I never thought that I would ever willingly visit the Småland coastal township of Mönsterås.



The first view of the town from out on the water is of an apparently nasty, horrible place. We passed here on our way home from Göteborg when we bought the boat four years ago and all you could see from Kalmarsund that cold, clear November afternoon was a massive paper pulp mill spewing smoke out from four huge chimneys. It literally stood out like the proverbial dog's balls above the horizon and one would certainly hesitate to head anywhere near the town.

Two years ago we stayed for a few days at Sandvik, directly across the water on the island of Öland. Each day we glanced westwards to the mainland with distaste at the scene and when we saw on our sea charts that the town was called Mönsterås, we quickly christened it Monstrous and vowed that we would never go there.



What changed my mind was the positive write-up in our newly purchased guide book Landsort-Skanör, which painted a picture of a lovely town. This was reinforced by a leaflet that we picked up at Timmernabben that showed a photograph of the main street that looked very similar to the amazing old town at Visby which we visited and enjoyed so much last year. We simply had to go there! And then when we read that the guest harbour closed last weekend, it was a done deal.

The horrid factory is in reality several kilometres north of the actual township, which itself lies at the end of a ten kilometre long, narrow channel. We had very good winds, so we were able to sail a good portion of the way and after looking at the location of the three guest harbours, we chose to stay at the main harbour right in the heart of the town.



Isn't it a great view of the church high on the hill and the narrow cobblestone streets that wind their way up through the settlement. We had read that there were 5,000 inhabitants in the town, but we were surprised that it was so well serviced with three large supermarkets, dozens and dozens of small boutiques selling anything and everything one would need and all in an idyllic, medieval setting.



This is the main street (Storgatan), which was packed with shops. And I don't mean the seasonal touristy places, but genuine, all year shops with a great range of clothing, household goods, books, pet shop, cafes, toys, electronic goods, sporting goods, tools..... the list goes on. We even found a couple of second-hand shops and made a beeline for their book section and for the princely sum of 25kr ($5) we purchased eleven books to swell our onboard library. What a bargain (which Lars-Göran celebrated with several purchases of icecream during our stay). The books will help us pass the time nicely in the evenings while onboard. We are both voracious readers, so we can never have too many books around us.

The town itself dates from the 1100's and by the fourteenth century it was already well-known as an important trading harbour and market place, with importers and exporter's sheds lining the shore. There are still some of the very old shops in the main drag.



Even by the 1300's the houses were tightly packed together, especially around the main square and the hill leading up to the church. People still live in these houses today in such a lovely setting. Highest up on the ridge in the centre of town taking pride of place is the church.



Around the church and torget, the old wooden homes are built close together and almost seem to encroach on each other.



I did wonder about privacy and how noisy it could be during the hectic summer months when markets are held in the square every weekend and the cafes are full of tourists. The other parts of town were less crowded and there was plenty of green open spaces, parks and very pretty gardens.

One park that was especially peaceful and green with its elm lined pathways was the one pictured here. The red building you can see is the local library - and it was a very well stocked one set on two floors.



The town is surprisingly quiet at nights and every evening we wind our way through the streets and savour the peace. We met a dog owner one evening who introduced herself and said she had been looking out for us after her daughter mentioned there was a new toy poodle in town! Imagine a place so small that they even notice new people and their puppies - and they make an effort to be friendly. I asked Lars-Göran how soon we can pack up and move here!

Very, very tempting...... but then we do like Nynäshamn and the access to the archipelago, so I guess we will just dream about moving here.

The morning forecast is for fine weather initially, but increasing winds and rain overnight. We have decided to head a short way north-west to the settlement of Timmernabben. One reason for moving is that Pataholm is too small to have a shop and I need to buy fresh bread – and a toothbrush! You would think that in a modern, industrialised and apparently civilised country one could buy a simple thing like a toothbrush almost anywhere. But for some obscure reason they seem to be scarce this summer in Sweden. Before I left home, I stocked up on groceries for a month, but my local supermarket was out of toothbrushes. I forgot to check at the other supermarket chain before we left, but was confident that we could find one as soon as we came to land. Well, I tried in Loftahammar, but they were also out of stock. And here in Timmernabben.....hmmm.....they are also out of stock! Is this a conspiracy by Swedish dentists to drum up business, I wonder. So I’ll have to continue to use my embarrassingly old, scummy looking toothbrush until we find another town.

Timmernabben is set out quite differently from Pataholm. It reminds me a little of small country towns in southern Australia. Those of us who have driven from Adelaide to Melbourne along the old Princess Highway would remember the settlements spread along the route, especially on the Victorian side of the border. The towns stretched for 3-4 kilometres along the main highway and generally consisted of a main commercial street with one or two residential streets on either side. Timmernabben, a town with a year round population of 1,500 people stretches along the old coastal highway, bounded by the sea. It is about 5 kilometres long and only a couple of streets wide, so from the water one would think that it was a much larger settlement.



They call this area Småland’s Riviera because it is surrounded by fine beaches and swimming areas and we saw that the caravan park was still busy and the supermarket was full of tourists from Germany, Holland and England. The guest harbour closed for the season last weekend, so we can tie up at the pier free of charge.

The town is small, quiet and very pretty with the coastal views out to sea from the gardens surrounding the houses along the esplanade.



Many of the tourists are following the scenic coastal tourist route that passes through Timmernabben and while here they can visit (and shop!) at Gabriel Keramik which has been manufacturing ceramic products at this location since the 1850’s. They lie a short distance from the guest harbour, near the old mill.



In July they even allow visitors to have a try at pottery making. They had an extensive range of quality ceramic and stoneware to suit any taste. I was quite taken aback at the sheer size of the range – anything from tableware and ornaments to vases and kakelugnar. These are my favourites – beautiful tiled woodburning fireplaces that are a feature here in many older homes and apartments. I’m always a sucker for an open fire in cold weather. I think comfort, a sofa, tea and hot buttered crumpets....



I did see some really cute coffee mugs with a moose on them that were calling out my name, but Lars-Göran gave me the rolling eye look, so I had to put them back. Maybe Santa is reading this blog and remembers them and will surprise me on Christmas eve (“Or maybe not” quips my Swede). Oh well, no harm in dreaming.

