Background to a TV show?

Today we did the Kalmar to Kristianopel stretch, about 28 miles in four and a half hours. About 10 to 12 knots of wind straight on the nose, so a bit of water over which makes the boat salty but nothing uncomfortable.

When we got here, there seemed to be preparations for 'something ' going on, and it transpired to be a TV show, with some people singing and a neighbouring (British) yacht being interviewed. For most of the time, we were the backdrop to the proceedings. And we had a fine view too!




Sorry, no pictures again. Useless Blogpress!

Location:Karlskrona,Sweden

Kalmar

The plan today was to go to Monsterås, halfway between Figeholm and Kalmar. In the beginning, the sea was quite 'lumpy' in spite of the light wind. But later it became very comfortable and when we got to the 'turnoff' to Monsterås we looked at the weather forecast and decided that we could carry on.
As per the forecast, the wind picked up a bit to around 15 knots but as it was straight on the nose, it was easy going. We had coffee, lunch and tea on the way and tied up in Kalmar after 7 hours motoring, in time to treat ourselves to 'dinner onshore' in celebration of Lyn's birthday!
Tomorrow it looks like quite a bit more wind, so we are going to stay put.
I'll upload a few pictures from the camera to the laptop and post them on the blog tomorrow.

Location:Landgången,Kalmar,Sweden

Going back South

As per an earlier post, we spent last weekend on the island of Texel, but without Onbekommerd!

But Onbekommerd was very much there in spirit as the occasion was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jac. P. Thijsse, after whose motto our boat was named. He spent a few years of his early life on Texel and this plaque reminds us of that:

There should have been a picture here. Blog press issued an update promising that the 'photo upload bug' had been fixed, but unfortunately it still does not work. Sorry.

We very much enjoyed the weekend with all my cousins from the Thijsse side of the family, we had not been all together in 40 years!

Texel to Västervik is not all that far distance wise, but it takes 10 hours of bus, ferry, train, 'plane and bus again (should have been a train, but was replaced by a bus). Add to that quite a bit of walking and you can imagine we had a good night's sleep!

This morning we started the 'way back' in earnest. No hurry, but for the next two weeks we'll use any day with favourable weather to move back towards the Netherlands.
As it was a good day today, we put in about 5 hours and are now back in Figeholm, which is a very pleasant harbour at the northern end of the Kalmarsund. For the first time in weeks, we got a bit of spray over the deck when we left the protection of the islands of the Skärgård. It will be like that for the next few days, although the wind is predicted to be light.

We'll try to keep you up to date!

Location:Sjömansgatan,Oskarshamn,Sweden

Nice surprise!

Two years ago, on our way back from Sweden in Rendsburg in the Kiel Canal, we met Örjen and Kristina on their Albin25 called Albina. They were on their way to France at that time.
We have been following each other's progress on social media since then and we know that they were a few weeks ahead of us returning to Sweden and are now back in Gävle where they live.
This morning, there was a Facebook post as well as an email telling us that Örjen was near Västervik and could visit us. Such was arranged and we had a 'fika' (the Swedish term for coffee and a chat) with him on Onbekommerd and afterwards he took us on a drive to show us a bit of 'Sweden away from the water'. It was very nice to meet again, thank you Örjen for making contact and warm regards to Kristina back home!

Location:Notholmsvägen,Vastervik,Sweden

Västervik for a week

After 6 nights either anchored or tied to a small jetty on our stern anchor, we are now in a 'real' harbour, the 'Notviken' club harbour in Västervik.

First a few pictures of the last few days:

 

In "Flissfjärden, on Harstena, most people are tied to a rock with their stern anchor out. We had 'swing anchored': behind the main (front) anchor. 

A heron stalking a fish on Bökö 

This is sort of a famous place as it is mentioned in the pilot book. A model ship in the window of a house on Jungfuskär, an island that you pass very close to. There are two windows with models. 

With all these islands and buoys and lights, it is sometimes difficult to know where you are when you look away from the chart for a minute. Lyn made 'sticky arrows' to help us!

 We continue to be fascinated by the rock formations we pass.

Last night we returned to the jetty where we first 'stern anchored' a few weeks ago. Still beautiful and peaceful! 

After these few weeks, we really have come to appreciate the life the Swedish yachtsmen live: only go into a harbour for provisions and water and to get rid of the rubbish. But otherwise stay 'in the wild'. We need to get ourselves organised a bit better (a more robust stern anchor, a dinghy where the water does not leak in through the bottom) and then we can (next year) enjoy it to the full!

