A touch of mild but sunny weather has seen us take an overnight stay on the nearby island of Nåttarö, a couple of hour's sail north-east of here. We had an easy sail across, helped by a brisk breeze and lovely clear blue waters, where the greenish/brown patches signifying shallow water were clearly visible.



As it was mid-week, we didn't expect to find many other boats in the normally busy harbour at the northern end of the island in Östermarsfladen and in fact there was only one large yacht moored at the inner pier. The entrance to this bay takes you along a narrow, relatively shallow channel between two islands and I again admired the enviable location of the summer houses lining the shore on the northernmost island. What a great view of the passing boats!



Nåttarö is very much a year round holiday island and is especially popular in the summer months. It is administered by the Stockholm Archipelago Foundation, who manage many publicly owned islands in this region. It is a nice sized island, being around five kilometres long and a couple of kilometres wide, so every bit is explorable and as an added bonus, there are no cars on the island. The island is covered in soft forest and fields, has many berries (mostly blueberries, raspberries and lingon), a large herd of wild fallow deer and is extremely rich in bird life. It also has a lot of sandy beaches, which makes it unusual in Sweden and an ideal place to holiday with children. In fact, Storsand in the north of the island is the biggest sand beach in the Stockholm region and always packed with people on a warm summer's day.

Today there were a lot of trees flowering and the air was thick with pollen, especially from the flowering hägg lining the pathway to the small village. There was so much pollen that the ground was yellow and our boat was also covered with a fine film of it. Once the birch trees start to bloom, the water will also be full of pollen, which at times gives us a scare as it looks like a patch of rocks and on more than one occasion we have turned the boat around fearing grounds, only to discover it was pollen!



There are compacted sand pathways over the island, leading to the village, or to beaches, secluded bays and through the forest. We took the main path from the northern bay to the ferry landing about two and a half kilometres away. It was a good chance to test our new foldable bikes on uneven terrain. As you can see, Lambi of course gets her own "dog basket" on Lars-Göran's bike, though funnily enough, on the way back to the boat, she preferred to run alongside the bike.



As you ride along through the woods, you hear the forest birds twittering, the crash of waves on the eastern shore and glimpses of the calm sheltered waters of the western beaches through the trees. It is a beautiful ride.



We stopped to go down and look at the shore and let Lambi have a romp in the grass. One unusual place here is Drottninggrottan (the queen's cave) which is a cave in the rocks on the east of the island. It got its name after Queen Maria Eleonora (1599 - 1655). She was the widow of Gustav II Adolf (of Vasa fame). When her husband died, she refused to release his body for burial and later the government had her held under house arrest at Gripsholm castle, also forcing her to sever ties with her only child, Kristina (later to become Queen Kristina). Maria Eleonora escaped from the castle and fled to Denmark, hiding out in this cave for a time to escape from the Swedish army. At least she had a great view while she waited.



On these beaches in summer you find many unusual and rare flowers like thrift, saltwort, butterfly orchids and sea rocket. But it is too early for those, though it is still a peaceful and beautiful place to bring a thermos of coffee, find a nice warm, sunny rock by the shore and relax.



Riding a little further along, we came to the small village on the island (Nåttaröby), right by the ferry landing. One of the reasons this is a popular place is that people can have access to the island via normal public transport - ie a Waxholm ferry from Nynäshamn that services the three islands of Nättarö, Ålö and Ranö. The village is well spaced out and quite pretty with its traditional red cottages with white edging.



In the summer season (beginning after midsummer in a couple of weeks) there are quite a few facilities open for the convenience of the holidaymakers. There is a well stocked corner shop with a good range of daily groceries, a sauna, 50 or so cabins to rent, a small restaurant and bar, over 200 camping places, a conference centre and one can hire bicycles and rowing boats as well. But today it was very quiet with only one or two cabins inhabited and a few deer grazing in the dappled forest.

Back at the bay, all was quiet and peaceful - a far cry from mid-July where over 200 boats are moored here.



We woke up this morning to the sound of ducks, geese, swans, mingled with the cries of seagulls, terns and sandpipers. And in the forest, we watched the darting swallows (favourites of mine), robins, scarlet rosefinks, sparrows and even mockingbirds. It certainly beats an alarm clock. And while we were having breakfast in the cockpit, we watched a mink slinking along the pier, looking for nests and eggs. It was a beautiful, sleek black animal and very, very cunning at searching out hiding places, though all the birds clubbed together to swoop on it and force it to retreat. Still, it was entertaining while it lasted.

Later, Lars-Göran went to land to check out the new dry toilet that has been built on the beach. It is an excellent idea for those spending the day at the beach and offers a magnificent view from the open doorway.



It's almost a pleasure to use it. You won't need the sports pages to read while passing the time here. After a restful night and morning, it was time to catch the breeze and head back home to Nynäshamn and real life again