After a couple of days of walking around and checking out the beaches and town, I feel it’s time to move on. We nabbed a few freebie brochures about the area while we were at the ceramic factory and can see that there is a wonderful medieval town just north of here with no less than THREE guest harbours.

And lets hope they also sell toothbrushes....

I’m sure that anyone passing by our boat today would think that gypsies had come to the area. We have washing hanging out to dry, the bedding out airing in the dry sunny weather, a dog wandering around deck and the birds chirping and squawking to their friends.



We’d like to move further southwards but it is going to be a little more tricky to find anchoring places from now onwards. The archipelago pretty much finishes here and the rest of the east coast consists of low, shallow, sandy and exposed coastline which offers no decent bottom to grip the anchor and no shelter from wind and waves. The only choice is to stay at designated dredged harbours, generally located behind protective sea walls.

Staying at harbours is something that we normally try and avoid. It is the end of the season, though, so there will not be so many idiotic, drunken party animals around to disturb the entire harbour. In addition, several places have closed down their offices and ancillary services or are about to close them down. As we don’t tend to use these services anyway (toilets, showers, laundries, land based electricity) we won’t miss them and this means that we can tie up at the pier free of charge (love that word free). It will take a little careful forward planning to take full advantage of the Nordström Tight-Arse Tour but honestly, we’d much rather spend the money at the grog shop. A night in one of these harbours during the season costs as much as three decent bottles of wine and I know what I’d rather have, especially as we would normally choose to lie by anchor whenever we can.

With that in mind, we head southwards along Kalmarsund to see how far we can go and where we can tie up for free. The first thing we see, just south of the bay where we stayed was the old lighthouse of Dämman.



There is an interesting story behind this rather fancy building out in the middle of the sound. Kalmarsund was a very busy commercial shipping route and in this northern section, the depth is around 25 metres everywhere – except for this one 3 metre ground right in the middle, about 11NM south of Blå Jungfrun.

By the mid nineteenth century, the maritime insurance brokers, Lloyds of London, were getting fed up with paying out large amounts for ships that sank after foundering on this particular rocky outcrop. The area became a literal ship’s graveyard as dozens of fully laden vessels sank with valuable cargo aboard. The Swedish government was indifferent, so Lloyds began to build the lighthouse actually on the ground. This was no ordinary building, but a rather striking and beautiful lighthouse.

It remained a working station until 1969 when the Swedish authorities replaced it with a simple lightbuoy about 500 metres east of it. Poor Dämman became an abandoned and forgotten ghost house until 1995 when a local businessman bought it from the government for only 250,000 kr ($A45,000) – bargain! He renovated it totally and today it is the very exclusive Water Hotel, boasting 12 luxurious guest rooms, each with a magnificent view and a top class restaurant that is very often booked out well in advance.

We sailed by and by mid afternoon we decided to make the tiny mainland coastal community of Pataholm our harbour for the night. The guest harbour, run by the local boat club is very reasonable and we expect that we will be alone here. We have a view across the sound to Borgholm castle on Öland and the guest harbour is in a very peaceful rural setting.




In the morning, another warm and sunny day, we get out our bikes and ride the few kilometres along country roads to the township itself. We are all alone in the guest harbour and it is just as tranquil as we had hoped.



The harbour is located at Saltor, about 1NM south of the settlement. There used to be a deep harbour into town in the sixteenth century but the land levels have risen nearly three metres since then and now this area can only be used by shallow draught motor boats. From the coastal road, the small town stretches out hugging the coastline.



The township used to be a busy and thriving harbour, with a large trading centre exporting iron and timber as well as a big ship building wharf. Sadly most of this died out in the late nineteenth century and today it is a small, quiet borough of about 80 people.



The houses are pooled around a central cobblestoned square and this gives you some idea of how life was lived a hundred years ago. The township is beautifully and lovingly restored, with a folk museum exhibiting artefacts and photos from Pataholm’s heyday. Looking around this quiet, peaceful settlement today, it is hard to visualise it as an important and well-frequented trading town.



We walked around the few streets and along the shoreline where there is a pretty park and picnic area and a few small piers offering another view of the buildings overlooking what was the old harbour. The inhabitants take great pride in the buildings and gardens which were a feast for all the senses – especially the pretty cottage gardens full of flowers.



The rural scene is never far away from these settlements. They remind me a little of the area around Port Fairy where my nanna lived. Her house at the end of Wishart Street was just a few steps away from pastures where cows grazed and as a city kid, it was a real treat for me to spend holidays there. Likewise for Lars-Göran, whose grandparents were dairy farmers in Finland. He also has some fond memories of holidays spent with farfar and farmor. And to show that he still carries an affection for cows, he and Lambi ambled over to meet some new bovine friends.



I jokingly called it his harem, especially as that rather pushy brown calf was trying to give him a big, sloppy cow kiss.

Most of the houses in Pataholm date from the eighteenth century. Anything earlier was burned to the ground by the Danes in the wars that raged here over sovereignty in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is a very pretty little market town and one that is well worth a visit for those travelling the coastal route in Småland. I believe their Christmas market is something very special.




We intend to stay here another night and in the morning perhaps head out to one of the other small townships along the Småland coast. There are several interesting little inlets and places to explore, as well as the bigger towns like Kalmar. Not to mention the island of Öland just a couple of kilometres across the strait.

It is very easy to select a route from the charts, especially when you aren’t the poor person who has to navigate their way through them. At least that was what my darling husband grumbled when I showed him that there was an inner route south from Loftahammar through the islands of the Västervik archipelago. I pointed out that it was something different to do and he in turn said that the route is both narrow and shallow in places. However after some “gentle persuasion” and a closer look at the actual wind direction (west) as distinct from the forecast direction (south east), he agreed that it was a viable way to travel. And we were glad that we went this way as the area was very pretty with traditional red cottages lining the shore.



Some of the properties were more substantial and this place, built right on the shore with its views across the water seemed an ideal place to live.



This route was well marked but very tight and after several kilometres of ducking and weaving we came to a long, broad fairway that led out to open sea. We worked out that it was a similar distance to travel whether we took this route or the more direct one out of Loftahammar and this way was so much more picturesque.

