take it easy'. To start with we'll definitely stay here on Femø tomorrow.
I am going to try yesterday's pictures again, although the 3G connection still seems slow. We want to go to Femø, an island we have been twice last year and which we like, but the Klintholm to Femø trip is 45 miles, a bit too long to our liking. So we have split it by stopping in the tiny harbour of Gåbense. This was the ferry harbour before the bridge between Sælland and Falster was built. Here are the pictures:
On our way from Rødvig to Klintholm today, we passed Møn's Klint. This is a chalk cliff, 6 KM long and up to 143m high on the island of Møn. In the 'chalk' time, 75 million years ago, calcium shells from microscopic algae were deposited from the tropical sea that covered what is now Denmark. During the ice ages of the last 100000 years, the glaciers pushed thick flakes of this calcium deposit from the bottom of the Baltic which created the 'Klint' here.
We took a large number of pictures and a video, but unfortunately both the 3G and the WiFi signal here are too poor to post visual material to the blog. We'll try a 'special' tomorrow.
We are now in Klintholm, a very nice and currently quiet harbour just beyond the actual Klint. Quite a few 'swallow boats' (going South for the winter) have come in the last hour. We imagine it will be quite busy here 'in season' as it is perfectly positioned on the way to Sweden as well as towards Copenhagen.
At (almost) the crack of dawn we left Gislövs Läge. We like to leave early, the atmosphere is clear and crisp and the light is nice too:
Here it was just before 7, looks a lot darker than it actually was. There was very little wind and almost no waves either. In addition, the traffic was kind to us: we saw a number of ships in the traffic routes but none when we had to cross them.
By mid morning we could easily see the chalk and limestone cliffs of Stevns Klint:
And at midday we tied up in Rödvig, just south of the Klint coast.
One thing we were looking forward to in Rödvig was the ice cream shop. Not as elaborate as the 'Smultronstället' in Söderköping, but still very nice. When we walked to the 'Ishuset', it had gone! There was just a sign to say it had moved to the fishing harbour. And indeed there it was..... But closed from Monday to Thursday after 16 August! Big disappointment, clearly the season is drawing to an end.
We were told by a Danish couple (one of the boats we have seen off and on for the past few weeks) that Gislövs Läge was 'a place to park boats' and not recommended. But it is the place from which you get the shortest crossing to Denmark, so we went anyway. Now it's certainly neither the centre of the world, nor 'a gem', but its a friendly club harbour with the facilities you need (including washing machine and tumble drier!). On our way here, we passed Smygehuk, the Southernmost point of Sweden (we are now about a mile further North). Tomorrow, the conditions look good to go to Rödvig in Denmark. Not a particularly long 'crossing', it is just under 30 miles in a straight line, but as we cross a 'shipping roundabout' at Falsterborev, we add a bit to cross the shipping lanes at right angles as the rules demand. So we get to 32 miles, about 5 hours.
Sorry, no pictures tonight. Nothing that interesting in Gislövs.
This morning we explored Ystad. It has an interesting Danish feel to it, which is not surprising as it was built long before the Treaty of Roskilde and Skåne was therefore still Danish. Typical are the timber framed houses:
Also nice gabled buildings. This is the old 'Latin School':
This reminds one of the monastery. The building still stands and now houses a museum.
The night watchman blows his horn in the direction of the 4 quadrants of the compass every 15 minutes from the tower, between 21:15 and 01:00. He has been doing this for centuries. Apparently this 'scheme' is still 'active' but we have not heard him (yet). This feature on the harbour breakwater however reminds us of it:
At the moment (just after 8 pm), it is blowing 20 knots with intermittent rain. But all forecasts predict a light 6 know north westerly tomorrow, ideal for the leg to our final Swedish port, Gislövs Läge.
Today we passed Sandhammaren, the SE corner of Skåne. According to 'the books', it is known as the 'Cape Horn of the North', due to the many ships that have been lost there. Today it did not live up to its name, it was all relatively calm:
Also this nice ship that we encountered will have passed it unscathed:
We are now in Ystad and plan to stay here tomorrow. It is predicted to be a bit windy, but even if it is not we like a break before continuing. The atmosphere in the marina is nice, lots of German, plus some Danish and Dutch boats, not that many Swedes. This is clearly 'a stop on the way home'. There are also lots of ferries, to Poland, Germany and the Danish island of Bornholm. Tomorrow, we'll explore the town itself.