On Thursday we will leave Onbekommerd here in Västervik and fly to the Netherlands for three days for a family gathering to celebrate the 150th 'birthday' of my great grandfather after whose 'motto' Onbekommerd was named. There will be 6 cousins and three partners, we can't remember the last time the six of us were together but it certainly is more than 40 years! So until next week, there may be a post or two, but no regular updates!

Bokö

We spent the second night in Harstena not at the village but in "Flissfjärden", a big bay just to the North. There were at least 40 boats there, most tied to the rocks with a stern anchor out and some 'swing anchored". All Swedes apart from three Dutch boats!
As predicted the weather changed overnight, rain started and the wind swung to the South and picked up to about 25 knots. But in the bay you are well sheltered, although one of the yachts had its anchor slipping and had to get up during the night to re-lay it.
This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and after coffee the weather improved (again as predicted) and we lifted the anchor.
Two and a half hours to the South through the archipelago, we are now again anchored, this time in a nice bay called Bokö, which is at the entrance to the Valdemarsviken, the fjord that goes 10 miles inland to Valdemarsvik. It's quiet here though, the fourth boat has just come in.
We'll slowly continue the trip South tomorrow. The Internet is too slow to post pictures today, we'll do so when we get closer to 'civilisation' and the signal picks up.

Again, clicking on the 'location' below will get you to a map showing where we are!

Location:Valdemarsvik,Sweden

A quiet night. And Harstena again

We made our way out of the Storån again and spent the night tied to a swing mooring we found in the quiet bay we were planning to anchor. Swing mooring is much easier than anchoring!

A beautiful sunset and this morning we were woken by the local flock of geese!

As our timing wants us to be in Västervik on the 22nd and that is only three easy days away, we decided to go back to Harstena for one or two nights. We arrived here at 10.30 this morning and it was already quite busy, maybe only three places free. A few of the smaller boats with 'day trippers' will leave before dinner and a few others will then come in for the night. Always coming and going here!

Stegeborg and Söderköping

After Harstena, we spent a night in Stegeborg, where there is a castle ruin. That was a bit disappointing, yes there is a ruin, but there is little information about it and it's in a bad state (I guess ruins generally are, but those that are open to the public at a fee usually have some educational value...

This morning, we set course for Söderköping. We were there two years ago, it is almost at the end (or beginning, depending on where you start) of the Göta canal. We quite enjoyed it then and in addition our fridge was looking rather empty this morning and supermarkets are few and far between on the islands so we decided to go back for another visit. We however did not want to go into the Göta canal. Even a ticket for the canal stretch between Mem and Södeköping  costs 750 SEK, about 75 Euros. So we decided to take the Storån, a very small river. Interestingly, the Storån is the river that Söderköping owes its existence to: Around 1200, the town was founded here when the river was much bigger. The landmass of Southern Sweden has been (and still is) rising ever since the weight of the ice disappeared after the ice age. So Söderköping, which is now well above sea level, was then much lower and the river was big enough for shipping to enter. It was then one of the most important trading towns in Sweden. Today, it is a nicely preserved old town, where the history is well represented. There have been many archeological digs which have found well preserved remains of what was here before, in the middle ages and even earlier in the Viking age.

In addition, the Göta canal has given the town an extra touristic impulse: it is the most attractive of the towns along the canal and the banks of the canal are full of tourists that visit the harbour and the shops and restaurants along it. A very nice and festive atmosphere!

In the harbour on the Storån, not the Göta canal!

Traditional Swedish 'phone booth 

The bell tower. The church behind it dates from the 1500's, the original one burned down (several times actually. Like so many towns in the middle ages, fires gutted towns with depressing regularity) 

The house of bishop Hans Brask. The plants are called 'stokrozen' in Dutch, I don't know the english name for them. You see them a lot in Sweden as well as in Denmark. When we first saw them in Denmark three years ago we though they were weeds (they were not in bloom then)!

Of course we walked to the canal harbour as well, where we were surprised to see this:

An enormous 'Sunseeker'. Of course it had to fit in the small canal locks, otherwise it could not possibly be here. But what would that look like? Fortunately our curiosity was satisfied:

Not quite Onbekommerd....