As bad luck would have it though, the wind shifted direction once we were out in the open and we were forced to zigzag down the whole long fairway and out into the rockfilled waters of Västervik. We dropped anchor in the late afternoon in Katsholmen, just south of the town, with a view of Spårö beacon and lighthouse for company.



This beacon and lighthouse have been here since 1776. There has actually been some form of lighthouse and even a customs station since the Middle Ages and even in the thirteenth century ships that passed here had to stop and pay duty on goods they had onboard. The beacon itself is really quite distinctive and was inspired by the architect’s visit to the harbour at Naples where a similar beacon stood.

In the morning we set off again down the narrow canal past the beacon.



Luckily for us there is no toll collected here these days. That particular practice stopped in 1829. The winds seem to favour us sailing offshore again today and as we pass out through the islands we can see that there are many boats out taking advantage of the weekend’s late summer burst of warmth and the good winds. We saw some lovely sailing boats out on the water today.



She is a beautiful, elegant wooden boat built nearly 100 years ago and still going strong. A little further on, we saw yet another of those giant trimarans that we encountered earlier this summer in Sandhamn. The sheer size and speed of these sailing machines has to be seen to be believed.



You can see that there are at least 25 people onboard and they look like ants in relation to the mammoth dimensions of the sails and the hull.

We had steady winds and sunshine all day and we were well pleased with the journey, but after a few days of mostly longer stretches it was quite tiring and this showed when we attempted to find an anchoring place for the night and spent a fruitless hour and a half wandering from island to island looking for the perfect bay. In the end, in pure desperation and tiredness we ended up dropping anchor in a bay where the water was 10 metres deep, requiring us to lay out all fifty metres of anchor chain! Still the view was peaceful and we may stay a few days. We’ll see how we feel after a good night’s sleep.

The morning brought strong winds, this time in a favourable direction, so we made ready to leave despite our idea of staying put for a few days. These winds are just too good to pass up. The route today will take us through the Misterhult archipelago, then out to sea at Kråkelund and southwards to Oskarshamn which is an achievable goal at around 30NM away. We pass by several small communities dotted around the inner islands near Brandö.



We sailed with only the foresail today, making good speed and giving us time to look at the beautiful surroundings. To the west of us, on the mainland, are the tree covered bays, but my favourite sight are the bare rocks that lie to the east of the route, facing out to both the sea and the winds that sweep along the coastline. Among the last of these islands before heading out to open water is the buoyed channel through the red granite labyrinth of low islands and skerries around Marsö.



Once out at sea we settled down for the run along the coastline to Oskarshamn. The north east winds are welcome, but the corresponding waves, this time coming to us unhindered from Finland make the journey less than smooth. It requires constant vigilant handsteering as the autopilot does not steer well in these conditions.

As we were nearing the nuclear power station near Simpevarp, I noticed on the chart that there was also an inside route behind the islands leading to both Figeholm and Oskarshamn. We would still have the same wind direction, but get some shelter from the waves. I showed Lars-Göran the chart and he thought that it was very tight in these strong winds but probably better for the sake of the pets than staying offshore. With that in mind we came in by the power station and started to watch out carefully for the familiar red and green markers that signify the route.

Our speed here was over 6 knots and despite reducing sail area twice, we were still passing the markers at over 5 knots which was akin to being on the Mad Mouse at the Royal Show – i.e. both exciting and a little nerve wracking at the same time.

The markers look as though they are planted in open water. If you rely on eyesight alone, it looks as though you ought to forget about all the twists, turns and hairpin bends of these crazy markers that resemble the old Mt Barker Rd out of Adelaide. Instead it seems that one should simply set a straight course for Oskarshamn, clearly visible in the distance and sail directly there. However, just below the surface of the water waiting to tear a hole in your hull lie a belt of tightly packed and lengthy shoals. Today in the fresh breeze you could see where some of the stones were as the water churned around them, making the sea look as though it were a giant boiling cauldron. But on a calm day, I bet it looks serene, innocent and oh so tempting...

Lars-Göran was kept on his toes following the markers, dodging boats coming in the opposite direction and at times wondering if we could actually squeeze between some of the markers which were placed at not much more than three metres apart. It was almost time to break out the brown undies again.

We decided to bypass the town of Oskarshamn (we can go there on the return trip) and instead stayed at another bay south of the town that we discovered a couple of years ago.



It is still as lovely as I remembered it and for a change we tied up to the cliff by the island of Kiddeholm itself. One small, white, fluffy member of the family was delighted and begged to be allowed to run ashore and roll in something disgusting as soon as we were there. She is such a grotty dog. Don’t be fooled by the pure, white innocent exterior. Within that disguise lives some kind of beast. It is balmy and warm this evening and we enjoy eating dinner out in the cockpit, admiring a rather nice timber home on the next island. I think it has my name on it....



Monday morning dawns sunny and bright with the temperature approaching 25 degrees – summer again! I bet the people who returned to work and school today are really annoyed. It often happens that August is a much better month weatherwise than July so it is a wonder that more people don’t cotton on and take a later holiday time.

Today we walked around Kiddeholm. The east side of the island faces out to sea and here you can see Lars-Göran and his faithful friend looking for a suitable place to stop for a coffee break.



The island you can see in the distance is called Blå Jungfrun (The Blue Maiden). She lies in the middle of Kalmarsund (the stretch of water that separates mainland Sweden from the island of Öland) and rises 86m above sea level. There are a lot of myths and superstitions about Blå Jungfrun, said to be the haunt of witches and the place where they gather to dance with the devil once a year just before Easter.

We saw no sign of hags on broomsticks today, just the occasional boat passing between the small skerries while we enjoyed coffee and biccies on the smooth stones.



And there was also a strange but somehow familiar man by the shore looking across to Öland in the distance.



Or is he looking for a witch?

One of the main reasons for making this trip is to see and experience something new. So far, we have spent most days simply sailing and taking little time to enjoy the surroundings. My understanding was that the idea was to travel as far south as we could, then do a slow trip homewards, dropping in on various communities along the way. While this looked good on paper, the reality is that travelling is quite tiring, especially if the winds don’t co-operate and it seems that the wind does not listen to the forecast! While the VHF is blithely informing us that winds in our area will be NW 5-7m/s, we are actually experiencing SW 1-3m/s.

