Caroline has just arrived for a week on board with us – a warm welcome from Charles at the NJK Marina in Helsinki.
The next
day we left Helsinki and followed these three out of the harbour …
… past more
lovely islands and several barren ones where the vegetation has been destroyed by guano from birds.
We tied up
to a pontoon attached to the rocks on the island of Ormholmen which belongs to
the HSK Sailing Club …
… and
enjoyed the use of their brand new sauna …
… with
picture windows looking out over the view – idyllic!
Not so
idyllic was the barbecue – by the time we’d got it cooked the flying ants had
come out in force – they loved Caroline who was wearing a light-coloured top
and she had to retreat to the boat!!
The next
day was lovely, warm and calm – not much wind for sailing but excellent for
sunbathing on the deck …
We spent
the night anchored between Lilla and Stora Fagerö, swam into the beach …
and enjoyed
the sunset …
Tuesday 5th August
After a bit of engine trouble, we set off on a glorious
day and enjoyed a lovely potter between wooded islands …
… and
through narrow channels, such as Barösund.
Unfortunately it’s hard to do much sailing as the navigation is
complicated and the channels so narrow …
We arrived
at Tammisaari (also called Ekenäs, the Swedish version of the name). Finland is actually a bi-lingual country,
although only about 6% of the population speak Swedish as their first language.
After lunch
of a Finnish speciality, tinned elk meat (which tasted a bit like corned beef!),
Caroline and I spent the afternoon on the beach – really hot and sunny but nice
and cool in the sea.
In the early evening we explored the old town, one of the best-preserved wooden towns in Finland. It felt a bit like a film set as it was so quiet on the streets – already it is beginning to feel a bit end-of-season-ish here.
We had a
meal on Caroline’s last night in the Restaurant Knipan, which was built
on stilts over the water to get around an ancient law which restricted the
number of restaurants in the town. It’s
a nice old wooden building with spectacular views.
6th
– 11th August
I made a
brief trip back home for Isabel and Dan’s wedding …
… and a
family get-together with lots of young cousins …
… and this
gave Charles a chance to sort out the engine problems and do a bit of boat maintenance.
Tuesday 12th
August
Back in Tammisaari
new crew arrived, Alice and Leon …
... who soon
got to work in the galley!
Pimm’s o’clock!
The next
day we set off to explore further west in the Finnish archipelago. Our first stop was Hanko, another delightful
little town with lovely old 18th century wooden villas …
This is the
casino on the beach …
… and this
is the rather futuristic looking water
tower, which Leon and I decided to climb up – but then discovered there was
actually a lift!
The view
from the top was definitely worth it, despite the rather grey weather.
Our next
stop was the island of Högsåra, a pretty little spot, and the weather had improved
…
We had a
wander round the island and were intrigued by these outbuildings which had old
upturned boats for roofs!
Alice and I
went for a lovely relaxing swim, then joined the others for the ‘legendary’
fish chowder at Grandmother’s Café – delicious.
Onward and
westwards with Alice on the helm …
… to Södra
Benskär, where it was actually rather windy as we showed Alice and Leon how to
moor to rocks in ‘natural harbours’. The
first place we chose turned out to be too shallow. I was on land by this time, so had to strike
off through the ‘bundu' to another little promontory which was deeper and more
suitable. We finally got tied up to two
trees and anchored by the stern in the Baltic way …
It was a
beautiful calm evening with lovely light and reflections …
The
following day, after an early morning swim, we moved on through the low-lying
islands. The weather changes so fast –
one moment calm and sunny, then suddenly cloudy but still no wind; round a
corner the wind will suddenly get up, a rainbow will appear, one flash of
lightning, a distant roll of thunder, then calm and sunny again!
We stopped
for lunch at the island of Birsskär. By
this time it was raining, softly but steadily, but we went for a short, damp
walk through the typical archipelago landscape – trees, moss, lichen,
blueberries, rocks and sea …
Here is one
of the massive anthills you often find on the islands …
There are a
couple of rowing boats here for harbour guests to row across to the
neighbouring island of Stenskär – free of charge and provided on an honesty
basis …
We set off
again after lunch through a myriad islands, mostly uninhabited – it was
detailed navigation, but we did manage to sail part of it. There seem to be more islands here than even
the Swedish archipelago and so many hidden rocks, just under or breaking the
surface – quite sinister-looking sometimes.
The Finns say that if you haven’t hit a rock while sailing in the
Finnish archipelago you’re not really trying!
We had a
lovely sail in the late afternoon sunshine …
… through
more lovely, peaceful islands …
… to a
little place called Verkan Harbour, near the small town of Korppoo, where we were
surprised to hear loud rock music playing from the restaurant. Actually both the food and the music were
good, although we had planned something more peaceful – I guess it is Saturday
night after all!
Dramatic
sunset with purply clouds scudding across the sky …
The next
morning the sea was like a mill-pond, the water lovely and silky – perfect for
our early-morning swim – the girls that is!
… followed
by a walk to the village nearby, which had a church with interesting wall-paintings
…
Lunch in
the cockpit – this is the life!
We stopped
for the night at Keistiö, which is obviously a popular holiday spot in the
summer with a children’s playground, shop, diving platform, sauna, barbecue
pits and so on – but by mid-August, the season is over and the place was
deserted apart from us ...
Rainbow and
grey clouds over Torasviken, our next port of call …
… followed
by sunshine and blue skies – this is the same view 30 minutes later – the weather really does change
fast!
The
fabulous view from the top of the hill at Torasviken …
… and an
attempt at a ‘selfie’ to capture the four of us together!
An hour
later, the weather was like this …
Tuesday 19th August
Alice and
Leon’s last day – again, we had varied weather for our passage to Turku, but
managed to sail most of the way.
Sometimes it was flat calm and sunny …
… soon
afterwards quite choppy. We passed this restaurant on a small rocky island …
Here we are
approaching Turku (Swedish name Åbo), Finland’s oldest city and its former
capital until Finland became part of the Russian Empire (in 1809) and the capital
was moved to Helsinki in 1812, closer to Russia.
We moored
along the waterfront …
… and
enjoyed a visit from our friends Merja and Saku, who we met in Estonia on the
Cruising Association Rally in June.