This is also our 'point of return'. Tomorrow we'll go down the Storån again and then down the Slätbaken and south into the skärgård. We will slowly start making our way South again.

Harstena pictures

We have decided to take the opportunity to enjoy Harstena for another day.

Here are the pictures I promised yesterday:

A nice areal view of the Lindsundet and Harstena harbour

The two above speak for themselves. On the top one you can see that the 'Lindsundet' is quite narrow!' 

The ferry is leaving! 

One of the rare 'red waterlillies' 

Not a sculpture, a treetrunk!

Our neighbours had their dinner delivered to the boat! 

And then the sun disappeared...

This morning we walked to a bay nearby where a lot of boats are tied to the rocks / trees.

The current plan is to leave at 9am tomorrow for the 3 and a half hour trip to Stegeborg. There is a castle ruin at Stegeborg. In the 1500's, the inhabitants of Harstena had to pay taxes to Stegeborg castle. The first recorded entry (the taxes payable by one Ragnvald) was: 64 kilos of seal blubber (fat), 40 perch (fish) and 10 sea fowl eggs or one sea fowl.

Harstena

Harstena is an island in the outer Skärgård, where people have been living of the seal trade and fishing since the mid 1500's.
The harbour is not an official 'guest harbour' and not what is called a 'natural harbour' either. It consist of a narrow sound between two islands and it is absolutely idyllic, the most amazing place we have been so far.
It is very popular in summer, there is a daily ferry from Ärkosünd and lots of small motorboats come in during the day too. There is only place for about 15 overnight visitors. The 'year round' population is quite small, maybe 20 people or so, but there are quite a few summer houses, a bakery, a small shop and a restaurant (next to which we are tied up and which will deliver your order to your boat if you so desire).
There is also a lake, with rare red water lilies, which supposedly are only found in three places in Sweden.
All of this will be shown in a set of pictures which we will post tomorrow.

Suffice it to say we are very pleased that we made the short 10 mile trip here today. The route here is easy, but not marked with buoys so we had to navigate accurately between the islands (helped by the fact that we were not the only ones going here). If you arrive much after 11am, you have to be lucky to find a spot for the night. And as it is typically Swedish, you tie up with your bow to the wooden jetty and the stern anchor out!

By the way, if you click on the 'location' link below, you should get a Google map showing where we are!

Location:Harstena Lennquists,,Sweden

Valdemarsvik - Fyrudden pictures

This morning, I discovered that there is a reasonably quick WiFi network in this small harbour, so here are some pictures of yesterday's trip plus of our current position:

Looking Southwest down the 'Valdemarsvikken' fjord. 

A very nice Swedish summer house with its outbuildings. Most of them have a boat house! 

 We are not geologists, but we are always intrigued by the rock strata you see on the islands on the way. It is clear how the glaciers pushed the rocks over during the ice ages!

 This 'terrace effect' was also very interesting!

This is the current view from our front deck. Just the other side of the breakwater is the fairway through the Skärgård. There are also nice picnic tables on the breakwater, but unfortunately the weather does not invite for a meal there. Its currently 14C!

These last two pictures show the harbour, again taken from Onbekommerd. Fyrudden is a central place on the mainland between all the little islands. So the people that have summer houses on the islands come in their motor boats to the shop here to buy groceries. Its a coming and going of people which gives it a nice lively atmosphere. In addition there are the visiting boats like ourselves, although there is not that much place for that. We found that if you arrive early, there is usually place but after 3pm it can be more difficult, especially with the Swedish 'industry holidays' about to start. The country more or less shuts down for a few weeks and everyone is on their boat or in their summer house, it seems.

We enjoy Sweden more and more, especially now that we do a bit more anchoring and tying up 'in the wild'. It has a nice combination between being unspoilt and being 'civilised' at the same time. People are very laid back, a bit reserved but friendly and helpful when needed at the same time.

This is not our first trip to Sweden and will certainly not be our last one!

Fyrudden

We did a short 15 mile stretch to Fyrudden today. A very scenic trip first through the 'Valdemarsvikken', a fjord that goes about 10 miles inland. Then we took an unmarked route to cut off 5 miles from the official 'fairway'. We are now sufficiently aware of these routes between the islands and of course lots of Swedes do it too so the unofficial route is sometimes as busy as the official one! Then we picked up the main fairway again, very pleasant motoring...
The 3G internet signal here is quite poor, so I can't post photos. Tomorrow looks like wind and rain so we'll probably stay here. Then Saturday to Harstena which is more remote than Fyrudden, so it's unlikely to have strong internet (although you never know). After that possibly Stegeborg and - provided we can go up the small river called Störan - maybe Söderköping, which is a relatively big place (and which will be from where we will start going back South).
But we'll keep you posted as much as we can and add pictures when the internet signal allows!