It is another bright, sunny day and I can see that the thought of spending another day fighting light headwinds is not going to be fun, so we talk about going to the nearby township of Loftahammar and spending the day there instead. One special reason is that our old boat, Olivia, has her new home harbour here and Lars-Göran still has a very soft spot for his “first love”. With those thoughts foremost in our minds, we set the light wind gennaker and drifted along the 5NM channel up to the harbour at Loftahammar.



As you can see, the harbour is quite a busy place with at least two large marinas – surprising in a town with only 1,000 permanent inhabitants. However, according to the tourist brochure as many as 20,000 come here to stay in the summer and we did see many caravan parks and camping grounds lining the route into the township. Once you come up the narrow inlet you pass a tiny opening between the cliffs into a body of water that resembles a large lake, called Vivassen. The wind today was straight up the inlet and into the harbour, so all of the boats in the marinas were bouncing up and down. It looked somewhat uncomfortable, so we nipped around the corner and dropped anchor in a shallow but sheltered bay lined with old boathouses.



Once safely moored, we launched the dinghy and rowed around to the town itself and set off to take a look. Of course, our faithful friend also had to tag along with us.



The first thing that I HAD to do was to buy Lars-Göran an icecream! Okay, it was a hot day, but honestly, sometimes it is like travelling with a small child when we go ashore. He always has his eyes peeled for the familiar icecram flags displayed outside the shops or the GB icecream clown. He was very happy to munch on his favourite (White Magnum) and after sitting in the park eating it, we then took a short walk to the church.



This church dates from the mid eighteenth century and, as in many small Swedish towns, it dominates the surroundings and is surprisingly large considering the small size of the parish. But in those days the church was a powerful force in this country and you can see that just by looking at the impressive dimensions and solid construction of these buildings. They contrast sharply with the small, simple wooden cottages that were owned or leased by the parishioners.

Loftahammar is a living community, not just a “summer town”. Part of the reason is because of companies like the popular Wienerbagarn. This bakery used to be located in Stockholm and was well known for its great buns (bullar) and what we would call Danish pastries (wienerbröd). The bakery gradually outgrew its Stockholm location and the owner, who was on holiday here in Loftahammar in the 1960s saw that there was plenty of empty commercial property here as well as people who needed employment. So in 1966 he moved the bakery here and it has steadily grown into a local success story and today employs 75 people.

The town was lovely to walk around in, especially as the weather was warm and summery. We looked at some of the older homes dating from the eighteenth century with their intricate patterned woodwork and views across the water.



Our wanderings led us back towards the harbour, as everything here seems to revolve around the sea. As you look across this “lake” you can see the narrow opening that leads to the long inlet from the sea.



We wandered along the packed piers looking at boats and of course keeping an eye out for Olivia. Lars-Göran was a little worried that she didn’t appear to be here and he fretted that maybe the new owners were not happy with her and had sold her or had moved her somewhere else. He owned Olivia for eleven years so they have a lot of history together. Suddenly, after scanning the wharf, he spotted her up on land and we went over for a sticky beak.



She has not been in the water this year at all. We don’t know why, but she looks well cared for, so he was happy to see that all was well with her, even though he’d have preferred to see her in the water.

Today’s day of resting and wandering around on land has been a great boost to our morale and we feel ready to tackle another day of sailing. Perhaps the ideal answer is a combination of longer stretches of sailing interspersed with shorter hops here and there and rest days exploring on land. It’s all a matter of finding a balance that works for us all.

We are being spoiled by the weather at the moment, with a late burst of summer cheering us all up. The stable, warm conditions are forecast to continue in this part of Sweden for the near future so we should take advantage of it while it lasts. The chilly winds of change will be upon us soon enough.

It is overcast today, but still warm with the sun making a valiant attempt to squeeze through. After such a long day yesterday, we really took it easy this morning, having a leisurely shower, washing clothes and exploring the immediate area. The wind is blowing strongly and shifting westwards which makes our little bay less suitable as an anchoring place tonight, so we really have to move on.

We are fortunate to be in the lovely St Anna Archipelago and we can weave through a marked, though very narrow route between islands and rocks and see how far we can go. We both love this area of the Swedish east coast, so I don't anticipate any trouble finding a place to moor for the night.



This time, we choose to go in a direction that allows fast, easy sailing and after only three hours we had covered 15NM, passing the lush inner islands, looking at the cows munching on the grass in the fields dotting the islands.



We decided that this is enough for the day and a peep at the chart tells us that Harstena was just around the corner. We both love this island when we visited last year, so we were very happy to drop anchor in the lagoon outside of the little township that looks so pretty in the afternoon sun. There is no marked route to this island, but it is still one of the most visited places in this area and you can see why.



Harstena really is one of the outer archipelago idylls and gives quite a good picture of what these small communities looked like in the 1800s. And the surrounding natural environment of small islands is magnificent. There are beautiful anchoring places everywhere and a good mix of landscapes – both the large, high, tree clad islands lying directly alongside the bare lichen covered rocky outcrops. It is so unusual to see them together in the same place. In the Stockholm archipelago you have to travel from the middle to the outer islands to see both types of landscape. I really liked this tiny island with its single tree.



It looks just like a Christmas tree and I could picture it shining with glittering lights and a star on top on a deep, dark December evening.

The islands are closely packed together, but the passageways between them are surprisingly deep. In the next picture, you can see a narrow passageway that we went through while weaving south. It looks dangerously shallow but is in fact 16 metres deep.



The morning is crisp and cool, but very sunny. From this protected coastal area, we decide to head out to sea again to take advantage of the good winds and sunny weather to push further southwards quickly. This route takes us out past Häradskär lighthouse.



This lighthouse, which can be seen from 24NM away, was built in 1836 and was the first lighthouse in Sweden with a rotating lens. The last time we were here was three years ago when we were returning with friends from Medieval Week in Gotland. We’d sailed the 50NM across the Baltic from Visby to here and dropped anchor among the bare, exposed rocks late at night, using a powerful spotlight to look for shallow grounds. Little did we realise at the time that around the corner was a more sheltered area with a tiny community. Oh well, all I can say is that we learned a lot during that trip.



