Carra Tidings

We try to avoid sailing in the rain if we can help it. It was due to rain by mid-day – ergo it needed to be a short sail – a whole 5nm to a perfect all weather anchorage – the kind you snuggle down into – cocooned by trees to the waters edge – Kolnäsviken, Ornö. The next day it was another quick hop to a neighbouring island,   Mörtö Bunsö. It is a nature reserve with a natural harbour,  and when we arrived there were just 2 boats and a pair of white tailed eagles gliding effortlessly above us – we anchored and a cup of tea and some of Mags’ home baked oat cakes and we enjoyed the peace and quiet ….but to our surprise it  just  kept filling up and by the end of the day we had 40 boats in there.

Needing to stretch our legs, we walked to the south of the island in search of “The big house”. A good path led past tiny pastures – a sign of its  former farming life,  The Big House was perched on a cliff ( it is a relative term here) – to the rear small stubby pine trees that seemed to float above mounds of silvery lichen and to the front stunning views over the Archipelago from a massive picture window.  Build in 1905, in a Finnish Romantic style it looked rather incongruous in the middle of nowhere. Incredible ornate hinges and door handles. On the way back Mags spotted a fawn that was less than 1 month old – it was tiny.

When we got back, a yacht had anchored and sat over our anchor – so we moved up to level 3 – on our scale…. Mags went off in the dinghy. But by then they had had a few drinks and weren’t going to move – actually she decided they would do less damage staying put till they sobered up.

Crunch was the noise I heard as I sat on my glasses – the archipelago has many wonderous things but a surfeit of opticians is not one of them. Out came the super glue, and the clamps – I adopted the Dame Edna look. The glue only worked for a few days – so the clamps became a feature.

We were lucky with the weather, the next 2 days were settled so we could visit some more of the outer archipelago. Another rather hairy entrance – and then just one spot for one boat to anchor – we bagged it. The rocks were much lower – with little vegetation. Mags went for a swim – it looked lovely but Iwasnt tempted! The pilot book recommended climbing the “hill” on the nearby big rock …. We did – it was 15m tall but it was highest point round here.

We fancied going to the Island Bullerö – but it was less than ideal as you needed a northerly wind to visit – and we had southerly one – a direction which was very open –  but the wind was light until midday – so we had  could have a quick visit. Former fisherman’s huts lined the little harbour, but the water looked less appealing as the lime green streaks indicated an algae bloom – the odd area beginning to turn cyan blue – this is when it is poisonous. We had come to see Hunting Lodge – which had a spectacular picture window and painted ceiling – quite a party room I would imagine. 2 such party guests were Charlie Chaplin and Errol Flyn!  We were soon back on board and sails up and we headed to Sandhamn but anchored in a nearby island.