Another gorgeous, clear sunny day. There is not a cloud in the sky and already there are many boats out taking advantage of this late but welcome summer. We passed by a beach on our way out of the bay near Trosa and it was jammed packed with people. What a crowd. And yes, the motor boats were also unfortunately out in force. I notice more and more of them the closer we get to Stockholm.



We had a wonderful day of sunshine, breeze and sights. We are up early today, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of this magnificent place. We are close to townships, but it seems as though we are out in the wilderness. I believe there is nothing as lovely as summer sailing in the archipelagos. What a country this is, my new homeland! Beautiful craggy islands, the smell of fresh pine and heath. A fresh breeze blowing towards us over crystal clear waters from the sea which winds it way into the remotest corners. Where in summer, the sun rarely disappears and people are happy and cannot restrain their joy at escaping from the eternal darkness of winter.

I have travelled the whole world and I know that I have never received stronger impressions than here. In Sweden, the contrasts are so enormous. The sea is so deep when I lean over the rail of the boat and imagine the extraordinary world deep down in the water. And the cliffs rear up around me, jagged and bare. To feel the wind and the sun on your face and the smell of the trees, the rocks and the earth on your skin is a life changing experience.

It is a great contemplative place here in the little corner of the world! This was what I was thinking as we anchored in a bay near our future home of Skärlinge, enjoying the sunset.



In the morning, the chattering of our two cockateils brought a flock of swallows to our boat. It was lovely to sit down to breakfast and have our own private little zoo join us for the morning. Our birds are delighted and chatter away happily. I wonder if they understand each other at all? This time, Lars-Göran took a picture of the birds as he doesn't trust me after the last embarrassing effort at Djursö.



Show off!

We set off to catch a bridge opening. This bridge joins the islands of Oxnö and Svärdsö, not too far from Nynäshamn. We've never been this way before as we usually prefer open waters and ...well...err...ummm...actually we didn't realise that the bridge opened or that the tiny channel of Abborrströmmen was safely navigable. But again, referring to my 30 year old book of east coast harbours and studying the charts I convinced Lars-Göran that it would be worth having a try, just to experience something different.

First we waited for the bridge opening.



While waiting for the opening, I was raving on and waving my hands about and got myself bitten by a wasp! Man did that hurt like hell. I think it stung for the rest of the day and was swollen for several days. However, I didn't let that distract from the lovely area we found ourselves in. I can't believe that this place is virtually in our backyard and that we had never been here before. First we negotiated the little sund that was barely wide enough to fit our boat through. Check out the location of that yellow house. What an outlook!



When we rounded the corner we found ourselves in a long stretch of water with land on both sides. It was like being in a lake, but we were at sea. The shore was lined with cottages. Some of them had built jetties and small sunhouses by the water. In Swedish, these are called lusthus. I got rather excited at the idea of a "lust house" but it turns out that the Swedish word lust translates as more like joy, delight, pleasure. Rats! One or two places had long, steep staircases down the cliff to their sun house. Can you imagine getting to the bottom with your coffee and discovering you'd forgotten the milk?



I can assure you that it wouldn't be ME going up and down those stairs. I also saw a really cute little lusthus - what we thought looked a lot like a moomin house. But I didn't see any sign of the Hattifatteners (my favourites)



Our journey ends in a calm bay called Soviken, on the southern end of the island of Torö. From our anchor place we get a view of our beloved lighthouse of Landsort (a mere 17NM from home).



A lot of the local tourist guides point out that Landsort lighthouse is "the oldest lighthouse in Sweden". I used to believe this as well, but when reading about Swedish lighthouses, I discovered that the ones at Falsterbo on the south coast and Kullen on the south-west coast are in fact older. When I pointed this out, I was told "But those were part of Denmark at the time they were built. Landsort is the oldest lighthouse built by Swedes in Sweden." Talk about splitting hairs!

It is very hot today. Even the pets need shelter.



We spent a few days in the sunshine lazing around and enjoying the surroundings. A trip in the dinghy shows some of the small islands around the area. Many of them have little cottages on them.



You think you are out in the middle of nowhere and then you round the edge of the island and see the township of Ankarudden. You can reach this town by bus from Nynäshamn. I think it takes around half an hour. From here you take a ferry across to the island of Öja, where Landsort is situated.



In the evening, we looked out across the bay. It's not a really big place, but 13 sailing boats lay by anchor in the gentle sunset - and you could hear a pin drop. It was so peaceful, despite the number of boats. What a contrast to the frenzy of guest harbours. We are lucky in Sweden to have such a plethora of islands and bays to anchor in, as well as the unique system of Allemansrätt ("all mans right"). In Sweden this Right of Public Access allows you to roam about freely.



But we didn't do too much wandering around. The sun was quite fierce for the furry member of the crew, so we kept aboard and made sure she was well sheltered.



She certainly looks as cool as a cucumber in there. And cooler weather is forecast tomorrow, so we'll head north again.