This island group is absolutely idyllic and well worth taking the time to visit, although one needs their own boat to do so. It consists of several birch clad islands and many relatively bare, windswept skerries offering peace and tranquility. Lars-Göran has still got the remnants of his cold, so we have stayed here several days so that he can rest and recover. There is no point in trying to rush off anywhere as the wind has been zero for the last few days, although the sun has been really shining and these are real Swedish high summer days.



As you can see, we enjoyed another coffee break on the rocks, with the desperate dog guarding the lemon-lime biscuits as though her life depended on it. There is a real sense of peace here with the only sounds coming from the water lapping gently on the rocky shore and the birds (ours included) twittering. One also gets a great view of the boats out on the water and again, the pretty wildflowers even growing in this harsh place.



We are moored in our own private little bay, south of the main island. We have a view of the island on one side and the fairway on the other, flanked by a protective band of rocks and skerries. There is a guest harbour on the other side of the island and we walked across to see how many boats were moored there – hmm... too many I think.



Björkskär was left in a will in the seventeenth century to a Lidingö farmer, with a clause stating that the farmer and his descendants could keep the island if they paid the sum of 60 daler to the poor in Lidingö county every year. If they failed to do so, the island would revert to Lidingö. In the 1860s the herring market crashed, the farmer could no longer pay and Lidingö took control. This mini-archipelago is still owned by the Lidingö municipality and their boating association looks after it, with most services located in this bay. It has bbq areas, guest piers, toilets, rubbish collection, sauna etc. A ranger lives here in the house pictured and the whole area seems to be very well run and very popular.

We took the dinghy out and rowed and motored around to get a closer view of the islands. In the morning it was dead calm – not a breath of air and the water totally flat and mirror like.



It is hard to believe that this is the Baltic Sea and that there is no land between us and Finland. It looks more like a calm, farmyard pond today. I feel very sorry for the boats competing in the Gotland Runt today as it will be microscopically slow, hot downwind sailing towards Gotland. But in our little bay we aren’t at all worried about how to squeeze that extra one hundredth of a knot of speed out of the boat, but more concerned with relaxing, enjoying the surroundings and wondering if the gin will be ice cold for the evening cocktails.



Today it is very warm and sunny, so we set up a bimini in order to have comfortable sun shelter but still be able to catch any breeze out there. As you can see, this is a clever home-made affair that Lars-Göran has rigged up out of plastic piping, lightweight tarpaulin and string. Maybe it is not elegant, but it is dirt cheap, easy to erect and very effective as we can all be out in the cockpit in shade even on the hottest days.



On Monday morning, after the weekend rush was over, we took the dinghy around to the harbour and climbed up to a high point to look at the surroundings and of course to have coffee and biccies while admiring the view, which proved to be really outstanding.



The islands are so peaceful, with a myriad of birdsong, insects buzzing being the only sounds to break the silence. From our vantage point we can see boats going up the main channel between the islands and on towards the northern archipelago while we enjoy the warm summer breeze and sunshine. The rock formations here are particularly striking and give a clue to the tremendous forces that shaped the land.



We have enjoyed our couple of days lazing around here but it feels like it is time to move on tomorrow if the winds are favourable and to see what lies north of us. There are several more archipelagoes to see and we want to cover as many as we can while the weather is so good.