Once out at sea we altered course and followed the coastline, doing over 5 knots most of the day. After about 30NM it felt like we’d done enough for the day, so we headed into the coast at Storkläppen lighthouse, just north of the town of Västervik.



This lighthouse, dating from 1890 is a natural meeting point for several marked routes. From here you can go out to sea, or use the buoyed channel northwards into the Tjust archipelago, north-west to Loftahammar or south-west to Västervik. Today we are tired, so we chose to simply turn slightly north-west to the nearest large island of Hässelö (Hazel Island) and to anchor in a quiet bay, giving us a view of the lighthouse as well as a green, tranquil evening scene. We will see what the morning forecast brings us wind wise before we decide where to go for the day. Meanwhile we can potter around onboard and let the birds sit outside on this warm evening and chit chat with their wild friends.

Early Sunday morning in bright sunlight and fine winds, we set off for our journey southwards. The normal prevailing winds for the east coast of Sweden are south-west, so while we have a spell of winds from the north-east there is the promise of easier and more direct southerly sailing.

The day began well with generally good downwind speed but the wind decreased steadily and after only a few hours, it died completely. This meant that after only 8NM we pulled into one of our favourite bays (Soviken) and spent the remainder of the afternoon and night there, overlooking the town of Landsort on nearby Öja.



We are disappointed with the distance covered today but then this is what sailing is all about. If there is no wind, you don’t have a choice but to stop and wait for better conditions. Sure, one could start the motor, but then that wouldn’t really be sailing and frankly, neither one of us wants to listen to the motor hour after hour. It is far better to be patient and wait for more favourable winds.

Monday was also sunny and bright with the normal prevailing winds back again. As we are heading in the same direction (south-west), it means that to get anywhere we will have to tack. So this will entail several nautical miles southwards out into the Baltic Sea, then heading back in at a ninety degree angle westwards. It adds about 30% to our journey, but the alternative is to wait yet another day and we aren't quite that patient.

We say goodbye to our local landmark Landsort Lighthouse and strike out to sea.



Sailing out at sea is quite different from sailing along the coastline. When we take a more inner route, we are relatively close to land all of the time and you can see the landscape pass by as well as getting protection from the waves behind the islands. At sea, there is little to look at so one passes the time reading, resting, checking the winds and the charts and noting our position on the overview chart every hour. I know that we have both a GPS (in fact we have two GPS) as well as computer navigation with Fugawi, but it is important to keep a manual check in case there is a power break and then we’d have to navigate the old fashioned way. It is also useful to “see” the progress on paper so we can plan a harbour for the night.

Another important duty while at sea is to keep watch out for other boats. One of the crew must be alert and regularly check 360 degrees around the boat for anything out there. We are crossing some of the main Baltic shipping lanes and the boats that ply these waters are big, fast and a little daunting when seen up close.



During the day, the wind turned more to the south-east and increased. We made great speed, but the trip was made somewhat uncomfortable by the large waves. There is no land between us and Latvia, so these waves are coming direct from the Gulf of Riga unhindered towards the Swedish coast. They are not scary as such because Fiona is a very stable boat, but the seesawing motion of the boat makes reading, concentration and even eating and drinking more difficult. The dog doesn’t like it very much either and that can be a problem as she whines when she feels insecure. At this point we decide to tack inwards towards the Swedish coast.

This is somewhat tricky as the safe passageways through the shoals are few and far between. We have already passed the lighthouse at Hävringe which was our initial goal for the day, so the next choice is Norra Fallbåden lighthouse and from there into the area south of Arkö. It was a tough ride for the pets and we tried to make it a little easier by rolling in the foresail to a tiny size and reefing the mainsail, but we still came roaring towards the coast at over 6 knots. It was wonderful to come to the lighthouse and feel the waves begin to shrink as the natural seawall provided by the rocky outcrops broke their path.

In the early evening we lay peacefully by anchor off the island of Lånjö, in a bay lined with oak and juniper trees near the old Marö Kupa cairn after a bumpy 50 NM journey.



This somewhat makes up for the slack day we had on Sunday and we are happy that we are now south of Oxelösund and even Arkö and right at the beginning of the St Anna archipelago. It gives us time to rest a little and to think about where to go next. With so many islands around us we are spoiled for choice. The only decision is whether to potter around here or try and put in a long stretch of miles southwards instead, leaving the exploration for the return trip.

Only the early morning weather forecast can answer that question for us.

I was thinking about keeping my birdies warm on the boat now that it is almost autumn and came across this little number...



All from the Chicken Suits website. And no you can't ask how I found it....

Talk about Strike a pose..... Do you think it comes in cockatiel size? Hmmm... I think the ensemble needs a hat to finish it off.

I got a lovely package from a good friend in Adelaide - it's always wonderful to get news and goodies from Australia. I'm very fortunate to have such a good friend who still remembers me and keeps in touch. She had included a long letter, a brief card, loads of delicious recipes for us to try and several humourous postcards and clippings of cartoons from The Age that she thought I'd enjoy - and I did!

The goodies were a joy as well. I could smell how wonderful it was when I picked it up at the post office and when Lars-Göran read the magic word "confectionary" on the customs slip, he practically pushed me home to open it up. While I was reading the enclosed card, he snatched one of the Cherry Ripes she sent and had already eaten half of it when I read her words about enclosing them as they were essential for one of the recipes she'd sent. Oops.... But then I read the recipe and it was fine - you don't need them at all, but it was a close moment.

She had also enclosed some spices - an aromatic homeblended garam masala, a Sri Lankan raw curry blend and something called Outback Blend from the Melbourne based Screaming Seeds Spice Company - a delicious mix of Cumin Seeds, Coriander Seeds, Garlic, Cardamon Seeds, Tumeric, Cinnamon Quills, Sea Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Native Mint, Island Celery. They make a range of spice blends based on our own native spices and I think they are ideal as gifts for foodie friends for those of us living overseas. Why not show off some of the country's unique flavours? It was this aroma that made the package smell so wonderful!

