Author: will

Week 2: The Little Belt

Copenhagen is a well connected city and hence ideal for crew changeover. we took a ferry from Aarhus and drove to a campsite at Roskilde which is conveniently near the capital. Barbara, William and Pat were due to arrive and join me for Week 2 of the cruise, with a full day of overlap before Jon and Greg flew out, so we took the opportunity to visit the Viking Ship Museum which is at Roskilde.

From there we drove down and across the ferry at Bojden and on to a campsite at Nederby on Flensburg Fjord to begin the second week.

Overview of week 2 tracks and camping places

Day 1 Mon 31/07/2017 – 15.9 miles

We got away from the campsite by 12.00. The wind was blowing force 3-4 from the West. Barbara, helming the newer canoe, wisely chose to reef immediately, before leaving the shelter of the bay near the campsite and heading over towards Holnis Point on the German shore.

Unfortunately she failed to notice that the rudder blade was not fully down. The long fetch and some adverse current combined to kick up quite a sea in mid channel. The corkscrew motion of the quartering waves was hard to manage without the benefit of the full rudder area and they capsized shortly before reaching the point, but soon had the canoe up again and bailed out.

We all enjoyed a rest in the sunshine on the beach.

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Onwards again after lunch on a long run across the mouth of a bay to a spit on the Southernmost point of the Danish shore. It was quite rough again near the spit and Barbara reduced sail to mizzen only, set aft. We stopped for a brew in the shelter of the spit and reset the mizzen masts in both canoes forward of the centreboard case, but without lowering the foremasts.

Under this rig we continued, turning gradually North around the land and gaining much more shelter from the waves.

We crossed the open Vemmingbund to reach the shore just West of Sonderborg entrance

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and camped on a beach below a designated “overnatning” tent site which we felt was unfortunately too hard to reach from the water with all our gear.

Day 2 Tues 01/08/2017 – 7.2 miles

We were camped very close to Dybbol Banke, the site of the famouse Danish last stand against the Prussians in 1864, a visit to which seemed to feature in every cruise account of the area that I had ever read. So we walked along the coast and up to the remains of the fortifications and visited the museum, which was well worthwhile. What a waste of Danish and Prussian lives.

We had a very slow sail in light airs to Sonderborg and moored up agaisnt some wide public steps, right by the Danish royal yacht where the harbour wall was lowest.

Tea and cakes in a cafe by the bridge and then back to the canoes and paddled under the bridge and up Als Sund to find a nice quiet location to camp on the Eastern shore where there was an abandoned picnic bench.

However it was not as peacful as we had hoped, waterskiers seem to use this stretch of the sound in the evening and a pilot practicing repeated takeoffs and landings in a seaplane. They all went home in the end when the light faded.

Day 3 Weds 02/08/2017 – 18.2 miles

A fine morning with a moderate Southwesterly wind. We were quickly out into the more open Als Fjord and on a reach up towards the Northern end.

Stopped twice in the shelter of the mainland shore, then emerged to cross the exposed mouth of the Aabenraa Fjord under reefed main and mizzen to try and get as far as possible while the weather held.

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Stopped again on the other side in a nice bay and then on for another mile or so to a public campsite on the foreshore to refill the water containers and buy an ice cream.

From here we ran downwind in bright sunshine across to the island of Barso and on around it to camp in a field at the Northern end

with a view out over a wide expanse of open sea to the North which we hoped to cross the next day. The camping place was perfect except for some frisky cattle who took more interest in us than we wanted.

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A fine campfire used to good effect to roast some aubergines and peppers in tinfoil for supper.

Day 4 Thurs 03/08/2017 – 12.8 miles

Steady rain whilst striking camp and a South wind of about force 4. We could not see the shore 4 miles away to the North so had to start out, under reefed sail, on a compass bearing. The seas built up once we were out of the shelter of the island. We were making 5 knots, but Barbara, helming the old canoe, finally felt that she had to lower the foresail to avoid the risk of a capsize, so I did the same. I actually found it harder to balance under this rig with such a corkscrewing sea from the stern quarter, as there was not much weight of wind in the sails to balance against.

We felt rather exposed yet it was hard to get the two canoes to go at a compatible speed and so stay close together enough to be of assistance should one capsize. Nearing the far shore, the waves were particularly large but there was no obvious sheltered spot in which to stop, so we plugged on along the lee shore towards the Northwest until we could finally round Halk Hoved and find a suitable place.

The rest of the trip to Arosund was in easier conditions and we arrives by 12.15pm 3/4hour before the wind was forecast to rise to 18 knots!

We stopped on a small beach just beyond the mainland harbour. It poured with rain and no one seemed to be about as we explored the place on land. We fancied a touch of luxury and a place to dry out our wet camping gear but the only hotel was fully booked, or so they said when they had taken a look at us! We had to be content with fish and chips in a fairly basic transport cafe near the ferry. At least it was warm.

We were reconciled to night in the open fronted “overnatning” hut. This was not in fact at all bad, particularly if one is exhausted!

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Later the sun came out and we got tokens for the hot showers and clothes dryers at the marina. There appeared to be no shops, so we walked 1 mile to a nearby campsite which yielded a small supermarket from which to restock.

In the evening a friendly couple from the local rowing club came and chatted to us in our hut and offered hospitality and any assistance we might require.

Day 5 Fri 04/08/2017 – 10.3 miles

We could now work up the coast in relative shelter from the Southwest wind which was forecast to be about 12 knots but which rose more and more until it was about 20 knots ( force 5) by the time we reached the area of “free tenting” woodland where we planned to camp at about 3pm.

