Now, I must explain a few things about Blackberry, and perhaps the more faint-hearted of you should look away now: Blackberry was brought up on Perseverance from a very early age, and since we wanted to take her on longer cruises, we trained her to do what every dog has to do, on the foredeck. Some kitchen roll, antibacterial spray and a bucket of sea-water takes care of it, and it means we don’t have to find a piece of grass or a tree on dry land every time.

When we arrive at an anchorage or a port, we make a point of putting on a kettle or breaking open a beer rather than desperately getting the dinghy ready to rush ashore at the earliest opportunity just for the dog. As a result, Blackberry has no expectation of an immediate run ashore and is happy to relax and wait. If we have an early start the next morning, we simply up anchor and go and she has often gone for 3 or 4 days without stepping on dry land. Of course, she does get ashore for a decent walk whenever convenient and so doesn’t miss out.

We left Lyo the next morning and headed east again, passing under the bridge at Svendborg and turning north to the harbour of Lundeborg, some 30 miles on our way. Most of these Danish harbours used to be full of fishing boats, but today they are mainly for yachts, and we soon discovered that Perseverance at 45 ft LOA with 14ft beam and 7ft 3in draft was a bit large for comfort, so we got into the habit of leaving the box berths alone and mooring up on the old fishing quays, where our brand new fender- plank earned its keep. The next morning, we left with a light northerly and soon had the new code-zero un-furled and pulling us along nicely to the small island of Femo in the Smalandsfarvandet, some 31 miles up the coast. The sailing here is in very sheltered waters, with a flat sea, generally light breezes and virtually no tidal stream, although there are some currents where the channel narrows and it is shallow in places.

We took the chance to run the water-maker for a couple of hours to top up the tanks, then headed into Klintholm and tied up on the quay next to the harbour office. Aafke woke the next morning feeling very unwell, so with help from the friendly harbour-master and his assistant, who booked an appointment with the nearest Doctor, we all got on the bus ( Blackberry included ) and set off for Stege 10 miles away. Armed with antibiotics from the Doc, we enjoyed a good lunch and returned to Klintholm. We then sailed north past the famous White Cliffs of Mons Klint and on to Rodvig, where we tied up on the old fishing quay with the few remaining fishing boats. Rodvig is a charming little harbour,with a few shops, supermarket, smokery and a railway station with direct trains to and from Copenhagen. It also boasts a Marine Motor Museum which is well worth a visit, and a fine hotel.

We were joined by another old friend, Joanna, then we headed back to Skanor where we hired bicycles and explored the countryside and ate more delicious smoked fish. It is common in Denmark and Sweden to find local smokeries that have small restaurants attached as well as a shop selling their produce, and very good it is too.

There is a tiny fishing harbour on the west side with a small shop and one restaurant, where we enjoyed an excellent dinner on our first night. The harbour is very tight and soon fills up, with yachts rafted up 4 deep against the old quay. The next morning, after exploring the island, we had lunch of fresh herring filets fried in flour and butter, served on rye bread by two local women
with nothing more than a trestle table and a small gas stove in the open air, accompanied by traditional folk songs sung by a local girl with an accordion. We left early the next day bound for Karlskroner 32 miles to the north, in light drizzle, no wind and poor visability of less than a mile. Karlskroner is a large naval port, home of the Swedish Navy, with a bustling town, spacious modern marina and an excellent Maritime Museum, which unfortunately was closed on the Sunday we were there. The weather was rather dull, so we were keen to press on to Kalmar 65 miles up the coast tucked in behind the long thin island of Oland. The forecast on Ch 81 gave us W3 increasing to W7 by mid-day, but knowing we would be under the lee of the land with the wind on the beam, we took in one reef in the main and set off.

We were sad to leave Kalmar and decided we would return on our way back to Denmark in a month’s time. Our next destination was Vastervik some 76 miles up the coast where the vast archipelago of islands begins and runs all the way up to Stockholm and beyond. We set off early in bright sunshine and made our way under the impressive road bridge that links Oland to the mainland. The light NW wind steadily increased, and soon we were bowling along at over 7 knots in a smooth sea – something that we were getting used to and rather liked. To think of the endless waves on passages to Brittany or running up the Irish Sea to Scotland the previous year! Of course, the lack of tide helps too. We soon came up to the mysterious island called Bla Jungfrun (which means “Blue virgin”), situated in the middle of Kalmar Strait opposite Oskarshamn.

The island is about one kilometre across, with its smooth red granite profile rising out of the sea like a giant limpet. It plays an important role in Swedish folklore where it is viewed as an evil and magical place. It is now a national park and is uninhabited.

We set out the next morning soon after 06:00 for Arkosund, just under 60 miles to the north and had a pleasant sail skirting around the numerous rocks and small islands where the Gota Canal joins the sea. This was our first real taste of the very intricate navigation necessary in this part of the world and we learnt the trick of cutting some insulating tape into the shape of an arrow which is moved along the chart to keep track of where you are.

We have two chart plotters, one in the cockpit and one at the chart table, both running off separate systems, and we use the very detailed German Delius Klasing paper chart portfolios on which we carefully plot our position at all times. If the GPS were to fail, it would be impossible to know where you are because everywhere looks the same!

The weather was the best the Swedes could remember for many years, and the temperature rose to close on 30 degrees, with the water reaching a pleasant 24 degrees. We now had 10 days before we were due to join the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Baltic Rally, so we simply pottered from one beautiful anchorage to another, usually only a few hours sailing apart. We had the local Swedish pilot book with us which gave details of hundreds of “natural harbours”, so we made the most of it, visiting seven of them before arriving at Saltsjobaden, which is just outside Stockholm and is the headquarters of the KSSS, Sweden’s premier yacht club. Clive Forestier- Walker, who chairs the Squadron’s Cruising Committee, had put together the itinerary for the RYS Stockholm archipelago cruise and had taken much trouble to research every detail and organise all the functions. Clive and his wife Christian sailed their Oyster 45 “Casalamy” up to Stockholm for a race the previous year, and as usual, the organisation was first class and everything ran smoothly.

The first event was a visit to the Vasa museum followed by a splendid dinner at the famous Erik’s Gondolen Restaurant in Stockholm. The next day we enjoyed a welcome BBQ at the KSSS club-house in Saltsjobaden on a warm sunny summer evening and after that, the fleet of eight yachts explored the archipelago together for a few days, with lots of impromptu parties on each- others boats. Our guests, Sara and Bruce from the UK joined us on Perseverance, and we set off together all over the area from Uto in the south to Huvudskar in the north and Natharo and Sandhamn in between. The RYS had had organised a number of dinners at various harbours, and by the end we were ready for the more simple fare we had become used to in Sweden.

Our attempt to enter the marina at Nykoping failed as we went aground 10 metres from the berths, so we reversed out and made for the old fishing quay instead. Not for the first time, we decided that 45ft and 7ft 3 draft are a bit big for the Baltic. That evening, our guests treated us to a splendid dinner of fresh halibut, and the next morning, we said goodbye to Bruce and Sara, who jumped into a taxi for the train station, and feeling a bit lonely, we set off south heading for Vastervik 70 miles away.

Luckily, there seemed to be no serious damage, and we were glad to be on a solidly-built Scandinavian yacht which I’m told is designed to hit rocks at up to 6kts, although we felt about 2kts was quite fast enough!

The next day we set off at 07:45 bound for Kalmar 45 miles to the south. The weather was warm and humid, with a hint of rain and no wind in the morning. By mid-day, the sky was very dark and next came a huge thunderstorm with torrential rain and lightning all around –always a bit of a worry on a boat out at sea.