As planned we left Åhus relatively early, before 8. It was overcast and a bit 'hazy' all morning. Enough visibility (even the small Swedish marks were quite easy to find from 2 miles away), but not crystal clear like the past few days. The wind was quite light and the sea a bit choppy but not too bad: a bit of water over the bows every now and then. After just over 4 hours we reached Simrishamn. This is sort of a strategic harbour for us 'Baltic Navigators' as it is either at the end of the beginning of the 'Hanö Bukt', with Karlskrona or Utklippan at the other end. The South coast of Skåne with Denmark beyond, lies in front of us now. One day to Ystad, one day to Gislövs Läge and then probably Rödvig in Denmark although at the moment it seems that Sunday will be a day of (enforced) rest in Ystad. After that, it looks like we have some nice weather with light winds coming our way.
Back to Simrishamn. The most remarkable feature is the St Nikolai church. The first part of it was built in 1161 and it is still standing. The church never burned down and was never ransacked, which is very unusual. It also means that it (or rather part of it) is now more than 850 years old. To put this in perspective, that is well over twice as old as the oldest building in South Africa, the Castle in Cape Town. It was then a small chapel, used by the eel fishermen. Eel is still a big thing around here, the Skåne east coast is known as the eel coast.
Here is an external and an internal shot of the St. Nikolai Kirke:
Just after we left Karlshamn this morning, we passed the last 'skär' of this year's trip. We really have enjoyed these little rocky islands, hiding behind them from the waves and looking at the beauty of several 'skärgårds' has been a real pleasure. Now we were out in the open again, and I took a little video to show what it's like on a relatively quiet day 'out at sea'. Just click below, it should connect to a YouTube video:
We chose Åhus as a destination, just because it was 'the right distance'. We like to do stretches of about 4 hours as it does cover some distance but also gets you to the next place in time to explore and relax. This is no race, after all. The Åhus approach was not very inviting, a few silos hinted at something industrial. But we knew that the guest harbour was just a few hundred metres up the little river and what a nice surprise: a nice boardwalk next to a small old town. The town dates from the 13th century, at least at that time there was a fort as well as a monastery both of which are now only visible as a few ruins. These days the town is known for the 'eel industry' as well as for 'Absolute Vodka', which is produced in a factory right at the harbour here. They tell us that ALL Absolute Vodka comes from Åhus.
We are now in our last Swedish province, Skãne. These provinces have no political or administrative meaning anymore, but certainly have strong historical and cultural connotations. When I though about that this morning, I remembered a book I read as a boy by a Swedish writer, Selma Lagerlöff, called 'Nils Holgerson's Adventures'. So I 'Googled' the book and it is a Swedish classic, which apparently was written to teach Swedish geography and culture in schools. So famous, that 'Nils' appears on the 20 SEK banknote. Here he is, on the back of his goose:
If you want to know more, the book is available on Kindle and is even free of charge!
Finally, a picture of the eel restaurant across the water from our mooring:
Our plan is to leave early tomorrow for a 4 hour trip to Simrishamn, a harbour on the South East coast of Skåne. From there it's mainly going West until we get to Denmark....
Yesterday, I wrote that we would go to Karlshamn or Hällevik, depending on the conditions. Well, both wind and sea conditions were a bit more than we liked. Going through the skärgård here means you get into the 'open sea' every now and then. As there are (partly) submerged rocks around, you need to keep alert. Sometimes they are marked with a buoy and sometimes you are supposed to spot them yourself (usually the slightly less submerged ones). Here are two examples:
Easy to see.
A bit less easy....
And of course when you have these on both sides, you cannot steer 'on the waves' and anything from the side makes you roll.
Anyway, we decided that Karlshamn was far enough. We went to the club harbour rather than the town harbour, based on 'what the book says'. The book was right (again), the town harbour is next to a parking lot / busy road and the club harbour in between the trees. A friendly harbour master came to check us in and offered us bicycles on loan to go to the town, 2.5 KM down the road.
We notice the season is changing quickly: Lyn reported that the bilges (where we store some of the food) are getting colder. They are 'water cooled'. The harbour master told me that he had to abandon the plan to go swim with his grandson as the water temperature is 14C... That fits together! Also, the flag comes in before 9pm now as the sun sets earlier than that. A few weeks ago it was still light at 10...
So we continue to move South and West. Tomorrow we hope it will be a place called Åhus. Just over 20 miles, forecast is good.
We woke up around 7 to the sounds of activity on the jetty. The wind had dropped during the night and people were getting ready to leave. We looked at the short term forecast, and indeed there was a nice 'gap' for the morning. We had coffee and breakfast and just after 7:30 we were on our way. First nicely sheltered in the Karlskrona skärgård, then through the Hasslöbron (bron= bridge), which is 4m high so we could pass underneath with the mast down whilst the yachts had to wait. Then we got to a bit of open water, but the wind was light and the swell that remained from yesterday's wind was not a problem as it was long. No water on deck in spite of the waves being quite high. Then we got to Ronnebyhamn, where we had a choice between the main marina on the mainland and the jetty on the Karön island opposite. Needless to say that we opted for Karön. We were the first to arrive, then our Danish neighbours from last night (unfortunately their English is only slightly better that our Danish, they are very friendly people!) and finally two other motorboats. So here we are:
The weather currently is a bit unstable with lots of rain showers. But for tomorrow it looks like we can carry on, at least to Karlshamn which is just 17 miles to the west or - if the wind and waves are kind - to Hällevik, to the South West.
We seemed to be quite busy today. Checking the vital statistics of the boat (filters, oil, diesel, coolant) needs to be done from time to time and today was a good opportunity. Lyn did quite a bit of work and I did some trip / route planning for the next week or so. It was therefore after 4 when we finally got to explore Karlskrona further than the supermarket. That was a big disappointment. It is claimed that this is a World Heritage City, but we found it to be run down, poorly maintained and full of construction sites. We have by now seen quite a few Swedish towns and lets say that Karlskrona is not anywhere near the top of the list..... In the meantime, the weather gap that was predicted for tomorrow morning seems to be disappearing. So we may well be here a bit longer. That's no problem, the marina is well sheltered and the showers are hot. The atmosphere amongst the (mainly Dutch) 'flotilla' is good. The supermarket is 10 minutes away, the Kindle is full of books and we have plenty to do. If we do indeed stay here tomorrow, Wednesday seems 'out' as well. After that, the outlook is a bit better. Remember: 'A patient skipper always has good weather'!
In the absence of a nice Karlskrona picture, here is a rare one of both of us on the front deck of Onbekommerd. Courtesy of Gwilym, taken in Kalmar:
As predicted it is quite windy. The result is that not only Onbekommerd but many other vessels have decided to keep to the safety of the harbour. No- one has left today, a few have arrived. So the harbour, which had lots of empty spaces when we arrived yesterday midday, is now full and people are 'rafting up', meaning tying up next to each other. There are many nationalities, but not a lot of Swedes: they seem to have all retracted in their home ports. The season is practically over, the schools go back in a week's time. Many boats are on their way 'home', some at leisure (like us), some a bit more driven. You see the same people in the next harbour, or two harbours further and you get to know each other. You chat and exchange experiences, how was your trip, did you take the narrow channel or the easy one and so on. It's quite a nice 'community'. There is one yacht with an Austrian couple that we have seen off and on since we were still in the Göta canal. The last few days we ended up in the same ports and last night we were invited for a glass of wine on their boat. They - like quite a few others - keep their boat for the winter in a North German winter storage.
No pictures of Karlskrona today. We spent most of the day working and reading on board, just a visit to the supermarket got us off. Swedish supermarkets tend to be open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week (at least in summer), which is very handy. No 'long term food planning' needed!
But tomorrow we'll still be here (the long term wind forecasts don't look promising at all), so a visit to the town (a World Heritage Town, apparently) is in the offing.
As we woke up today at 7, we could hear boats moving all around us. Clearly everyone was leaving early! We had planned to leave a 8, but as there was no wind we just had a cup of coffee and decided to have breakfast 'en route'. So just before 7:30 we were off. An hour later we passed the windmills:
Then we got to Torhamns Udde, the South Eastern point of mainland Sweden and tucked into a narrow channel that leads into the last skärgård of this year's trip, the Karlskrona skärgård. As always, there are yachts moored in the typical Swedish fashion: nose tied to a spike or ring in a rock and a back anchor:
Each day you will see literally hundreds of yachts anchored this way. We have not done it yet, but hopefully next year the day will come!
By midday and 30 miles later, we were in Karlskrona. As the weather forecast for the next few days predicts quite a lot of wind and we'll soon be out of the skärgård, we will wait here for a few days. Karlskrona is an old maritime city and will surely yield some interesting tidbits for tomorrow's post!
