Day 50, July 8. The long way around...

From: Lörudden
To: Solumshamn
Distance: 53 km
Total distance: 1824 km
Wind: NW 5-10 m/s
Weather: Mostly sunny with some high clouds
This morning it was time to say good bye to the family again, now I won't see them until I reach Happaranda 😔.
Knew I would have head wind all day but that it would settle a bit later it was in no hurry to leave Lörudden. Got everything packed and ready and headed off at half past 9. I had at that point not yet decided on which route I would choose to get across Sundsvallsbukten but getting around the head at Lörudden it all became very clear. The wind was strong and there were big waves, there was no way I would take the closest way 20 km right across to the other side, it's just too far in head wind out on open water. So it was the long way around the bay...
This was one of few days so far that I did not enjoy paddling at all, it was more a constant struggle. The goal was, despite the head wind to reach the south point of Härnön. If I managed that I would be picked up by friends to my parents and be able to sleep in a real bed tonight.

It was yet again windy and cold out on the water today.

Finally just after 7 pm I got to Härnön, now it was only the matter of finding somewhere to park the kayak for the night. I had seen on google earth that there were a lot of little private beaches along the coastline here so I figured I one of these would be a suitable place for the kayak. When I saw a family sitting on a porch having dinner I saw my chance and asked them if I could use their beach over night for the kayak and they said yes!! Thank you so much! I didn't get your names but it was brilliant that I could use your lovely beach!
Got in contact with Doris and Lennart and got picked up. Was able to do some washing, have a shower, got treated to a very nice meal and a good night's sleep! Perfect way to end a day of tough paddling!
Today's route:

Day 49, July 7. Leasure day!

From: Galtström
To: Lörudden
Distance: 13 km
Total distance: 1771 km
Wind: NW 8-15 m/s
Weather: Sunny
Today has mainly been a rest day/stuck due to too strong winds. But it was surely not a day lost, spent it with the family in Sundsvall mixing to dos (like getting groceries) with pleasure. Played a round of mini golf in the afternoon, but we were so slow getting through all the holes that we only got about half way before we had to get back to Galtström again so that I would have time to paddle up to Lörudden. The wind had eased a bit late afternoon but I still had to paddle close to the shore the whole way up to Lörudden.

There, the family and a great meal at the restaurant was waiting!

The last night for now for the kids in a tent, whereas I have plenty more to go.

Today's route:

Day 48, July 6. Tough day with a fabulous ending

From: Stocka

To: Galtström

Distance: 39 km

Total distance: 1758 km

Wind: NW 7-15 m/s

Weather: Sunny

Knew from the weather forecast that this would be a tough day with winds from 7 m/s up to 15 m/s from NW. Heading out on a day like this it is always with a bit of anxiety not really knowing how bad it's going to be, it is so dependent on the direction of the wind, how it will twist and turn around the heads and in the bays and what sort of waves you'll get. My goal was to reach Lörudden but it became pretty obvious after just a couple of kilometres that I could forget about that, the wind forced me to take the long way up along the coast, along the shore of every bay to seek what shelter I could get. And still, I consider myself lucky, if this wind would have come more from north or even worse northeast I would not have been able to paddle at all. Or if I would have had this wind yesterday when doing all the crossings... When the worst gusts came my only focus was on not going backwards and then 200 m further on the on the leeward side of a head I could rather comfortably paddle in light head wind. Well, it was not monotonous today, that's for sure.

Since Thursday's forecast looked even worse the plan was to have the family come up and join me and to take a day off paddling and spend it with them instead. They left Stockholm after lunch and through lots of texting and checking google earth during the afternoon we decided that Galtström was a reachable goal for both kayak and car. The last bit of paddling into the bay where Galtström is took forever in dead on head wind and when finally getting out of the worst gusts picking my phone up to see whereabouts the rest of the family was I heard and saw three crazy persons a little bit further on a flat cliff jumping up and down shouting! It was them, they had seen me while driving along the bay and as soon as they found a good place to park they ran down to the shore to greet me! What excellent timing! And when looking around also an excellent spot for camping! Great beach, nice cliffs, grass to pitch the tents, fire place and a table and benches to sit on. Had the best and cosiest evening!!! 

Pre-dinner drinks.

Delicious meal.

Bonfire.

My tent has got a matching friend tonight 😀.

Tomorrow we will all spend the day together in Sundsvall and late afternoon I will try to struggle my kayak the remaining 13 km up to Lörudden for another family night.

Today's route:

Day 47, July 5. The return of music

From: Fäbodön
To: Stocka
Distance: 59,5 km
Total distance: 1719 km
Wind: NW turning SE early afternoon, 2-5 m/s
Weather: Mostly sunny, 17 C
First I just have show this photo, this is the view I woke up to this morning:

Pretty stunning!
Today I was more or less only doing crossings again and it tends to be a bit boring but today I realised that with my new waterproof shell, that I got for the cell phone during my week off from paddling, I can have the cell phone in one of the pockets in my life jacket and listen to music while I'm out there. What a difference!! Time flew by and so did the kilometres! It does consume quite a lot of battery but since I now have 4 power banks (got two more of these too during the week off😀) that I try to recharge as often as I can I should be ok any way. First Aid Kit, Kent, Ulf Lundell, REM all fit in perfectly with the great surroundings, Justin Timberlake and "Sexy Back" maybe seemed a bit out of place out there on the water...

The view inland during one of my crossings.

Had lunch when paddling along Hornslandet, tuna and soft cheese with jalapeno flavour, simple, fast and filling ☺️.