We started out under reefed main and mizzen, then mizzen only ( set aft), then mizzen only forward ( for the more open bay off Hejlsminde) and finally just paddled as the wind was too gusty when near enough to the shore to get enough shelter.

Later in the day the sun came out and the wind reduced and we had a pleasant time relaxing on the beach in good shelter. It was a nice place to camp but the serenity was slightly marred by noise from a house, which we had not noticed at first, hidden up in the trees close behind the beach.

Day 6 Sat 05/08/2017 – 9.5 miles

Less wind today , about force 4 from the West. Started under reefed main and full mizzen and cut straight across Mosvig bay on the most comfortable course we could in order to avoid either too much fetch or too gusty a wind. However, it was still rough enough by the time we reached the far shore. Beached in rather an exposed spot then walked the canoes round a small spit into the mouth of a stream to get some shelter from the waves.

On along the shore to the Northeast in surprisingly shallow water (9-12inches deep) on a broad reach. The extensive shallows gave useful shelter from the remaining Southerly swell, which broke further out. We shocked a lone, snorkelling, spear fisherman right in our path, who was not expecting anyone to creep up on him so quickly in such a depth!

The sun came out and we stopped for lunch at a picnic table in the woods set on a slightly raised grassy section near a designated “overnachtning” place which would be a fine campsite.

I got Pat to helm us under paddle and then under mizzen only. We rounded the corner and headed up towards Faeno Kalv island, now with a gusty wind hard on the Port bow. At one point William and Barbara, in the other canoe, shot past us and it became obvious that the sound had a strong current flowing out to the Southeast and causing tidal swirls.

Went ashore on Faeno as making no progress at all against the current. Increased sail to reefed main and mizzen to get more power. Pat had a nail-biting beat against tide and the gusty wind, with me hanging right out at times, before reaching the island. Barbara and William elected to paddle along close to the Faeno shore.

It was a lovely, if rather busy, place to camp. We were kept awake by some late night revellers and by a group of torchlight canoeists from Middlefart who warned us of even stronger currents to come, nearer the town.

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Day 7 Sun 06/08/2017 – 9.1 miles approx

Up and away by 9am as , according to the canoeists the previous night, the current is less severe early and late in the day. Sailed to Middlefart with no problems in a following wind from the West.

Moored up in a small dock near a traditional boatbuilders which was established in the 1880s. We visited a craft fair which happened to be running and a small boat museum of some interest.

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After a cup of coffee in town we set off under full sail to reach across the strong ‘wind over tide’ standing waves towards the more sheltered Northern shore, but William and Barbara were capsized in midstream. The mizzen came out of its socket and Williams jar of hand-cream floated away downwind. We did a quick “hand-cream overboard” exercise and then kept station nearby while Barbara bailed out. William kept the canoe as stable as he could in the waves from a position in the water leaning on the lee side of the canoe near the centreboard. He found that the best way to do this was not to heave-to as usual but to sheet in the foresail in order to provide some counterbalance to his weight and keep the tiller locked straight ahead as if actually sailing the canoe through the water.

when they had bailed out we headed over to a convenient marina on the North shore to regroup. William’s phone had unfortunately expired in the incident, despite a waterproof bag.

From here we finished with a gusty session fairly hard on the wind , under the main road bridge and up the Western shore to a slip at the marina near Fredricia where we planned to finish and catch the train back to get the van.

I have found that there are no travel brochures featuring sailing canoe trips, so in order to decide where best to go, I have turned to historical accounts of the voyages undertaken in the late 1800s when the sport was first popular. The first week of this trip reverses some of the route through the Limfjord which was taken by George Holmes and his friend in 1896 in their two canoe yawls Ethel and Nan. The second week, working up the Eastern coast of Denmark form the German border at Flensburg Fjord as far as Fredricia, was inspired by various accounts including E.F Knight’s “Falcon on the Baltic” and an 1879 cruise by 4 sailing canoes: Willow-the-wisp, Popsey, Wavelet and Cambria, which was written up in the Field magazine of that year.

Week 1: Through the Limfjord  

The complement for the first week was Greg, Nick, Jon and I. We drove up through Denmark in Greg’s VW camper van to begin at a beachfront campsite in Lemvig which is near the North Sea ( West) end of the Limfjord.

Day 1  Sat 22/07/2017  – 15.4 miles

The weather was uninspiring for July, overcast with a cool Easterly force 3. We left the beach at about 12.15pm

and tacked along the Southern shore of the wide Nissum Bredening. The long Easterly fetch had allowed quite a ‘lop’ to build up and the going was rather wet for the forward crew members and also for my, supposedly waterproof, mobile phone which had drowned and died by the time we stopped to warm up with a brew of soup, on a slightly sheltered beach, at 14.15pm. This was a shame , as I had intended to navigate on it for the whole of the forthcoming trip! We has only made good about 2.75 miles to windward and looked unlikely to reach the bridge at Oddesund at the Eastern end of the Bredening that day. Some were also finding the conditions too cold, wet and unpleasant and at the very least wanted to change into their wetsuits.

An alternative suggested itself: a dryer close reach NNE directly across the 6.5 miles of open water to a beach on the Northern shore where the map seemed to show only a narrow neck of land across which to portage into Skibsted Fjord.

the One and a half hour sail went well and was a good introduction to how open the waters of the Limfjord can feel. However, the portage turned out to be much further than envisaged. We stripped the rig and unloaded a lot of the gear to lighten each canoe enough so that it could be carried 350m along a road by all 4 of us together.

We were assisted by a Dane and his small dog, who went to get his bicycle to help us ferry the bags of gear and also took some photographs.

He was a chatty fellow and he told us that the Vikings also used to use this spot as a portage, back in the day.

