Four, Three, Two, One

The Four musketeers planned a three day trip in the Soderarm archipelago this weekend. But Peters moving to a new apartment in October, so naturally he had to skip. The Three musketeers concluded that there were warnings of high winds and thunderstorms, so we skipped Friday. Come Friday and rain that was said to go on all over the weekend so the other Peter skipped too. The two muskeeters, Magnus and George Truly, decided not to camp in the lousy weather, so we were down to one day.


We started out from Spillersboda....


...in good spirits.


It was raining ... and raining.




Went east to Furusund and then south around Högmarsö.


We found the hidden, narrow passway.


And as it rained, there was a shower. Soggy sandwiches for lunch in stinking reed at the west side of Högmarsö. (Reed is otherwise the manufacturer of my new beautiful spray deck).


It was a nice trip, but camping in rain - nah, not this time. Returned to Spillersboda and saw this house who seem to have seen better times.

Summer heat in April

Today promised temperatures of 20 C. Although the last few days have been warm for this time of year, mornings i the beginning of the week was freezing.


Todays mistake was not cleaning the lens of the camera. Sigh. Well, it's not summer yet.


As Peter had a party to attend, we did a tour that did not require car transport of the kayaks.


Off Kärsön we saw something looking like two eagles, but it was probably Osprey (fiskgjuse). Returning by the the Drottningholm palace another pair showed up. The other birds did not enjoy the company.


We went past the boat club at the Ekerö ferry this time.


Saw a small snake during the lunch break and cut it short. Saw another one swimming between our kayaks later. Scary, but not like the crocs Freya is struggling with in her around Australia race.


Returned passing the Ålsten marina.

Askrikefjärden till we hit ice

After a beautiful and sunny but freezing week that ended in snow - a gray weekend. So we went paddling. After a late start due to it being the first day of daylights savings time, we drove out to Fågelöudde at Lidingö.




Followed the coastline west and passed Södergarn, Bosön and Grönsta. Passed occasional ice bergs, but saw no ice bears.


Rounded Storholmen, one of the more isolated parts of Stockholm as there is no land connection.


Had lunch on a small nature reserve island.


Went north now, but hit ice, the northern part of Stora Värtan is still frozen over. Felt like explores of the North Pole.


Returned following Bogesundslandet and just avoided a very low flying plane. Missed taking a picture.

Around Runmarö♠

March 15, season premiere, Temperatures around the freezing point. Lakes still frozen over, but the archipelago is open. Drove out to Stavsnäs, Forgot the warm socks this time, but the thin ones worked fine inside the dry suit and neoprene boots.



The archipelago is quiet and nice this time of year, but we were not alone, met a group of eight kayaks and saw a couple of others in the distance. Also saw a sailboat and a number of ferries and taxi boats.



When I worried about the length of the trip and my shape, Peter promised he did this tour in three hours last summer. Proved it took us 4,5 today - but then we took our time and also experimented with underwater photography (unsuccessfully).



On the east side of Runmarö, a few low, rocky, islands and then the open sea.





Found a great, but late, spot for lunch here at Söderby.







The Runmarö channel could not be passed due to remaining ice, so we did the complete round trip.



Returned to Stavsnäs in a "Spring" drizzle, Cold, but we are well dressed.

Kanaan on Christmas Day

Christmas day, perfectly suited for a kayak trip! There weren't that many of us around this day, but in our small boat house a third enthusiast turned up (although no picture of him). The sandy beach was frozen hard as concrete.


Temperature was just below the freezing point.


Water on spray deck, PFD and clothes frooze.


Yep, that's ice (very thin).








Took a short stop at the Kanaan beach. Had to break through some thin ice to reach it. Passers by generally did not expect kayakers at this time of year. One guy, seemingly less surprised, asked us for an Eskimo roll demonstration... We were not up to it.




Returned passing the Royal palace at Drottningholm in fog.




The only other kayakers we saw this day.

Skanstull or Darkness at the Edge of Twon

We've talked about it for ages, but now was the time. Paddling in the dusk. As the sun sets around 4 pm at this time of year, we started around 3.




It got darker faster than we had thought. Here we are about half way to Skanstull, with Hornstulls Strand to the left.


Passing under the railway bridge.


Spooky and pitch dark at the turning point. But with headlamps and a flashing tail light we had no fears. Photography was more difficult (as so well shown with these masterworks).


Yeah, that's right, the railway bridge again. Knew you would recognize it in the dark.


Where am I?


Passing the new apartment complex at Lilla Essingen.


As long as we paddled in the city, there was really no problem to see were we were going.


But on returning to Bromma, it was really dark. Passing by Stora Essingen on the east side we almost hit a pier. Don't know who was most surprised, us or a lady smoking and chatting in her cell at the pier.