Do you remember that song by the Small Faces? Or am I showing my considerable age here yet again? *grin*

Well, that's what today feels like - a lazy Sunday afternoon ..."Close my eyes and drift away, Close my eyes and drift away, Close my eyes and drift away" ... hmm an oldie, but a goodie! Well, our evening with Björn turned into a very late affair, with a great deal of food and wine consumed and a wonderful night of conversation and laughter. He broke the news to me that he and Marianne are travelling to Australia for a six weeks, starting at the end of October. I was so jealous as I haven't been back in nearly six years and I was also smiling because he has found a cunning way to escape the dreary November weather we get in Sweden. I wonder if he can smuggle me aboard in his hand luggage?

In the morning we said a farewell to Björn and set out for a slow, lazy journey northwards. The first island we passed after leaving Oxelösund had the very best name - Marieskär (Marie's skerry). I wonder if I can claim it as mine? Though of course, Lars-Göran burst my bubble somewhat by reminding me that Marie is a very common name in Sweden. Hmm... I see it comes in at number 11 on the SCB list of women's names in Sweden. "But there's only one of me!" I proudly declared, which only made him laugh and mutter "Thank goodness!" Whatever does he mean?

I looked through my binoculars and saw a house on the island, hidden in the trees. I don't remember giving permission for that to be built. I think I'll confiscate it, too.




After he managed to tear me away from MY island (and we all know that he's only jealous because there is no Lars-Göranskär), we continued on through Sörmland's archipelago. It was beautifully green and fresh even though it was a warm, humid day. I managed to find another of those narrow, twisting, shallow routes that I'm so good at spotting and we drifted past groups of small islands bursting with life. Even the sight of the ubiquitous white swans were a very welcome sight after weeks of landscapes devoid of bird life.




One group of swans really cracked me up. There was an adult swan and five young, teenage swans in a small bay. As the adult swam along, the teenagers formed a circle around it and swam around and around. It was lovely and quite touching to see them all playing together and to see the gentle way they each greeted one another. The swans in this area must be particularly fertile because we saw numerous couples with six or seven cygnets, all looking healthy and happy.

This is a really island rich area. People may think that many of the archipelagoes look much the same, but they each have their own unique character. This archipelago is quite different to the Stockholm one to the north and the St Anna, Gryt, Tjust archipelagoes to the south. It is only a narrow band of islands and does not have a "middle archipelago" as you see in the others. The forest islands and the bare, bird rich skerries are found right next to each other. As well as the shady, thickly wooden, green and leafy islands, there are plenty of those bare, smooth rocks and islets that we associate with the outer reaches of island groups with only the open water beyond.




The wind is really weak today and it is very slow going. After ten nautical miles we decided to call it a day and went into the little lagoon alongside Västra Stendörren to moor for the night. It struck us as quite fitting as this was our first night harbour when we set off from home over four months ago. The little lagoon is marked as Aspöfladen on the map pictured. One has to squeeze between Stroa Krokholmen and the long finger of land (not named on this map, but it's called Runnudden). It is a very narrow opening, with a stone right in the middle, so great care is required. You can also see from the map that there are a lot of walking trails and we intend to go to land and have a good look around.




In the afternoon we spent some time wandering around through fields, forests and shorelines admiring the remarkable islets and stones around where we are anchored. The dinghy comes into its own yet again and we have a lot of fun "boldly going where no man has gone before..."

We found a small flat rock nearby, so we tied up the dinghy and went ashore there. Sounds easy? Well, not if you are an elephant like me. I'm glad there was nobody watching, as my method of getting onto the rock is a study in absurdity. I threatened Lars-Göran with INSTANT divorce (and that is possible in Sweden) if he dares to film my efforts. He refrained, but couldn't hide his amusement.




It is stunning here, with many pretty flowers in bloom and lots of interesting rocks and tiny lagoons to explore. Some silly dog spends her time rolling in moss and getting thoroughly dirty. But she looks so pleased with herself that I let her go. It's great to see her tearing about the place having so much fun. She also drinks water from the sea edge. YUK! I hope she doesn't get sick later.

I enjoyed seeing the farmland and looking at the way they construct hayricks here. I've never seen any quite like them before. The farm itself lies right on the sea and is part of the nature reserve and preserved as an example of archipelago cultural history.




It is really quite an idyll with so much variety of landscape and the ever present sea to frame it all. The paths wound around the little coves and points with small informative signs detailing some of the history of the area. I was just happy to soak up the scenery.




Across the water is the island of Krampö with it's lovely traditional wooden cottages that in earlier times were seasonal homes for those men fishing in the area. On previous visits, I've seen cows grazing on the island but there were none here today.




While we were on the shore we looked into the woods and saw a lookout tower, so we followed a pathway through the thick, leafy forest and climbed the wooden tower which gave us a fabulous view across the nearby islands. And look, you can see Fiona anchored out in the bay. It was late afternoon/early evening by this stage and the air was getting a little misty, so it's not a perfect shot, but you get the idea.




We then made our way back down to the shore and towards the spot where we had left the dinghy. It is lush and green here and the first of the autumn berries are already ripening on some of the bushes. I also noticed that the prevailing winds in this area are very obviously from the south west, which you can see when you check out the way the trees lean.




We found the dinghy and rowed back to Fiona for our evening gin and tonic. We saw that a few more boats have made use of the warm, sunny weekend weather to come out and have a barbeque on the rocks and enjoy one of the last of the summer evenings. It is beginning to get quite dark at night now and I even saw stars in the sky last night, so winter will again be on us very soon. We must make the most of these last weeks of lightness.



After the late drinking session and all of the fresh air and exercise today, I'm finding that I am quite tired, so I intend to have an early night. I was going to read for a while, but I'm completely bushed, so I think I'll nod off at the unheard of hour of 10pm. God, I'm getting OLD!