We re-launched in what might be described as an open sewer which led into a very shallow mere surrounded by an electric cattle fence, on which Jon managed to electrocute himself.

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We sailed on for another hour along the South coast of the fjord and camped outside the cattle fence on a small peninsular in light rain, then cooked a stew of Chorizo and potatoes around a small campfire. Greg sounded an initial warning that this sort of sailing and camping were not for him anymore.

Day 2   Sun 23/07/2017 – 9 miles

We awoke to pissing rain and a stronger, Force 4, Easterly wind. We had to pack up camp in the rain so that much of the gear was stowed wet. Greg was not very happy!

We tacked on under reefed mainsail and full mizzen. Lots of water was still coming aboard, even though there was not much fetch and the waves were small. We has a short stop on a gravel spit

and then headed North to try and cut inside a small island bird sanctuary. There appeared to be a passage of water on the map but it was very shallow.

It was so shallow that it was even hard to drag the empty canoes along when we got out and walked. We met two cagey German kayakers coming the opposite way, whom we surmised wanted the island to themselves as a campsite.

By making the portage on the previous day we had cut off a lot of distance and now had only about a 2 mile downwind run to reach Doverodde, our target for the end of the second day.

The place has a small marina and a huge concrete grain silo from which one can look out over the surrounding countryside. It was once important for grain export, but is now a very sleepy tourist village without any visitors or any open facilities.

Admittedly, the weather was bad, but the place was completely deserted. A short walk from the marina, on a cobbled square at the base of the silo, was one open tourist shop at which we at least managed to buy some hot drinks. The guy who ran the shop also turned out to be the manager of the youth hostel. However, I was more interested in the free ‘overnatning’ hut which I had read about. As he could see that we were “hard men” he agreed that , although he had not mentioned it, there was indeed such a place if we really wanted it and gave us direction. We walked over in the rain to look at the open fronted hut. It seemed unappealing in the conditions. We returned to the shop and readily accepted the offer of warm rooms in the hostel, where we were in fact the only guests. We had the luxury of soft beds, a kitchen and somewhere to sort out our wet gear even if the showers were unfortunately cold. That night it rained heavily outside.

Day 3   Mon 24/07/2017 17.5 miles

The day dawned reasonably fine and dry with little wind although still from the North East. It was a pleasant respite from the awful weather of the last two days.

There were lots of small jelly fish in the water, and a seal.

Jon took a turn at the helm.

We stopped for tea on the North shore just beyond the ferry, after about 2 miles.

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The wind then got up as we tacked on into the wider Visby Bredning and the waves soon followed, then it started to rain again. We tacked over to the Eastern shore and stopped just behind a spit for some shelter.

Greg and Nick’s tack met the shore 3/4 mile further South and as they sailed into the shallows, Greg, fearing submerged rocks, pulled out the centreboard rather suddenly, destabilising the canoe. In trying to correct this he overdid it and dived over the side. Nick, helming, fell out into the shallows and hurt his leg by trapping it between the canoe and the bottom. Spirits where low. Greg had definitely decided that sailing canoeing and camping were no longer a thing he wanted to do and he was very vociferous about it!

We tacked over towards the North shore in the hopes of more shelter from the waves and came to a mussel farm. Jon and I kept outside it and Nick and Greg went further inshore and so fell a bit behind. More rain fell. Nick and Greg went ashore while Jon and I were on an offshore tack. Our return tack brought us to the North shore again about 1.5 miles further on, near a small spit which looked possible as a campsite. We worried about what was happening to the others, as they stayed put for such a long time. Unable to raise them on the phone directly for lack of a number, we phone Barbara back in the UK. Meanwhile Greg was ashore attempting to get help from passersby on the beach to light his cooker and make Nick a hot drink to restore his mood. When they finally caught up, we camped for the night in a pleasant hollow at the back of the beach and had a nice fire.

Day 4   Tues 25/07/2017 – 17.75 miles

The weather was a bit more promising.

We decided to swap the crews around and started out reefed down to beat against a NE wind of only about Force 3 but in surprisingly rough water. However we got up to the long bridge at Vilsund surprisingly quickly, perhaps as a result of some beneficial current. Nick and Jon ( in the newer canoe) just failed to fit under the bridge with the mast up, but Greg and I were just OK under a section noted as having 3.75m clearance.

We stopped on the North shore beyond the bridge at 11.30am.

Continuing now under full sail in smoother water, we tacked, long and short, up the Western shore of the Thirsted Bredening. Nearing Thirsted itself, the wind seemed to constantly shift and head us whichever tack we tried in order to lay the harbour entrance. We stopped near the marina and went ashore for a fine fish lunch at a harbour side restaurant then shopped at Netto to re-provision for the next 3 days.

In the afternoon we went on along the shore towards the East on a beam reach for about the first time in the trip. Greg and I stopped to check out a possible ‘overnatning’ place in a wood but Nick and Jon carried on and found a fine campsite 3/4 mile further on.

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Day 5   Weds 26/07/2017 
8.5 miles am, 16.6 miles pm= 20.75 miles total

A proper sunny morning at last. Up at 7am in order to get away by 9am and hopefully make some distance as we are still a long way from Aalborg and Nick must finish on Thursday night in order to catch a flight on Friday morning..

Greg is lagging a bit. He has become somewhat negative about the trip and would like to stop being stuck in the canoes and having to camp at all, if possible. Unfortunately there is very little wind. We tacked over to the South shore for 1.5 miles.

Then after a brew up we continued onwards on starboard tack in very shallow water again to stop for lunch at 13.30pm near the ferry at the spit which sticks out into the main open sea area of the Limfjord.

It has been decided that Greg will leave today and hitch back to Lemvig to pick up his van. This will enable him to come back and rendezvous with us, wherever we have got to by Thursday evening and get Nick to the airport. It will also release him from the tyranny of further sailing canoeing and allow him to have a bit of a hitching adventure of his own in Denmark. He thinks that the spit looks like a good place for him to start from, as there is a direct road from the ferry to Nykobing, the main town on the island of Mors.

Jon Nick and I set out across the 9.5mile wide open sea towards Logstor against a NE force 2-3 wind with me sailing the older canoe on my own.

The sea is very broad and the land around it low lying, so that one feels very small and vulnerable out in the middle.

Maybe as a result of parting with our ‘Jonah’ , the wind angle changed subtly in our favour, allowing us to just lay the course and did not die away, as it might have done, before we arrived at the far shore at 18.30.

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Day 6   Thurs 27/07/2017 – 26.5 miles!

This is our last available day of sailing before Nick has to leave, and we still have a very long way to go to Aalborg, so we aim for an early start. At least the wind has gone round to the South and is about force 3. It was raining at 6.30am but is dry again by the time we strike camp and get under way at 8.45am. The water off the campsite is very shallow so we need to do a lot of paddling to reach deep enough water to sail through the narrow channel North of the small island off Logstor. We ran into a submerged causeway and had to haul the canoes across.

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Finally into the deeper water of the river, and after going under the bridge, turned gradually East. It started to rain again and get cold. Visibility clamped down. However we seemed to be averaging 4.5 knots, perhaps due to some favourable current.

Stopped for a miserable brew below the last wind turbine on the South bank. The two canoes are surprisingly well matched on a reach today, considering that I am the only occupant of the older one.

Onwards, just North of due East, across the Nibe Bredning, which seems very wide in the poor visibility, requiring us to follow a compass course at times in order to pick up each new channel marker, although the increasing stream of yachts also helps.

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We finally reached the Eastern shore as the rain stopped. Lunch with the delight of hot Hungarian Goulash cupasoup.The wind has come round to Southwest, so we are on a dead run, wing and wing, up the narrowing river and across a lot of very extensive shallows. The older canoe, with only one person, now gaining ground significantly over the other one.

The last stretch into Aalborg was very fast, suggesting a strong current. We have covered 26.5 miles in 7 hours and caught up totally with my planned schedule.

We have prebooked a hut at “cabin Island”, part of a civic amenity campsite on the Western outskirts of Aalborg, in order to have some ‘luxury’ at the end of the cruise.

The cabins come into view on the high right bank just after a wind turbine graveyard. I do not want to get swept past it and so land in a deep, weed-choked cesspool of a bay immediately adjacent to the cabins. Having prospected for a better place on foot, Nick and Jon arrive and we all paddle round to a slipway in the adjacent marina to unload.

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Greg joins us later by road, in his van.

I had read an account of a summer sailing canoe trip following the course of the river Erne undertaken in 1881 by T.H Holding in his canoe Osprey accompanied by two others and written up in The Field magazine of the following year.

The Erne rises in central Ireland and heads North and then West to reach the sea at Ballyshannon. On its way it passes through four distinct areas of Lough. The first two, Lough Gowna and Lough Oughter, seem to contain more land than water but the latter two, Upper and Lower Lough Erne, have lots of islands which look inviting for camping and become gradually more open until the final East-West stretch of Lower Lough Erne ( also called “The Broad Lough”) which provides at least 15miles of exposed water.

The river and it’s loughs are publicised as very suitable for paddling by the Northern Irish tourist board. If you visit a site called CanoeNI.com you can find details of suggested put-in and take-out points together with possible rough campsites.

The 1881 expedition started from Drumbarona station ( now no longer in existence) near Lough Gowna but a study of the map showed that the section from there to Lough Oughter seemed too narrow a river to consider any significant sailing so we decided to start from a secluded slip on the Western side of Lough Oughter.

Day 1  27/07/2014

We travelled there from the UK in a VW camper with the canoes on the roof and arrived at Lough Oughter at about lunch time on the Sunday.

Preparations and initial packing of canoes always takes a long time and we also had to take a break and shelter in the van from a very heavy rain shower before finally getting away, heavily laden, at about 4pm with a fresh Westerly breeze and an uncertain sky.

Where to go was not at all obvious as the open areas of water are all surrounded by trees and the passages from one area to another are quite narrow so it’s not easy to see the way out, but we were navigating with the help of a mapping app called Viewranger running on my mobile phone which gave constant real-time update of our location and heading.

We stopped to visit Clough Oughter Castle, no more than a ruined tower on its own small island.

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It was a bit hairy getting away from there. We started out in the wrong direction heading towards an area of water that was in fact a cul-de-sac then running downwind under too much sail until we rounded a left hand bend into more sheltered water where there was rather a lot of weed which tended to catch and then jam the rudder so it would not lift to allow clearing it. We worked up to the road bridge

Here we stopped and talked to the owner of a nearby Outdoor Pursuits Centre. He gave us permission to camp on a field on the right bank a bit beyond the bridge.

Light drizzle but a nice fire and 6 miles under our belts.

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Day 2 28/07/2014

Some of the party had a pleasant early swim near the bridge and found the water surprisingly warm. We were away by 10.30 am in light drizzle with a NNW force 3. We sailed out of the Lough through a narrow passage side by side which was fortunately almost dead downwind as it was barely wide enough for the two canoes to fit along it.

