Sue arrived in Copenhagen by plane then train, and Paul and I met her at one of the metro stations. We enjoyed a great night out together, being treated by Paul to dinner at one of the tourist hotspots, but with surprisingly good food and service amongst the throng of tourists. The following morning, after Paul departed, Sue and I hired an electric bike, I jumped on my sturdy old Brompton, and we explored the city a bit more.

We enjoyed our bike tour, then headed off out of Copenhagen towards Ystad in Sweden. This requires sailing past the extraordinary bridge which links Denmark (Copenhagen) with Sweden (Malmo) and was the setting for a Skandi detective series some might know as ‘The Bridge’.

We then went through a small mile-long canal called the Falsterbokanal, which was reputed to open on the hour but in fact proved to do so every two, so we had to wait a while. It was just a bridge to pass through, and once over the other side we had a pleasant evening sail into the nice medieval town of Ystad. I did have one scare though – when I cross over a power cable my autopilot has a mind of its own, and we very nearly came to blows with a buoy…marking a power cable. One lives and learns.

We enjoyed Ystad for its old buildings, and walks in the woods beside the beach. It had a magnificent old chandlery too, smelling as chandlers ought, of coal tar and hemp.

Our next destination was actually back in Denmark – the island of Bornholm. Others in the RYS ‘feeder’ fleet heading to Stockholm had raved about it, and we sailed across to the northern tip of the island to a place called Hammerhavn. It was absolutely delightful, and we enjoyed a magnificent walk around the northern part of the island the next day. The terrain was very varied, and at times we might have been in the Channel Islands, Cornwall or even Cyprus. The photos below try and give a feel to it:

We ate well at a seafood restaurant, having a bit of a smorgasbord, before jumping on a bus and going to a village by the sea called Gudhjem, which was delightful – a bit like Polperro, but with slightly different architecture. While there, we went to the Oluf Host museum – Host was a well-known Danish expressionist artist, and his house and gardens display some of his works. It was a great tour.

Another bus dropped us off at Hammershus, a very large ruined castle which overlooked the marina. It was a very fitting way to finish a brief tour of some of this wonderful island.

The next day we had a bit of a brisk, and quite long sail over to the small island of Hanö, back in Sweden. It too proved to be a delight, and we enjoyed an evening walk around the island over varied terrain, taking in an English cemetery containing the remains of sailors from HMS Victory, which was based at the island in 1810.

Hanö was a lovely island, and a great stop. Time moved on though, and after an early start the next day we headed into Karlskrona for a crew change. The home of the Swedish Navy, it is not the prettiest of towns – Soviet-style blocks have been allowed to spring up beside beautiful buildings from a foregone era – but it has a fine naval museum, which we enjoyed. We had a good night out, before Sue took a train to Copenhagen airport and as I type I await the arrival of my next crew, Julian. The next few days should take us north towards Stockholm.

Thank you Sue for all your patience (!) and help 🙂