Belle-Ile, Brittany, France

We are almost at our destination in La Rochelle and we are moored outside Le Palais on Belle-Ile waiting for favourable winds to take us the final 120 miles. The weather now is perfect and Belle-Ile is certainly tres belle.
The voyage has been difficult since we left Cuxhaven in Germany for Den Helder. We were doing very well motor sailing quite nicely until the wind back onto the nose and then steadily built to about 20 kts as we were coming around the the North West corner of Holland. That was not too much of a problem until the tide changed and it is very disconcerting to see the heading lines on your chart plotters turn around and the navigation marks that you can see in the distance, slowly recede.
We turned around and went inside the Friesian Islands, that we might make it to Den Helder on the inside. That was not to be either as the winds had built to well over 30 knots and we took shelter in a tiny marina in Oost Vlieland. The place was very interesting and the marina was full of huge Dutch barges. The staff were very welcoming and we rafted up to a large motor cruiser.
By the next morning the weather had settled down and we had some nice sailing down the coast to Scheveningen to wait for some weather to cross the North Sea.
The Admiral got the news that her dad was quite ill in England and found a flight from Amsterdam to go and take care of him.
There was no favourable weather to cross the North Sea to the UK for at least a week so we decided to try to sail down the Dutch coast past Belgium and France to get a better shot at reaching the UK to drop Marie -Luce off.
We left Scheveningen one evening passed through the Rotterdam traffic system and arrived at Blankenberge in Belgium the following morning. This was a rather strange Belgian holiday resort which had two things going for it. One was excellent mussels and the other was its close proximity to the city of Bruges, which was visited on the following day. (to be continued)

Cuxhaven, Germany

We are now in Cuxhaven in Germany after a long run down the Kiel canal. The weather over the past few days can only be described as bloody awful. we have had at least three inches of rain and the temperature has not been over 70 degrees.
The sailing from Bornholm was the usual Baltic mixture of breeze from every direction and velocity. We did get some sailing done early on and athe end but it was mostly a motorthon. We have not been too lucky with the breeze on this cruise. We got to the Kiel Fiord the following morning in 20 knots of breeze and passed through the lock and did about twenty miles to the town of Rendsberg and stayed for two nights. Despite the weather it was quite nice and needed a bit of a rest.
On the following morning we traveled the last 40 miles of the Kiel canal in intermittent showers and mostly headwinds. Quite a difference from our trip north over a month ago.
we went another 15 miles west in the Elbe Estuary in very squally conditions up to 35 kts with very poor visibility to Cuxhaven marina and we will wait for a weather window to take us back to Holland.
We spent the day wandering around Cuxhaven but did not find it exceptional.
It looks like we will leave tomorrow in the company of some new friends on an HR48 called Northstar. The weather does not look ideal but there does not appear to be anything better for at least a week so we will see what we get.
Next stop Den Helder in Holland.

Svaneke, Bornholm, Denmark

the peculiar, three legged water tower in Svaneke

the tiny, almost natural harbor in Svaneke. would be difficult to get in there

svaneke, very pretty place

The five sisters smokehouse where we had a nice lunch

bucolic scene with windmill in Arsedale. Unfortunate name

another harbor in Svaneke

Danish cannon to keep the Swedes out

Ronne, Bornholm, Denmark

Painted panel, St Nicolai Church, Ronne

Cobbled streets in Ronne

Main square,Ronne. Nice lunch in the restaurant on the left

Nexo, Bornholm, Denmark

St. Nicholas Church in Nexo. Votive ship top left. St. Nicholas is the patron saint for sailors

We left Visby at 0400H which is well past the crack of dawn. The mis summer here is amazing as it never gets really dark. It's still broad daylight at 11.00pm and starts to get light at about 2.00 am.
We had very little wind initially but did get some nice sailing in during the last hundred miles to Nexo on the Danish Island of Bornholm.
We are berthed in a nice little marina and we will stay for a few days.

St Nicholas, Nexo

leaving Visby

Visby, Gotland, Sweden

The other Scandinavian mermaid. This one is in Kalmar, Sweden

After Kalmar, we had some excellent down wind sailing to Visby on the island of Gotland. We arrived in the afternoon with a twenty knot crosswind which made berthing difficult in the very crowded harbor. We found a spot next to the fishing boats and moved into the marina the following morning when space became available. Visby is a very beautiful, ancient walled town with interesting architecture. It was full of tourists, mainly Swedish from the mainland. We have actually seen some summer but the weather can change here three times a day. Perfect sunshine one minute and then pouring rain the next.
We spent the day wandering around the town, seeing the sights. There are a hundred churches in Gotland and ten in Visby dating back to the 12th century. We didn't see any of the actual Visby rams and ewes but there are many statues of them dotted around town.
Midsomer day was celebrated on Friday, June 22 and it is a national holiday in Sweden. There was a parade and  an exhibition of folk dancing around a flower bedecked pole, a band and community singing.
The weather did not comply and it rained during the first half of the proceedings. The locals did not seem to mind much and the sun come out later in the afternoon.
We need to get some work done at the Amel yard and it would appear that nothing can be done during the month of August in France. They have kindly agreed to help us during the last week of July so we have to be there by the 24th of July.
It's a thousand miles from here and the winds at this time of year are mostly westerlies and guess what, for te most part we are going mostly west, so we will have to wait for weather windows.
For this reason we have decided to not go as far north as Stockholm and its archipelago and we will go back toward France tomorrow.
We leave at 0400H for Bornholm in Denmark.

Callisto backing down into a berth in tight quarters in Visby

Part of the ancient wall around the town of Visby

St. Maria's Cathedral, Visby

Astride the famous Visby rams

View from a tower on the Visby wall

Midsomer parade in Visby

Local dancers sheltering from the rain at the Midsomer celebrations

Midsomer dancing

Visby Marina

Spry old dude and partner having a Midsomer knees up

local family, Visby

Callisto in Visby

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