The river opened out and we turned gradually round to the North. Sailing still remained possible in this initial wider stretch of the river

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but eventually we had to give in and paddle as the river became narrower and the course too head to wind. The amount of weed also made it necessary to raise both the rudder and centreboard

A long six mile paddle brought us near to the town of Belturbet where there is a small fall down a rock weir below a road bridge which prevents larger vessels from navigating any further up the river. We had deliberately had a look at this fall on our way to Lough Oughter in the van, just to check that it would be passable in the canoes. In the event the odd exposed rock upstream of the weir caused more alarm than the fall itself and we successfully passed under the bridge to stop at the pontoon on the West bank at 14.30. A short wander into town and the consumption of a pint or two of Guinness fortified us for another long session of paddling in the afternoon.

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We began this at 4.30pm and arrived exhausted at the slip of the Crom estate, where we had pre-booked camping space near the river, at 6pm.

Later we walked round the estate which is just over the border in Northern Ireland and administered by the National Trust. It has some fine stone buildings including a boathouse and a picturesque ruined castle together with the obligatory tower on a small island offshore.

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Arriving very late, the 1881 party had spent a night in this tower before being made more welcome and properly entertained by the owners of the estate on the following day. From their comments Crom was evidently the centre of a lively local yachting community in the late 1800s.

Day 3  29/07/2014

We got away from the slip at Crom rather late and under the scrutiny of a lot of visitors.

I also had some problems with the rudder blade sticking in the up position as a result of all the weed that had got jammed in it the day before. However the morning was much brighter than the previous day and there was a nice wind if only it had not been from NNW again which meant the whole day would be spent tacking to windward.

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It was again surprisingly hard to find the way through all the islands which don’t seem to look at all like they do on the map when you are in amongst them.

Progress was slow so we stopped for a break on Dernish Island to sit out a particularly gusty squall.

Back on the interminable tacking again we finally made it to Lady Craigavon bridge which fortunately had 4.4m clear headroom so we could tack straight against the strong and fluky wind through without lowering the sails although this nearly caused a capsize.

We were all desperate for a break and some lunch by then so stopped on the East bank among a lot of brambles just beyond the bridge. After lunch we plugged on enjoying some reaches that we could lay until the sun came out so we stopped again at 4.30pm near an unoccupied summerhouse on Inishleague and had a brew of tea then all fell asleep!

Some longer tacks took us down to Knockninny where it was again very gusty and we were not inclined to stop or climb the hill but decided to push on and look for a suitable spot to camp further North. We found a nice peninsular on the West shore of the Lough with flat grass and camped about 6.15pm.

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The spot was almost ideal with the possible exception that the water was too shallow near the shore to allow for any swimming but the evening sun shone and I used the time to fix the rudder uphaul cleat and the foresail tack reefing snaphook.

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Day 4  30/07/2014

The wind finally went round to the West and blew a nice force 3 giving us a fine sail under the bridge and up the river leading out of the North West corner of the upper Lough. Tacking was necessary on some of the windward reaches but the river here is quite wide.

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We continued up to Ballenaleck where we stopped at about 2pm and walked up to the centre of the village to do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately the Lace museum was closed and the service in the adjacent tearooms was rather slow, but the tea was welcome.

Periods of very light drizzle followed but we had some more relaxing reaches before needing to do a bit of tacking and finally some paddling when the wind fell light as we reached Enniskillen at 5pm.

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The town did not look appealing somehow, nor did we fancy to stop and camp on the island in the river opposite the castle which is one of the officially designated rough camping sites suggested by CanoeNI for those following the Erne Canoe Trail, so we paddled on down through the open lock below the town, leading to Lower Lough Erne.

The sun came out and we had a fine sail on the Lough, past Devenish island and tried Trasna island as a possible campsite but found it too vegetated. We tacked over to the West shore and stopped on a flat peninsular just before Circle Hill.

Day 5  31/07/2014

The day dawned fine and at last the wind had gone round more towards the South. This was our last full day of sailing and tomorrow we needed to be in a position for someone to catch a bus back to the starting point and collect the van so that we could motor across Ireland to Rosslare and catch the ferry home. As we were running slightly behind my plan I was doubtful whether it would be possible to reach Belleek in time, so we decided to head North along the lough and so how things went but turn back in time to reach Enniskillen by the evening, perhaps stopping at Devenish island to visit the tower as we would definitely be able to catch a bus from there.

We got away promptly by 9.45am and broad reached up the lough at 3 to 4 knots with fine sunny periods between the patches of cloud and totally flat water.

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We had a short break to stretch our legs at Inchmacsaint and then continued on towards the corner with “The Broad Lough” arriving there about 12.00

The wind fell lighter beyond Heron island and just beyond Duff point it disappeared all together, just as we would have been able to lay a course for Belleek and the Western end of the lough.

When the wind returned it came in strongly from the NW. We lay across the lough to the North shore through a squall of rain hoping to find some shelter. The first available land was an island called “Lusty More Island”!

After a wet lunch the wind had shifted further round to the West and strengthened so that one reef was required in the foresails. We had a hard time beating along the North shore and considered stopping again in the shelter behind Long Rock . Fortunately conditions moderated so that we were able to shake the reef out again and continue tacking.

Somewhere near Rossharbour Point William and Nick, who were following, tacked in to the North shore and waved for help. It appeared that the pivot bolt had dropped out of their rudder blade leaving them with no steering at all. Fortunately we had a suitable spare nut and bolt.

The long afternoon of tacking continued. Keeping near to the North shore or the shelter of islands was good in that the water was smoother but the downside was that the wind was much gustier and variable in direction than in more open water, necessitating constant vigilance to avoid a capsize.

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Nick decided to make a long tack all the way over to the Southern shore.

The afternoon brightened up and we plugged on along the North side looking for somewhere to stop but the islands we were passing had no the dry land or else it was set well back behind a whole lot of trees and reeds growing out of the water.

