Munsö in a drizzle

Sunday April 22 and a few degrees above the freezing point. The weather services promise that Spring will arrive next weekend - again.


Peter and I drove out to the far end of Ekerö, Munsö, and found a good spot to launch from. A light rain and fog kept us company most of the day.


The nowadays trusted Northern Lights  three-piece Greenland paddle.


We had forgotten our maps. A GPS is not too easy to navigate with giving our eyesight and this weather.


A discussion about the wildlife, the crocodiles Freya encountered in Australia and the kayaker killing swan. We kept off shore after that.


Ah, time for a coffee break out of the wind.


Nice and quiet. Few boats and not a single kayak except us.


Kayakers 2, eagles 1. But it was faster than the photographer.


Trying to find the direction for where we parked the car.


And the drizzle returned.

Winter's Gone

At last!


After goofing around for an hour and a half last week, not finding the middle part of the paddle - here we go again. (The thing was, surprisingly, already fitted to the paddle, but so was the storm one at the other paddle half - so the two halfs didn't fit. Sigh...).


The snow that fell Friday night is still there at the Ängby beach.


Sand och Grus AB Jehanders




Poogies, good for your hands and a great grip of the paddle.


Ljunglöfska Slottet at Blackeberg.




Happened upon some ice, it will not last another hour.




Showing off.

Not yet - but soon...

Pool Training

It's winter, there is no open water in the Stockholm area. Except indoor pools. So off I go to attend the Horisonkajak (http://www.horisontkajak.se/) pool training.

Carin shows off:


Courtesy of Lars, the following pictures show me hiding for his camera and then relaxing while sculling.




Finally managed to roll with the Greenland paddle, but it was a different experience.

Björkvik, Ingarö

The lakes are frozen now, so we had to go out to the sea.


Put in at Björkvik, where we used to skate when the sea was frozen. A bunch of divers shared the beach with us.


It was windy and choppy. Dry suits, poogies and ample underwear needed.


Spirits are high.






Didn't see a soul either on the water or in the abundance of island cottages.




Well deserved coffee break after headwinds all morning.


Frozen deck.


The Northern Lights paddle, still happy about it. Even managed to fit the poogies, working perfect in fact.


Heading back in side and following winds. Definitely appreciated the latter better.


Back at the kayak Hotel.

Hässelby Strandbad

I bought the dry suit in 2006 or -07, this is the first time since then that the lake is not frozen in January.


We had to break through some ice to get out,








Chandeliers?


Hitting ice again.


Getting late to bring the boat up for the winter...


The Hässelby power plant is stocking up on wood chips.


Stopped for the usual coffee break, at the Hässelby strandbad. It was freezing.