Nynashamn - Uto (The Stockholm Skargard) (17 August 2018)

We flew back to Stockholm on Monday 6 August. This time we were joined by my brother Clive who was accompanying us for the first nine days. In Nynashamn “Whileway” was fine apart from having an army of spiders on board! We recommissioned and provisioned the boat before a fine meal at the fish restaurant on the quay.

On Tuesday we took on fuel then headed N up the coast, finally turning W into some of the numerous smaller islands that form the archipelago. This was Clive's first experience of both the beauty and the navigational challenges as we threaded our way between islands and rocks.

New helm Clive!

We did notice that there seemed to be more modern summer houses on the islands as we got more within travelling distance of Stockholm.

Black and grey become more common rather than traditional red houses

After mainly motor sailing some 30nm in light S winds we went through a narrow inlet into the secluded bay of Napoleonviken, joining about a dozen or so other boats at anchor on a fine sunny evening.
 

The anchorage at Napoleonviken

We had a shorter journey on the Wednesday of 13nm but were able to sail in F4 S winds to Malmskvarn on the island of Fagelbrolander. En-route we passed a tall ship in full sail.

Tall ship in sail

This is a sailing club harbour with a few visitors places and we were pleased to get one of the remaining berths. 

In Malmskvarn; Whileaway third from right

An afternoon walk showed what an unspoilt place this is with a couple of beautiful lakes, surrounded by predominantly pine woodland and small meadows.

Nearby lake

On the following day we headed 18nm NE into the outer archipelago to the island of Sandhamn, described as the “Cowes of Sweden” for its yachting and racing activity. Here we had a surprise as the harbour was full as a classic yachts sailing regatta was taking place. However just opposite Sandhamn is the small island of Lokholmen where there was a better and sheltered harbour with plenty of space. In addition there is an hourly free ferry between the two islands.

Whileaway moored at Lokholmen

Sandhamn had plenty of action with small and large classic yachts which were gleaming with varnish.

Classic yachts at Sandhamn

It also has very attractive buildings, some with significant history. The island having originally been established as a Customs post and a base for Stockholm Pilots.

Some of Sandhamn's houses

The next day was very windy but fortunately we had decided to stop for a second night. After reviewing the yachts in Sandhamn we returned to the N coast of Lokholmen to watch the racing only to see that it had been abandoned that day because of the conditions!

Just too gusty for racing yachts, returning to harbour

However we then had time to look around Sandhamn and see some more of the traditional and historic buildings as well as many yachts.
 

A breezy day in the archipelago

The waterfront at Sandhamn

On Saturday 11 August we sailed a short distance N to anchor in the beautiful bay of Ostholmen. Once again we had some tight navigation between rocks and islands to reach our destination.

 

Through narrow gaps

Ostholmen is in a nature reserve and we got in the dinghy and explored the uninhabited island. This really is the natural granite rock with many trees, extensive undergrowth and different types of lichen.

Whileaway anchored in Ostholmen

Bird boxes on the granite cliff face

One of the islands we walked around

The next day we had a longer trip to another nature reserve, this time in the northern archipelago. Unfortunately after a bright start the skies opened and we had some heavy rain before it lightened a little. Around lunch time, after 18nm, we arrived at Angso. 

Traditional pasture on Angso

And traditional fencing

Hay making has been carried out on the island since the middle ages and a crofters holding was established in 1725. In the early 20^th century some of the long established oak trees were threatened with felling by the then landowner and in 1909 the Government made Angso one of the first national parks in Sweden and Europe. Today Angso is managed to conserve the largely re-created ancient agricultural landscape with meadows, pasture, fields and forest. Many of the ash and lime trees have been pollarded. Although Sunday was a very wet day we enjoyed walking around the island.

Cattle at the waters edge as we leave

On Monday morning sunny weather had returned and we headed SW. After a short while we joined probably the main shipping route towards Stockholm. However traffic was light although after a while we saw that a cruise ship, the Viking Cinderella, was making its way down the channel behind us.

Block of flats approaching!

Having crossed in front of a chain ferry the channel narrowed ahead and we slowed judging that it would be easier to let Viking Cinderella pass us before that. Then we noticed a dinghy with half a dozen young people aboard furiously paddling with hands and beach buckets! A failed outboard engine and they seemed to be still within the main channel. We called the Viking Cinderella on VHF who confirmed that they could see the dinghy and were managing to avoid them. So we moved closer and gave them a tow into shallower water seeing that a rib they had called was on its way to collect them. Not the best place to break down; and not have oars in the dinghy!