Barbara announced that she was so tired that we had to stop for a rest even if it meant just tying up to some reeds.

Nick and William were nowhere to be seen and I was becoming a bit anxious about them.

However, in the end they caught up having rather lost out and done a lot more tacking as a result of the adverse deflection of the wind direction caused by the mountains on the South shore.

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We tacked on fairly desperate to find a suitable camping place that was not a bird sanctuary.

Finally reaching a possible spot, a steep grass field with a flatish section near the water, we noted obvious signs that it was regularly used by cattle.

There was another possible spot next to a small jetty nearby.

Unfortunately, having camped, it became apparent that this was also a route favoured by cattle and this required William to hurriedly rig a thin rope fence to divert the cows round the tents as they came down for their evening drink.

All in all an epic day’s sail, all to windward in the afternoon yet logging 22.5 miles.

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Day 6  01/08/2014

Our last day and we needed to get up really early to ensure that we left by 7.30am to paddle the 4 1/2 miles to Belleck in time to catch the bus back and get the van.

A very still morning with no wind to oppose us at last.

We had reached the end of a very enjoyable week’s sailing canoeing in surprisingly varied and beautiful countryside. the van was successfully retrieved and the canoes installed on the roof for the ferry trip back to Bristol.

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Trosa is a sweet little town gathered around a canalised river with plenty of bars and restaurants, much visited by tourists. It has been called the “Venice” of the North, or sometimes “World’s End”.

We had rented a cabin at the campsite so as to have a bit of relative luxury during the day off allocated for crew changeover. Nick and “big” William were leaving to catch flights back to the UK and being replaced by Barbara and my son William.

More food and booze needed buying in Trosa as it might be equally hard to guarantee finding anywhere to shop among the islands as in the first week. We had planned the provision of alcoholic drink meticulously, including buying enough for both weeks in Denmark on the journey over as it was cheaper there but unfortunately I had forgotten this fact when packing the canoes for week 1 and we had taken all of the booze with us in the canoes and drunk the lot! Carrying enough food drink and water for 5 days was a challenge, particularly as we did not live on packets of dried food but ate pretty much as we would do at home , with full meals cooked using fresh vegetables etc. I had been worried about additional weight causing a canoe to float too low in the water to allow it to be bailed out if capsized. Greg found a solution to this by putting a large amount of the additional food and drink in a large & sturdy inflated Otleib bag in the cockpit of each canoe below the helmsman’s seat. The theory was that if the canoe filled with water, the sealed bags would act as their own floatation to support the weight of the additional contents and not weigh the canoes down.

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Week 2 day 1 16/06/2013

We got away by about 11am aiming to head East and cross the relatively open sound that leads North towards Sodertalje and around the Southern point near Grytnas.

We stopped briefly for a break at the Northern end of Fifang island.

We chose to head around the North end of the next chain of islands to the East but things got a bit hectic with the strengthening following wind and confused sea causing us to need to tack downwind to avoid the risk of a gybe. We decided to put in again on the East coast of this island and wait for the weather to make up its mind before tackling the open stretch.

By about 4pm there was a slight reduction in the wind strength but a heavy cloud bank could be seen coming up behind us from the West. Either we stayed where we were for the night or chanced a quick run across ahead of the coming bad weather. I was keen to push on as, beyond this section, the route would be more protected for some distance and so we might be able to make progress even if the weather was poor. If we stayed put, we might be trapped by the weather. Given the look of the weather we chose to use the fully reduced sail plan with the mizzen mast stepped forward, but kept the foremast up with its sail stowed on deck as its windage would not be a problem on the broad reaching course.

Despite some anxiety, we reached the Southern point just before the wind increased and turned up Fallnasviken with it dead astern. Even under the pocket handkerchief sails we surfed up the sound at hull speed, making very swift progress up to the low bridge at Tottnas about an hour and a half after leaving the island.

Now in well protected water, we were actually short of wind and had to paddle in some places. Time was getting on by the time we finally found a suitable camping spot on a small reed fringed island.

We found just enough fallen wood on the island to make a fine campfire.

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Week 2 day 2 17/06/2013

The plan for the day was to head South and avoid having to go round Landsort by cutting through the Dragets Kanal ,one of the highlights of the trip. This was a medieval route avoiding the exposed headland which at one point gets very narrow and as a result of the land rising following removal of the weight of the prehistoric icesheet had to be cut deeper in the 19 the century when the depth in it had reduced to only 0.3m.

The day was fine but with a good SW breeze which required us to tack down the first section

but then allowed us to just lay the course down the sound.

There was a chance to relax in the sun over a long lunch

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before turning North to paddle through the narrow section of the Kanal.

With the wind aft we made swift progress out into the open sound leading North to Nynashamn and headed NE towards a gap in the off lying islands aiming to then head across the main sound to the island of Nattaro. Although the wind was not strong, there was a left over, quartering, swell rolling up from the South, this caught Greg and William out in a moment of inattention and caused them to capsize half way across. They righted the canoe and bailed out.

We came ashore on the nearest island for them to sort out and change into dry gear.

The afternoon was well advanced and the weather did not now look settled enough to consider going on across the main open sound to the outer islands,

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So we headed North among the islands to look for a place to camp as a thunderstorm broke.

Week 2 day 3 18/06/2013

It was a glorious morning with a light wind still from the South but the forecast was for stronger NE winds. We set out up the West side of the open sound hoping to cross to the outer island of Uto further up.

We made very good progress and stopped on a rock for a mid morning break before heading out towards the East across the sound.

After about 15 minutes the wind suddenly swung round to the NE and strengthened as forecast. We had little option but to abandon our crossing and head back towards the West. The sea rose surprisingly quickly and we took down all sail and paddled hard to get up into the shelter of a bay on the next island directly to windward. Somewhat exhausted we beached the canoes and stopped for lunch.

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Although the wind moderated to some extent, we decided that it might in fact be unwise to go over to the outer islands with only a couple of sailing days ahead of us, in case we did not have a suitable weather window to cross back again. We set off again in a WNW direction under reduced sail to go round the bottom of Musko and stay among the inshore islands. Our course led us under a low bridge.

And past manmade caves used by the Swedish navy to hide their vessels:

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We ended the day at fine camping location with signs of a fire and previous occupation

and went for a short walk in the setting sun.

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Week 2 day 4 19/06/2013

We still had a long way to go to reach our destination near Stockholm and only two days in which to do it. Initially it looked as if the wind had too much East in it to allow us to make good progress but in fact we had one of our best day’s distance, often close to windward.

We made only two short rest stops

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and reached Dalero by mid afternoon a distance of 19miles. We stopped at a marina to do a bit of shopping and then paddled through the canal at the back of the town which offers a short cut into the sound leading up towards Stockholm.

We found a perfect spot for our final night’s camping on the small island of Brandholmen just to the North.

Week 2 day 5 20/06/2013

The final day was windless so we had to paddle most of the way to Sigvard and Birgetta’s house opposite Saltsjobaden where a warm welcome awaited us.

We berthed the canoes at their boat dock

and unloaded all the gear:

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The next day we put the canoes on the van and set off back to the UK via Hamburg and the Hook of Holland Ferry.

Week 1 day 1  09/06/2013

It took the whole of the nice bright morning to sort out our gear and pack the canoes,

but we finally headed out in our tee-shirts in sunshine towards the island of Fango.

We were quickly caught by a sudden increase in the wind and then heavy thundery rain so we soon needed  more gear and then finally had to stop and try and warm up over the cooker as the rain became torrential and we were all soaked and cold. This was rather a dispiriting start.

Some strong paddling got the circulation back and the day improved before we reached Gubbo Kupa, a small island famous for its high rock.

We found a fine location for the tents in a wooded valley cutting right across the island.

As the evening light faded we climbed the rock, looked out over the surrounding archipelago and witnessed a really striking rainbow.

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Week 1 day 2  10/06/2013

The second day began clear and sunny enough. We repacked the canoes which were dragged up on a rather stony beach above a unpleasant soup of yellow/green algae which seemed to collect in some of the bays in this area.

One of the main activities in the day, when cruising in a sailing canoe, is stowing stuff and we had obviously not learnt how to do it very efficiently yet on this trip. Someone must have left a life jacket hanging in a tree to dry. Unfortunately this was not discovered until we were too far away to go back.

Not long after starting the clouds came over followed by heavy thundery rain.

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We tacked on towards the NE and by lunchtime entered the sheltered sound leading to the village of Harstena.

By this time the wind had died completely, necessitating a mile or so of paddling to reach the village.

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We went ashore for a break and a walk around. Despite having plenty of houses, the village was nearly deserted, as it is for most of the year. People only tend to come and stay in their holiday cottages from 21^st June onwards. There is reported to be a fine bakery selling fresh bread each day, but there was no bread for us, indeed the premises looked as if they were being rebuilt.

We wanted to fill our water containers to the brim at this last habitation, lest we find no fresh water in the coming days. We tried a tap near the landing place but it proved to be salt water! Then we met the doctor. He was a more or less permanent resident on the island and was able to tell us that; yes, there is a well with a hand pump which gives very fine water but, unfortunately, he said, it’s some way off, in the middle of a wood and it’s very hard to find, but there is a sign! It was indeed hard to find and the sign proved to be no more than a short white painted piece of board with a sharpened end and no lettering, pointing off the path into the undergrowth. The pump was a real old cast iron example.

It rained heavily again. We went up on a rock from which you could see the channel leading out to the North.

The sun came out again and we sailed on, close to the outer edge of the archipelago for 3 or 4 miles.

 to reach a spot with a small lagoon and a flat green area that I had earmarked from Google Earth as a likely location for a camp. This proved to be too boggy and without easy access for loading and unloading the canoes. However, across on the adjacent island 150m away the others had found a fine smooth area of rock dipping down at a very shallow angle into the sea, perfect for hauling the canoes out, with a flatter section nearby for the tents. This turns out to be the most common arrangement for an ideal campsite in this area of the Baltic, so you need a geodesic tent that does not have to be pegged out. 

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Week 1 day 3  11/06/2013

I woke and got up an hour too early having misread my watch, so I walked round the small island on which we were camped and found a small unoccupied summer house.

The wind was just right to allow us to lay due North all the way up the long outer leads between the rocks reaching Kupa Klint in time for lunch.

This is another island famous for its tall rock and the view from it, but it is a little harder to climb than Gubbo Kupa and we had difficulty getting Greg up it with his broken foot, only recently out of plaster.

But the view from the top was worth it.

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Early afternoon saw us bowling up towards Arkosund  with a fine reaching breeze

A stop at the quay for ice cream by way of refreshment and the purchase of some smoked fish.

Then on through a shortcut via a quiet reedy canal more reminiscent of the Norfolk Broads than the Baltic islands. It was fortunate that there was little wind and speed was slow as Greg and William hit a rock in the canal.

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On the far side the offshore wind strengthened as we left the shelter of the land and led to some hairy moments. Nick and I hove-to to wait for Greg and William in the other canoe to reef and catch up. While struggling to see the chart on the screen of my phone in its waterproof case, I realised that we had drifted straight over the rock I was trying to avoid.

