It has just been midsummer weekend, probably one of the biggest festive times in Sweden. It was also Lars-Göran’s youngest son’s birthday party on Sunday, so we had to be back to organise a family get together for him - probably the last time the family will be together before we all go off for summer holidays. That means leaving Bullerö and heading southwards. The idea is to celebrate Midsommarafton on one of the islands then make our way to Nynäshamn on Saturday.

There is something very special about midsummer celebrations in Sweden and especially out in the archipelago. It is the beginning of summer, everything is blooming and the days are the longest time of the year, with over eighteen hours of daylight around these parts and twenty four hours of daylight in the north of the country. It is an ancient celebration of the summer solstice and in Sweden, it is always on the third weekend in June - that is the weekend closest to the solstice. So Friday (or the eve) is the day that the midsummer pole is raised and there is singing, dancing, food and drink and the entire weekend is given over to the celebrations.

We decided to stop by the island of Nämdö and do some shopping for fresh vegetables, then sail on tomorrow southwards and join in the midsummer celebrations at Kymmendö or maybe Lacka, depending on how far the wind will take us. We pulled into Guns Livs, a busy and well stocked supermarket on the east of Nämdö. This started out in 1950 as a small bakery, run by Gun and Georg Öhman and over the years it has expanded to include a supermarket, cafe and service station, now run by their daughter. When we came to the landing, Gun herself was outside and she immediately fell in love with Lambi and even kindly offered to watch her for us so we could both go in and shop. I always like to support these businesses when I can as I think they provide a great service for those out in the archipelago. The prices are a little higher than on the mainland, but not outrageously so and very often they have a good range of groceries, especially the ones belonging to the Skärgårdshandlarna chain. I managed to pick up everything I needed for our traditional midsummer dinner, so I was very happy and we thanked Gun for taking such good care of Lambi for us.

After a hectic stop, we headed off to find a night harbour, first anchoring in a bay on Nämdö, but later moving a little south east to a beautiful, calm idyllic bay in near the bird sanctuary of Ängskär.



Again the evening was spent outside rowing around and enjoying the peace and the songs of the many birds nesting on the islands nearby. There are a few houses on the island, owned by the Archipelago foundation, but no-one seemed to be around this early in the season.

The morning dawned cool and very misty. For a while we couldn't see very much at all, but then it lifted a little and we set off in light winds, deciding that we'd weave our way around to Kymmendö. The visibility was not the best, but we kept a good look out for other boats as well as carefully navigating our way through the stony waterways.



But a few nautical miles south, the fog bank disappeared and we had bright, sunny and windy conditions, so we made the goal very quickly. It seemed a pity to stop for the day so early while conditions were excellent, so we pushed on towards Mysignen and hoped to make our club island, or at least close enough to it today to give us only a short trip in the morning.

As the day wore on, the winds became stronger, peaking at near gale strength and the waves increased. We reefed the main sail and furled in the foresail to the smallest size but Lambi was really scared of the motion of the boat. It has been a long time since we last sailed and I think she has forgotten about it all. For her sake, Lars-Göran decided to head for the nearest sheltered bay just north of Muskö and anchor for the night. We were fine with the sailing, but it is no fun if Lambi is shaking like a leaf and whimpering. Everyone onboard has to feel good. Still, we managed to do around 24 nautical miles in a short time and that was good. The forecast tomorrow is for similar conditions, so heading southwards would stress Lambi more, so we thought it would be far better to cross over the seven or so nautical miles to Utö, where they always have a big celebration for midsummer.

The sailing there only took a couple of hours and the boat behaved really well, using just a reefed main and the storm sail. Lambi wasn't thrilled, but she was calmer today because Lars-Göran held her for a while. We did have a scary moment when the furlex came loose and the foresail billowed out in the strong winds. Ropes were flying around (and unfortunately hit the sprayhood's plastic window, breaking it) but we soon got it under control again and quickly slid into the small bay near the church - far away from the noisy guest harbour. Inside the bay, it was calm and sunny with no clue as to the heavy conditions outside of the island. A passenger ferry followed us in, decked out with birch branches for midsummer.



Lambi was really keen to get to land, so we took out the dinghy and motored the couple of kilometers up to the main guest harbour and secured the dinghy at a small pier and set off towards the main township. It was a perfect summer day - hot, a gentle breeze and so lush and green.



At the main harbour, it was packed with holiday makers. Utö is a very popular destination for summer visitors as it has a youth hostel, camping grounds, cottages to rent and a guest harbour that takes 260 boats. You can hire cycles, mopeds, kyaks, there are cafes and shops, lovely sandy beaches and a regular passenger ferry service from the mainland, so it is a good destination for families or young people to explore. And midsummer is a busy time for them.



We were here three years ago with Madde and we stayed in the guest harbour. All I can say is NEVER AGAIN. The noise here is incredible, with every boat playing their stereo loudly, people drinking and partying all night and with 260 boats crammed into a small harbour there is no-where to hide from the noise. While I think it's fine that they party on, I don't actually want to live among the noise, so we are happy to visit, then return to the peace of Kyrkvik later in the day. I would hate to be moored near these guys for example.



I bet there are a few headaches and a lot of sunburn tomorrow morning! Midafternoon we joined the crowd heading up the hill to where the midsummer pole will be raised. Many of the kids were wearing midsummer wreaths made from birch leaves and wildflowers. Apparently, girls and young women are supposed to pick seven different species of flowers to make up their krans and after lay them under their pillows. Then that night, their future husbands will appear to them in a dream.



A Swedish maypole is very different from any other type of maypole, with the main pole, a cross beam and two circles hanging from the cross beam. It is meant to be a symbol of fertility and certainly lives up to its reputation as this is the night that all inhibitions are thrown out the window. The pole is decorated with birch leaves and flowers and is raised by a few strong men and hammered into place. Then people dance around singing traditional songs.



Everyone joins in the communal singing and dancing - young and old and the atmosphere is very friendly, good natured and festive. Later we went for a walk up to Kvarnen (the windmill you can see in the background of the last picture). Utö is a very old island as far as human habitation goes. There was a coal mine on the south of the island as early as 550AD and here in the northern part of Utö they mined iron ore from 1100 to 1867, pulling up around two million tons of ore for processing. The whole island was badly affected by the Russian invasion in 1719 and was literally burned to the ground, with fires raging here continuously for three weeks. So everything you see here dates from after that time. This particular mill was used to grind corn for flour. There were other mills that were used for the mine, but they haven't survived. This mill dates from 1791.

The view from the mill platform across Mysignen to the mainland is wonderful.



Inside the mill is a display of old photographs and some information about the mill, it's history and life on the island in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of the equipment is intact as well and you can see how it all operated. If you go there, it is well worth taking a look, both for the view and for the interesting display there.



In the early evening, we made our way back to Kyrkvik where we were anchored close to the lovely nineteenth century church. We sat in the cockpit, enjoying the sun, the music and a gin and tonic and watching the people on the shore out swimming and frolicing around. It is very peaceful here far from the madding crowd at the main marina.



We enjoyed our midsummer dinner - two varieties of marinated herring, boiled new potatoes with a buttery chive sauce, a tossed salad, hardbread and for dessert, fresh Swedish strawberries with whipped cream.

The sun almost never sets and even at ten o'clock at night, it was still warm, sunny and the skies were blue, making it look more like early afternoon rather than late at night. And people were still out sailing and enjoying the "day".



Weatherwise this has been the best midsummer since I've been in Sweden. Usually it is cold and wet on this weekend so today has been a real treat - it gives me hope that more warm weather will follow in the coming weeks.