A 5 hour trip brought us to Kristianopel today. In the beginning a bit 'bumpy', then a calmer stretch so we could make coffee and have lunch and the last hour the wind and waves picked up, causing the boat to be 'as salty as a herring' again.
Kristianopel is a really nice small place with a fascinating history: it was built in 1600 by the Danes (who then controlled the South of current Sweden) as a fortification on the North of their kingdom. The Swedes attacked it a few times and torched it as well. In 1658, at the treaty of Roskilde, the province of Blekinge (in which Kristianopel is situated) was lost by the Danes to Sweden (along with several other parts, such as Skåne). The fortifications were destroyed by the Swedes after that time and today only parts of the ramparts remain.
Here are some impressions of Kristianopel:
A nice small harbour, but quite busy at this time, mainly with Dutch, German and Danish (plus one Austrian whom we are getting to know quite well as we have been meeting them since Söderköping in the Göta canal) boats, returning 'home' after the Swedish summer trip. So we are all in the same mind, discussing the weather prospects for the next few days. Talking about that, we are now close to the South Eastern corner of the Swedish mainland. Tomorrow we plan to 'turn the corner' and transfer from the East coast to the South coast. We would like to reach Karlskrona and the weather forecast for that looks good. After that, it looks like a few windy days in which case Karlskrona is a good place to wait for better conditions.
We are still in Kalmar, visited the castle (last castle tour of the year, we have decided).
But it is also the first day of the Kalmar festival. So there is a fun fair across from our mooring. And when we walked into town after supper, it was practically heaving with people. On the two squares in town there are groups performing on big stages. That is to say, on the Stora Torget (big square), it has not started yet. There they will get Ulrik Munther, who is 19 years old and when we were there was signing autographs for his fans, mainly 10-12 year old girls. But it's all really relaxed and everyone is having a good time!
The Polish yachts (which had quite a party) have left, so we expect the harbour to be a bit quieter than last night.... We now have Dutch yachts on either side of us. And you can add British to the list of flags spotted in the harbour we published yesterday.
We plan to continue the voyage South tomorrow. More then. No pictures tonight, no excuse other than that you have already seen pics of the castle and we did not take a camera into town this evening.
Kalmar is quite important in Swedish history. The Union of Kalmar in 1397 is one of the more important dates. That Union, between Sweden, Denmark and Norway, was concluded in the Kalmar castle which still exists and is now over 800 years old. Near the castle is the 'old town' , which is interesting and there is another, slightly less ancient, area called Kvarnholmen which has the old cathedral as its focal point. A nice town! The guest harbour is very popular and now - at 21:30 - is quite full, even at the end of the season. It is very international, we can see Swedish, American, Austrian, Swiss, German, Dutch, Finnish, Russian and Polish flags. There must be a Dane somewhere and an Estonian would not be out of place. We have not seen a lot of Norwegians lately.
Gwilym and Janine leave us tomorrow and we'll most likely stay here another day: we would like to do a tour of the castle (they do them in English three times a day), we have some admin to do and quite a bit of rain is expected.
Here are a few pictures of our self-guided walk through the town this afternoon:
As promised, a 'double post' today. The night in Byxelkrok was a bit disturbed when at around 10:30 all boats were pulling on their moorings due to a heavy wash. Everyone was on deck wondering what was going on. It seems that a ferry to Gotland passes far away and creates this wash. The following morning there was no wind and we set off to the next port, Sandvik. First we passed 'Blå Jungfrun', a small island in the Kalmarsund that has fascinated people for centuries. It is now a nature reserve. These stretches can be very stressful, here are the 'men at work': Sandvik is a very quiet harbour. It has the biggest Dutch windmill in Scandinavia.
Next to the harbour is a rocky beach. As the kids can't build sand castles in the absence of sand, they build rock castles instead. You see this a lot in Sweden!
Another nice sunset too: Today we continued our trip down the Öland coast southward to Borgholm. Apart from the summer residence of the Swedish Royal family, there are also the ruins of Borgholm castle which is well worth visiting. And the view from the castle: Suddenly, the season is drawing to an end here. A few days ago, the harbours were still well occupied. Now they are not empty, but there is a lot of space in this usually very full marina. Schools start in less than two weeks and it seems that families are preparing for that and have ended their holidays. The days are clearly shortening and there are fallen leaves in the street. And it's only 6 August! Off to Kalmar tomorrow.