We had no particular campsite in mind but now had our eye in for spotting appropriate terrain and it did not take long to find a suitable location on an island shortly before the exposed stretch across the mouth of Braviken estuary leading to Norrkoping. The wind died with the light.

Week 1 day 4  12/06/2013

Dawn brought a fine sunny morning with a light breeze from the West, ideal for the somewhat open passage direct to Oxelosund. This was a bit of a relief as we had felt that this section of the coast might prove a problem for the canoes if there had been a strong wind and sea from the East. We were in a hurry to start in case the weather did not hold, but it still seemed to take about 2 hours to pack up the camp and stow the canoes.

Gradually Oxelosund came into view on the horizon and by 11.00 Am we made it to the beacon at the entrance

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We stopped at the more Northerly of the two marinas which was nearly empty. I noted that, as an alternative, if the main harbour entrance had been too rough, we could have entered this marina by a shallow canal from the West. We made a short visit into the rather unremarkable town and William inadvertently left his wallet in the marina cafe.

We sailed round to Old Oxelosund, a collection of rickety timber jetties and old buildings huddled between the coal piles of the steelworks, but very picturesque nonetheless.

We had a very pleasant long lunch at the Bygdegarden restaurant,

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then sailed out of the North East entrance and across another shorter open sound which leads to Nykopping

and into a whole new archipelago of more densely packed, greener islands with more nice camping possibilities.

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Week 1 day 5  13/06/2013

In the morning it was evident that the weather had turned. It was overcast with an increasing wind from the SE. Fortunately the route for the day was slightly North of East and mainly sheltered behind islands except for one open stretch.

It began to rain and progress tacking became rather miserable. We holed up on a small island just short of the open stretch to have a brew of tea and warm up.

The exposed stretch needed a lot of concentration to deal with the larger waves and we were glad that neither canoe capsized as it would have been hard to deal with in the conditions.

I wished my top was actually waterproof!

We past Stendorren nature reserve which, on a nicer day, would be a pretty place to stop, have lunch, and go for a walk, but did not appeal in the driving rain. Further on, we tried to find a restaurant on the island of Savo but it was not yet open for the season.

Now very cold and wet we set off across an open area near Kallvik, aiming to head through a short narrow canal in the NE corner. Unfortunately the wind had come round a bit more to the South and the course seemed a bit too downwind for comfort with the amount of sail we had up. In the leading canoe, I headed across to the island on the East side and turned up into the shelter of a small bay to reef and regroup. At the last moment Greg noticed a chain of submerged rocks across the mouth of the bay and yanked the centreboard up and out of its case. We made it over into the smooth water with no damage but Nick and William following in the other canoe were occupied with trying to lower their foresail and did not notice our problems. They ran onto a rock at full speed and broke their centreboard.

We beached the canoes among some reeds and considered what to do.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we now had little alternative but to camp close by if possible. Fortunately the island did offer a possible camping place, not far away under some trees and so Nick set about making a fire from the damp wood available.

The rain stopped and we put our clothes to dry on bushes near the fire and had a fine meal of salmon steaks with a dill sauce. The evening was then spent doing an emergency repair on the centreboard which used a whole tube of Araldite.

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Week 1 day 6  14/06/2013

The morning was still windy so we thought we’d better take no chances and start under fully reduced sail i.e. with the mizzen mast and sail set in the socket just forward of the centreboard case and the foremast and sail stowed below. Fortunately it was not far to Trosa, our destination for the end of week 1. However, there was still one stretch open to the South East and it seemed likely that some larger waves had had time to build up.

This proved to be the case, so we had another passage requiring absolute full concentration. I was glad of the reduced sail area as it made things less hectic but it also gave less force to balance against when coping with the quartering swell.

After crossing the open section we took a break on a small rocky island before finally working our way through some narrower channels to arrive at the Trosa campsite.

All in all a satisfactory end for the week 1 crews;

But my own day was far from over. If I was going to manage to retrieve the van from our starting point near Fyrudden and collect the next crew, I needed to catch the 3pm bus out of Trosa. There was just time so I ran the 3 km to the town and had a frantic time trying to find the right stop, but caught the bus. A train, another bus and a bit of walking got me back to our first campsite. A long drive then got me to Skavsta airport about 15 minutes late to pick up my son, who was going to crew for week 2. In that time he had managed to hitch a lift direct to Trosa and was sitting in a bar next to the river by the time I finally got back.

Week 2

Trosa is a sweet little town gathered around a canalised river with plenty of bars and restaurants, much visited by tourists. It has been called the “Venice” of the North, or sometimes “World’s End”.

We had rented a cabin at the campsite so as to have a bit of relative luxury during the day off allocated for crew changeover. Nick and “big” William were leaving to catch flights back to the UK and being replaced by Barbara and my son William.

 More food and booze needed buying in Trosa as it might be equally hard to guarantee finding anywhere to shop among the islands as in the first week. We had planned the provision of alcoholic drink meticulously, including buying enough for both weeks in Denmark on the journey over as it was cheaper there but unfortunately I had forgotten this fact when packing the canoes for week 1 and we had taken all of the booze with us in the canoes and drunk the lot! Carrying enough food drink and water for 5 days was a challenge, particularly as we did not live on packets of dried food but ate pretty much as we would do at home , with full meals cooked using fresh vegetables etc. I had been worried about additional weight causing a canoe to float too low in the water to allow it to be bailed out if capsized. Greg found a solution to this by putting a large amount of the additional food and drink in a large & sturdy inflated  Otleib bag in the cockpit of each canoe below the helmsman’s seat. The theory was that if the canoe filled with water, the sealed bags would act as their own floatation to support the weight of the additional contents and not weigh the canoes down.