Kalmar, Sweden

We have finally arrived in Sweden at the historic town of Kalmar after two days of fine weather and excellent sailing. I would not say that summer has arrived as it's raining now and the temperature yesterday in full sun was only about 65 degrees F. Hardly shorts and T shirt weather.
Our stay in Copenhagen was excellent. We went on the bus and metro into the center of the city and walked for miles. Brilliant architecture and lots to look at. It was a good rest and very enjoyable.
We left Copenhagen, Denmark 2 days ago and had some great downwind sailing in 25 kts. with gusts to 35 kts.
We made 95 miles to our last stop which was a small town called Simrishavn with a marina. The pilot promised it had 2.5m. of water. They lied. We sort of bounced onto the dock, which amused the locals. On the east coast of  Sweden, the bottom is mainly rock rather then mud but no damage was done. We had a nice dinner ashore and escaped early the next morning in crystal clear weather.
Again a lovely sailing day, past the tiny island of Utklippan and into the Oland sound and up to Kalmar.
We spent the day yesterday touring the city and visited the reconstructed medieval castle at Kalmar.
The  marina here is excellent with very good staff and excellent facilities.

The  famous little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. It's actually quite small and mobbed by Chinese tourists

The iconic Oresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo on a very dull day

Christianshaven in Copenhagen

The 13th century castle in Kalmar. An excellent reconstruction.

Inside the castle, there was a very interesting museum which featured this dude, whose name is Gustave Adolphus from the 17th century. He has the most intriguing  and innovative comb over I have ever seen. The photo does not do it justice but he appears to have brought hair from the back and sides and  braided it into the center. Brilliant!. Donald Trump should take note.

Leaving Simrishavn on a clear Baltic morning. Swedish coast guard ship on the horizon

Crazy architecture and statuary in Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark

we finally reached Copenhagen yesterday, via Rodbyhaven and Rodvig. The weather has been somewhat unsettled due to a large depression to the south of us. Yesterday's low was 995 mB!
We overnighted in  Rodbyhaven but did not get off the  boat and left early in the morning for a motorthon up to Rodvig which is a pleasant little fishing village. We had mostly no wind but fog and rain.
We had and excellent fish buffet dinner there and left early for Copenhagen in mostly light air. Past the iconic bridge across the Oresund connecting Copenhagen to Malmö. Marina selection is tricky here due to our size so we could not get a berth in the town center. We settled on a place called Svanmollen.
We have been doing the touristy stuff and tomorrow the barometer is predicted to rise suggesting some clear weather and favorable breeze to take us on to Sweden.
Photos to follow.

Bagenkop,Denmark.

Looks like the easterlies are settling down and we can proceed toward Copenhagen today. Bagenkop was a pleasant rest but there isn't much to do and see here.
Lots of German boats from Kiel. One Dutch boat and us.
We leave for Rodbyhavn in a couple of hours, only 30 miles.

Bagenkop, Denmark

We are now in Denmark in a small fishing village waiting for the weather to improve before going east. We have strong easterlies for the next two days.
Here are some photos from the Kiel canal

approaching a bridge. always looks scary but there was lots of clearance

sharing the Kiel canal

This guy doesn't know how to spell his own name

tucked into a small marina in Brunsbuttlewatching ships go by all night

sheep. not a usual sight for us

leaving the southern lock

bridge approach. there were nine of these

s

close encounter

The British Kiel Yacht Club, Kiel Germany

After we left Volendam, we motored north through the dam and lock at Enkhuizen and then through another dam and lock at Den Oever back into the North Sea. Following the channel we were able to motorsail with tide to proceed outside the Friesian Islands and go north around them.The wind and tide was favourable and made good progress under sail around the top of Holland and the German Friesian Islands and then into the Elbe River.
If you think the outer reaches of the Thames Estuary are bleak then I would suggest that the Elbe is worse. Fortunately, we had favourable wind and tide to take us past Cuxhaven and up into the massive locks at Brunsbuttle, where we found shelter at a tiny marina.
We looked around the small town, which seemed typically German but after a long 36 hours at sea were not inclined to do much except go to sleep.
Yesterday, was a bright clear day, perfect for the 60 mile meandering run up the Kiel Canal. This a massive canal project completed in 1895 but still works very well, even though we have to share with some enormous ships.
Very strange to hear birds and see cows and sheep while sailing but there it is.This must be what the narrow boaters see every day on their travels.
We locked out of the north end of the canal at about 1530H into the Baltic Sea and on to the British Kiel Yacht Club. We chose this place from a recommendation in my pilot book and a member of the Little Ship Club in London who said it was a must see.
Perhaps the information was a little out of date, as there really isn't much here. The place seems to be run as a training center for the remaining British Army and even though it is well maintained there was nothing going on. Even on a Saturday night, it was occupied by four or five post adolescent squaddies watching the soccer on TV. We couldn't even make any jokes about not mentioning the war.
They wouldn't even give us the internet password as it was seemingly " classified information"
With the magic of Google we found a very nice Balkan restaurant about a 20 minute walk from here.
It was called Bato's and was situated in the local municipal airport. Very friendly staff and great value.
The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse today, with a strong front coming through and strong easterlies for a few days and its raining quite hard right now.
We would like to head east and north toward Copenhagen but that's not going to happen until Wednesday at the earliest. It the rain settles down, we might go 30 miles north to the small Danish fishing village of Bagenskop on the southeast tip of the island of Langeland and wait for the weather to improve.
Photos of the Kiel Canal to follow.

Volandam, Holland

Leaving Amsterdam Marina

tied up to the dock at Volendam. Lots of touristy shops and restaurants

the lock and the bridge entering the Ijsselmeer

traditional Dutch barge on the Ijsellmeer

Amsterdam, holland

We spent the day in Amsterdam yesterday. After leaving Scheveningen at the crack of dawn we went up the west coast of Holland to Ijmuiden and since strong northerlies were forecast we decided to go inland to Amsterdam via the North Sea Canal. It was a mild sunny day and the navigation was easy.

We got to the Amsterdam Marina, which is about 2 miles north of the city center at about 1300H and what a nice marina it was. Great staff and the best shower facilities I've  seen since Singapore's 118 marina. They even had a bath!

We took the ferry boat into the town center and had a walkabout and some dinner and generally played the tourist.

After a good boat wash down we left at about 1000H and motored  through the city to a lock and a drawbridge and then into the Ijselmeer. 

Very brisk northerlies as predicted and the lake is very shallow. We stopped for the night at the delightful village of Volandam/Edam.

Tomorrow, we go north again and out of Den Helder. Hopefully, the weather will comply for us going around the corner and into the Elbe Estuary.

the facilities at the Amsterdam Marina

A bathtub with a view!

the famous red light district in Amsterdam. That is not a mannequin in the window.

some big shoes

typical Amsterdam canal scene

the lock and bridge entering the North sea Canal