Wednesday 15 – Friday 17 August
The following day saw their departure, and whilst Mate organised another laundry turnaround, Skipper carried out a routine service of my anchor windlass, which has been well used this season.
On Thursday my regular crew gave themselves a well-earned day off, to explore this ancient and attractive town by bicycle, before stocking up at the local supermarket. Like in Finland, alcohol above normal beer strength can only be bought at state monopoly retail outlets; in Sweden they’re known as a ‘systembolaget’, similar to an off-licence in the UK. They were delighted to find their favourite wine once again, in boat-friendly boxes…so the panniers were even more heavily loaded than usual. They also treated themselves to a delicious Swedish lunch alongside local businesspeople and a few late tourists.
We slipped out of our berth and around the corner into the town harbour to take on some diesel, before motoring to a nearby anchorage for a peaceful night on Långskär. It proved to be such a peaceful and well sheltered spot, we stayed a second night, briefly spotting a seal nearby amongst hundreds of tiny jellyfish, and sitting out an intense thunderstorm, followed by a curiously yellow and grey storm-clouded sunset.