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| Pronounced aw-lund |
A new country and we are now above 60°N. The nights are very short and it does not get properly dark. Something we should expect as we are a mere 600km from the Arctic Circle and very close to the longest day. No auroras for us!
Åland is a Swedish speaking, autonomous region of Finland. The season up here is very short, measured in weeks rather than months. Even the main marinas in the capital of Mariehamn do not open until 1 June and are closed by the end of August.
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Gord tries out the sea berth. It is actually the longest berth on Chinook!
Even with all that toe room, he decided to stay in the aft cabin with Jenny. |
We had a fabulous sail across from Sweden - a short hop of 32nm and our first landfall was the tiny resort island of Rodham. Since it was early in the season, the cafe was yet to open but we were able order fresh bread. This was delivered to the boat and was eaten before we set sail!
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| A crosswind made it a challenge to hook onto the stern mooring ball on the way to the dock, but there we are. And you thought parallel parking a car was tricky! |
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| Picnic tables built onto the dock. You can bet they don't wobble! |
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| Exploring the granite shores of Rodham. Stepping stones! |
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| One half of the lead marks to help ships coming in from the open sea. All of the islets and submerged rocks would play havoc with visual approaches if not for these. |
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| On the tower is the top part of the lead marks. The smaller tower of the left holds fog horns. |
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| The Rodham Museum - yep, even this wee rock has enough history for a museum |
Despite being tiny, Rodham was an important harbour as it was used to wait for favourable winds for the crossing to Sweden. It was also part of the radio beacon network that was used from the 1930s to 1970s to guide ships through the rocky archipelago where foggy conditions often limits visibility.
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| Low lying red granite island with little vegetation - quite different from the Stockholm Archipelago |
It is illegal to discharge black water into the sea in Åland and Finland so something we are seeing more and more frequently is the floating pump out barge. In many of the popular anchorages, you can raft up and empty your black water tanks using a hand pump. As our forward black water tank is only 40 litres, this is a very handy thing!
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| The floating poop station |
We arrived in Mariehamn in very strong winds. Work was still being carried out on the marina with a barge blocking half the marina. We had to wiggle into a berth designed for a much smaller boat but with an inventive use of many mooring lines, we managed to get Chinook secured. And then it rained! And rained. We always welcome a good boat wash to rinse off the salt!
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Even in the sunniest region of the Nordic countries (May- August) it needs to rain sometimes
- and boy did it rain! |
The rain passed and even though the grey skies remained, we had warm weather to explore around town. Once again, we were treated to glorious displays of tulips and lilacs. A never ending Spring!
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| Early summer blooms, brightening up a grey, drizzly day |
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| Floating eco-scrubbers help to freshen the water in this pond |
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| As we go walking along the shoreline on the edge of town, there's no doubt what the town is sitting on. |
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| We walked around the S/V Pommern, but chose not to go into the attached museum. |
Mariehamn was established in the 1800's and the town was renowned for its fleet of grain ships. The Pommern is the last remaining of those merchant vessels and is in magnificent shape.
Gord and Jenny's time aboard Chinook was drawing to a close and they chose to hop on a ferry to Helsinki to do some hotel-based exploring before returning to Canada.
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We walked Gord and Jenny up to the ferry terminal. Even the safety barriers outside the terminal echo the mariner theme here.
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| It has been fun having you aboard! Didn't we see some great things? |
The sun eventually returned and we began to consider the tourist offerings further afield than the city of Mariehamn. We decided to ride our bikes to one of popular sites north of Mariehamn - Kastelholm.
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| 24 kilometres one way. A good effort after weeks on a boat. |
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| On our ride out of town, we passed a little pony pulling a cart. |
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Things get rural quickly. This is St. Olaf's Church, built between 1260 - 1280.
We love a substantial landmark to cycle towards. |
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| Just before we crossed over a channel that runs up the island that Mariehamn is on, there is a lookout over the bridge. We will ride across here. |
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| Completely by surprise, we happened upon the Taffel Factory ... and factory tour! |
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| A gift shop with ALL the Taffel products! |
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| The Taffel backpack that we didn't get. |
We decided against the Taffel t-shirts, Taffel socks, beanies, ball caps, fridge magnets and other paraphenalia. After being OVERWHELMED with potato and potato-related information, we tore ourselves away from the Taffel factory and continued east towards Kastelholm.
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| Almost there! |
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| We made it to Kastelholm! |
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| The perfect lunch. Guess where we got the Taffel chips? |
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| Farm buildings from all over Åland have been moved here |
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Inside the sparsely furnished farmhouse, one item stands out - a loom. Sasha, you would be able to while away the long Swedish winters here!
Kate models the traditional bride's crown at the outdoor museum.
The bride wore this for three days and had to sleep sitting up. What a wedding night!! |
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| The surest way of getting things moved |
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| Traditional fencing |
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| Kastelholm |
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| Poppies! |
After a relaxing day of wandering through the castle grounds and the many old structures that had been moved there to recreate a settlement similar to what would have existed in the castle's heyday, we started back.
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| We saw a deer and a fawn on the ride back! The deer are tiny here - not even a metre tall at the head. |
It was a pleasant day ... until the rear tire on Sean's trusty Brompton actually wore through from old age! Luckily, we were mostly (only 5 kilometres) from Chinook, so the last part of the journey turned into a bicycle pushing adventure!
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| That's what old age on a bike tire will do! |
Looks like the bicycles' tires need to be added to Chinook's maintenance schedule!
Once we returned to Chinook, we took a moment to watch the sunset and raise a glass together. Cruising in the Baltic is not lauded often enough. We are having so much fun exploring and meeting other sailing/cruising folks.
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| S/V Naboo (with Doug and Angelique aboard) in the late evening sun |
Now, the best part of our stay in Mariehamn? Auto Pat has joined us for the next week!
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| Pat's back at the helm! |
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