A Hint of Summer?

….or ‘Still Baltic in the Baltic’

Here we are in Kalmar, which is a really cool town with a great sheltered inner harbour. It’s raining today, so we are once more huddled down below, venturing out to visit the nearby chandlery (always a treat). William bought a new pump for the toilet system and fitted it, and I bought a new paper chart pack for the area we are approaching. What exciting lives we lead.

But there is a hint of summer. A few days ago we visited Tjärö island, a nature reserve with local accommodation, and sat outside the restaurant on the quay on the first (only) warm sunny morning treating ourselves to breakfast ashore.

It really is a lovely place, and so peaceful.

Next destination was the Swedish Naval Base of Karlskrona, where we visited the Maritime Museum. It is a fascinating history of Sweden’s navy, and has the most wonderful models of ships, preserved from the naval shipyard at the time of building, some over 400 years old.

It also has a Neptune class submarine, which we scrambled through. There is not much room, and the dining area is shared with the missile launch area.

The views over the harbour from the gallery of ship figureheads is quite something.

Next we were off ‘round the corner’ to Kristianopel and on to Kalmar. The weather forecast didn’t really take into account that the wind funnels and accelerates between the mainland and Oland island, building up quite a swell. So we had an exciting downwind leg in winds up to 30 knots, where only 10-14 had been forecast. Good job we didn’t have the spinnaker up!

And finally, a few days touristing in Kalmar, with a visit to the superbly preserved medieval castle and its lovely grounds.

Now to dress up for rain, and get back to the laundry …..