Mixed bag

Yesterday, I ended by sort of lamenting the absence of freshly baked bread due to the early season. I was wrong! When the lady harbourmaster came around at 8:30 last night to collect the harbour fees, I commented that I was sorry that we were too early in the season for the famous fresh bread delivered to the boat (she had told me earlier that the coffee shop was still closed). Then she remarked: 'you are giving me a perfect excuse to start baking". How many rolls do you want? What good news!
This morning, this bag was delivered to the boat:





Note the weather forecast and especially the phrase "mostly good visibility"......

At 9:30 we set off on our trip to Kökar. This is a group of islands at the extreme south eastern end of the Åland archipelago. We wanted to go there last year but were prevented by unfavourable winds and our first reason to return this year was to see Kökar, which is reported to be stark, almost treeless and very different from the rest of Åland.
To get to Kökar is tricky. You navigate from mark to mark, from island to island and sometimes from rock to rock. Navigation marks sometimes look like this:





It's not difficult, with two people, two plotters and the paper chart, but it's intense concentration. Good fun, an adventure.

Some 13 miles out of Kökar, we noticed that the visibility ahead was getting worse. We could not see marks or even an island which was half a mile away, which meant we were relying on the plotters. We jointly decided that carrying on in these conditions in these waters was not good seamanship and turned around. We stopped at a place called Degerby for lunch and to look at the long term plan. The weather continues to be unstable over the next 6 to 10 days. Add to that that is is still eerily quiet everywhere (we are usually the only guests or share with maximum two others). So we have decided to give up on Kökar and look for a weather gap to return to the Swedish mainland. That may only be on Friday, looking at the forecast.
We are currently at Kastelholm, a place we visited twice last year. Nice, very sheltered and at the moment deserted. A Finnish yacht came in an hour after us, but no harbour master in sight.
So for those looking at today's funny track of Onbekommerd on MarineTraffic.com: we are fine, but we motored over 45 miles to get basically 15 miles from where we were.


'It is as it is', Lyn reminds me....

Location:Finland

A pilot station, a radio beacon and now an idyllic harbour

From around 1820 to 1920, Rödhamn was a pilot station. It is located very strategically on the shipping route between Finland and Sweden but there are lots of rocks and islands around, so pilots served an important role.

After 1920, a radio beacon was set up here, manned by three operators who lived on this small islands with their families. As radar and Decca were developed, the use of radio beacons became less important and now only a small museum reminds us of these days.












The only use left is as a harbour, run by the ÅSS, the same club where we were guests when we were in Mariehamn. Officially, it opens on 1 June but they are still setting everything up. In peak season, there can be up to 70 boats here, now we are 4: a Swede at anchor, a member at the 'members jetty', ourselves and a British yacht which has just arrived. The lack of freshly baked bread, delivered to the boat in the morning but only from next weekend, is made up by the quiet atmosphere, just the sound of the birds.

Location:Finland

Life on Åland

We are still in Mariehamn. That's due to a combination of factors. Firstly, the weather has not really been playing ball the last week: best described as 'winter' for most of us. It has been really cold, most days below 10C as a maximum. The sun has shown itself regularly, one day with lots of rain but otherwise not bad. The main problem has been the wind, often over 20 knots (6 Bft) and yesterday and today gusts up to 30 knots. So we are patiently waiting, the heater works well so it is comfortable and we have enough to to, both on and off the boat.

Off the boat, we went to a special art exhibition of a group of Finnish painters who - around the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century- came to Åland to paint the landscapes. The exhibition was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Finnish state, this year.

This picture shows the Western Harbour, where we currently are, around that time:





I walked up to that point earlier and this is the view now:





We also revisited the Mariehamn in miniature exhibition. This shows Mariehamn in the 1920's and is very nice. We were struck by this building:





Which still exists today:





It's the restaurant of the ÅSS, the sailing club where we are moored (the restaurant is 20 m away from us).

