Tuesday’s sailing was the best possible start we could have had. We have 75NM to travel in order to get to Mem, the starting point of Göta Canal and we have booked the first lock for Saturday morning. As this is officially pre-season, one must book the locks three days in advance. That means we must cover an average of 18 or so nautical miles every day to reach our goal by Friday evening. Today we did 25NM in cold but sunny conditions with a north east wind blowing 6-9m/s. This meant we sailed half wind down to Öja, then a fast downwind sail along the main southwards route. The water glittered in the sunshine and life felt good.




We happily passed our various planned night harbours and finally in the early afternoon we decided to stop at Västra Stendörren (literally the western stone door), a popular place in summer that we have passed many times before but never stopped at due to the large numbers of boats moored there.




Today, we were lucky to have the bay to ourselves and to tie up to the Swedish Cruising Club (SXK) buoy in Aspöfladen – it was wonderful to have dinner in the sunshine, listening to the birds around us and happy at being a third of the way to Mem already!

This name, Stendörren, has been used since the thirteenth century and was described in the 1270 Danish nautical reference, Navigato Danico, as a narrow passage along the main eastern sea-route, forming a doorway to and from sheltered waters. Apparently there used to be an inn here where seamen could wait out unfavourable weather and winds (a stay that could last as long as a week or more). There were also small land holdings here and there and the people eked out a living from a combination of farming, transport and fishing. There is a nature centre now at the old fishing camp which houses displays in the summer months relating to the plants, animals, geology, human history and environment of this pretty archipelago area. But today, all we had for company were the nesting sea birds – arctic terns, eider ducks, herring gulls, oyster catchers and three beautiful osprey soaring in the sky. Oh yes, and the canada geese!




Wednesday dawned with sunshine and promised to be as beautiful a day as yesterday, but it soon clouded over and we made sure to dress really warmly for the chilly conditions. Again the forecast was for favourable winds, so we planned several harbours along the route, but hoped that with luck we would make Arkösund which would put us two thirds of the way there.

Yesterday we saw several boats, mostly German sailing boats headed north, but today we saw only the one boat, but it was memorable.




It was a Finnish boat, that literally had everything but the kitchen sink on board. They even had a car on the foredeck! I joked to Lars-Göran that they had probably rung the car hire firms in Sweden and got a shock at the prices so decided to bring their own car. I wonder what the salt spray will do to the motor? It amused us anyway.

We also quickly passed by the industrial town of Oxelösund and it didn’t look any better today than it has on previous trips. Somehow I can’t imagine that I’ll ever be stopping there.



It’s hard to believe that until the beginning of the twentieth century that this was a sleepy little backwater, with a few fishermen and a tiny population. Then a railway line was built from the iron ore mines inland down to this point because it had a deep harbour. The town expanded along with the ore shipping industry and later in the 1920s the iron smelting works were established and they are still here today turning out industrial steel plates that are used on ships, buildings and bridges all over the world. I still think it’s ugly.

It was really cold by now, so while we crossed the broad bay of Bråviken, I made up some chicken broth with carrots and pasta that we ate up quickly to keep ourselves warm. In the early afternoon, after five hours sailing, we pulled into Arkösund having done another 25NM. We had thought about taking another SXK buoy, but this one was in a very exposed position, so we opted to continue around a small island instead and lie by anchor in a protected bay, with an island full of terns and swans for company.

It was glorious! We’ve all adapted back to living aboard easily and our old routines have fallen into place. It’s one of those times when everything seems to be coming together and we feel a remarkable affinity with the boat and with our surroundings. The wind and water have been really kind to us these last two days, though I never curse the sea, no matter what she throws at us. You have to show her the utmost respect because you know that she has the power to swallow ships the size of Titanic. But I am grateful for the sterling start to the trip.

Today I can relax and enjoy looking out at night and seeing the stars reflected in the water. From the deck I can smell land – a sweet breeze full of wet earth, pine needles, wood smoke and leaves. I read somewhere that of all the senses, it is smell that is the most potent because the signals go straight to the brain. This is why aroma can conjure up such a vivid image of childhood or a particular place or person. For me today, it smells of country living far away from the city – something that I love and cherish.