There are strong westerly winds today, peaking at around 35 knots in the gusts. Our first thought was that we really did not want to be out in open water in such winds, but we are ready to move on and it would be so frustrating to sit in port for another day just because of the wind. The sun is shining and I have discovered an inner route on the charts, which should allow us to be in some island shelter for most of the day. Unfortunately, the wind direction will also mean that we are upwind from the paper mill, so that horrible, nausea producing stench will accompany us for at least half of the day. Oh joy! Where are the pegs?

We set off with only a tiny sail up and made really fast speed along the main route out of Mönsterås and turned more northwards to pass the islands around the paper mill.




It is still really beautiful in this area with the wildflowers blooming and the birds on the lookout for a feed. We have to keep a good look out because there are a lot of fixed fishing nets (probably eel nets) all over the place. They are well marked with reflective poles, so we can steer well clear of them. I love being in among the islands again. It feels like my natural environment - a feeling of being home.

We by-passed Påskallavik, where we stayed a day last year, opting to push on a bit further while we had good winds. At this point, we have normally headed out to sea to continue up the coastline to Oskarshamn. But upon studying the chart carefully, I found a faint dotted line representing an old route behind all of the islands. I'm sure Lars-Göran inwardly groans when I find something like this, as he knows that no doubt it will be tight, shallow and he will need his brown undies.




Just as he suspected, the route proves to be incredibly tight and quite hairy in places, with rocks clearly visible right next to the boat and the depth sounder regularly plummeting to heart-stopping levels. Talk about being at panic stations. I swear we were on the point of turning around in at least three or four places, but this area of around 80 small islands, islets, rocks and skerries is fantastically beautiful.

We dared not try and stop in this wind, but afterwards we marked out a couple of areas that were well worth visiting if we are back this way again. One of those was near the old stone works at Vånevik (the website is only in Swedish, but there are some nice pictures). Who needs to go to Bohuslän to see red granite cliffs? We have them here as well! And we also have the magical island of Blå Jungfrun to admire in the distance. I SO love the east coast.

In the late afternoon, we slipped into our favourite little bay off the island of Kiddeholmem, just south of the town of Oskarshamn.




In the evening, while I was preparing dinner, Lars-Göran was fiddling with the tv tuner to see if we could get a good signal so that we could see the evening news. Usually we only watch to the main headlines then switch it off until the weather report. It's election time at the moment, so who wants to listen to all that crap. Tonight though we were shocked by the headline that Steve Irwin had been killed after being attacked by what I was sure the newsreader said was a "stinging coat".

"What's a stinging coat?" I asked Lars-Göran, who looked at me as though I was drunk. The newsreader had said the word stingrocka which I had attempted to roughly translate in a hurry. Obviously, too much of a hurry, it would seem. "Doesn't "rocka" mean coat?" I said. Lars-Göran just laughed and told me that coat in Swedish is rock not rocka (see how confusing this language is?). He didn't know exactly what stingrocka translated to in English, but by his description, I gathered it was a stingray, which the later news story confirmed.

How can you possibly make sense of a language where you wear a rock, I ask you? He was still chuckling to himself and I was anxious to salvage a little pride, so I said that I thought the Swedish word rock meant rock and roll. "Yes, that's another meaning." he confirmed. Then what about the phrase "vara för kort i rocken" (meaning one has duck's disease)? Explain that one! But we had to break off to see the actual news item.




Ironically, Steve was filming a new documentary series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he was killed. While I sympathise with the family for their loss, hands up those who didn't see this coming? It was really no surprise he ended up being killed by one of the animals he annoyed and in fact my very first thought when I heard the news was "I wonder what he was doing to provoke it at the time?" I'm sure reptiles everywhere are breathing a collective sigh of relief.

In the morning, we look out at a sunny, but very windy day. The wind meter is showing around 40 knots and it is blowing right into our little bay, making it quite wavy. We obviously can't stay here, so we think that this is an ideal time to make the effort to visit Oskarshamn. We have never stopped in the town before, even though we have passed this area half a dozen times in the past. Either the winds take us further east towards Öland, or else it is high season so we opt to skip it in favour of the peace and quiet of this pretty little nature harbour. However, the season is well and truly over now, so we will be sure of a mooring space at the protected guest harbour and it is only three nautical miles away. It is a quick job to sail in such strong winds and we enjoy the scenery - the islands around here are so beautiful, glowing with a deep red tone which contrasts so well with the blue of the sky and the sea.