I dug further and came across three packets of Lemon Myrtle Tea (a refreshing native Australian tea that I am hopelessly addicted to and miss terribly). Of course, I had to pop on the kettle immediately and celebrate with a hot cuppa and some toast with Vegemite. There were also packets of Aeroplane Jelly Crystals (can you believe that you can't get something this basic in a supposedly civilised country?) and some interesting looking new Aussie lollies Natural Jelly Squirms and Unbearables - both of which I've hidden away before they get scoffed by the resident sweet-toothed member of the family. I'll let you know what we think.

I'm off now to Stockholm for the day, then heading back to the boat to sail some more. Blogging may be sporadic or not at all over the next few weeks depending on how long we stay out and whether we can find internet connection anywhere we go. So be good and don't do anything I wouldn't do.....

There is a smell of autumn in the air, even though it is only mid-August. I get the feeling that those two and a half weeks of warm weather in early July are going to be all the summer we are going to get this year. Mind you, I am not complaining a bit as autumn is one of my favourite times of the year full of the lingering warmth of summer, a few sunny days, a kaleidoscope of changing colours and lots of berry picking, mushrooming and crayfish parties!

Many people, though, are really disappointed by this year's summer and the media has been full of stories quoting the comparative stats for this year. According to the stories I've seen, this July was the rainiest July for thirteen years. I do have to agree that the downpours have been quite unbelievable at times and we came home early from our sailing because the rain was non-stop for days. The normal July rainfall for Stockholm is 72mm, but this year the capital recorded a whopping 122mm. In yesterday's Metro they declared "This has been the 15th rainiest summer in Stockholm since SMHI (the Swedish bureau of meteorology) began measuring in 1756". This has abated somewhat and while it still rains every day, there are at least sunny periods in between. The temperatures have been up around the 20C mark, so it is still warm and notwithstanding the rain record, it seems that July was also warmer than normal - the fifth warmest July in the last one hundred years.

But it's not as cold as it currently is in southern Australia at the moment. Yep, you guys made the national news here last night with stories of 20cm snowfalls in Melbourne, described by the Aussie weather forecaster yesterday as a "major event". There are pictures of it all at The Age and on SVT news we saw footage of kangaroos hopping through the snow and snow-covered palm trees. It looked fabulous, but very cold and wet. I guess it will be our turn soon enough. Gosh, I even have "candles" on my shopping list once more - a sure sign that the darkness is on its way.

We have been getting restless on land again and are increasingly getting caught up in reasons to put off sailing again. Should we wait for better weather, we wonder. Should we stay for various family and social get togethers in the next few weeks? What about the work on our apartment - we are getting all of the water and sewerage pipes changed, plus rewiring, a new bathroom and the kitchen renovated and some painting done. Ought we be here to supervise all of this? What about the board meeting next week? And people are already ringing to book a time to have their boats lifted for winter! We did our required guard duty at the boatclub on Tuesday evening, so why stay?

In the end, we decided to stuff everything and so the last couple of days I've been madly cooking, shopping, cleaning and preparing to move back on the boat again. We are going out for a farewell gathering for someone on Saturday afternoon in Stockholm, then we are coming back to the boat and heading out again, this time southwards until we feel we want to come back to Nynäshamn. Even when we get home, we'll more than likely be living aboard until the renovations on the apartment are complete. I don't fancy living in all that chaos for weeks and weeks.

The big event at this time of the year as we bid farewell to summer is the crayfish parties (kräftkalas) taking place almost every night.



I can't tell you how excited I was the first time I heard about these crayfish parties. I love crayfish, though we generally ate it in Australia for Christmas or New Year. I would queue up at Gulf Seafoods for my freshly cooked crays, each one weighing around the 1.5kg mark. These would be kept ice cold and served on a bed of ice, with just a touch of lemon juice. Delicious! I couldn't wait to eat Swedish crayfish and when I got my first invitation I dreamed about it for days beforehand.

Initially, however, I was disappointed. When I saw the actual crayfish, they were tiny - more like what we'd call a yabby or marron. Not the big delectable monsters that I was used to.



And I really hate fiddly food, having no patience for the whole crunching up, slurping out the tidbits of flesh etc. I like my seafood to be served in an already edible fashion. Once I was at a well-known Italian restaurant back home and ordered spaghetti with crab. I expected a sauce full of luscious chunks of crabmeat. Wrong. I got a plate of spaghetti with a whole crab, shell and all, sitting on top. Not happy, Jan.....

But in the end, the infectious joy and fun of such events over-rides the whole aversion to messy eating and now I can enjoy the party atmosphere itself and partake of other food on offer.

Weather permitting, the party is set up outdoors, usually in gardens, on patios, verandas, gazebos, balconies etc. Since the warm summer evenings are getting darker, the surroundings are often lit and decorated by hanging up colourful paper lanterns. Many shops sell matching sets of crayfish party accessories and tableware consisting of everything from dishes, glasses and cutlery to tablecloths, place mats, candles, napkins, aprons and bibs. The most popular ones seem to have a moon motif on them.



The atmosphere at crayfish parties is usually very relaxed and informal, including consuming of several glasses of snaps with the food and singing of snaps-songs. The freshwater shellfish are boiled in water, dill, salt and sugar and left to cool overnight. The next day they are served with hot buttered toast and caraway cheese, accompanied by snaps and beer. Or maybe it’s more truthful to say that the snaps and beer are accompanied by crayfish.



And yes, you are expected to wear a silly hat. It's all part of the fun and after several shots of snaps, who cares anyway?

A couple of years ago, I read about a man attending one of these parties, and, as he lived not far away along the coast, had driven his motor boat there. After a feast of crayfish, beer and snaps, he decided that he would drive home in his boat.

He climbed aboard, started it up and drove away from his friend’s party. Unfortunately his sense of direction had been somewhat impaired by the beer and snaps consumption and he and his boat ended up unintentionally attending another crayfish party – which was being held in a boat house on a nearby jetty. He had fallen asleep and his boat had crashed up through the pier and stopped just outside the boathouse.

Oops....