Still Valdemarsvik

Rain yesterday and wind (but sunny!) today have kept us in Valdemarsvik.
We have been able to do lots of work, both on the boat and otherwise.
Not sure about tomorrow yet, we'll have rain overnight and if it is a bit more pleasant after that, we might move on to Fyrudden. The weather will remain unsettled for another week or so, the forecasts and the neighbours say.

Location:Hamngatan,Valdemarsvik,Sweden

Valdemarsvik

As promised, here are a few pictures of our latest island experience.

 Here you can see our stern anchor lines quite nicely.

 Of course the COBB came in handy!

 Our friends on 'Claudia' left a day before us, on their way South already.

 A very typical Swedish summer scene: a family on a rock..

 Exploring the island on foot...

And by dinghy.

We left yesterday morning after coffee, with the plan to find another 'island spot'.  Then we looked at the weather forecast (prompted by the VHF forecast) and noticed that it would be rainy this morning. Now rain is not a problem in itself, but pulling up anchors and finding marks in narrow channels in the rain (especially the green marks can be hard to find, I'll take a picture and post it) is not exactly fun, so we decided to go straight to Valdemarsvik, which is about 10 nmiles up a 'fjord', a 'Viken'. We got there just before 4pm, still in lovely summer weather.

During the night the rain started and we are happy with our decision! It however seems that the Swedish summer is taking a bit of a break: rain today, wind tomorrow and generally unstable for the rest of the week. Well, we are comfortable here and we can't change the weather anyway, so we'll see what happens. There are a few nice places a bit further North that we would like to visit before starting to go  back South in about two weeks.

Stern anchor

We left Loftahammer yesterday morning, together with the yacht "Claudia", Dutch people we first met at Karlskrona and who we have met a few times since.
They introduced us to a little island close to Loftahammer, where there is a small wooden jetty on the rocks where you can tie up with your stern anchor out and the bow tied to the jetty. New experience for us, but it is the standard way for the Swedes to tie up 'in the wild'. Very easy and convenient once you know the trick!
Claudia continued South this morning, but we decided to stay another night as it is so nice and peaceful even though there are about 15 boats here ( of which we are now the only 'foreigners).
We'll go to another quiet place tomorrow and then to Valdemarsvik. The weather is unfortunately going to change and we will probably need a shelter for a few days. We should then also have a better internet connection to post some pictures of this nice place!

Smedviken - Loftahammer

After spending a quiet night at anchor in a bay called Smedviken on an island called Vinokälv, we did a 2 hour trip to Loftahammer today. Loftahammer is not all that special, but it has a reasonably big supermarket and after a few days 'off the beaten track', we needed to stock up a bit.

Here are the promised pictures of yesterday and this morning:

 These are the old (big) and new beacons on Sparö, in the approach to Västervik.

 There is a narrow channel right through the island of Sparö. You can easily take another more comfortable route, but we were told that this was quite an experience, so - adventurous as we are these days - we took it and were not disappointed!

Just outside the Sparö channel there were people having lunch 'on the rocks'... 

The two pictures above were taken in Smedviken, whilst at anchor. 

We were not alone there, a total of seven of us in the end. But we were the only ones 'swing anchoring'. The Swedes generally use the system of 'tie the bows to a rock or tree on the shore and put out a stern anchor.

The weather is really nice now, sunny and warm but not too hot. Tomorrow we'll go to a little harbour on an island nearby (together with our Dutch neighbours who have been there before). After that further North, probably another 'anchor bay'. We are never sure if there will be internet connectivity 'in the wild', so far (with a few exceptions) it has generally been good. So if we can, we'll report back, otherwise I am afraid there will be a short gap.

Smedviken

We are now at anchor in a bay called Smedviken on an island called Vinökalv. It is close to Västervik, it took us about two hours from Idö and his morning.

This 'anchoring in little bays' was one of our goals this year and it does not disappoint!

Tomorrow, I will get the laptop out an put some pictures on the blog. For a preview, see the Facebook page: MV Onbekommerd (with a short text in Dutch).