Out on an island

Still no bikepacking excursions, but I've managed to do some longish rides (> 5 hours) during the last weekends, which should give at least some training for the Mammoth March. I did manage to take a long weekend off from my currently quite hectic work and due to a lucky convergence in the space-time continuum had the opportunity to join my brother and mother for a trip out to an island in Kvarken.

We left on a rainy Friday afternoon. My mother took point.

After a 45 minute boat ride we arrived at the island.

The first thing after getting our stuff from the boat to the cabin was naturally coffee.

The old cabin was built by my grandfather, a fisherman, around 1936. It is currently being renovated by my brother.

After the coffee it was time for a little afternoon stroll. It still rained slightly.

An fall rowan.

Common sea-buckthorn, which for some reason isn't found in the Turku archipelago, despite being common on both Åland and the shore a bit to the north,

All sorts of things are washed up from the sea.

Fall color.

A surprisingly green plant.

It started to get dark quite early in the grey weather. The sunset was at 17:56. There is of course no electricity or water in the cabin.

The next morning I went out around 7:30, one hour before sunrise. We slept in the newer cabin owned by my uncle.

A clear and crisp morning. The temperature was a little below freezing.

Common sea-buckthorne again. Unfortunately the berries had fermented a little and were no longer edible.

Still no sun.

The sun is about to rise.

After some morning photography it was time for breakfast and coffee. And some reading before it was time to go out again.

My mother going out to pick "trinjon" (cranberries in the local Swedish dialect).

The lingonberries were also frozen and too old to eat.

Looking inwards to land, there were more clouds.

Alpine currant.

In some places the green color was very strong.

Strolling around the island.

My earliest clear memories from this island are about 35 years old. During that time the island has changed a whole lot, and one reason for that is that the land has risen almost 30 cm during that time. Below is a gloe lake, which still was connected to the sea when I was a kid.

One hundred years from now, this will be another small gloe lake.

A characteristic of this region are the shallow and stony waters. A paradise for kayaking, but very difficult for ordinary boats.

The loo.

This silhuette has remained the same for as long as I remember. Note the optical phenomenon that lifts the islands up. The other islands (barely) visible should actually be below the horizon.

The sunset wasn't particularly spectacular.

Back to the cabin.

The next morning was again nice.

A strange shadow.

Time to leave.

This was an excursion I enjoyed a lot. For once I had a lot of time to stroll around in an interesting place and to do some reading and generally no be in a hurry.