Once inside the protection of the harbour, it is quite pleasant, so after securing the boat we go out and wander around the town, which was considerably larger than I had expected, with around 27,000 people. The town itself is centred around the harbour area as it was founded as a ship building and commercial centre in the nineteenth century. It has also been a fishing centre in medieval times, though under its old name of Döderhultsvik. King Oskar I named it after himself when it was given town status in 1856. Dare I mention "Mine! Mine! Mine!" again?

The first thing that caught my attention was this long wooden bench on a terrace just above the harbour area.




This is called Långa soffan (The Long Park Bench) and at 72 metres, it is apparently the world's longest park bench. It stands on a rise, with a clear view over the harbour and the entrance all the way out to sea. It was built in 1867 and it was here that the sailor's wives, mothers and sweethearts sat and gazed out at the horizon on the lookout for the homebound ships with their men onboard.

While the harbour area has changed beyond all recognition since those days, you still get a commanding view out to sea from the bench.




In the other direction, you can see into the harbour itself and if you peer closely enough, you can see Fiona moored out on one of the piers. At least I know where my man is.




Behind the bench is the older area of Oskarshamn, with cottages dating from the nineteenth century but also some rather large and impressive buildings from the same era. I am especially drawn to the turrets on several of these buildings. I'd dearly love to live in a home with a turret - there is something strongly romantic and appealing about them.

Alongside all of this nineteenth century architecture is a blend of modern apartments which have been built with an eye to what is already here. I liked the way that the two can co-exist in harmony.




Again, Lambi is feeling the heat and we have to carry her in a backpack and make several stops in the shade for her to have a drink of water. Apart from this sensetivity to the heat and the dripping nose, she seems to be quite okay, so I'm wondering if I'm worrying about nothing yet again. Still, I'd like her to see a vet, just to put my mind at rest and we talked about perhaps trying to sail home quickly and book her into her regular vet asap. But for today, we will confine our walk to more shaded areas.

One of those areas was the very beautiful town park, which was an oasis of peace and tranquility right in the heart of the town. We walked along shady paths, past trickling streams and past well-tended flower beds. On a hill in the centre of the park we spotted a church.



This is Oskarshamn's main town church and was built in the nineteenth century, being inaugurated in December of 1876. You can hardly believe that you are right in the heart of a city. It is such a restful place. Being surrounded by the brilliant green foliage of the park, this yellow painted building extends an intimate and very warm invitation to linger. The colours used in these old churches are always strong and bold and make the building really stand out. Unfortunately, the church was not open today, so we had to content ourselves with wandering around the outside before turning towards the main square.




We took a short walk through the shopping area, stopping to look at the house prices at a couple of the real estate agencies - it's amazing how much cheaper the house costs are away from Stockholm. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere here. While sitting in the main square eating ice cream we indulged in one of our favourite pastimes - people watching. You can learn a great deal about a town by just quietly observing how people treat one another. We saw a place where people stop and greet each other, where people smile and stroll rather than race frantically through the streets. The older I become, the more I like and appreciate the slower pace of life.

We'll stay the night in the harbour and then try and make an early start and sail through the inner route along the coastline and up to the start of the main archipelago at Kråkelund. We have covered 1,183 nautical miles so far this summer and there is still 150 nautical miles to go before we are home. Of course, we could do that in a couple of days if we wanted to, or even one day if we travelled out at sea. We sailed Oskarshamn to Nynäshamn in one 20 hour shift once before, but that was only because we needed to get the boat home before the snows began. A couple of weeks ago, I longed to be home but now I'm simply happy to be in familiar surroundings and not so anxious to necessarily be back on land for good just yet.

We will play it all by ear and just enjoy the sailing while it lasts. I can see the first clear signs of autumn approaching with the darker nights and the flocks of birds migrating south for the winter. The sands of time have trickled to late summer.
The off-season approaches and soon this beach will be tucked up for winter. It's a sad and sobering thought.