A small note: I have discovered quite by chance that the email feature from this blog and the Aussies in Sweden site has not been working for the last few weeks. The glitch has now been fixed, so if you wrote through either site and got no response, I'm not a stuck up snob, really! The mail never got through...

It's time again for Lambi's annual vet visit to take care of her teeth. She needs to have the tartar (or calculus) removed every year. Poodles, especially the smaller varieties often have buildup of tartar because they never chew at things to keep their teeth and gums healthy. We do our best with Lambi by using Plaque-Off each day, feeding her good quality dog food only and buying special biscuits to help with her gums, but she still requires this treatment every year. She has also managed to get another bout of noskvalsten or nasal mites, which is very common in Scandinavia and we require medicine to get rid of those as well.

When we lived in Stockholm, we were very happy with the vet care she received and when we moved here to Nynäshamn we hoped that we could find an equally good practice. But alas, this has not been the case and other dog owners in town are also unhappy and actually take their dogs elsewhere, even into Stockholm for treatment. The practice seems nice enough, but we feel they don't clean her teeth as thoroughly as we'd like and they are also not happy that we wanted to stay with Lambi. After we insisted they let us stay while she was anaesthetised and when she came to, but not while her teeth were being cleaned.

We discussed the option of trying the big clinic in Stockholm or Södertälje. It is a long train/tube/bus journey and we were reluctant to go there as we had no idea if the treatment would be any better. It was then that we thought "Why not go back to the practice we used to use when we lived at Upplands-Väsby" and that is why we were on the 9am train heading north this morning for the two hour journey to the Upplands-Väsby Vet.

Lambi was fine until we got there, then she looked for a way to escape asap.



But there was no escape. When they listened to her heart before knocking her out, they heard a noise that they were not happy with, so they suggested an ultrasound of her heart to check it out. Oh great! 1,300kr ($250!) for that picture. But we would never forgive ourselves if we'd said not to worry and she died. We had noticed that she was really bothered by heat this summer, so perhaps it required investigation. As it turned out, there was no problem, except that we were 1,300kr poorer and soon Lambi was fast asleep and ready to have her teeth cleaned.



The girl who attended her was very professional, careful and caring. We were both very impressed with her work and when she had a query about one of Lambi's molars, she immediately called in the senior vet to take a look. This is a busy practice that has been owned and operated by the same vet for thirty years and everything was handled with skill and care and made the long journey worthwhile.

Soon it was all over and we waited for her to wake up enough to take her home.



She slept most of the way home and hopefully after spending 3,250kr on her teeth, she won't have the dreaded dog breath for a while.

Now if we could just do something about her penchant for toy boys!

Those of you as ancient as me probably remember the late 1960s film The Graduate and the infamous Mrs Robinson, immoralised in the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name. Well, we had our own personal replay of that today, starring Lambi in the place of Anne Bancroft and the hapless Milou as Dustin Hoffman. Not a pretty sight....

It began as an invitation to dinner from Lars-Göran's youngest son and his girlfriend. They have recently decided to live together and moved to a new apartment and invited us for a look-see. We were delighted to accept and this afternoon we made our way there armed with bottles of wine and a housewarming gift.

As well as a new apartment, they have also found themselves the owner of an eighteenth month old ball of energy in the form of a cute Jack Russel Terrier who they named Milou. No, not Milo like I first thought, but Milou, the dog from Tintin. I was slightly confused by this as the English editions of Tintin call the dog "Snowy", but his name is actually Milou. Poor Milou has not had a happy start in life, as the first owner found him unsuitable as a farm dog (he spent a lot of time chasing the horses) so he was passed to the second owner, who had his hands full with two other large dogs and so now John and Emilie are his third owner. Despite this, he is a gorgeous, sweet natured and happy dog, bursting with curiosity and energy and that amazing ability that Jack Russel's have to jump enormous heights. He is only a tiny tacker at around 30cm tall, but he can easily jump on to the kitchen bench and onto my lap when I was sitting on a bar stool!

We wondered how the two dogs would get on. Lambi, at twelve years old, is not so fond of young dogs and being old and crotchety like her owner, she is inclined to snap at them. We discussed this first with the kids and had a contingency plan in place in case the dogs disliked one another. John's sister lives close by and she said she could take Lambi for a while if things got hairy. Well, we did have to take her up on the offer for an hour or so, because they ended up liking each other TOO much. But I'm getting ahead of myself here as usual.

The apartment is on the fourth floor, with the world's slowest lift to get there. I read Tolstoy's War and Peace while we were going from the ground to the fourth floor. "No you didn't" pipes up my husband. Well, okay, I didn't because I only had Joanne Harris's Coastliners with me, but I could have read it is the point I'm making.

The apartment itself is light, bright and fresh and has a beautiful view across the fields to the forest, with a glimpse of the local lake as well.



They have furnished it simply and tastefully in a minimalist Scandinavian way, with light beechwood furniture, white and beige accents and silver or chrome fittings. It was very modern and perfect for their lifestyle. Emilie has a great collection of candle holders, for both the long candles and tealight candles and they are used to add an added touch to the decor. I am a great lover of candles and the pools of light and atmosphere they create, so I made sure that I checked out all of the holders. They also have some nice big house plants which frame the room really well. I was very impressed with what they have achieved.

The dogs were really happy to meet one another, much to our surprise. The main reason this was the case is because Lambi is "on heat" (she began today of all days!) and she sashayed into the room, swinging her hips like the town tart and practically jumped on the inexperienced but very interested Milou.



I started laughing and humming the theme song from The Graduate, while Lars-Göran just looked on at her with growing alarm. He couldn't believe that this was his dog. She just wouldn't let up, teasing and leading him on, then taking him to the bedroom for a spot of privacy! Boy, does this little vamp know what she's doing. We spent a lot of time crowbarring them apart before anything too intimate happened. Can you imagine toy poodle/Jack Russel puppies? Neither can I!

When the food was served, they cooled it for a while as food is really Lambi's first love in life. Dinner was a delicious Thai-style wok cooked chicken and vegetables served with rice noodles and salad. We both love Thai food, so she could not have chosen anything better to serve us. Dessert was the most scrumptious frozen cheesecake. Some people had TWO large serves and I'm sure would have eaten the rest if invited to do so. I've asked for a copy of the recipe as it was so scrumptious, so I'll share it once I've had a go at it myself. It looked like a calorie-filled weight watcher's disaster, so I'm sure everyone will love it.