Dinghy in tow

We continued our passage SW, later turning SE, and after 18nm reached the island of Grinda. This island is managed by The Archipelago Foundation which has stewardship of a number of nature reserves which it aims to make accessible to as many people as possible.

Horses and heritage breed pigs on Grinda

Grinda has a small farm and also offers leisure facilities including an Inn and Hotel, a youth hostel, cottages and a camping site. There were some interesting photographs of the island including showing snow on the ground and horses pulling sledges.

The Vardhus on Grinda

On Tuesday we made the short passage to Waxholm. Described as the “capital of the archipelago” it is an important ferry hub and is just under an hour from Stockholm by ferry. Linked to the mainland by a bridge it is also possible to get a bus to Stockholm. There are also plenty of cafes, restaurants and shops in Waxholm.

Part of the waterfront at Vaxholm

Inside the fortress

Guarding the entrance is the Fastning (Fortress) first began in the sixteenth century when King Gustav Vasa ordered the isle of Vaxholm to be fortified in order to lock the approach to Stockholm. We took the electric chain ferry the short distance to the Fortress and visited the museum which has an interesting exhibition of the defence history of the archipelago.
 

The electric chain ferry, with its long lead unwinding

Mural on ceiling of Council Chamber

Back in the town we had also visited the impressive old Council House with its interssting wall and ceiling paintings.
On Wednesday morning Clive caught the 0845 ferry to Stockholm where he was to visit the excellent Vasa Museum before returning to London.

We set off just after midday and headed E to the marina at Bullando some 19nm away. On arrival we found, to our surprise, that the huge marina was stuffed full of residents boats. Clearly the Swedes were returning to base in large numbers as it was now mid-August. The Harbour Master was sorry to tell us that he had no room for a boat of our size.

So we retraced our steps about 0.5nm to a pontoon that we had spotted on our way in. At the head of the pontoon was a restaurant called Sjoboden which we subsequently discovered markets itself as “The Archipelago Pub”. This was actually in the extensive grounds of the upmarket Djuronaset Hotel. There was no sign of activity as we moored to the deserted pontoon. Later we discovered that the pub had closed for the season a couple of days before!

The deserted pontoon at Djuronaset

We walked through some of the wooded hotel grounds and then and later saw residents who seemed to be delegates on some sort of management training or development course. They had some sort of team building exercise later, judging by the events that we could see. We were happy not to be involved!

On Thursday 16 August we travelled about 24nm SE to a larger island in the outer archipelago, Ormo. We moored in the very quiet Brunnsviken harbour on the SW coast. The HM also manages a few holiday cabins and runs a very small shop. She explained to me that it is left open during the day and prices for all the goods are displayed. If you buy anything with cash just put the money in the tin in the shop; if you need to pay by card you have to ring a bell for the HM. This is not the first time that we have come across an honesty box for payments. As Andrea and I noted it shows the difference between their society and ours – in the UK not only would payment not be made but an opportunist thief would soon make off with the money as well as many goods as he or she could carry!

Ormo is a large island but with only about 500 permanent residents. Tourism seems to play quite a small part in this islands economy. Later we cycled on empty roads to the main 'town' of Kyrkvikan. In the local cafe the owner explained that he imported Godminster cheddar cheese and Snowdonia cheeses from the UK and that it was very popular in Sweden.

One of the main roads on Orno

The next day we travelled the short distance SW to Uto mooring in the North harbour at Gruvbyn. As may be recalled from our previous blog we had tried mooring in the South harbour one windy day but had to give up as we couldn't get the stern anchor to set. This time we were successful.

 

Bouyed entrance to Uto, NE harbour

Uto is much more orientated towards tourism than the larger neighbour Ormo. Here there is a large hotel, hostel and numerous small cabins available.

Typical traditional house on Uto

The Windmill is conspicuous as you approach the coast

And during the afternoon we went for a long walk - even longer than we had expected as it followed a meandering route along footpaths and rocks reaching the E coast for a while.

Skerries on the coast

An unusual aspect of Uto is its mining history. It has Sweden's oldest iron mine said to date back to the 12^th century. The mine ceased operating in the 19^th century but you can still see the water-filled open-cast mines and a few surviving mine workers homes.

One of the mines

Iron ore truck

Our visit to Uto completed our time in the archipelago and from here we began our journey returning S. We had enjoyed 12 days and although we had only visited a few of the thousands of islands we felt that we had seen plenty of interest.