Last night we went to the Jazz evening at one of the local hotels. Thanks to our association with our local friend Ralph, people are getting to know us and talk to us even when Ralph is not with us. It's a small and closely knit community!

Tomorrow, the wind is expected to drop and we hope we can do a bit more exploring in this fascinating archipelago.

I end with a picture of the 'rush hour' we see daily in the harbour at 2pm when 2 ferries leave and 2 arrive all together.

Location:Sjöpromenaden,Mariehamn,Åland Islands

Tourists on Åland

As mentioned in the previous blogpost, we took a lay day yesterday. Our good friend Ralph took us to Eckerö, a place on the Åland west coast. As this is the place on Åland which is closest to mainland Sweden, it is where the post has been arriving for centuries. From here it was then taken with horses and ferries (or sleds in winter) to the eastern islands and then from there to Finland. As part of the Åland history is a Russian era, the Russians were in charge of the post then. In 1828 they built an extremely impressive post office in Eckerö, facing Sweden in order to show how important they were. The post office is still there, art exhibitions are held there from time to time and there is a café.





Rather 'over the top' for probably a few bags of mail per week, isn't it?

An important tradition of Åland (as in most Nordic countries) is erecting the midsummer pole. The Åland 'stang' is quite different from the Swedish one. It is not decorated with leaves and branches but with colourful streamers and ship with sails. It is kept standing all year and only around this time of the year it is taken down to be 'refreshed' before being raised again on Midsummer (this year on 23 June). The Eckerö 'stang' is the tallest in all of Åland and it had not been taken down yet:












As far as our plans are concerned, today the wind was blowing 6 Beaufort (20+ knots), so we stayed nicely tied up in the excellent harbour of the Åland Sailing Club (ÅSS). Tomorrow it is predicted to be raining heavily so we'll stay again. The forecast after that is quite uncertain so we'll see what gives. Enough to do and it's comfortable on board!

Location:Sjöpromenaden,Mariehamn,Åland Islands

Going North

The last two days we have moved North quite quickly. After Stockholm we first stopped at Finnhamn, a nice bay where we have stopped a few times before. It is also called 'Paradiset' for obvious reasons. As it is Ascension day weekend, it was relatively busy after a few very quiet places.







The next stop was Arholma (we are still there, it is now the morning of the 27th but the internet was not good enough last night to do a post).
This is the Northernmost island of the Stockholm skärgård. It was a farming and fishing community from the late 1700's and there is an old 'beacon' (like a lighthouse without a light) from those days. The fishermen and farmers traded their goods and their fleet anchored in a very protected bay where we are now tied up to a jetty.










Later this morning, we plan to do the almost 29 mile crossing of the Sea of Åland to Mariehamn.

We have some nice pictures, but the internet signal is too weak to post them.
Tonight and tomorrow we rely on the WiFi in the harbour in Mariehamn for Internet. On Monday we will buy an Åland SIM card. As Åland is not Swedish, our local card does not work there.

Late edit:

We now are at Mariehamn after a good crossing in a slightly bumpy sea.
I have inserted the pictures!

Location:Gotthemsvägen,Norrtälje,Sweden

Stockholm

Stockholm is one of our favourite European cities. The approach from the waterfront is stunning. And the Gamla Stan, the old town, is arguably the best preserved original town in all of Europe.






On the way, we encountered a nice sailing traditional two master.









We enjoyed a relatively short stay in Stockholm, the highlight was a visit from our niece Philippa who (with her husband) lives here now.






After a nice day trip through the skärgård, we are now in Finnhamn where we have been before.

Location:Österåker,Sweden

Colours

With nature coming to life at this time of the year, we are stricken by the many different colours, not only different greens but also reds and greys.
Last night, we were the only visitors in a small harbour near Tyresö. A friend of ours lives here part of the year, she came to visit us. Here are few colour impressions.

Location:Tyresö,Sweden