Later, Annelie popped in and took Lambi for an hour so that we could talk in peace without having to jump up and seperate the dogs. I thought it was better that Lambi rather than Milou went with her, as it's his home after all. Poor Milou sat and waited for Lambi's return and was so happy when she came back, dancing around the room while she did the whole "come on" thing again. She is 12 and he is not even 2.... talk about having a toy boy.

Modern miracles can still happen and this was proved the other day when Lars-Göran's oldest son rang and asked to come out sailing with us.

"So what?" I hear you ask "What is miraculous about that?"

Well, Micke is a confirmed land lubber and couch potato who usually breaks out into a cold sweat at the mention of sailing, especially with his father. Actually boats and water in general are not on the best of terms with him. He was a teenager when Lars-Göran first got a sailing boat and never really took to the lifestyle, being far more interested in skateboarding and playing his guitar. I've heard that he often fell in the water from piers, dinghies and the boat and the last time he went out on the old boat (and that was 15 years ago), there were strong winds and his inexperienced dad had far too much sail up (hmm... some things never change). The result was that the boat heeled at an alarming angle, with him and his younger brother inside pressed against the salon wall from the force, with plates and cutlery flying across the boat as though possessed by a poltergeist intent on murdering them.

Needless to say, this experience has coloured his idea of sailing and he was sufficently scarred by it to declare his intention of never setting foot on the boat again.

Until now.

And why? Cue 10CC's hit single The Things We Do For Love. Yep, he has a girlfriend who is a very keen sailor and he has now decided that he'd like to give it a go again. I guess he's hoping that his dad has learned a thing or two in the last fifteen years. He also knows that our current boat is bigger and hopefully more stable than the old one and that his three siblings have survived days out on Fiona.

So today, he and Jenny came down for a sail. The weather was cool, sunny with much more wind than they predicted. The weather gods must have seen Micke get off the train and chuckled to themselves, sending a stiff breeze to test him out. We wanted this to be a good experience, so we thought carefully about where to take them. Originally, with forecasted mild south-west winds, we had thought to go to Landsort. We'd have to tack to get there, but sailing home would be gentle downwind with a lightwind sail. However, I know that the sea can be really choppy outside of the islands in strong winds and I was concerned that it was too much for his first attempt again.

In the end, we went out into Mysingen, tacked around the island of Bedarön, then hit on the idea of taking the inner route through Draget's Canal and across to Torö for dinner. That way we could have some adrenaline pumping tacking and real sailing to please Jenny and some gentle gliding through the rocky channels to test her navigation skills and give a calm but still interesting sail for Micke. Lambi of course slept through the whole thing!

Jenny is extremely competent with the tiller and she had no trouble steering, tacking, setting sails and navigating.



She has been brought up on sailing boats and her father has a boat the same size as ours which she has sailed by herself many times. A couple of weeks ago she and a few girlfriends took it out for a week's sailing around Sandhamn and Möja and even Micke came aboard for a sail. She must have a special kind of magic to get Micke on the boat. I used to worry about him not getting enough fresh air. He doesn't play sports or like the outdoors much, spending a lot of his time indoors running his music studio, Garaget at Solna. Jenny loves sports and competing (not to mention winning). She is a singer, dancer and athelete so I'm sure that will have a positive impact on his lifestyle now that they are living together. He's even talked about riding a bike to the studio. Micke??? Exercise???

Anyway, Jenny was a real asset today and I hope she enjoyed sailing the boat. Lars-Göran acted as winch gorilla during the tacking manoeuvres and Jenny steered and directed the crew. Micke was put to work setting the mainsail and pulling up the anchor. I did my usual looking after the dog and keeping the crew supplied with regular mugs of hot coffee and buns.



After coming in from the windy fairway outside of Järflotta, Lars-Göran shooed the happy couple up on deck while he steered through Dragets kanal. The current canal was finished in 1852 though there is evidence of the existence of a canal here since 1219, when the Danish king Valdemar Seir passed by. The water level was 3 metres higher at that time and Draget was a channel between Järflotta and the mainland. Because of silt and rising land levels, by mid 17th century Draget had become so shallow that it no could longer be used and by the midlle of the 19th century the depth was only 30 cm.

Some efforts were made at that time to dredge it and make it navigatable but these were only a temporary solution and trade boats often had to use the outer route. This continued until the mid 20th century. The navy had purchased some torpedo boats which turned out to be not so seaworthy. They really had to use the canal to make it southwards safely, so the navy blasted and straightened the canal to its present form.

By the 1980s the depth in the canal was down to 1.5 m., so a new rescue operation took place using money from both private enterprise and local government to dredge and line the canal to 2,2 m. Many pleasure boats use it as a short-cut to the south, but we mostly go this way if we have guests on board as it is a really pretty route and most people really love the calm and seeing the boat go through a narrow space with the mast in the trees.



We then sailed and tacked southwards to a quiet bay on the east of Torö where we had dinner of Tortellini Arrabiata, Italian salad and garlic bread before sailing around the southern tip of Järflotta and the easy downwind sail home. The evening sun came out and it was warm, sunny and fast sailing along the fairway to Nynäshamn. Even Lambi was thrilled with the day's finale.



One great thing that happened was that Jenny and Lambi got on so well. Jenny is terrified of dogs, having been attacked and bitten by a dog when she was a small child. I fully understand that something like this can scar a person, so I tried to keep Lambi away from her as much as possible so that she would be more at ease. But in the end it was Lambi's gentle, quiet nature that won the day and by the afternoon, after Jenny had fed Lambi a big piece of bun (thereby ensuring that she instantly became Lambi's new best friend!), the dog was sitting on her lap, enjoying being patted and fussed over. And Jenny said that she wished that everyone who had had a bad experience with a dog could meet a dog like Lambi.

It's been a great day and we loved having the kids aboard. They are talking about buying a small sailing boat of their own, which only goes to show the power of love. I could never have pictured Micke as a boat owner.