Carra Tidings

As we headed south, so did the wind and with the exception of the last couple of miles, we motor sailed to Brunnesviken – our planned rendezvous with  friends Julie, Yvonne and Foss in Moonstar. As we rounded the headland,  we could see Moonstar snuggly tucked up – there was due to be some windy weather and Brunnesviken was the ideal sheltered spot.

It was the best kind of windy weather, with no rain which meant we could get the bikes out and cycle over to the other side of the island to the bakery.  Foss was quite happy to sit in the front  basket on Yvonne’s bike – with her ears flapping in the wind – Foss’s that is!

We climbed a rocky outcrop to a beacon, with spectacular views over the archipelago – it was a biggest test of Mags’ new knee so far, which she was pleased to complete pain free. We had walks through the bilberry filled woods, made use of the barrel sauna, went sea swimming, joined in my Pilates classes in the UK via zoom and had a BBQ for Julie’s Birthday. It was the first time we had chilled in months and it felt great.

With the chaos that preceded our departure from the UK, neither of us had managed to squeeze in a haircut and by now had a distinctly shaggy look – or windswept and interesting, as we preferred to call it.

 

So it was time for the pontoon saloon to open. Not helped by the fact Mags knocked the scissors into the water and I had to retrieve them before starting. Perhaps she was trying to tell me something. I dusted off my lockdown skills and 30 mins later a more aerodynamic Mags appeared. Did I allow Mags to reciprocate…….NO – once in lockdown was enough. I decided I could wait until we could find a hairdresser!

Windy weather over, we set off for Nynäshamn, which had 3 highlights: its fabulous fish shop, home to the shop that makes all the chocolates for the Nobel Prize Dinner and they do rather good icecream too – which we sampled and I managed to get a haircut.

An early start, a cloudless day and sailling, meant it was a good opportunity to have a Carra/Moonstar photo shoot.

The short cut through the headland of Landsort – which had seemed so intricate and scary, when we first came through here 8 years ago, now seemed positively wide compared to other shortcuts we have encountered since then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination was Fifång, where we anchored in the north of the island – it was the club island of a local yacht club. Yvonne and I walked to the south of the island to find a well loved little harbour. For our last night with Moonstar, I brought  my guitar over to theirs and we had Julie on the tin whistle and Yvonne on the Ukulele  and we sang Sea Shanties – poor Foss she didn’t think much of our singing.

It was great week with Moonstar but we needed to start heading south and with an ideal westerly wind we said goodbye to Julie and Yvonne – who had kindly got up at early o’clock to wave us off – Foss had more sense and stayed in bed. Once out of the lee of the island, the noisy engine was switched off and Carra sped off. It was great to be finally sailing. It seems such a long time since we have sailed in a straight line so far. It seems like you are making slow progress til you realise that the lighthouse you had been sailing towards was now a distance blip on the horizon behind you. We entered the beautiful anchorage at Bokö with plenty of time to go and explore the heritage island, which aimed to preserve island life as it was.