Hornslandet is a weird place, all along the shore there is a couple of hundred metres with nothing but stones and then inland from that the forest begins.

On the north corner of Hornslandet I paddled passed Kuggören, for all of you listening to the weather forecast this should be a familiar name, this is what it looks like:

Made it to Stocka hamn in the evening and got talking to a man when I got out of the kayak, he offered me to sleep in the community's Bagarstuga (baking house, a house with a large wooden stove where they make flat bread). Sweet! They apparently started doing this with all kayakers that pass by so for all you HBB-paddlers passing here later this summer; This is a great place to stay and the restaurant has excellent food!

Today's route:

Day 46, July 4. Mission completed

From: Axmars brygga
To: Fäbodön
Distance: 48 km
Total distance: 1659,5 km
Wind: NW turning SW late afternoon 2-7 m/s
Weather: Sunny all day but cold, 16 C
Got up relatively early to get started with today's first mission, fixing the damage done to the kayak yesterday. Got all the repair stuff out from the absolute furthest back corner of the rear dry compartment (sanding papers, glass fibre plaster and gel coat repair) and got to work. It wasn't that bad and after some glass fibre plastering and sanding I got the gel coat on and it should at least not leak anymore. It's not pretty but I'll deal with that when I get back home again.

Due to this I started paddling rather late in head wind that wasn't too strong and had a good sunny day in the kayak even though it was cold (and has been the last couple of days), I have all gear, jacket, hat and poogies on while paddling. It doesn't really have that summery feeling to it when being covered up like that but it's not raining so I shouldn't be complaining.
This part of the coast is also filled with rocks everywhere, makes paddling close to the shore a challenge and after yesterday's encounter I now stay as far away as I can...

Paddled through this cute little canal (I would not like to spend a ninght here though, it looked like heaven for mosquitos).

Found some perfect cliffs for camping after a fabulous evening leg (very light tail wind and sun) and ended the day with the compulsory Face time-call home.

Will probably be seeing them all again on Wednesday evening when they drive up to meet me. The winds on Thursday look horrendous so the plan is to not paddle and spend the day with them instead, looking forwards to it already! 😀
Today's route:

Day 45, July 3. Crash!

From: Stony beach west of Långsand
To: Axmars brygga
Distance: 55 km
Total distance: 1611,5 km
Wind: SW 4-9 m/s
Weather: Partly cloudy, sunny evening, 17 C
Breakfast in the sun today while drying all the wet clothes from yesterday. Had a look at the map during breakfast and realised this will be a day of just crossing bay after bay, sigh! Estimating the distance up to Axmars brygga to a bit less than 60 km and decided to give it my best shot, picturing dinner at the restuarant as the goal today.
When stopping for a late and quick lunch at Iggön I saw that my goal was within reach and took the shortest possible way over the next bay, 13 km open sea.

 Lunch spot on a rocky shore

 Stone beach, there are heaps of these around here.

This is what most of my day has been like, land somewhere far over there...

When reaching the other side and going through a narrow strait at Gåsholma at good speed I suddenly heard a crash and the kayak jumped up in the air and stopped! Shit! I hit a rock that was lurking just beneath the surface 😫. Fearing the worst I immediately hit the shore and had a look at the damage done to the kayak. The hit took a piece of the gel coat shell off and I figured it was bad enough to cause leakage into the front dry compartment. Kept going anyway while looking carefully at the front to see if it started going deeper and stopped after a few kilometres to check how much water got in. Luckily it wasn't too bad, there was some but not much water at that point. When reaching Axmars brygga an hour later about 50 ml had leaked into the dry compartment. So tomorrow I will have to play handyman (luckily I'm actually a decent handy(wo)man and will probably be able to fix it) and take out the gel coat repair kit and try to fix it so that it will hold for another 800 km... 😳. I'd rather be paddling but this will have to be attended to first.

The dinner at Axmars brygga hamnkrog was excellent by the way. Lived up to the fantasies I've had about it all day.

Today's route:

Day 44, July 2. Rain, wind and thunderstorms

From: Hästen
To: Stony beach west of Långsand
Distance: 48 km
Total distance: 1556,5 km
Wind: S-SW-W 5-11 m/s
Weather: mostly cloudy with heavy showers and thunderstorms, about 10 minutes of sun.
Today has been a tough day. I'm still feeling tired from the cold and I'm coughing like crazy and on top of that the weather was not exactly what you wish for. It was raining when I woke up but managed to find a spot in between the showers to take down the tent and pack everything. The plan today was not to leave the kayak until I was finished paddling. That's usually the best thing to do a rainy day since getting out of the kayak will only make you more wet and also cold. Lunch was prepared in the form of a sandwich and 2 boiled eggs.
Had a good first hour before the rain started to pour down. But in-between every now and the the sun came out so it wasn't too bad.

Somewhere along the coast at the nature reserve Kapplasse I found this cave/crevice, since this was on the north shore and the wind came from southwest there were no waves and I could paddle into it. Only about 10 m long but still cool 😊.

When crossing Lövstabukten I started hearing thunder from where I was heading and this made me really uncomfortable, 3 km to land and once again I pictured myself struck by lightning. There had been no warnings about thunderstorms in the forecast so I was quite surprised when I saw the first flash of lightning. It was just hoping for the best and continue. The thunderstorm luckily went further north and I did not end up getting fried in the middle of the bay 😉.
Ended up on a stony beach pitching the tent during todays worst shower but the best thing is then to come... Getting into the tent, putting on dry clothes and get the sleeping bag out 😊. Very warm and cosy now!
Today's route: